Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 30- Trying out Loomis' "BEST WAY TO GO ABOUT IT"... Again

After a break from studying this book, because of an art jam I worked on yesterday, I ask myself this. Has anything from studying Loomis sunk in yet?

...Probably? Although one this I noticed is that I am squeezing the eyes over the nose on their faces, particularly on the above facial study. It might be something I need to be aware of that the eyes actually go over the cheek, rather then just the nose for future reference.

Hmm... I guess that this is not some future reference to overcome that problem, as I'm doing it here too. I might address this tomorrow- I can only hope!

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 29- Illustration of 'A Volcanic Mining Facility Run by a Race of Salamander People'

Illustration

The deadline for this art jam should be today... so here's what I could come up with. I revisited yesterday's piece to add textures to most of the blocks of colour, as well as an additional character. It seem to worked, but I think I would like to removed the pencilling, the bulky outlines, and maybe the characters, to show off the landscape I have made.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 28- Work in Progess Illustration of 'A Volcanic Mining Facility Run by a Race of Salamander People

I have been mostly working on an art jam to depict this description: "A Volcanic Mining Facility Run by a Race of Salamander People"

Initial Sketches

 So after some research, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I sketched these ideas out.

After doing these pencil sketches, I had an idea of what to do for the final piece.

Work in Progress Illustration

I decided to apply some block colouring, and also extract some pencil sketches to get some definition- this is kind of similar to what I was trying to do for an earlier piece, only without inking anything this time around. As I was also trying to extract certain drawings from certain sketches, I made myself into a conundrum about trying to achieve this for most characters, and objects, used in the piece. I also haven't had time to toy with texturing, or lighting, as I want to place down all the important elements in place. I should have some time tomorrow to do a more polished piece.

Post Drawing Every Day- Day 27- Studies from Loomis' Fun with a Penil... Again!

I really wanted to finish doing those 'blooks' on that one page. So here they are... tackled with varying degrees of success.

With them out of the way, I can tackled on what the next page had to offer... titled 'THE BEST WAY TO GO ABOUT IT'... oh bother!

So instead of tackling the previous 'blooks' in the way I did, I should have followed this approach. At least this page just shows how hard, or easy, it can be to nail down on Loomis' heads. There are two other heads on that page- so guess what I might be tackling the next time I go 'back to school' with that Loomis book?

Post Drawing Every Day- Day 26- Life Drawings (Figure,Still, and Landscape)

I have been doing some life drawing; so pieces that feature figure, still, and landscape drawing, for those pigeon holing art critics- they're all life drawings as they were done in real life, okay?

Life Drawing

This was the most detailed drawing I did today, whilst waiting for my bus. The figure closest to the bin kept moving, so you can see a faint position drawn of that figure sitting.

Life Drawing

And here's what came into that bus stop- a bus! Can't you tell? I guess not, as that bus wasn't there for long.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 25- More 'Blook' Studies from Loomis' Book

It's still the same book I am trying to learn from the past few days, but this time I was focusing on some of these 'Blooks'- these were those cartoon head studies that I started on yesterday.

These I wasn't sure what the hell was I trying to study on, as they seem more animal then human to me. Probably has something to do with those elongated noses, or mouths, or whatever they are meant to be on their face.

Despite trying that guy with the moustache (Loomis does like to replace the mouths with these things!) three times, I feel that these were successful to look at. But that might be down to Loomis' appealing character design for that 'Blook'.

The head studies on the right seemed successful to understand what was going, as the construction used a rectangle, coming out the ball shape for the head, to form the head structure. It also felt familiar to do that, as I was taught by a graphic artist, at university, to keep the mouth shape separate from the rest of the head. But this was certainly not drawing deja vu, as I was applying what studying from that Loomis book, rather then from that actual professional tutor.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 24- MORE Drawing Tutorials from Loomis' book

Same book as before... only a few exercises done today.

