Slow slow progress

Still re-learning how to use a tablet. This time, you get teeth. :P

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at something that I've been working on in the mornings this past week. I've been pretty lax on the art this week because I've wanted to sleep in before work, but I really need to make myself get up, because I love getting pieces done. I think I've spent a couple hours working on this one. Been trying to figure out how to use the tablet efficiently and effectively. I figure I'll spend many more hours on this one. :)

New Tablet Jitters

For my birthday, I got this amazing Intuos 4. I haven't handled a tablet seriously since my sophomore/ junior year... so I'm a bit out of practice. But I thought I'd try to post the stuff I'm working on.

Most everything I do now is for fun. No commissions on the table - besides a website - so my creativity is allowed to roam free. I'm thinking of doing a series of color studies because my grasp of color is really quite elementary. ...also because I'd like to do some canvases for my new apartment, and I usually practice quite a bit before I commit to something like a canvas.

So here's a 45 minute sketch based loosely off of the principles I learned from my Albatross painting. My first sketch on the new tablet.

On Gnomes

FANTASY CHARACTERS used to be my forte in high school. I moved away from them in college since the art classes I took encouraged practice by drawing life studies. I hope that I can apply what I learned in coursework to fantasy characters- a friend of mine asked me to sketch out some characters for a high-level D&D game he wanted to run in December.

So I took a shot at the Gnome character. Having no real idea what 'Gnome' meant in D&D terms, my first attempt was a look very similar to David from the children's tv show David the Gnome, which in turn is very similar to a garden gnome. (Blame the crap quality of the picture on my camera phone since my scanner isn't hooked up yet.)

Tee hee! Cute lil guy, but not what a D&D Gnome looks like. After a little more guidance from my friend, I came out with the second attempt, which is something I'll work on and color:

Albatross finished

AT LONG LAST the Albatross is finished. It was picked up, paid for and framed. And from what I hear, it looks really good above a mantle. I'll have to go and take a photo of it to show how it looks with the frame. I had nothing to do with picking out the frame- which is great, because I can't match things like that.

I'm happy to have finished it- now I can move on to other artistic projects. I'm glad for the experience, though- I've definitely learned that I can just pick up some paints and make something satisfactory... something good, even. I learned that people do actually appreciate/ like my art... and the possibility of following this road as a focus is becoming more and more a reality.

Roadblock

This painting has really put an artistic roadblock in front of me. The entire lower half of the painting has yet to be "resolved". I'm incredibly happy with the sky- considering my formal painting training included NO sky or outdoor tutorials. There are things I would change if I could start again- more and different shades of purple in the background, for example. But I think the sky has a lot of depth- and I'm moderately pleased with it. The foreground, however, just needs to be done. Especially the indoors area. This is new ground that I'm exploring... and I'm very hesitant to screw up something that I'm happy with thus far.

Onward!

Painting

Been busy of late... believe it or not, though, I've been busy with an art-related thing! Here we've got an update of a painting I've been commissioned to make. It's an evening-scape of Lighthouse Point in New Haven, CT. Underpainting just about done, except for part of the water and the inside of the house. The sky is actually almost done- 2 more layers of color to go. Lighthouse is almost there as well- 1 more layer of color to go. There will be trees in the background and lights on the inside of the house. The painting is 24"x 36". Started about a week and a half ago. Should be completely done very soon.

Dragon, finished archive drawing

I started this drawing maybe 2 summers ago, but it was only a rough sketch when I found it last week. I took some time and fleshed him out a little more, and now he looks a little more like what I was going for initially. That's a flower sketch in the upper right... it's a sketchbook with random drawings everywhere.

Life drawing

Life drawings... a.k.a., proof I need to practice life drawings more and bring my glasses to these sessions.

Paul, from the archives

Not a new drawing, but I wanted to give you something to look at. Hopefully I'll have a bunch of new life drawings to share after tonight. :)

Guy is a dude at Yale with whom I've worked with on occasion. I sketched him at a very important meeting in which I really should not have been doodling. Don't tell on me, Internetz.

Flower Fairy

You can tell that I was really reaching for material when I sketched this this morning. I try to limit my cheesy flower fairies.

