Remember

For all the men and women who fought for this country, for our freedoms and for our shared ideals.  Thank you.

Hmmm...

This one has me confused.  I really liked it as I was doing it and I was paying closed attention to proportion and and all, yet the finish is nothing to write home about.  I'm going to lay blame on the unfinished face and the strange absence of her long hair.

Line of reasoning

Very happy with this one.  Sure, it won't hang on any walls but the freedom and expression of the linework really struck me.  My favorite is the little squiggle for the foot, done as Dave called time.  Heh

Sketchy little scratchings

I felt pretty good last night. Sara does such a good job and it really pays to have a familiarity with the model. As the week progresses I hope you will agree with this assessment.

Last of the session

I was pretty happy with this one as well. Good way to end the night, with two decent pieces under my belt. Then it was off to Jake's. Ah, life is good.

At last...

one that I am happy with. I really like the gestural nature of the pose, the combination of line and shading along with the focus on the arm in the foreground and the indistinct rendering of the head. Yep, I like this one.

Looking over his shoulder

The full figure drawing is a fifteen minute pose.  Both of these are done in conté crayon and neither one is particularly well done.  I got lazy and blocky and I'm not sure why, just not real happy with either of them.

Cast Shadow

I enjoyed rendering this particular piece. The mass on mass effect on the lighting made it interesting to draw, I'm not sure it's a very interesting piece to view.

Arms race

Which, apparently, I lost.  A couple more minutes & I probably would have made the transition into the chest a little bit and brought the drawing together better.  But I still like the structure of the figure and the focus on the right arm.

chunk o' charcoal

Just using a large piece of vine charcoal to get large sweeps of tone.  A little tougher to work on the face this way but I persevered anyhow.  I like doing this sometimes as it keeps me from getting, as they say, too "fussy".  

Finally!

Back to live drawing. A bit rusty, as you'll be able to tell. But it sure felt good to get back to it. Now to finish the four miniature paintings...

The many faces of Solo

Hopefully the last of the old stuff for awhile. Back to drawing tonight.

Family Skywalker

From Galaxy 4.

The many faces of Indy

Characters of the Jones saga

More Topps. I like the simple lines and the "sketch" aspect of these cards.

Not in a good mood

Hence, I post a card of one of my least liked characters in all of the series, if not moviedom itself.  Probably why I didn't do such a great job on the sketch.

Topps o' the mornin'

I've probably used that one before and it wasn't clever then either.  Eh, my blog...

Sticking with the old stuff

Had some other obligations and missed last night with the Black Hand Group. So I have another week with old scribblings to post.

Secondary characters

Some Topps cards using the folk that populate the stories in a relatively minor way.

Good bye, Frank Frazetta

Still sad about Frank. I didn't realize just how much influence he had on me. I'm also very disappointed in how little his passing was reported in the news. No respect.

This is a piece that went up for auction May 5. I can only be cynical and think how the seller is smiling ear to ear at how much this will increase in value a mere five days after it failed to sell. I really shouldn't have such negative thoughts about the human condition, but I'm not feeling the love. Frank deserves so much more.

In memory of Frank Frazetta

Frank Frazetta passed yesterday at the age of 82. What he left behind is a legacy that probably can never be fully understood. I can only speak of what he meant in my artistic life. He was a contemporary of Al Williamson, a man who made a tremendous impression on me both artistically and personally. Al & Frank were part of a select group of young artists who helped create some of the most influential body of comic work ever seen. While Al remained in the field to craft some of the greatest comics ever, Frank moved on to single handedly reinvent the paperback book industry. Okay, I'm sure there were others but Frank and his fantastic images have often been credited with moving more paperbacks than any other artist. This brought fantasy art into the mainstream. The other artist that has had a massive impact on me is Jeff Jones. Without Frank, Jeff may never have developed the style that became a staple of the 70's. Perhaps Jeff would have simply become a fantastic fine artist, but that is only speculation and because Frank blazed the trail we now have some of the most beautiful, in my opinion, art ever created.

Frank influenced so many artists that to count them would be futile. I only hope that one day the rest of the art world realizes that this man was one of the most important artists of the 20th century. If I have my say, he was one of the most important artists of any century.

Recline

Last drawing from the session last week. New drawings (hopefully) Friday. I'll fill the space with older stuff in the meantime.

Happy Mother's Day...

to any moms who may pop in.  As a son myself I am grateful for all of the sacrifices my mom made and wish I could truly say I know how hard it is to raise a brood.  Alas, I can't say that.  I can only say that I wouldn't be where I am without my mom behind me.  Thank you to all the mothers who have had a hand in making the good people in my life who they are.  Again, Happy Mother's Day.

Not quite sure

of how I feel about this one.  I spent way too much time on the hand and I don't think that I had gotten the dimensions right.  Still, there are some things that I really like about this one so I won't call this a complete loss.

A bit of a departure

Strictly linear. I really like this one and kind of surprised myself with how easily this came together. A good warm up to the pin up projects I have planned.

A Bum Drawing

I crack myself up. Thankfully there aren't that many who drop in so I don't have to hear about my sense of humor (or lack thereof). This pose afforded me the opportunity to right the sinking ship of the last two drawings. I just wanted to get a study done that had as few errors as possible and a premium on structure.

I ask myself "Why put up drawings that make you cringe?". This is one of those drawings. I started with the arm and then went on to the head. I misjudged the proportions (badly) and the foreshortening on the arm did not help. It was like a car wreck and I just couldn't get the vehicle to stop flipping over as it careened down a steep cliff. Why do I put these images up for anyone and their mother to see? Because they (hopefully) serve as reminders to never take my mind out of what I am doing, to be more focused and responsible for the marks I make. Sound a bit dramatic? Well, it's important to me and that's why I sometimes have to be brutally honest with my failures as well as my successes.

Cold shoulder

I really struggled with this one. It should have been very easy but it just turned out to be a bit of a mess. I believe the next one was a problem as well. Such is life.

Shadow of the Cat

Heh. A nod to my comic book upbringing. I like this one. Simple and standard but the shadow makes it a bit more interesting than usual.

A little rough

This had potential but I didn't think it through from the start.  Not unusual for the first drawing of the night.  I really liked the cast shadows that were so distinctive during this session.

A second "gesture" of good will

Tomorrow I'll post a "finished" drawing.