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Commissioned pencil portrait of Charles Darwin. I’m currently working on one of him in his younger years.

Epitaph WIP Part 3 (and sketchbook stuff)

I’ve squeezed a bit of sketchbook stuff in this post below because the progress with this piece seems kind of minor and I hate to look unbusy. Flicking back to the last update should be like a little game of spot the difference. It’s a slow burner this one but I’m only working on it on the evenings right now. Next update should be colour.

 

Epitaph WIP Part 2

So it’s roughly 24hrs on and this is where I’m at. This is the point where I turn off the line drawing layer and try and push beyond. As usual I’m rendering all my tones in monochrome  but I’ve got a pretty bold colour palette in mind for the final piece – I’ve got people like Frazetta and Moebius in mind. The areas on the left and right are where I’m still waiting for something to happen but I do think the way the eye leads through this big triangle in the centre is very important composition wise.

Epitaph WIP Part 1

This is in early stages but I thought I’d share what I’m working on in my free time right now. This is line work for a painting that I’ve spent a looong time cleaning up. Longer than usual, normally I’d knock up a looser sketch and figure things out in paint but I thought I’d try get the line work real tight and clean early. Things are still subject to change before painting but I figured posting my progress will help push me along with it.

The idea for the image came from something I wrote down but is open to interpretation -

Never see my profile as an epitaph
My greatest moments are untyped.
I am the times where nobody snapped the shutter
I am what hides inside constructed lines
I am dislike, uninterest, nature, a foe
A soul lies (my status lies) above cybernetic measure.
I am a human and not code

Filling up Sketchbooks vs Filling up Internet

 

I’m in a real back to schooling myself place right now. I have a schedule for the first time ever and it’s starting to work well for me..

It goes something a little like this -

Morning – Anatomy

From books, stock photos, gesture poses, imagination

Afternoon -Tonal study or Painting

Different each day of the week but Portrait, Figure, Life Study, Master Study and Landscape all get their time.

Evening – Commissions/ Personal Work

Anything else I might be working on I can basically choose or continue on something unfinished in this time.

It’s working out nice the only thing I did say orignally was no internet until the evening which I’ve admittedly failed on. It’s tough because I take breaks and that is always the easiest thing to do. Anyway although it’s not at it’s strictest right now. This schedule is up on my desktop background and reminders put into my phone so I always know what I’m supposed be doing at a certain time.

It’s taken me a while to get round to scanning stuff in too but there are some sketchbook pages below from a nice new brown book I’m wholly dedicating to anatomy practice.

These drawings are rough and a mix of – From anatomy/figure drawing books, Quick gesture studies from stock photographs and some from imagination. For me it is all about trying to improve drawing correctly from imagination and I can see the benefits already.

Forgive me for not posting so much right now but this is some important Rocky style stuff I’ve got to drill into my brain. I don’t always want to post when it feels like I’m doing and thinking much the same as my previous blog post but then I’ve also told myself I need to blog weekly as a minimum.

I thought I should also recommend some books I’ve been looking at -

My favourite is Burne Hogarth – Dynamic Anatomy

I just love the illustrations and although it’s not always technically accurate it’s a more artistic way of understanding the flow of the body. Highly recommend.

Andrew Loomis – Drawing the Head and Hands
Bridgman’s Complete Guide To Drawing From Life

These are back to basic books but essential for brushing up on the basics of structure.

Until next time..