Astronauts

Some small drawings that I'll be painting this week.

Eyeballs

M-M-M-MEGA POST

Yes, I have been slacking in posts (thanks Game of Thrones, which is oh so good).

First, the rough and final watercolor I did for my Grandmother's 80th Birthday.

Next, the train image that I have been sitting on to post. I should probably darken the lights receding in the background some.

And finally, an outer space painting that I need to finish very soon.

More sketches

What a fantastic and all too brief time I had in Texas. Hard to get back to "real life" after a vacation.

Sketches

Busy busy, big post coming soon.

WIP

Paint more.

Choo Choo

A (tighter) drawing for a comp that I will start painting.

Costume

~2 hrs.

Last thumbnails

Okay, time to start nailing this down. Very excited about this one. :)

Bottom left is the image I'm going to paint, and it will be more horizontal to the right to give it some breathing room.

Happy Friday

Thumbnails

Done at Peet's Coffee & Tea. I'm going to further develop far right one on the second row from the top.

I had an all too brief one on one conversation with my (guessing) 70 year old teacher today. He graduated from Art Center years ago and was saying how difficult it was for him to get a job, much less get a good portfolio, although I'm sure he was being modest about that last part. It wasn't until he got serious around his age at 35 when doors started opening for him, and now the guy is a complete rockstar artist - he demoed for 3 hours today without taking a break, and what he's brought in is amazing.

But hearing his struggles about leaving the student life and entering the professional world was just what I needed to hear after last night. One of my classmates several months ago made an offhand comment about how you must be obsessed with this career to make it - that really stuck with me. It's not easy; but then nothing in life that's really worth it is.

Deep thought for the night.

Quick sketches

5 - 15 min.

"Don't cut your toe before going hiking." I'll do my best.

Rose Byrne

"Only dream I ever have...is it the surface of the sun? Every time I shut my eyes...it's always the same."

Classes start tomorrow, thank goodness. I also just finished James Gurney's book Imaginative Realism (which was great....I know, big surprise there), and am ready to jump into Color and Light tomorrow.

Horse studies

My friend Kristen Houser bought me a book on horses for my birthday last year, and I have been trying to get some studies down since horses are so very hard to draw accurately. Here's some quick sketches.

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill

Progress 2

"If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead!"

Progress

Her shirt was an exercise in patience. -_-

I think (hope) that everything else should go smoothly after that.

New portrait

Obviously very early, but I'm going to try and finish this one quickly. I'll probably be a little burned out on B&W portrait studies for a little while after this.

Quick drawings

I need to draw more.

El Duderino

If you're into the whole brevity thing.

The beard was definitely experimentation - a lot of washes, and a lot of squinting, but I think it came out ok. I've got one more portrait I'd like to do, but I really need to get started on some color (!) comps for portfolio work, so it will be a balancing act. :)

And yesterday I celebrated that I have only one (1!) more year until I can legally rent a car, woooo.

Also! I saw a pretty cool idea from a Cal Arts student's blog I was looking through, that asks you to fill squares with what has influenced you...or just what you like. I didn't give it too much thought, but I think this is pretty close.

Leyendecker / Cloth study

To be honest, out of all the examples we could choose from, I'm not sure why I picked a Leyendecker; I'm not in any position to call it out, but his stuff doesn't really do it for me. :/

"It's not what you look at that matters...

...It's what you see."

And I can see that his beard is going to give me grief.

More gestures

Some gesture drawings from Saturday.

Two of the drawings above are from my teacher, Jeff Watts (the two figures in the middle row from the right). I've never seen someone have such a command on figure drawing and gestural drawing; almost intimidating. He really has turned it into a fine art, and there are plenty more drawings on the wall at the school. I was blown away the first time I saw them, and pretty much knew then and there that this was where I needed to be.

Below, more gesture drawings. The figure on the far right at the top, I have no idea how I pulled that off. Something Jeff said that stuck with me is that it is your brain giving you a preview of where more training will take you. I'm certainly not there yet consistently, but still working on it. One more week until classes are over, and while I'm enjoying them, I'm ready to take a break and apply what I've learned towards my portfolio. For now, back to working on The Dude.

Abide

I have been slacking in posts; need to scan and piece together lots of stuff. For now, here's another WIP.

Interview tomorrow. Eep.

Gestures

Far and away the hardest skill for me (and probably just about anyone) would be gesture drawing. It requires a great deal of dexterity, anatomy knowledge, and speed. All throughout my years in schooling I've had trouble with it, and still do, but I'm going to post some drawings anyway. The method taught at Watts Atelier is significantly different from that at CSULB, so it's a bit of an adjustment for me but with more practice and studying I'm sure I will get better. Some of these are already looking halfway decent, but I know I have a long road ahead.

(That figure by herself was drawn by one of my instructors, Erik Gist. Gives you an idea of the height I'm reaching for.)

(Most of these were 2 minutes.)

Just kidding, not all of these are gestures. This was done Friday night, while I was battling food poisoning? At least, something was not sitting well at all, so I never got to really sit down with it as much as I'd have liked. Still, I told myself I post whatever I drew that night.

Practice, practice, practice.

Finishing touches

Still some things to correct and smooth over here and there, but it's just about done.

They heard me singing and they told me to stop,

Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock,

These days, my life, I feel it has no purpose,

But late at night the feelings swim to the surface.

Cause on the surface the city lights shine,

They're calling at me, "come and find your kind."

EDIT: This is too amazing not to share, in time for The Legend of Zelda's 25th Anniversary.

http://i.imgur.com/sj4Vy.jpg

Progress

It's (past) time to kick this painting into high gear and get it out so I can start another one.

I'm daily reminded and humbled in class just how many thousands of hours I still have ahead of me to get where it is I want to go. Miles and miles...

More anatomy studies

And yes, these are females again. The reason why? It's easier to understand what's going on here as opposed to drawing muscular men, with shape on top of shape and muscle on top of muscle. It just gets bizarre and pretty gross, unless you're drawing the Hulk or something.

Vasquez Rocks

My friend Alex Rico organized an art day yesterday at the Vasquez Rocks in the Santa Clarita Valley, where we hiked, drew, and painted. It was an amazing experience with the most perfect conditions, and really reminded me why I love doing what it is I do. All of us that went had tons of fun.

That said, here are some little gouache comps that I did after our hike.