Neal

 

I told my buddy Neal that I was going to do a caricature of him and so he sent me a picture of himself with a beard. Luckily I found a picture of him when our family went up to visit him in Idaho Falls. He was actually pulling this face in the photo and so it wasn't hard to distort him (not that he has huge cheeks, massive ears and a small nogen in real life...) Anyways, the scanner made this really pixely but I had to get it up tonight in case Neal didn't believe I was going to do it.

Neal with his wife Heather.

Dubbaya

You gotta love old George Dubbaya Bush. I've researched a lot of artist's and it seems like they have always come up with their own version of him. This is just a sketch to see if I could push his features a bit. I had a hard time with the values (like normal) but that's what these tests are for! I struggle using anything other than a #2 pencil. I used a HB, 2B, and 4B sketching pencil on this and felt like I was drawing with my tongue... which might not be a bad idea since I can roll it both directions. Anyways, I'll probably take another shot at this here shortly.

Merciless Morgan lives!

And me thoughts me saw him dead with me own eye.

To explain, my family and I did a Murder Mystery the day after Thanksgiving and my brother Eric, Merciless Morgan, was the unfortunate soul to be murdered. We took a photo of him which ended up being a perfect subject for my first ever completed digital painting - Wahoo! I still don't know what I'm doing but it was a fun process. I tried to give it a caricature type of look and so I distorted his face and proportions quite a bit. I've included some of the steps of the process below. The first sketch I did was with a normal paintbrush which ended up leaving no variation in line but since I was painting over it, it didn't matter. I have recently found some brushes that simulate a very realistic pencil so I'll be using those in the future. Anyways, I hope those that attended get a kick out of it.

Clark, you surprised?

Clark:

"Surprised?  Eddie, if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I couldn't be more surprised than I am right now.

More sketches

A little caricature of Ghandi.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
- Mohandas Gandhi 

A pen and pencil mixture.

The odd couple

This is a drawing from my work meeting this morning. We were talking about a lady that use to work here who was shaped like a football player. Her husband came in a few times and my drawing pretty much depicts the contrast between the two of them. No offense to those with very large trapezius'.

Here's a pencil sketch from last night. I tried my hardest not to ever use the tip of my pencil to avoid hard lines. I just used a #2 pencil. This is another WWII soldier I found online. I am going to try a few pencils suggested me by another artist. He uses Staedtler pencils and likes to draw on velum. I'll give it a shot.

Pen and Marker

I've been sketching a lot with a pen and marker because they're a lot easier to carry around and I don't have to sharpen them. Plus, you can't erase and I figure it might help me be a little more cautious when making marks. The above drawing I copied from an artist named Ashley Wood. He worked on most of the art for the Metal Gear Solid series which I am probably the biggest fan in the world of. This drawing inspired me to look up WWII imagery to use as subject matter as you can see from the sketches below.

The guy on the bottom right of the image above looked like one mean brother. He was toting around what looked like a missile launcher. Either that it or it just launched apples... whatever it was, I wouldn't want it pointed in my direction. I've always been fascinated with WWII since I was kid. I think I am going to attempt a painting here in the near future.

Pen and pencil sketches

Here's the little dude from the Spiderwick Chronicles. Haven't seen it, he was just on the front of the book cover and it was within 3 feet of my drawing space. Therefore, he was a good candidate to draw.

A few pen sketches. The lower left is my brother but with a Frankenstein forehead - A quick sketch while he was painting. I attempted to paint the other day with my two brothers and it was like taking the frustration of drawing and multiplying it by 100. Pretty addictive though - I'm on the bandwagon. The others are from the old movie, Where the Red Fern Grows.

More quick pen sketches.

Tuesday Meeting Pen sketch

I'm no caricature artist but here is one I attempted of my supervisor Tim Nelson. He doesn't look much like this but fun anyways. I'm excited because my Mom is planning on getting me a book on caricatures by a guy named Jason Seiler for Christmas. He does the funniest caricatures I have ever seen. Take a look at his stuff here: http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot.com.

Pencil study

I need to start drawing on different paper. This laser paper stuff doesn't allow much flexibility. Anyways, here's a study from a gal in a clothing magazine. I've been trying to figure using only 5 shades of values that was suggested in one of the books I've been reading. I'm starting to get a feel for it... kind of.

Library Books

My cute little wifey picked up a few books for me at the library yesterday. My kids can't stop talking about how amazing it is that they have library cards. It's as if someone has handed them stacks of money and they can't stop dreaming of where it will take them. Anyways, Nat picked up "Sketching for Dummies"... hmm, "The artist's complete guide to drawing the head," and "Dynamic wrinkles and Drapery." They all seem to have great advice, especially the head book. I can't figure out why all of these principles weren't taught to me in the few art classes I attended. Either I wasn't listening or the faculty should have been teaching something else... like algebra.  Here are a few sketches from the last few days. I can already pinpoint many things I did wrong that go against what I've just recently read. I will have to see if I learned anything next time. It's hard for me to resist going into auto pilot when I draw. That's when all of the bad habits shine through.

A few sketches in pen.

A few sketches done last night in pen.

My values

I realized the morning after I drew this that something I struggle with more than anything is values. I guess I just need better values... The picture I referenced had a distinct difference between her leg and her gymnastics top that didn't seem to translate to my drawing. Don't you hate when you have a specific goal you are shooting for but in the end you just give in to your bad habits? I do, 'cause I do it consistently.

A sure way to destroy a drawing is to go in afterwards and make corrections. That is what I tried with this and it just got worse and worse. It was fun though. Maybe I'll try it again and keep it under an hour to see if I learned anything.

Remember kids, keep your values!

More ski jump.

My awesome Mom took me to an art store yesterday and bought some art supplies along with lunch afterwards. Thanks for your support Momma!

Here are a few I've done in the past few days. I sketched Natali while she was watching t.v. and afterwards she said, "I thought you said my nose had a ski jump at the end. That looks like your nose." Sorry dearie, I'll be more observant next time. For some reason, the picture I took made it all grainy and it's missing a lot of the values. I guess that's a good excuse. The other sketches are quick sketches from a magazine. I really should be out doing gesture drawings of people but it's hard when it gets dark so quickly. I guess I'll have to go to (shutter) the mall.

My wifey... kind of.

I did this with a graphite pencil. It wouldn't allow for dark areas but it was nice and smooth to draw with. I need to check and see if there are different shades of those pencils.  I'm also drawing on newsprint and so the quality of a more rendered drawing never looks all that good. I kind of went crazy on the shadows on her face because light was coming from behind her but I guess I could have made that more apparent in the drawing by actually showing signs of a light source. I'm finding that you have to remember a lot of principles while actually drawing... that's hard for me. I can't even remember where my wallet is half the time. Don't start looking for my wallet... it won't take you far.

Sketching in Pen = Intimidating

I had a co-worker suggest that I start sketching in pen to help improve on accuracy and speed. It's intimidating knowing that you can't use an eraser because it records your mistakes in your sketchbook -  but I guess that is the definition of a sketch. I took advantage of the half hour I am required to wait after getting my allergy shots this morning to sketch the ice skater above. There is plenty of resource in the magazines at a Dr.'s office so it makes a good place to throw down some sketches.