after Fechin 2

I was looking at some more fantastic drawings of Nicholi Fechin. This is based off one of them, I was trying to copy his long beautiful flowing lines.


Sometimes when I draw, I enjoy ignoring the overall perportions, not really characature just being loose with the shapes. But, this is the lazy way to draw. You need to be careful with it because it's easy to stop measuring and let it become a bad habit.

slouching figure

This figure drawing is a couple years old but I have always really liked it. It is quick and loose but the model really had that slouch that I think is conveyed naturally.

No one ever does figure drawings in these kind of stale, realistic poses. But I like them.

Teddy

An rush illustration done for this weeks The Weekly Standard magazine. I'm glad it was Teddy Roosevelt because its easy to identify him and I thought the idea was great.

Harry Reid is my homeboy

And really, who doesn't like Harry Reid?
A little bit different style here a lot quicker but I like it. It is harder to get a good likeness when you have a lot less detail to use(maybe).

Lines (in progress)

A new painting I have been working on. I thought I would try a more linebased style patterned after Joshua Middleton. It's really heavy on the dramatic lines and I plan some more muted color work underneath.
Again my wife gets to be the model, stay tuned.

figure #19

A recent figure drawing, I focused on the face and got a decent likeness.

Mustache

Check out that mustache.

catalogs

This is a drawing done from a nice pic I found in a catalog. There is nothing better then a little good drawing practice if you don't have good reference I recommend using a magazine or catalog.

Snow monster

This was done for the Avalanche blog, I really tried to push the painting toward completion. I think I have trouble finishing entirely, and it makes a huge difference to have a strong background. I wonder if I should have put more time into the drawing and composition though. I'm not sure I am totally pleased, and it gets hard to finish unless you are sure your happy with it.

And now for something completely different

I think this will be my inaugural insect post. A sketchbook drawing pencil on paper maybe 4".

While visiting Prague and the Alphonse Mucha museum, I saw a breathtaking pencil drawing he had done of berries and leaves. It was so simple but so well done and meticulously detailed. I tried to follow that lead with this bug but my lines are nowhere near as perfect as Mucha's.

Winter

Finally, an oil painting. And a landscape at that. This is a horrible digital image that I will fix eventually, but for now this is what I have.

figure #17

A figure drawing, offered without comment.

The ONE

I did this one special for my sister.
Visit her blog, she is an extremely talented artist but isn't sure she wants to pursue it. At only 17 she's great and will only get better, I like the cupid drawing. I am sure she would love to hear your comments.
I tried to think of some symbol for the scarf thing but couldn't think of anything, what would represent the state? Any other ideas?

Obligatory Thom York drawing

One right of passage of every young artist is a crazy drawing/painting/installation of Thom York the singer of Radiohead. His music is just too inspiring, and his face to interesting to pass up. Here's a nice one by Jason Seiler.

If you want a challenge with your drawings, try human faces that are upside down or at an odd angle. It forces you to measure and makes it hard to use some of the crutches that you may have unknowingly developed. There are also subtle distortions that I notice consistently reappearing in my drawings. I've always wondered if that had some relation to the dimensions of my face. Maybe you've heard the Leonardo/Mona Lisa speculation. I've learned a periodic return to more precise measuring helps me recognize these flaws and adjust accordingly.

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.

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 8?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.