Random bit o' randomness

Drew this in between drawing... y'know, serious stuff, so I could try a coloring technique in Photoshop (toning in pencil, and coloring in PS with a "color" layer). The coloring didn't work so well (too much white in the image; the pencils need a good smearing first, I've learned), but I still like the drawing.




It's not really done yet (the aforementioned smudging, along with fleshing out the supporting character), but... y'know, the blog's called "work in progress", not "here's some finished stuff I did." :)



-- Cristian

I have this little notebook I use to write story ideas or scenes on the bus; as I've mentioned, I usually sketch a bit to get the creative juices flowing. These are some of the characters I sketch in the notebook to get the ideas going.




If you can't read my chickenscratch writing, the names are, starting from the top-left and going counterclockwise, Scamper, Spud, Fray, Dog and Yui.


Don't ask.



-- Cristian

In the interest of posting more than once every 8 weeks or so (and for a better reason than to avoid the threat of physical violence), here's some stuff I've worked on this week.

Miscellaneous sketches for my Figure Drawing for Animation class (which became a lot easier when we were told our sketchbooks could include characters we made up, rather than just sketches from a model). . . .




In addition to drawing, I also write a lot (or try to, when I'm in school), and somehow, sketching helps me brainstorm. Something about drawing characters, places, things that helps make everything just a little bit more real. Like drawing a character's face and, on a whim, giving her scars. Then wondering, How did she get those? Who gave them to her? What if it was someone she was related to. . . . ?

Anyway, it doesn't always work, but sometimes it's that little push I need to crank out a couple thousand words when I should be doing homework instead.



Here's that same moody girl with a big ol' shiny sword.




Miscellaneous characters:








And a few sketches for Costumed Figure Drawing for Animation.

As usual, I've been doing a lot of drawing, but have been lax with the posts.

To make up for it, here's an extra-long dump of images I've done for my Costumed Figure Drawing class.


The point of the class is that we sketch from a model (or, rarely, from a set of images if a model doesn't show), then take one of these sketches to a finish.

First week, sans model, we worked from images, and the final illustrations were to be done of images provided to us:



and

.


In sketching these, I tried to play around with the form, but was somewhat constrained by the (ultimately false) notion that the final results had to look like the source image.




After a while, I found a pose I was most comfortable with, and did a somewhat-detailed study.




After which I took it to the final illustration.




Likewise for the first image, I started with a few pages of loose sketches (which span 3 different sketchbooks and miscellaneous sheets of paper, which weren't scanned or posted here), and ended with a study I was happy with.




Which led to the final image.





The results are two of the weaker pieces in this class, I think, as I was just getting a handle on what was expected of us.


Third week (second week off), we had a model with some creative costumes and fun poses.








In deciding which of these to take to a final illustration, I tried to play around with each pose, and see which was most fun to bend and pose and reshape in more interesting ways.







Ultimately, I went with the bottom-right sketch on this page, which is a variation on poses that had popped up in previous sketches. There are technically better or more interesting sketches on other pages, but this was pose that interested me the most.





For the final, I played with acrylic ink and nearly half a can of compressed air, but the result is a trippy mess I'm pretty happy with. Splotches and splashes -- and accidental ink messes on my desk I refuse to clean up because they looks so damn great -- always fascinate me, to a degree.






Fourth week, our model not only had a nun outfit (with a lot of very interesting folds all over the place), but she had a gypsy wench costume. I'm gonna say that again, just because it's fun to say. Gypsy. Wench.

But we started with the nun, which was an interesting change of pace. The 3rd week model had some interesting props, but these outfits -- and her poses, which tended to relate to what she was wearing -- really sparked my imagination.







She did a pose where the white veil fell across her back and was lit by a light from the side; it looked really great, but the corresponding sketch doesn't really relate that. Later, I might go back and try to get the folds to read better (this was before we did our lecture on folds), but for now, this is what I have.




Then, of course, the gypsy wench. Very creative, lots of fun to draw. And say.




I really like the folds on this top-right sketch.




Sketches where I use ink for the first time. These came out pretty well, I thought. I was better than I thought I'd be at sketching with crow-quill pens.






She had some really great props (giant ale mug, rosary beads, and a human skull) which just made the final project more of a blast. The best projects for me are ones in which I get to tell a story of some kind, and the allure of drawing a drunk gypsy woman getting angry at a skull (probably of someone she killed, I tell myself) was too much to pass up.




(again, the ink splatters. Love 'em.)






The result is an illustration I hoped would look like something out of a comic book. I think I succeeded, for the most part. Dark and moody, but still kinda funny.





Our week 5 model was a yogi, I think, but though he pulled off some amazing poses near the end, he started out a bit stiff, and awkward. Nervous, maybe? =/





But he rallied, and his last handful of poses were a lot of fun.







Sketching started out pretty mundanely, but I quickly clued into this exaggerated foreshortening that I really dug. It, along with the pose I chose (which didn't seem that great in real life, but got more and more interesting as I drew it again and again), and the point of view strongly hint at a deeper story, I thought.




So I tried to develop it a little more.




And, being pretty happy with it, tried to come up with an interesting surrounding.




God, the ink splotches. I dig 'em, man. Fun to make, fun to look at. But, ultimately, too busy. I'd done crazy inks on the previous illustration, and didn't want to repeat myself. So I went with a simple graphic design to establish the figure in a space, and finished there.





Whoo boy. Long post.

Hopefully people are still reading.

In the future, I'll try not to stay away for so long.



-- Cristian

Ballerinas (ballerinae? Ballerinuses?) ... ballet dancers *firm nod*

For some reason, I've been sketching ballerinas all day. And on a whim, I took one of these to a watercolor finish.





Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I'd sketched it, inked it, painted it, and inked it again (note to self: watercolor and gouache layered over ink is a bad idea) that I thought, hey you know what would've made for a better pose? Almost anything else. /=\

Well. Lesson learned.

On the left are some quick studies for a more dynamic pose, along with (for some reason) a colored shoulder/bicep study.




Cristian.

Portrait practice

I've never been great with portraits; drawing people, whether it's cartoony or semi-real, presents its own challenges each time, but is easy by comparison.

That said, I'm pretty thrilled with how this came out. Even working from a photograph (which is considerably easier than working from a live model, since you can take as long as you want without the subject moving or getting bored), this went wrong from the beginning. But I managed to pull it around, and came out with something I'm pretty happy with.




A couple of in-progress shots.... I keep meaning to take more of these, but it always slips my mind until I'm nearly done. =/







Also, my niece, Odelia. "Leah" for short... or so I keep trying to convince her parents. =P








That's it for now, but I've been doing a lot of drawing lately (if not necessarily a lot of posting*), so there will be more updates soon.

*-- to make up for sparse posting, here's some cute piglets with wings. Enjoy.

Sketchbook Dump

School's keeping me nice and busy, but I have nothing but time on the bus. Here's couple of things I"ve done this week:


You don't see many dogs on the bus, but when I do, I like to try and sketch them. Animals aren't my strong suit, but they're still a lot of fun.

This one would not STOP MOVING, but I did my best.

I think the one in the middle's my favorite.



Old people usually sit really still, and so make perfect subjects.



This one was interesting to do. I started with the rightmost figure, and decided on a whim to keep going to the left. Similarly on a whim, I decided to see if I couldn't indicate distance with nothing but ink wash (after I'd done the man in the middle, which is why I think he competes for attention with the subject on the right). It was an interesting exercise; one I should try again a little more purposefully.




That's all for now, but I'll upload some school stuff later in the week, I think.


Until then.

-- Cristian