Cut

A digital painting I did for an illustration recently. I liked the idea a lot and was reasonably pleased with how the painting turned out but in the end it didn't end up being published. Oh well, next time.

Bookman

sketch #77

Profile

sketch #76

A quick drawing from the sketchbook.

Sewing

I came across a lovely old black and white photograph by Frank Sutcliffe. I wish I could take lovely pictures so that I would have more reference available. So here is the digital painting taking liberties with the face, value, and color obviously.

Below you will find a few steps along the way. I really liked the simplicity of the original drawing I almost wanted to leave it with that. But I soldiered on to a monotone painting which began to get too overworked for me, after I started adding color to it I decided to try to lose some of the detail.

sketch #75

A tribute, in color

You may remember this guy from the drawing about 4 posts down. I liked the drawing enough to do a painting which turned out very well in my opinion. I am pretty happy with the loose feel that I got. Tried a slightly different method which I intend to try again next time around.

Oil on board, 9"x12"
Below is a detail which has a lot more canvas texture that it should because I used a scanner to get this image.

Some Guy

Scribe

From a photo I came across. It's been a little while since I got a decent digital painting so here it is.

A tribute

To this guy! For having such a good look.
Pencil on my new toned paper sketchbook which is 9"x12"

One more small thing, my compliments to Strathmore for using Scott Burdick's drawings on their newer sketchbooks. I haven't conducted any formal survey but I would swear every sketchbook company was seeking out high school underclassmen for artwork they could use as cover art for sketchbooks.
BTW, have a listen to Scott Burdick's presentation on Beauty, it is excellent.

ill

A recent painting done for The New Era magazine of a sick young girl.

Leyendecker in 2 tones

Found myself a toned sketchbook last week. I love the ability to work in both directions, darker and lighter, since I don't think I use a good range of the one. I all of the sudden feel like I am working on a piece for a museum, just feels nicer in the end(until you run a figures head off the page of course).

I'm copying the great J.C. Leyendecker of course.

71

And another.

sketch #70

TV

I did this for the Weekly Standard last week. I am pretty pleased with it. I was trying hard to keep some of the drawing in there and keep it loose. One of the things I've been trying to push against is overworking some of these digital works because they start to bleed into the "slick" category which I don't like. I am also pretty happy about the likeness.

sketch

from my sketchbook.

sketch #68

from the sketchbook

Convicted

I was really excited to do a cover for the Weekly Standard last week. It was again a really quick turnaround but it was about 2 days instead of the 1 that I usually get but the art director is awesome so that helps a lot.

little man

Here's the little man of the house. I swear this is the expression he wears 70% of the day. Pure innocence.

I have had many requests to record my drawing process, I will see what I can do.

Field

An oil painting recently completed. I've spent enough time on it I can't really make objective judgements of it. I have wanted to work on an more fully developed painting for a while and I've enjoyed it and learned a lot. Now I just need to come up with a new concept for the next one.

Oil on board 20"x30"

Here's a detail view:

Cherrys

A page from the sketchbook. It turned out to be a surprisingly difficult composition. That is is a 9"x12" sketchbook page to give you an idea of the size.

Merry Christmas everyone.

figure #61

People seem to disagree with my opinion on these types of things but I really like how this turned out. I showed up 2.5 hours late to our 3 hour figure drawing session but after 15 minutes I decided I should leave it alone because I would just ruin the abstract simplicity that I like a lot. Loose and free is against my nature.

Wyeth

I always liked CF Payne's version of this. I hope to find some time eventually to fully paint this but the rough drawing stage has a nice wild feeling to it, so I thought why not post it.

Drawing

North Korean tea

A weekend illustration for the Weekly Standard.

sketch #65

Another collaboration with my 3 year old. It's nice to see she's got some more flow to her lines. I think she may have hurt my composition, but it's a little early to hit her with these more advanced concepts. I'm always very happy to see her draw, even in my sketchbook.

as always .03 mechanical pencil on paper, about 9"x12".

digital portrait

Just for fun. Digital painting from a interesting face I came across.

sketch #64

A drawing, from my sketchbook.

a gesture

A 5 minute drawing from a recent drawing session. I often like the gestures more then the finished piece.