Drawings from a past LCAD session

Figure Drawing, short pose

 

A selection of figure drawings from various sessions over the past couple months.  All short pose from one to twenty minutes.

"Cautious Optimism" The 2012 New Years Card

A belated posting of this year's New Years card.  Letterpress printed by yours truly on a Chandler & Price platen press at the International Printing Museum.  The image was drawn in pen and ink, scanned, and etched into a magnesium plate for printing.  Part of my "Cautious Optimism" series of cards, it responds to the unrest of the past year while hoping that we can, you know, all just get along.  Of course, I couldn't help a bit of sarcasm - I'd rather it isn't shopping that brings us together, but hey, its better than nothing...

Messing about with Photoshop CS6 Beta

Downloaded the CS6 Beta and have been using it for daily work, so thought I'd try something a bit more figurative with it.  No photo reference, just my brain.  It started as a larger drawing that got cropped down as I worked.

Shadow Boxer

Digital drawing done around a concept that I've been sketching and thinking about for a while. the idea was to take the Renaissance formula of portraiture - the subject surrounded by things, both physical and metaphorical, from their life - and apply it to a dear friend of mine. Hopefully the beginning of a series.

All digital, from sketch to completion, using a combination of SketchBook Designer and Photoshop CS5

Many thanks to S.D. for the critiques.

1959 Alfa Romeo Touring 2000

A sketch of my Dad's 1959 Alfa Romeo Touring 2000, in Verithin True Blue on some old comic book bristol board I had lying around...great fun!

Figure Drawings, Short Poses at ASW

This was one of those frustrating / inspiring sessions where the model is so good, you feel obliged to do him / her justice...and then can't. Really exceptional poses.

Art Supply Warehouse 05.04.2011

Art Supply Warehouse 04.27.2011

Ten minute poses (last image is 2 minutes)

Quoin and Cog - Letterpress Printed Steampunk Illustration

This illustration will be letterpress printed on a 1886 Golding Pearl platen press, in a limited edition, for the Steampunk Exhibition in Santa Clara at the end of March. Just got the block today, so printing should happen soon!

Figure Drawing - Art Supply Warehouse

"Eden" and "After the Fall" - Inked

"Eden" and "After the Fall" - Pencils

"Evolution" - Pen & Ink

Figure Drawing...Its been a while

Went to Dr. Sketchy's in Anaheim for the first time last weekend... Overall a good session, though, and its nice to see another figure drawing session south of the Orange Curtain.

Mechahornet V2.0

Landscape Painting

I've started going landscape painting on the weekends with a group of like-minded, if somewhat more practiced, individuals...what you see here is my second attempt at the genre, the first one being, shall we say, less than exemplary. Apparently, I need to practice. A lot. But I find the same joy in this as I do in figure drawing, with the advantage here being that I can be outside... The painting and prep drawings are of a water tower in El Segundo's Hilltop Park.

iPad sketches

Quick Sketch

Nuptial Cranes

An invitation for a friends wedding, and a fun collaborative piece. Several frantic hours of brainstorming, followed by more frantic hours of making. The image on the left is the card as you pull it out of the envelope, with a piece of gold flecked rice paper printed with pine boughs partially obscuring the main image. On the right, the image revealed as if you have pushed through the pines to discover two beautiful cranes.

Surrogate

A collaborative piece - inspired by a figure sketch by J. Chan, it morphed into something that neither of us expected.

New Years 2010

For those of you who didn't get one via the USPS, here's this year's New Years card design. Its part of the "Cautious Optimism" series that I've been doing for the past several years, (and will be uploading the others soon...), in which I try to express my feelings both for the past year and my hopes for the year ahead. To say the least, the last several years have provided plenty of challenges in both areas, but the overall message remains the same. We must maintain a positive outlook and momentum while avoiding the urge to latch onto the hubris of incremental successes. There is a long way to go before true peace has its day...

Temptation

Had some down-time at work today and decided to flesh out a composite sketch from a couple months back - two poses from the same session that seemed to work well together. The sketch had a bit of a playful aspect to it, but as I worked on the painting, I came to realize that since its the same model looking back at herself, the piece becomes more a psychological representation than a literal scene.

This Weekend's Figure Drawings

There was no model for this weeks figure drawing session at CSULB, so everyone took turns modeling 20 minute poses. The conclusion? Models don't get payed nearly enough...

I was happy to discover that Cal State Long Beach has started holding their figure drawing sessions again, after the summer break. Great session, with (usually) excellent models, talented students, and a drawing instructor on hand in case you need a kick in the ass.

Not a Pin-Up

I've gotten tired of pin-up girls on bikes images. Crazy, I know, but there it is. So I decided to do something with a more stand-offish pose to the "girl". And made her a robot. I like the idea that perhaps she once had a skin covering, in the human sense, but the years have worn that away. All that is left is the strip of vanity that is her face...

Click on the image to see it larger -

A version of this with a background is coming soon...

Monkey on the Right

This image, which you will note I have appropriated for this blog's header, is a beer label for a brew my brother has made for our father's birthday. We decided to name the beer in French to make it sound classy and European, as opposed to ironic and from San Francisco.

Bi-Pedal "Monster"

And for those of you who were getting tired of line-work...heres a little color. Final "anti-hero" character as developed with the previous monster sketches...