Wisdom - Sketches and Line

Lately I've been inspired by the lovely ink and watercolor work of a number of artists. Paired with experimenting with anatomy, I've started a painting utilizing ink and watercolor:



And the sketch:



I'm aiming for more control with my watercolors. Previously I was putting watercolor over detailed graphite drawings, but I also like the effect of watercolor over black ink. The line drawing was done with a G-nib and Holbein black ink.

More pen sketches

12/15/09 Edit - I added a color comp to the gryphon rider images below

Here are some more quick pen sketches I did to include with calendar orders. These are my favorites out of all of them:

A peregrine with a huge head. Since these were quick sketches, often my bird anatomy gets wonky. They're all fun, though, and great exercises in hatching:



Possibly my favorite out of all of them. A Gray Crowned Crane:


It would make sense that if a burning phoenix landed on a branch, that it would catch fire too!


Anthros are something I haven't had much practice with, but they're pretty fun to draw! This is someone's eagle-anthro character on DeviantART. When they bought a calendar, they requested I draw their character:


After spending some time on ConceptArt.org, I've been really trying to do more figure drawing, and practicing contrast. When I was at SCAD, I took an amazing class taught by professor Shawn Crystal called Drawing for Sequential Art. The class primarily taught constructive figure drawing, and a large portion focused on breaking things down into pure black and white. I've strayed a bit too far from that, and I need to get back into practice. Today, I did some more sketches and decided to try to practice contrast in color.

Color can be extremely tricky if you have difficulty with light and dark. Yellow does not necessarily always equal 'light,' and purple does not always equal 'dark.' Taking a painting into Photoshop and desaturating it can show you just how 'muddled' your tones can get!

Below are three preliminary steps for a piece I'm working on before I even touch color, and then a digital color comp. Thumbnail sketch, tonal study, and then the full pencil drawing (color comp added 12/15/09):



Usually I try to get the composition down in the thumbnail stage, but as I was doing the final pencil drawing I felt there needed to be something in the middleground to the right. I'm also trying to experiment with compositions that fall out of my comfort zone. Instead of placing the subject smack-dab in the middle, what about having a large expanse of sky? The subject still falls within the 'focus' area of the rule of thirds, but I wanted there to be a feeling of vastness. It will definitely be a challenge.

Two ink drawings and quick figures

Each year I make a calendar and offer it for sale, and this year my calendar features the paintings I created for my thesis. On my DeviantART account, I posted a calendar sale where if you order a calendar directly through me, I will sign it and include a small pen drawing of your choice. The calendar is also $5 cheaper than if you buy it directly through DeviantART, so it's a better deal all around.

Here are two of the pen drawings that were requested by people who ordered a calendar:

Snow leopard/peregrine falcon gryphon:


Osprey - I was going for an Audubon-esque, moment of suspension pose. If I could do it over, I would have given it more of an angle (and fixed that beak!) but it's serves its purpose as a simple pen sketch, and I'm sure the person it's meant for will like it all the same:


After some anatomical frustration, I decided to just get back to basics and do a night of figure studies and gestures. Here's a page of simple figures, references from stock photos:



Poses referenced from the following stock photographers:
Top left - Chamberstock on DeviantART
Top right, bottom left - Torino Stock on DeviantART
Bottom right - Mjranum Stock on DeviantART

I truly wish I had access to live models; drawing the figure from photographs is never the same as having a real person right there. Luckily, I have a friend who has volunteered to pose, and we're playing with the idea of starting up a figure drawing group.