Life drawing again

Again, it's been ages since I posted anything and ages since I did any drawing for that matter which is why I'm making an effort to get back into it again. Whenever I take a break from it all, I seem to miss it or think about all the things I'd like to be drawing so the only cure is to jump back on the horse and do some stuff, no matter how dodgy it is!

Over the last three weeks, I've been heading to life drawing sessions held at a pub in town. The atmosphere is very casual, there is no instructor or lesson format, it's just people turning up who like to draw the figure with beer, wine, snacks, great music and, in my case, a decent cuppa! I need to focus on getting proportion right but mostly just trying to get my style and technique more refined.

Last week, I also went along to Dr Sketchy's Freak Show at a local bar. The costumes were brilliant as were the models who were mostly Burlesque dancers. There were also some seriously delicious cupcakes on the night! The only downside was the nature of the venue. The bar is right in the middle which made it difficult for 50+ people with sketch pads to navigate around the room and watch the acts & draw poses. The longest poses went for only 10 minutes which isn't long enough if you want to do a completed, detailed drawing. Besides that, it was a fun night and I find people watching is a highlight - 'is that guy here to draw or just to have a perv?' I'm pretty sure I'll go along to the next one too but just be a little more strategic about it. Pick out a fave model, sketch some poses then just super refine my favourite sketch looking back to the model for detail and give myself more time.

Enjoy these sketches and comments are most welcome!

Dr Sketchy

Life drawing at the pub

Life drawing at the pub

Life drawing at the pub

Liedekijn Illustration

First of all, it's been waaaaaaay too long since I last posted anything on this blog so I thought it was about time I got back into it again with a project I've been working on in January. This is an illustration for an upcoming exhibition at The Front Cafe and Gallery in Lyneham during March and April 2013. It's a group sequential exhibition based on the medieval Dutch/Flemish fairytale 'The Song of Heer Halewijn'. More detailed information can be found on the exhibition site, liedekijn.com

I was asked if I'd be interested in doing this illustration a few weeks ago when the original participant pulled out so I thought I'd give it a crack. Quite detailed descriptions of garments, characters and accessories were provided which required less reference material and meant I was able to come up with a drawing relatively quickly. Below are photos showing the process I went through to create the artwork from sketch to finish. I've only shown sections of the illustration as it hasn't been published or put on display yet. You'll just have to go along and check it out yourself or order a copy of the art book! It'll be fascinating seeing all the different interpretations and styles up on the wall together in the one place. I shall have to try to avoid comparing my artwork to those by others (creative types tend to all be guilty of that unfortunately!) 

Enjoy the journey!

I started with a detailed pencil sketch using a regular mechanical pencil.
I used reference material for the horse and face from 1920's images.

Once I was happy with the sketch, I got to work on inking.
I got the thick, outline work done first using a calligraphy Copic marker.

More detailed line work was completed using a 0.05 Copic liner.
I created a border in the style of Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale
around the centre image to bind the illustration together.

The border was inked using the calligraphy marker around the edges
and the fine liner for the detail work. Pencils were erased.

Once I was happy with the illustration, I then scanned it on a flat bed scanner
at 1200dpi to pick up the detail and cleaned up any marks and
line work I wasn't happy with in Photoshop.

...and the finishing up! I took the scan into InDesign where I added colour in various layers.
The overall illustration has a classic comic book look and feel. A style that I keep coming back to.

2012 Sketchbook Project

Welcome to my first post for 2012! Today, I finally posted my Sketchbook Project sketchbook to the Brooklyn Art Library which will arrive along with thousands of others from all over the world. I made sure the postmark was today since that's the official cut off, so technically, it's done and dusted. The only disappointing aspect for me is that I didn't get to complete all 32 pages of the book. I had grand plans for it when it arrived in my letterbox over a year ago but a few other things in life got in the way and it didn't quite turn out the way I imagined. It didn't help that my little booklet was slightly doomed! It went missing for a few months under a pile of stuff then, worst of all, it got damaged by oil after sitting alongside an oiled sheet of paper used for screen printing (see previous entry) which, in turn, left the barcode and sketchbook details blurred and unreadable! Not a good start.