I thought things haven't gone too smoothly, as I couldn't get to grip on the author's cartooning approach over his further methodology to work on the head- but that's why I show all my drawings, and studies, like this to get an idea of what seems to be working.

I might notice some improvement over some of head construction that I was trying to start yesterday, as that was showing what I was trying to studying the basics of Loomis' head construction techniques. But when Loomis introduced his 'Blook' Ball approach to head construction, it seemed I couldn't get my head around over this approach, as this contradicted some of his earlier stuff about drawing cross-lines above your nose shape, which is used to place your eyes and mouth shape. This is because, from my view, it is now encouraging me to use the axis across your face construction to place your eyes and ears- if that made any sense, then I'm probably not alone in this conundrum. 

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 23- Drawing Tutorials from Loomis' book

One of the main text I was recommend to improve the basics in drawing was this Loomis book. So I got around to doing some of the first few exercises from the book.

I won't discuss the methodology going on here because it's self explanatory when you read the first batch of pages. It took me a while to get accustomed to Loomis' approaches, particularly those methods to drawing heads with further details attached to their cranium 'balls'. I took me a while to drawing just basic shapes, which gave me an impression of trying to draw the buildings in Noddy's Toy Town- made of building blocks, for those that aren't aware of Noddy.  But when it came to apply my own take on character faces, from the instructed method, it might stick with me. But that will have to wait for another day for this drawing lesson to really sink in, I guess.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 22- Life/Figure Drawings

Life Drawing

I was doing the same trip, from a few days back, so this meant I was doing some life drawings- technically figure drawings... before I get shtick from life drawing purists over my last attempts!

Life Drawing

Same subject as the previous picture, but done at a quicker pace to sort out her pose.

Figure Drawing- Statues

Found some interesting statues that I thought would make a great subject.

Figure Drawing- Statues

But after this drawing I decided to focus on the statue on the left of the window.

Figure Drawing- Statue

This was one of my better drawings... shame about the gap between the pages of my A5 sketch book.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 21- ''IF I WERE A LABYRINTH GOBLIN, THIS IS WHAT I WOULD LOOK LIKE'' Art Jam Entry

Today was doing some work towards this art jam. 

Coloured Concept Sketch

I might have deviated from what a goblin looks like... but a big helpful one stuck at a back of a counter sounds about right.

Initial Sketches

I don't want to bang on about the process behind this too much, but I used a spare page in my sketch book to work out a few problems I encountered whilst doing this. These include sketches into what the girl's shoes should looked like, and how her fingers were going to look like from the back in that pose.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Life on Mars

This was my contender for the best Life on Mars cover... but it is a little bit light-hearted, but when they incorporate other songs, it sounds amusing.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 20- Riot Police Officer and Dog Cartoon Illustration

It's been 20 days since I have participated in this group...

Cartoon Illustration

...and this was the best I can come up with! Original based off a loose pencil squiggle, this imaginative drawing depicts an angry riot police officer, with an angry dog. Why are they both angry? I've no idea!

When I was recommended to focus on pencil drawings, I didn't think I would be going back to colour pencils- I stumbled on two water colour pencil whilst trying to find some other pencils on my desk. And now my drawings looks like I have no concept of colouring with pencils, which seems a far cry from the digital colourings of my inked work. As this was from imagination, I had problems with drawing that dog- not really an animal person, I suppose- as I wasn't sure how that mutt was going to look like. At least I like the expression on the dog's face, even if the face looks a bit too flat for my liking. The riot police officer went okay, even thou I had no idea on how to depict his body armour.

Overall, I hopefully will be able to improve my pencilling skills, from this primitive state, in future works.

Post a Drawing- Day 19- Quick Pencilled Cartoon

Today's drawing is inspired from some recent feedback on my work, from an artist of superior skill and execution... although this was just a quick cartoon drawing, so some his advice hasn't been addressed yet. 

