drawing #70

I thought it was time to get a nicer scan of a drawing. This drawing was shared a couple posts down. I like the photo look, it feels closer to the more real feeling of holding the drawing. But it's also nice to analyze an accurate representation of it scanned in.

It's my delightful little boy drawn with a mechanical pencil on a 9"x12" sketchbook. Yes, it was from a photograph, we were lucky to get him to hold still for the split second it takes to get a photo a 4 hour drawing session is probably unrealistic. I did get a quick life drawing once while he paused to watch a few seconds of a show, I'll try to share someday.

Dinner- sketch

I'm developing a painting with this one.

All tied up

 My latest and greatest cover for The Weekly Standard. I am really happy with how this turned out and with a mere 24 hours turnaround time. I took a little time to get inspired while I waited for the final concept and it really paid off I felt. Went really smooth.

My favorite little man

Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone if I share posts across my different outlets.

I drawing I was working on last night. My wife says an eye is off, I don't see it but I've been staring at it for a few hours so she is probably right. Funny how a slight angle to the head makes measuring so much more complex. I'll scan this one in sometime soon so you can get the full look.

Also, people frequently ask about my tool. This is the drafting pencil that I use 90% of the time on my drawings. It uses tiny .5 size lead, makes it hard to kill in large areas but has a nice tight clean line.

drawing up close

figure 66

 A figure from last weekend. As much as I like drawing on a big pad with pastel I feel like I give up a lot of control. This time I used a blue pencil and put in the darks with a mechanical pencil.

On another note, I started up an Instagram account. I actually really like the natural look that the phone photo gives. Seems like a much better representation of the real feel of the artwork that I am holding in my hands. But the scanned version above gives you the full deal. If your on Instagram give me a follow, I expect to post a lot of stuff that I think is good in the faster format.

fig 65

Field #2

I decided my Field painting from a while back wasn't cutting it. I liked the idea and composition but kept looking back at it unsatisfied. So I've gone back to the drawing board with a more realistic style. It would be nice if it was more like a digital file so I could keep the previous one and keep going but alas. Hopefully I can improve on it, I'll keep you posted.

Figure drawing #64

Finally got some photos of a recent figure drawing. I liked the pose a lot. My little boy managed to step on it before I could get a picture so it has the added character of a hole and a small foot print to provide the finish.

Below are some process shots.
The first is the gesture phase, maybe 3 minutes but it probably has a better flow to it, less stiff, but the long pose is a couple hours so you can't blame her.
The last is the halfway point after working out the placement and proportions and before the value work. Hopefully it is useful to somebody.

Netanyahu

A painting done last week for The Weekly Standard. I got nearly 2 days on this a whole day more then typical. So although it was a quick turnaround I had a little more time to simmer with it, a slightly less frantic pace gave me a chance to stick with the drawing longer and be more methodical. I felt like the rendering turned out much better. For your enjoyment I've included an animation below of the steps. The great art director over there requested up a sized up beard which was the right call of course and improved the feel but I wish I had thought of this earlier to incorporate it better into the piece. It's funny how you get your head down in the work and you don't see things that should be obvious but are not because you aren't looking for them.

sketch 66

feeling a little swamped lately.

Happy New Year

As my gift to you, here is a magical link to beautiful high resolution images of Muchas Slav epic. My favorite art ever.

Merry Christmas

Cindy Loo Hoo

Facebook page

I've finally decided to broaden my footprint a little. I've got a new Facebook page just launched. Please come by and give it a like or follow or whatever. Hopefully it makes my art a little more accessible to some viewers.
Thanks

Spectrum 21 - Norm at a bar

I was pretty excited to get my Spectrum book the other day that contains this digital painting. I am honored to be amongst the fantastic artists. If you get the book you will notice it printed pretty dark but all the same I am pleased to have something in there.

I was not previously aware of the artist Norman Lindsay but I loved his picture when I came across it in this post about him over at the Muddy Colors blog. I was browsing some of my own previous digital paintings and started to notice the missing random caricatures of late. If you follow the link I've followed my reference pretty closely but it was filled with such great shapes.

fig. 63

Conte on 18"x 24" paper

Masters of Anatomy - Last chance

Update-It's up! The Kickstarter page is live and looks like the books are getting snapped up fast.
There are even more artists then before, up to 100 now. A lot of talent.

I am excited to be contributing to a Kickstarter book called "Masters of Anatomy". It's a great idea that will be collecting anatomical male and female drawings based off of Andrew Loomis' ideal proportions from a bunch of really fantastic professional artists with a wide range of styles. Be sure to take a look at the list of talented they've got lined up Here.

waiting

A piece for The Weekly Standard. I had a little more time then the usual one day turn around on this, typically I get one real shot at the drawing but this time it wasn't quite there so I was happy to give it another try which turned out better.

fig.62

It's been a while since I had a figure drawing session. I have noticed I get some pretty good drawings after a break. I think it gives me time to stop over thinking the drawings and lets the natural drawing take charge again, hopefully with some improvements gained through the months of struggle.

It is really hard to draw a face/head when it is upside down. After a couple failed attempts I had to spin my large drawing pad around to work out the face structure straight up before moving on.

Nu Pastel on paper 18"x24"

A guy named Red

 

A drawing from the sketchbook. I liked the head but I think I was loosing my focus as I moved down as it got late last night and the it gets less successful as it approaches the bottom, then by the typewriter it's completely off the rails.

Figure 50

I am honored to be picked as the representative for a new website and painting competition called Figure 50. They have selected a figurative artists from each of the 50 states and I am presenting for Utah, which I think has a pretty good shape and location to frame my daughters portrait. They will decide on a new winner every 4 months starting Jan 1, 2014.

Also, here is a floating head as a offering from the sketchbook.

Scientist

Got to do this for The Weekly Standard this a couple days ago. Imagine it a little more green but Blogger seems to have trouble with the colors so I had to dumb it down a lot.

Sherlock and/or Khan

Pick your preference.

Jungle Book

A submission to the Avalanche blog in hopes of rescuing it from it's death throes. Always loved those classic Disney boy movies like Jungle Book.

sketch #78

A little drawing. the format worked a bit better in my sketchbook then on a blog. It's about 12" tall. Done from a full photograph so it's a little tricky deciding what to include and what to leave out. Enjoy.

homestead

Painted

Finally, a painting to post. I typically feel like coming up with the an idea is the hardest part of doing a painting in a lot of ways. Fortunately in this case I had this nice drawing I did recently just waiting to be painted. The reference pictures I took were done in black and white so I had to make them up but I am satisfied with the results.

16" x 20" Oil on canvas

sketchbook #78

Todays

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.