Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Human Draw In

Hey all... This past weekend we went to Napa to do some live art for an event called the Human Draw In. The idea was to get 60 artists together to draw in 1 hour shifts. After you're done, they hang your art and attendees can purchase it for $50, and all the money goes to charity to help disabled artists.

It was a fun event, really well put together and a great support for a good cause. The staff was energetic and friendly, and there were supplies if you didn't want to bring your own. All we had to do was to show up and draw. IC's shift started at 8:15PM-9:15PM. Myself, Shwin, Ant, Dyno, Tim G & Raw-Ul all participated, and they even had little title cards you put next to your area so people walking by could see what you were doing.

I was trying to come up with a good idea which would be easy enough to complete within an hour, because knowing me, I can spend a great deal of time on a piece trying to detail tiny things. I knew I wanted to use the colored ink bottles I had on hand and never really got to use. I also had some watercolor paper that was gathering dust. I wanted big blocks of one or two colors and then some kind of line work somewhere. While struggling with sketches Saturday afternoon, I just nixed it and decided to do another "hairrow" girl. This would ensure that I'm drawing something I already know how to do, so it wouldn't take up too much time.

I was suprised to realize when I sat down that I was a little more nervous than doing actual live art at other events. I think it was mostly because the atmosphere of the Human Draw In was a little different than other live events, seeing as we were working individually on small pieces of work. So in order for spectators to see what you were doing, they had to be pretty much all over your shoulder. Also, my live art is almost entirely done while standing... meaning I can move around, walk back and forth, look at my piece from afar, etc., etc. At the table, I had to sit down and sit still. Add that to the fact that for some reason, I had a lot of energy that night, so my knee was moving up and down like a jackhammer. The other difficulty, which I didn't even think about, was having other artists at the table. Trying to do fine linework when the table is shaking due to bumping, erasing, shifting etc. was hard on such a small piece, but I think I adjusted fine.

In the end, my piece was sold way before it was even finished. There were a lot of people there, so every 5 minutes there was a new person looking over my shoulder, but there was one lady in particular that was regularly checking up on my progress. Sure enough, when I was about halfway done, she asked one of the organizers if she could purchase my piece before it hit the wall. I was pretty astounded and proud at the same time, mostly because I didn't expect anyone in Napa to really want one of these girls. I'm not trying to stereotype anyone here, but let's just say that I know my demographic.

Anywho, here's some snaps I took of my piece and the nice lady (sorry, I forgot your name! I'm soooo bad at names) who bought my piece. She said it reminded her of her friend who does comic art in LA. I was secretly hoping it was one of the guys I look up to in the industry, but thats just me being vain... hahaha... here's the pix, enjoy!




Wednesday, June 24, 2009

New Masthead

Check it out! Made it last night before bed cause I figured I needed something more logo like. I'll probably use some version of this for my business cards minus the glow, or maybe make it more outline-y. enjoy!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Old Friends.. New Projects

I'm really excited to be on board a new animation project with an old, very good friend of mine. I can't really say much about it now, but hopefully I'll have some concept sketches to share in the coming days.

It's so strange that I was thinking just a few days ago, that I wanted a new animation based project, but I just couldn't find a story to tell. Then lo, and behold (whatever that means) I get a text in the middle of a late night TF2 session asking me to do just that. Unlike most people that come to me with a project of this caliber, he was able to lay out specifics of his idea which makes it so much easier to draw.

... Sometimes I wish I had a full time writer so I could draw my own series... or even just a webcomic.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Team Fortress 2 - Scout Girl Update 3

Linework...


aaaand base color...


Enjoy! and have a good friday!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Team Fortress 2 - Scout Girl Update 2


Here's the scanned sketch turned blue so I can see the lines as I trace it in Photoshop. And here's the beginning of the outlines... I'm really trying to pay attention to line quality on this one. Also notice that the bat is easier to read... It's all about readability son! Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Slump Breaker

I'm pretty good at being rational when it comes to bad things that happen to me. But every now and then, I can be pretty hard on myself for making mistakes or not doing something I know I can. Case in point: Last night while Issa was watching TV I decided to sit down and sketch a new project out. After about an hour I had nothing but blank paper with a lot of eraser smudges. I was at an artistic block. I had the pose (or some semblance of it) in my head, but I just couldn't put it down on paper. I was soooo frustrated... it seemed the more I tried to just work through it, the worse it got. I just couldn't nail the pose down. So I took a breath, and ran through an old drawing technique I learned in my drafting/life drawing classes. 

There's many ways to draw a person. Some people are able to just lay down the lines of the body and clothes, a lot of people draw basic shapes like squares and ovals and lay down detail over the framework... but last night I went a step further... I can't remember the name of the technique, but we used to use it in life drawing. It involves taking your charcoal/graphite/pencil and essentially scribbling the pose from the inside out. You dont focus on the contour whatsoever. Instead, you're trying to get a sense of mass and volume of the body. Needless to say, It took one try to nail it down. 

The original sketch is in the top left corner. after nailing down the pose I outlined the contour, then drew a bigger version that I scanned and am now working on digitally coloring. In her right hand is a bat that I'll make more apparent as you can't really see it from the angle it's at. I'm happy with my perspectives in the right leg and arm as well as the silhouette. I can also feel the weight and power in her legs, which is something I was trying to push. At this rate I can't wait to see the finished product. 

The idea for this drawing came from a character in the popular game, Team Fortress 2, which I have recently gotten attached to. While on a late night session, I started thinking: "Hey! I love the style of the characters in this game!" then... "Hey! There aren't any girl characters!" then... "Hey! I like to draw girl characters!" then... "Hey! I should draw some of the characters in the game... as girls!"

So I chose the scout as I like how animated he is and thought I could get a pretty good pose out of it. I almost wish I could finish working on this instead of going to work today... but I got bills to pay... Hope you like it!