Pencilled Cartoon

It's a sort of visual metaphor for how to deal with an 'unsuccessful' medium. Despite my enthusiasm to do traditional inking, it is probably for the best that I don't attempt to ink my stuff any more, mainly as it tends to 'ruin' the pencil rough underneath. Although it does make me wonder what the hell to do with all the inking equipment- what do you do with a stash of ink pens, which you have been learning to ink with for over 5 years? I probably try and use it some how, but probably for rough work, rather then for more 'finalised' works.

This piece was very rushed, mainly as I had other things going on during the day. However, it was done from imagination, so I had no resources to help me work out the pose that the character should be in, or for the inking tools, from the ink well to various pens. 

It does make me wonder where will I end up now, with my artwork down the line. Would I find myself successful in doing pencil drawing, or will I fall back to my flawed comfort zone of inking my rough pencil work? Only future works will tell me, and probably other people's reception to them.

Post a Drawing- Day 18- Chewits Fan Art

Been inspired from a recent social network that went on about a particular Chewits advert. So how could I not resist doing a piece featuring the popular sweet mascot?

Original drawing

So I did this drawing...

Quick Ink Study

... even did a quick sketch from a screen shot of that advert to get an idea of how I want my version to look.

Background

I went for an abstract quality to the road, buildings, and sky for my piece, which I 'drew' around my original drawing. I added a blur to the building to achieve a sense of speed for the final piece.

Final Version

I went for the block colouring method for my inked drawing. And there you go... another coloured drawing done for today! It was fun, as I wasn't sure how things would turn out with the original pose. But I toyed around with different colour schemes, from several images of the mascot over the years, which explain the 'off-model' approach to the colour and appearance of the character. Might experiment with the motion blur feature in my paint package for other dynamic effects to my work.

It was also interesting checking out all the adverts, seeing how they have used different concepts, and approaches for not just their adverts, but also in how to animate the mascot, from puppetry to stop-motion to 2D animation. It also interesting how the character design have changed over the years- I have doubt over the appeal of the latest incarnation, but that's me.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 17- Life Drawings at Oxford Rail Station

Did several life drawings today, whilst waiting for my train at Oxford- I needed to sort out some visas for a holiday to China in a few weeks time in Farringdon.
The first one wasnt successful, probably because I don't have much time to draw a stationery train at a station- if I did, that would probably be a bit of problem.The second drawing was my most successful, being able to focus on something like a bin, to a rendered quality I achieved on a more detailed piece I did a few days back.I had another train stop at the station, only I had a different car to quickly; so I sketched out the word 'David' on the engine of that train. I went along with this text theme whilst drawing some signs for a good few minutes, before I caught my train.
I did take some photographs whilst I was in Farringdon... but I'll save that for another post.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 16- Jimmy Reid Cartoon (Stage 1)

First Stage of Cartoon

I'm trying my hand at political cartooning again... this time on the late Jimmy Reid. I was inspired from watching the One Show to do something about the political figure who came with the strategy for Scottish ship builders in the early 1970s to keep their jobs. It was something along the lines of continue to work, to show their commitment to their jobs- something very poignant, when you have fire and security staff at BAE causing chaos at many UK airports very soon!

Just started the block colouring on the main, but I want to experiment with block colouring for the crowd and background to make my version of Reid stand out more.The blocks of colour I have place down roughly are the sky, and the colour of the flesh of the crowd. I am also using the original pencil sketches for the crowd and background, to make it distinguishable of some of the people in the crowd- most of them were inspired from finding images of Reid doings his speeches.

Post a Drawing Every Day- Day 15- Snot Bubble Beetle Comic

Page 1

Page 2

This was my response to an art jam, over at the Facebook group that got me into this creative habbit, on the theme of 'A FANTASTICAL CREATURE WHO DEFENDS BY BLOWING SNOT BUBBLES AT THE ENEMY'.
Okay, my beetle/hybrid character isn't that fantastical, but the character exactly does that. I like the staging of this sequence, but there are minor quibbles about each individual drawing I can nit-pick until the cows come home. So I just leave it here, in the acknowledgement that it might get a jiggle out of any readers of this blog.