I still carried on with it all the same as I felt I needed to fulfill a personal challenge. I ended up completing seven original comics and started a longer story which I ran out of time to complete due to other circumstances. So, although I'm partly disappointed with myself for not achieving the deadline set out for me, I'm also pretty impressed with the things I did achieve during a tough few months this year and last year. Below are a couple of samples of what I did get done and I hope to finish it all in my own good time! Enjoy!


The cover - A bit on the dodgy side! You can see the oil stains on the back cover which destroyed the text on the barcode sticker. Hopefully it can be replaced once it arrives. The cover would have been a lot more slick and refined had I given myself more than an hour or so in front of the telly...

 

Here is a sample of one of the stories inside. In the sketchbook, they're just black and white but I've scanned them all and added colour in InDesign. I just didn't have time to add colour to the images in the sketchbook and I'm not sure I could have done them justice if I tried anyway.





Finally, the last page in my sketchbook, the grovelling apology as to why my book is less than half finished :-(

Merry Lamb

I'm posting a few things I created for Uni assignment work completed in my final semester at the end of this year. This assignment was based on an identity for a baby and toddler wear brand (fictional). I created a retro style lamb logo, associated website homepage, swing tag, tshirt illustrations and even screen printed a couple of t-shirts as samples. It was a really enjoyable project to work on and it was particularly eye opening to find out just how much work is involved in screen printing your own tshirts!



The Merry Lamb logo uses a full colour illustration with hand rendered text below.



This little retro cowboy illustration was created as a possible tshirt design.



These are the two tshirts I printed at Megalo. The illustration is based on a painting I completed a few years ago.

Elizabeth Rohm Illustration

It's been waaaaaaaay too long since I last made a post and that's mainly because I've been busy doing uni assignments. Now that assignments are done and dusted, I can post up a few projects I've been working on. These illustrations are to accompany an article on Elizabeth Rohm (Angel, Law & Order) in the next issue of Lip magazine (http://lipmag.com/) I kept them in a comic book style as I think it suits the shows she appears in. I look forward to seeing how the magazine comes together with a collaboration of various different illustration styles and techniques.

GRAPHIC 2011 - Sydney Opera House, sketchnotes




Sketchnotes sample from 'Oz comics show and tell' panel

 



Sketchnotes sample from 'Oz comics show and tell' panel and my lunch break!

 
I had a fantastic weekend at GRAPHIC held at the Sydney Opera House. I found the weekend very inspiring and learnt heaps of tips and tricks for comic making. The panel was great this year, very engaging and added a voice to comics from their creators. I also joined Mandy Ords table for the 'Comic Making workshop' which eventually dwindled down to two participants since no-one was aware it was a 4 hour workshop and most folks had booked into another event at the same time. It was like a one on one tutorial (with two - ummmm) I got loads out of it including creating two A5 pages of a comic in half an hour which got the adreniline pumping! Mandy has those pages and might print them up into a mini comic and post a copy. If she has time! I imagine she'd be pretty busy with more serious comic making projects :-D The Gotye concert with accompanying animation was just brilliant! The new album has a very cruisy, layed back feel so think I'll be grabbing me a copy. I finished off the event with a Jim Woodring http://www.jimwoodring.com/ pen and ink workshop where we completed a few drills and got the basics on using nibs plus plenty of advice on the best nibs, paper, ink and reference materials to use. When I get a spare moment (!) I'll give it another shot. Can't wait for GRAPHIC to roll around again next year!

Illustration Friday - Obsession and Perennial



Obsession



Perennial

 I didn't quite get last weeks illustration finished in time so here it is with this weeks. A Perennial Hibiscus flower is worn in the hair of my retro style tattoo lady. 'Obsession' captures unrequited love. She'll continue picking the petals from daisies until she receives the answer she wants!