Last post of 2011

See all y'all Tuesday.

Pensive thoughts, mayhaps?

I was very much enjoying the process of this head study. I started using a lineal hatching technique for a bit around the mouth. Thoroughly enjoyable.

At last

Finally, one I am reasonably happy with. It took most of the night but this one and the last one (soon to be posted) are drawings I'm not upset about. I'm not sure if that is a good way of viewing one's own work but that seems to be my measuring stick.

Back to work

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and that the last few days of 2011 are relaxing and fun.
Let's get back to the last drawings from a couple of weeks ago. I liked this pose, just not how I drew it.

Merry Christmas

And to all a good night. See ya on Tuesday.

What I do during the day

Our company, Epic Software, has been approved for our line games to be available for the January 1st statewide opening. This is an early version of the top screen art from one of my games. Just thought I'd change it up a bit today.

Wondering what Christmas holds, perhaps?

I started to enjoy this drawing because of the little things such as the left arm receding from sight and the right hand with its curled little finger. When I get caught up in such things the overall drawing tends to suffer. But hey, I had fun messin' it up.

Back to the draw'rings

Lot's of marks with very little result. Again being rusty really sucks. I do like the lower portion of the figure in this one.

No art today

I'm in mourning for the perfect season. Sigh

Simple is as simple does

Just started with a simple line and never looked back. I did make a proportion change late in the pose but I didn't feel it necessary to take that out of the drawing. I like seeing the process.

RIP Eduardo Barreto

Eduardo Barreto died yesterday. Many who come to this site may not know who he is but he was the artist on the comic book series "The Shadow Strikes", my favorite incarnation of The Shadow in comic book form. I've copied a obituary from The Comic Book Catacombs below. I really loved the work he did and feel a loss today.

Born in Uruguay, artist Eduardo Barreto made his name on DC Comics series like The New Teen Titans, Atari Force, The Shadow Strikes, and on specialty issues such as DC Comics Presents Annual #4 (1985). He drew Elvira, Mistress of the Dark for Claypool Comics; and The Long Haul for OniPress; and for Marvel he drew Marvel Knights. In 2006, Barreto took on artist duties for the syndicated comic strip Judge Parker from Harold Ledoux. Shortly afterward, he was involved in a serious car accident and was in the hospital for a few weeks, which left him unable to draw Judge Parker; others took on the responsibilities. He resumed his work, but in 2010, Barreto contracted meningitis, which finally forced him to stop drawing the strip, although he continued working on other projects such as a recent Captain Action Special and on July 31, 2011, Baretto became the artist for the Sunday comic strip, The Phantom. He passed away today at the age of fifty-seven.

Simple yet...

I find the basic shapes pleasing. I think I was a bit cautious in the beginning of this session. Not wanting to make a misstep. When I mess up early it sometimes becomes nearly impossible to calm down and kick out better work. So I just gave myself permission to work a little more slowly than usual.

Getting back into it

It takes a bit to get the flow back. I suppose all of the Santa Claus and wildlife drawings I've been doing have kept my hand and eye a bit more honed than if I had just not drawn for weeks at a time. However, nothing can replace the challenge of drawing from life.

Last of the gestures

Started to get in the groove on these last three. I really like what was happening with the lower left gesture.

More gestures

Seems I went a bit Klimt-ish on this page. Not sure why, perhaps because I grabbed a conte crayon after starting with charcoal.

Gonna stretch these as far as I can

Therefore, no posts this weekend. If I somehow find a stash of decent drawings I'll loosen up a bit. Thanks for dropping in and checking out the work.

Gonna take it slow

I have to milk all of these images since I don't think I'll be drawing the rest of the month, at least life drawing. Here is the first set of gestures (1 of 3).

I always liked this one

Natural pose, a bit of story being related through the tilt of her head. I also like how I rendered this one.

Another oldie

New ones coming soon.

More from the recent past

Going over some of the older stuff puts me in the right frame of mind to draw this week. It has been so long and I hope I'm not out of shape (artistically).

One of my favorites

Going back a bit and replaying some of my faves. I love the shadows in this one, creating a very graphic and almost illustrative look.

Blissfully unaware

That is how I choose to be today, since I think I've already posted this particular drawing. Oh, well, at least it's competent in it's execution.

Running low

The situation I face with The Black Hand Group having our location constantly yanked away from us has caused me to run low on images I haven't posted. I'll start going through some of the older stuff again. Perhaps I'll start comparing recent images versus older work sharing the same pose to see the growth or regression I have gone through.

One more day of being a proud grandpa

All three of my grandkids. Lots o' fun for the next few years, fo' sho.

Meet Aiden Joseph

My third grandchild, Aiden Joseph Grier. Weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz and measuring 20 inches he has already brought a lot of smiles to this grumpy old countenance.

