Artie and Merlo

The past two months, I've been drawing Artie and Merlo in some comics again. I haven't shown any online yet because I'm not confident enough to present any stories (one thing I need to work on!).

Additionally, I've been toying inking my comics first on bristol board, then printing the blacks onto a piece of watercolor paper. Printing onto watercolor paper does two good things. One is being able to fix any mistakes in the ink work before it goes to watercolor. Second is to make the blacks as uniform as possible, therefore easier to photoshop. The downside to scanning my inks first is that the drawing goes through two rounds of scanning, and therefore detail can be lost. My printer does a good job of not missing much detail when printing onto the watercolor paper, but the printed piece can look slightly off. Maybe it's be the entire drawing is in pure black than in the dark gray that normally happens to the ink.

Anyhows, enjoy!

Giraffes, Horses, Bears, Guys with Beards

 

I haven't been posting everyday like I've been trying to do. I have been busy sketching, doodling, and trying new things. Ultimately, I want to be able to draw consistently no matter when tools I use. And what makes a drawing loose compared to a tighter one is something I'm striving for. There's one page in which I drew with a bamboo pen. That forced me to be loose as the blunt instrument acts unexpectedly and I can't do any detail. Among bamboo pens, I used flexible pen nibs, stiff crow quill pens, and brushes. Last at the bottom is my favorite drawing. But that's the comic artist in me, and I love Calvin and Hobbes.

Matthew Cordell

This is an illustrator that I discovered a couple years ago, and have come back and revisited many more times. His pen and ink illustrations are an inspiration to me. What's EVEN better is that he shares his influences as well and his process! Here are a couple samples of his illustrations.

Practicing other Illustrators

  

 

I apologize to myself for the absence of posts. I celebrated my girlfriend's birthday, then got sick. Blah. Anyhow, the first two illustrations are illustrations that are not originally mine. The first is a Jack Kent illustration that I copied and the second is a Kelly Light illustration that I redrew. Back in college when I was learning from Tim Hamilton and Dean Haspiel at Deep6 studios, they told me to retrace (or redraw) artists I admire. It is a good lesson that I learned that day and still use today.

It's at a point now that consistently, I can mimic other artist's drawings on the spot. Which sometimes causes me to draw like that for a period of time until I revert back to my approach to drawing (which gets confusing!). At the end of the day, I am a firm believer in Chuck Jones' teacher when he says to toss out your first 100,000 drawings. Then you'll be a good animator or artist in this case.

Vintage Children's Books

I stumbled upon this recently and thought I'd share with everyone. It's a blog that has a huge treasure trove of old children's book illustrations. Almost an entry a day which is amazing! I realized that I've been spending my entire weekend looking at all these great illustrations, discovering new artists and seeing more of my favorites! I hope you enjoy (note: the website does take a while to load).

http://myvintagebookcollectioninblogform.blogspot.com/

And now a Quentin Blake illustration:

James Stevenson, Ronald Searle, and Myself

Lately, I've been looking at James Stevenson's artwork. I think the drawings that appeal to me most are his simple line drawings. There are many New Yorker cartoons from years past that are overkill to me. Yes, it's recognizably him and fabulous, but for my children's artwork, I find his simple line drawings more appealing.

Simplicity to me is very difficult. To make something off the cuff takes time and practice. Once in the while, I hit the mark while many other times, I'm off. An artist likes Patrick McDonnell always hits the mark with simplicity I believe. Quentin Blake is another artist that gets to the essence of the drawing (essence is a good word). So is James Stevenson's children's artwork.

So James Stevenson, myself, and Ronald (because Ronald Searle is crazy great and he draws awesome cats).

Mussorgsky

I once saw the New York Philharmonic perform Pictures at an Exhibition, and nothing compares to the grandiose finale. The first illustration is not Mussorgsky either, but it's inspired by his music.
The second illustration is not about Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. It's about an amazing, wonderful, stupendous, death-defying boy who knows no bounds!

For the Benefit of Mr. Kite

There will be a show tonight at Bishop's Gate.

New Sketches

I think that I am going to try black and white for a while. No color at this time since it's getting in my way. We'll see how it goes.

A Forest Scene

I really just wanted to draw a forest. It looks like something William Steig would do. I like.

A Sketch

Not a fan of this sketch. Just not what I imagined. Oh well. Tomorrow.

Claude Debussy

One thing I wish I learned growing up was the piano. Both my sisters did, but not me. I have a sneaking suspicion that my parents did not want to deal with any more horrible noise filling up the house.

But I love what can be done on the instrument. One composer in particular I especially love is Claude Debussy. His music was the bridge from late romanticism to modernism. Sounds technical right? It is.  What I love is the airiness in his work. How the melody sweeps and swoops and is not weighed down by chords or harmony. It feels very liberating. You should listen (p.s. don't mind the frilly flower picture, the music's better).

From those notes, I decided to draw someone playing a piano with the same energy. My first take was way overdone. It's important to know when to stop drawing as opposed to continue drawing.

The Vet