Just a study

Haven't done much digital painting lately, here is a simple study of a great picture I found in a fascinating documentary about Kurt Gerron.

In progress

This is some of the progress for a big painting I am working at. The idea is good but there is a lot of background that is very tedious to work on. I had to take a break on a landscape to rest from this one. It's coming along though.

You may remember the drawing

Obamarama

I guess it is time to start working at the Obama likeness as he has a 1 in 2 chance of being the boss. This is an angry version that may not have nailed the likeness, but seems identifiable at least.

Little girl

I posted this painting mostly finished a little while back. Well, I've finished it Heres a decent upclose look at the face, thought I've never really had a good digital image thate show the brush strokes very well. At least you can see some of the strong reds that were pushed in the face and I like the ear.

poser

Heres a recent portrait, this model had an interesting face with slightly extreme features as per Sam Nielson's nice painting.

figure drawing 10

I did this figure drawing a couple of weeks ago, it was a bit of an awkward pose and I made the neck too long (luckily it was rescued thanks to Photoshop).
I would love to spend more time on figure drawings, it's like a great constant challenge. The paradox is that the better you get at it, the better your eye for detail will get thus revealing more problems. Just like chasing a carrot on a stick.

Happy July 4th

To celebrate Independence day, here is a portrait of our greatest(and most attractive) president.

This was done for the "Meet the Robinsons" video game. It had a nice half second cameo. One difficulty was the long horizontal format that I needed to fit the tall vertical Lincoln into, I ended up shrinking the hat.

House

My wife is addicted to House(get it?)

sketchbook #24

Finally, a little bit of quality alone time with the sketchbook.

I enjoy just drawing the face maybe slightly caricatured but mostly realistic then push the shape of the head for a more graphic look, sometimes it works.

figure drawing 7?

A new offering from Friday figure drawing. I think this one turned out well. The anatomy is accurate and linework works well (though it really doesn't show up well here). One of my big struggles is keeping a loose natural feeling to the pose, I think this one works. I only wish I had more time to work on it.

Joe Olsen coloring contest

The Avalanche blog had a great current topic using the great Joe Olsen's linework as our coloring book. This is my submission. I tried to really take a different approach then my normal straightforward (see previous Joe coloring) by really pushing the atmosphere. The Avalanche blog is a very nice way to push myself because I dont want to be embaraced by my talented co-workers creativity and talent.

My first attempt was less successful.

makers and takers

I haven't been much of a maker lately, unfortunately. Here's a drawing.

Hillary in full HD color

When Hillary posed for this painting, I was somehow unconvinced by her smile. I'm not sure she was actually happy.

She didn't really pose but this is the full color version. I think I got a lot closer to the likeness. I wasn't happy with the original, she isn't easy because she doesn't have really distinguishing features. I like the painting style it is more sculpted, and I picked the flat coloring on the face purposely to look like a flash photo.

figure drawing

I showed up late for figure drawing and got stuck with a poor perspective, so I ended up doing a portrait.
And here is Sam's version from my right

Study

I've started into a pretty ambitious new oil painting it is large with a lot of background (both aren't my usual cup of tea). This is a study for the work, I'm not sure if he is creepy enough though.

It will be a very large painting but it has an appealing composition so hopefully I will have the willpower to see me through to completion.

archives

I did this figure drawing a couple of years back but have always liked it. Those were the blissful days of figure drawing 4 times a week. Now I am just trying to keep my head above water when it comes to figure drawings, though I've been a little more optimistic lately.

politicians

Oh yes, I love politicians even more then the next guy.
This is a picture of Hillary Clinton sleeping.

I thought the drawing was nice enough to stand by itself. I may add colors soon.

Old timer

I digital painting based on an 19th century photograph I came across. It was a sepia photo so I had to make up the colors which is difficult for skin tones.

Ugolino and his sons

I was in the great city New York recently and had time to sit and draw at the MET. Of course I went directly to my favorite statue: "Ugolino and his sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. So for about 2 hours I sat in a conspicuous corner and tried to best my last try at this subject.

In this drawing you can get a good idea of my process, moving up from the bottom you can see I block in the most general shapes and then get more and more detailed shapes, next I begin to work in the shading and finally tighten edges.

Also, if you have any way to get to NY in the next 2 months, there is an absolutely brilliant J.C. Leyendecker show up at the Society of Illustrators with some of the most jaw-dropping work I have ever seen.

Conte drawing

A charcoal drawing out of my sketchbook. Even though I use the same type of hard charcoal as my figure drawings I have a lot more control in my sketchbook (it seems). It is Conte which is hard difficult to use because it doesn't erase easily. But I have been able to get good tight flowing lines by using the side of the stick, see the hair.

sketchbook #23

I thought this was funny pic, so I drew it.

the Poet

This is my take on a poet.
Sorry for the break, took a little trip and saw the beautiful city of Prague and the Bavarian region of Germany. So now I am back and inspired, especially by the Alphonse Mucha work I saw. Mucha is in my opinion the greatest artist of all time, his posters are great but you must see his oil paintings and especially his Slav epic (be sure to visit this link though the images are mediocre) to know what I mean.

in other news, check out the updated clean edges on my previous Sweeney Todd post, thanks Shawn.

River

My latest, oil on board 18"x24". Based on a previous painting, this one has much a stronger drawing(I only realized right now as I look back at the post). I like the nontraditional composition, slightly graphic. It sits against the wall in my studio for a month or two now and I still like it, whenever I don't hate it after a couple of hours that is a good thing. My wife still has issues with it and I plan on some light changes but it's basically there.

after Fechin

This is a Nicolai Fechin (1881-1951) copy done in charcoal about a year ago. There are some proportion problems but I am pleased with the linework and the drawing as a whole, especially when looked at independent of it's source.

Royalty

A painting I found in a dark hallway of a rich Bavarian castle. Actually I just painted it and added the frame digitally. I want to print out one of these digital paintings on canvas and frame it nicely some day, some day.

Sorry. I've been busy. Thanks for visiting.

I always have a hard time preventing the gradient at the edge of scans. So I just try to intigrate it into the composition.

Profile

Green

I am going green!(but only in the background of certain paintings)
I painted this a couple years ago and really kind of like it. It's my wife again but this one had a more quickly painted, in a more simple style. The background turned out well because of it's contrasting color and the looseness, in my opinion. I really liked the background behind her but it got a little mushy looking in the front. Truth is, loose painting is very much harder then tight. Oil on board 11"x14"

figure drawing 7?

So only Ken was kind enough to feign interest in my previous post so here is a figure drawing that may or may not draw more attention.
I am always curious to know whether people come primarily for the traditional style or the caricatures and whether the caricature posts drives traditional people away and vice a versa. Maybe I need to create a pseudonym and post art under that name to gauge the popularity then I will organize a street fight pitting the traditionalists against the cartoonists, to the death.

Rocker

I did a full composition of this guy playing an air guitar. I liked the idea but not the painting. So here is the head at least, of value more for its graphic quality than anything else.