Mostly I Do Art...

Here we have the final design for our old salvage tug. Marks from rubber bumpers and rust from scrapes against the keyside mar her once brilliant red hull. The bright yellow of her crane and rudders has oxidized to a dirty pale orange. Still, she is a proud workaholic. The color and effects were added with prismacolor pencil over the inked and detailed drawing. You can see the steps below... Step 1: Pencil Drawing Step 2: Inked Drawing Step 3: Detailed Drawing Step 4: Colored Drawing These drawings are in preparation of a retry at the painting from the previous entry. Much better, eh? #drawing #painting #airship #steampunk #tugboat #marineillustration #sciencefiction #penandink

When you're an artist, it doesn't take long to figure out that there's a fine line between what we are trying to portray and what the mind of the viewer is willing to accept as real. Take this little gem, a multipurpose tug boat named Fair Hope.  When we first look at it, our minds automatically accept it because it looks familiar. Anyone who's ever seen a tug boat will immediately recognize its many decks, its crane, and its iconic old tire bumpers. Everything seems normal, in spite of the suspicious looking jet nozzles in the back. Of course, this tug is an airship, but that fact is not immediately obvious to most. Why? Because the ship itself looks enough like its real life counterpart to make the jets and stabilizing fins seem like they belong there. This is the art of making the improbable seem ordinary. I've been doing some painting on the side and I really like this idea of, as my partner put it, "space boats". I've already turned out one pa...

It's always difficult to express your own idea when the subject you're wanting to represent has been "done and done", as they say. The subject here, of course, is poor Alice, lost in Wonderland and in trouble again. At first glance, the rabbit appears to be trying to save her, but a closer look gives the impression that he may have been the one to give her a shove. Symbols of Alice's misadventures seem to spill from the rabbit's pockets, complete with hot tea and lemons. The flurry of chaos and disorder makes the rabbit's intentions unclear. Did he drop everything in the rush to save her? Or has he simply thrown the tea party out with the guest? Alice's horrified expression speaks volumes concerning her dilemma. Does she reach for the mummified paw in the hope of rescue, or plunge headlong into the brier patch? But this Alice is not the innocent adolescent of Carroll's tale, as evidenced by the pin-up style pumps and seamed stockings beneath h...

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...