Mostly I Do Art...

Who doesn't love a good spy movie? I know I do - car chases, explosions, kung-fu fights, guns, and all those great dynamic poses. What makes this image stand out to me is the dramatic foreshortening of the right arm and its weapon. It makes you feel as though the gun is sticking out of the picture, like a 3D image. The shiny black jumpsuit makes her stand out sharply against the white wall, an effect heightened by harsh white office lights that glare sharply off her goggles and platinum hair. I'm not sure what this spy was after, but it doesn't seem to me like she could hide much in that outfit. Thanks to Marcus Ranum at deviantart.com for the great stock image. If you're looking for something a little different or more exciting to draw, take a look at some of his photos. (Warning - some may contain mature content.) This might look nice done in marker on slick poster board. Here, however, it's just my 0.07 Pentech drafting pencil. #art #drawing #sketchbook

More sketching anatomy and practice with proper proportions. Here we have two figures in the same plane, but one is much higher. Proportionately, both figures are the same size, but their varied heights within the picture plane can make it seem as though one figure is larger than the other. Another challenge is representing the clothing materials accurately - so many folds and creases! The cargo ship in the background adds a bit of scale and helps define the edge of the water's surface. The final challenge was the water itself - how to accurately show the water's surface without using the typical stylized horizontal lines, and how to indicate that things continue on below the surface of the water. Apparently, it's all down to technique. If I came upon this scene in real life, I wouldn't know whether to laugh or call the police. Our unfortunate friend in the water seems to have antagonized the powers that be, resulting in his, uh, interesting predicament. His antago

Now that I've managed to improve my character art by at least 200%, it's time to draw something fun. Our subject above is drawn in the typical manga style, manga referring to Asian graphic art novels (those things we call comic books in America). Our bikini darling above would fall into the Shojo category, a style aimed mainly at young girls. This style almost always has a young female lead, and while they tend to be stories centered around romance and interpersonal relationships, they are not without action and adventure. Note the strong, confident pose and the happy, outgoing smile of the female lead. She is identifiable, amiable, and easily emulated. She is also drawn with slightly more heroic proportions. Kawaii! colored pencil, marker, and watercolor. #sketchbook #drawing #watercolor #manga #fantasy #art #penandink

I'm trying a new medium with this piece. Instead of using markers, I used watercolors. Overall, I think it turned out well. Besides, the study of anatomy and proportions is so much more interesting with zombies. This one in particular must be regretting her choice of cinder block necklace - that is, if she had enough mind left to have any regrets. After all, wouldn't a zombie still be wearing the trademark of whatever killed it the first time? If you've read the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , the girls encounter a similar tragic zombie near the bridge to town - a former friend of theirs who killed herself by tying a large rock around her neck and jumping from the bridge. In the book, she appears from the water still wearing the rock she was tied to. Our lonely bride sports a similar accessory, though a bit more modern, and her clothes bear the telltale signs of having been submerged in some pond or river. She is mud splattered and moldy, but still bears a stro

Here's another product of my efforts to improve my abilities in inking and coloring. I've finally found an inking technique that I'm comfortable with, so now it's just down to perfecting the details. This image was drawn with pencil, then inked with Prismacolor Premier and painted with Faber-Castell PITT Brush Markers and acrylic paint. Personally, I'm kind of fond of this image, not only with the way it turned out but also with the subject matter. I've often wondered what zombies think about when there are no brains around. If one found a mirror, would he have the self awareness to recognize his own reflection? Or would it simply be entertained and confused by the moving image in the glass, kind of like a parakeet? #drawing #art #sketching #markerart #fantasy #zombie #penandink #chattanooga #graphicarts

"Nothing is more disturbing to the mind than a corruption of the human form..."                                                                                                  - Josiah Pilgrim, Brother Death Still giving it my all to improve my work. Today, I've been working on my inking technique, which has been, in the past, kind of sloppy. Here, I'm using a combination of techniques - the three line draftsman technique and the hatching technique. The draftsman technique used a well-defined line thickness hierarchy to represent certain features. The outline of the figure, called the silhouette line, is the thickest of the three and is used to separate the figure from the background. Brush tip markers work well for this and can add variable thickness to give the silhouette line life. A medium thickness line is used to draw the general features of the character, such as clothes, the face, the hair, and so on. I use a 0.5 thickness Prismacolor Premiere for this.

Still working on improving my craft, this time with a lesson in wrinkles and draperies from master illustrator Burne Hogarth. It's funny how a lot of times, I see figures that look like they don't have knees or elbows. It's easy to forget that these parts leave an impression on your clothes even when you're not wearing them. It's also easy to forget with so many Captains and mechanics around that lots of other people were required to make an airship behave. In this sketch, a member of the ground crew called a duty handler prepares to be hauled aloft after freeing the airship above him from one of its anchor screws. No one ever considers the fact that there might not be a ground crew wherever you're going, so you have to take yours with you. But how to do that from an airship already launched? Easy - just have them climb the mooring ropes and crawl inside. Now that's nerves of steel. #steampunk #airships #art #fantasy #penandink #characterdesig

You're never too old to improve your craft. As for me, I always had trouble with people. Not their construction, or proportions, or things like that. The trouble was that all of my people looked the same. But real life isn't like that, is it? Enter Steve Huston and his fabulous free  head drawing tutorial at New Masters Academy. Now, my people look like real people - different races, different ages, different backgrounds. I've also learned a few things about creating more dynamic and exciting poses. Note the above drawing The Airship Mechanic . This pen and ink drawing was inspired by the Australian TV series "The Airships", a surprisingly interesting documentary about the history of airships and airship travel. You can watch it in three parts for free on YouTube. It offers some excellent visual reference of airship construction and daily operation, which, in turn, can add that grain of realism and credibility to a work. In the sketch, a mechanic observes t