Something different

I did this Jim Aparo swipe/knockoff/homage as a commission for a mother's son, a returning Vet.  Lot of fun to do.  I'd like to say I learned a lot but the brilliance of Aparo so far eludes me.  The ease with which he creates the dynamics of the pose and the simplification of the figure that looks so detailed is just AWESOME!  Wish I had one of my Windsor Newton brushes to ink with and if this had been on Bristol board and... well, you get the idea.  Overall I'm happy and I hope the recipient is happy.

My favorite Al Williamson sketch

Another that he doodled while bringing his brush to a point.  These sketches made such an impact on me that when I do work with a brush, this is how I do it as well.  The fluid lines and the posture and gesture of the figure just makes me jealous.  And inspired.

THIS is how you bring your brush to a point!!!

I watched him warming up and bringing his brush to a point by doing a beautiful little sketch. Tomorrow I'll post my favorite of the sketches I have.

Al's version of "Gladiator"

Another little sketch by the great Al Williamson.

Another Al BatMan sketch

I'm not sure if this was over my pencils or just one of Al's quick doodles. Either way, Al hadn't done much BatMan work so I feel privileged to have as many as I do. Would love to have seen him do a weekly BatMan strip ala Secret Agent Corrigan. What could have been...

Al-ien sketch

Another of Al Williamson's great little sketches. He had a habit of bringing his ink brush to a point by doing these little doodles. Just phenomenal.

I have a few more that I will sparingly post to fill the next couple of weeks of no life drawing.

No drawing last night...

so I'll be posting various things this week. This is one of a precious few Al Williamson original "doodles" that I am grateful to own. When I was a student of his at The Joe Kubert School he would come around to each student and correct their work by placing a piece of tracing paper over the student's page and fix our obvious mistakes. His corrections were remarkable and the ease with which he did them made one feel not so much inadequate but rather hopeful that one day we could do the magic in such a natural way. Al never put anyone's work down, but made you feel you were ever so close to being where you needed to be.

The Batman sketch I'm showing was actually Al's pencils over mine and then he inked his own pencils. Amazing man. Rather than feel awful about his no longer being with us, I prefer to think about how wonderful it was to have him for as long as we did. As much as he will be missed, he will be remembered even more.

One Two Freddy's comin' for you...

Interior spot illustrations for the "Nightmare on Elm Street" sticker album.  Brush & ink with zip-a-tone.  Ah, the good old days.