Statuesque

I really like this drawing, if only for the simple gesture lines of the left leg. The fluid nature of the strokes really appeals to me.

Another one from the vault

Kind of how I feel this morning. Like I have no head on my shoulders.

Santa for the Moss

This is a piece I just finished for a raffle at the Moss Mansion this Saturday. They wanted Santa in front of one of their many fireplaces and so...

Sumpin' not too old

Sara. I always find interesting aspects to draw when she models. This was done in August, when we were still meeting regularly. Hopefully we will get back on track on the 8th.

Turkey Coma

Too much food with the family. Still groggy from the turkey and pie and stuffing and potatoes and cranberry and... well, you get the picture. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hopefully everyone takes the time to reflect on the blessings that are a part of each of our lives.

Hmmph

Looks like Sara just wants us to go away and let her sleep. I love the way her left arm compresses her torso and creates the intriguing line work.

Smaller version

I posted a larger, more finished version of this one earlier. Hope you don't mind.

Old stuff

This is from my days drawing at the college (not when I was in college, but the local University let us run the original life drawing out of their art department).

Goodbye Sheila

Late Thursday evening our art community lost a truly talented member, Sheila Rieman. I want to convey my deepest sympathies to Pete and to all of Sheila's family. We are all very saddened by this sudden and tragic loss.

Last life drawing for awhile

We've been having issues with the location we use recently. It's really messing with my group and we are now focusing on our options. Here in Billings, there aren't that many. However, if I want to keep the Black Hand Group going it looks as if we will have to be thinking outside of the box.
As to the above drawing? Wish it were better. 'nuff said.

Probably the best of the afternoon

If you check out the comments yesterday you can apply them here. This drawing has both the loose elements and the tightly rendered sections. Actually, this is my favorite type of image (at least of my own images) where one can focus on a particular area of the piece.

Another view

As I said Monday, I drew the same pose from different vantage points. I found that, depending on angle, my technique changed. The face asked for a more delineated and delicate touch while the above angle seemed to need a less refined approach. Of course, for those of you who have followed my postings, this comes as no surprise since my drawings seem to jump all over the place depending on my interest level.

Overworked

Sometimes I just can't get out of my own way. I like the drawing, it's just not what I was trying for.

Back to figure

I wish I could say that it was a rousing success, but it was only so so. Such a shame since Amber is such a great model. We actually only used one pose so I moved around a bit. When you haven't drawn from life for such a long time it seems you either knock it out of the park or just can't get out of neutral. I pretty much just spun my wheels yesterday. This was the first drawing.

'tis the Season

Too lazy to take pics of the drawings I did today. Here's another Santa.

Art for the Ages quick draw auction piece

I participated in the quick draw along with three other artists last night. This is the piece, "Last Monarch", that resulted. I spent about an hour on it, something I'm not accustomed to doing. It did afford me the time to walk away and stand back to see how it was coming out; again, something I'm not used to doing. I did not, however, stay for the auction. I just can't stomach watching my work be bid on. I'm told it went over well so that makes me happy.

Veteran's Day 2011

Obviously not mine. Let's give thanks to the men and women who have done so much to give us the lives we, quite often, take for granted.

Getting back to the figure

I'll be getting some new stuff done this weekend. This was from our last session a couple weeks ago. I sort of like the linear nature of this one even if I didn't finish the face.

Challenger

The second of the entries. It looks to be a good show. I was impressed by the quality of art that was submitted to "Art For The Ages".

Call of the Wild

One of my entries into an annual art show here in town. I've posted "Wildfire" before and I will post the third tomorrow once I take a better shot of it.

Did this last night

Not sure I'll post the other one I did last night, though.

Dreamin' of the fat man

Another Claus sketch, this one is 4 x 4.

Study in shading

Another of those snippet drawings that I love so much. So many shapes, so little time.

Lost opportunity

A good start to what could have been a fairly decent drawing. I'm happy with the proportions and the pose, just not happy with the lack of time to finish.

Back to bodies

An odd one for me. I usually don't leave the hard edges to my shadows making this image look more graphic than I normally draw (at least for a life drawing).

Ho Ho Huh?

Sheesh, it's only November 1. It's going to be a long road to Christmas.

Happy Halloween

A frighteningly bad drawing to celebrate the scariest day of the year. (aside from April 15th)

'tis the season

So in the interests of preserving what few drawings I have left (since we may not be meeting for the entire month of November) I'm going to put up some drawings that I am doing for our store's annual Christmas push. Seems that the little charcoal sketches I did to fill frames we were selling became more popular than the frames and now it is expected when Christmas time arrives (the day, or more correctly, second that Halloween is over. Don't get me going on this subject...) that there are 20 or more Santa Claus drawings on display. I'll get started with this one. Enjoy.