Turtle

A turtle inspired by my chopstick rest that's now happily sitting in my zen water fountain. It's a little stone turtle with a flat back that matched a pair of stone chopsticks that have sadly passed on from this world. Turns out stone isn't the best material to use for chopsticks... but it's great for chopstick rests!

Lynn

A sketch from the archives- this was done a while ago, back when I still went to a story reading group. Admittedly, I didn't attend the group for the stories- but rather, for a 2 hour session of model sitting. Eventually, I drew everyone there at least twice and decided to spend my Friday nights in other ways. I'm thinking I might go soon, though, since I haven't been able to stretch my portrait sketching muscles lately.

Gargoyle

Gasp. Two updates, two days in a row. Unprecedented.

The ugliness of this gargoyle is also unprecedented.

Laine

My first successful attempt at drawing out Laine, my Jedi character from a Dawn of Defiance rpg I'm involved in. I'm happy. Especially after many weeks of hiatus from drawing.

Thank You Card, flowers

A Thank You card I made for my aunt & uncle for sending me tasty cookies. This style of outline with black pen & coloring with colored pencils (or in Photoshop) is very reminiscent of my high school art. Blarg!

Girl in a fur coat

... reading a book on her iPhone. Didn't really feel inspired to finish this; perhaps later.Also, you'll notice there's a tiny figure on the bottom right.. oh well, it's a sketch book.

Dragon 2

Zounds, a new blog theme

Is it gaudy? Yes/No.

Till I design my own blogger theme- which I'm working on!- this will be the theme of the blog. Part of me really likes it... part of me wants to print out the webpage and tear the sheet of paper to shreds.

Dragon-ish

Quick one from this morning. Happy Valentine's Day.

Year of the Ox.

... and in this drawing blog's case, it's the year of the minotaur.
First few attempts focused on the fantastical image of a minotaur.. with a bit of the cartoon-y. I started using a blue pencil to sketch then go over with graphite to draw the actual lines. This sketch was done over the break.
Consider next a more realistic view of the minotaur... where one might actually place a bull's head on a human body. The focus of this sketch was the face and getting a bull's head more realistic- working off a photo, obviously. Sketch also done over the break.
Various sketches- one of a bull, one smaller of the body of a minotaur- trying to see how the whole body might look. This sketch as well, over the break.And finally, one last sketch from today- mixing a bit of the more real aspects of a bull. Having some time off from drawing minotaurs, I found this one a bit lacking and certainly looking a bit more cartoon-y than I desired.

Bed Head

I hate it when I wake up with bed head in the morning.

Or is it, "I hate it when I wake up with hoof foot in the morning"?

Rooster Pitcher

What if the rooster pitcher on my kitchen table looked a bit more animate? ... and cartoon-y.

Monkee Alien Dude

I don't even know. But, as you'll see as this blog continues, I rarely do.

Wildebeest... rhino

This guy took just a minute or so to sketch out. I don't know what he is. You'll find that that's a common theme here on this blog.

"What is it?"

"F*ck all if I know."

Old sketch from Christmas vacation- Capri

The view of Capri from a ledge.
Sketch from earlier in January.

Horny? I think so.

D&D Character: Reita 1

Well, I can't say that I've been very active in the art scene lately... contemplations of the future aside, I can't keep my mind off of other personal matters.

In any event, this is a very quick character concept for my tiefling warlock. I'm contemplating coloring this, but find that the sketch is lacking something... originality, perhaps? Coloring might be fun but clearly just for practice. It has been really long since I attempted using a Wacom, and well, that's what this blog is for!

Comments always welcome.

2009 Fresh Start - Drawing Blog

As part of my 2009 resolutions, I thought that I'd actually use this blog for something. It has been a desire of mine to improve my artistic skill and do something more with it than just draw an occasional piece for a special occasion. So, I'll start today or tomorrow (life gets in the way of art quite a bit for me) and post up some sketches I've been putting on paper.

I've had schooling in painting and figure drawing (but never the two together!).. and I find myself most happy when drawing from life. Of late, I've been in a D&D fantastical character kind of drawing mood. Since I don't have a minotaur sitting in front of me when I draw one, it often ends up lacking in many ways. Ah, we'll see what I can scrounge up in the next few days.