BRP!

...in the land of wormwood

2010-12-14T14:27:00.001-05:00

...more chernobyl from my memory...

...something random...

2010-12-02T16:34:00.003-05:00

...is out to get you...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Eighteen

2010-11-15T18:15:00.009-05:00

....and we arrive at the final post of the fall figure dump, so let's end with some work from an open model session from the very end of the summer. These are all 30 seconds to 3 minutes...

....some details from the above full page...

...and some final detail shots to wrap this all up...

....and that will do it for the fall! Whenever I get around to documenting the last three months worth of figure drawing, I'll start the Winter posts but I promise I'll put up some other art before then!

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Seventeen

2010-11-15T18:04:00.005-05:00

...for part seventeen, it's all about arm anatomy, the following are some diagram drawings with detail shots documenting my attempt to explain the muscles of the arm to my summer life drawing class...

....I really don't know how successful I was in breaking this information down into understandable bits for the students, hopefully they found this helpful and not just overwhelming! I'll return with the eighteenth and final installment of this fall figure madness soon....

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Sixteen

2010-11-15T17:50:00.005-05:00

...and I return with part sixteen of this series to open this week...these are all from an open model session and range from 30 seconds to three minutes...

....as always a bunch of detail shots follow the full page above....

....and more detail shots....

....you guessed it, more detail shots...

....only two posts to go and then I'll post something besides figure drawing! Be back soon with part seventeen.....

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Fifteen

2010-11-10T18:56:00.005-05:00

...and as promised a quick return for part fifteen, these drawings are from a summer workshop on exaggeration principles for the figure and using the figure to communicate stories. Our model once again is the inspiring Jason Farrah...

...details of the above full sheet, this was concentrating on the ideas of squash and stretch and applied and directional forces...

....then we got into the idea of "plusing" poses and a concept Walt Stanchfield called "clearing the stage". It's really all about making sure that gestures really clearly tell the audience their story...

....a bunch of details shots of the above...

....we're getting close to end of this series, two or three more posts and then I'll post some other artwork of the recent past...but I'll be back with part sixteen later this week...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Fourteen

2010-11-10T18:35:00.009-05:00

...and I return with the fourteenth installment of the fall figure dump..
let's start with some work from open model....

...here's a bunch of detail shots from the above full sheet, I tend to do a lot of gestures on large sheets of newsprint...

...a ten minute block in with conte crayon...

...and some five minute drawings in conte as well...

....and now some stuff from life drawing one's summer section, these start with a drawing of the head and then we go into detail shots and the anatomical overlays...

...a quick sketch of the "adam's apple" structure...

....the following are some warm up gestures followed by a twenty minute block in...

.....this was used for anatomical overlays of the legs...

....I'll be back very shortly with part fifteen!...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Thirteen

2010-11-05T14:05:00.007-04:00

...and so I return now with the thirteenth post of this fall figure series. Let's start with some warm up gestures from life drawing...

...a little detail from above, I really like this drawing in particular...

...now we get into a thirty minute block in as a demo with a detail shot directly following...

...then I went into the anatomy of the back, I know this was something I always struggled with as a student and so I try to make sure that I explain it in a way that is digestible for beginning figure artists. This also has a detail shot that follows...

...and now we hit the next series of classes, as always we start with some warm up gestures. The gesture is the foundation for everything else that we do and as I've said before, construction and anatomy are great, but they are worthless if you can't use your instincts and just go for it...

....now some construction techniques for the forearm, wrist, hands and feet...

..and I'll end this post with a demo on bringing it all together for a ten minute block in from observation. As usual there are detail shots following this full page...

...be back with part fourteen at some point in the near future...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Twelve

2010-11-04T17:54:00.005-04:00

...back with the twelfth installment of this fall figure dump..
these are all from my summer life drawing class and concentrate on constructive anatomy..

...a bunch of detail shots from the above page...

...and some shots of the overlays for discussing the actual anatomy...

...a few warm up gestures...

...these are diagrams for torso anatomy, a bunch of detail shot follow...

....there's still about 100 images to go in this series, so I'll return with part thirteen in a day or two!...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Eleven

2010-11-04T15:40:00.004-04:00

...time for part eleven of this figure drawing dump...I do apologize for falling almost a year behind in these but that just means more figure goodness now! These are all from an open model session over the summer here at SCAD....

...here's a closer detail from this page...

...a couple of details from the above image...

...below is me trying to visualize and recall anatomy from two different live poses...

...a nice detail of the above portrait...

.....I'll be back with part twelve in the near future...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Ten

2010-11-03T13:06:00.007-04:00

..now it's time for part ten, these are from a summer life drawing class...
this first one is on the idea that James Gurney calls "shapewelding"...

...some notes on "plusing" the figure with some detail shots following it...

...some notes on bone and muscle forms for constructive figure drawing...

...this page has some detail shots as well...

...and we'll end with some warm up gestures...

...i'll be back with part eleven from an open model session soon...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Nine

2010-11-01T18:15:00.006-04:00

...and back again with another post for the day, these are dealing with some basics of exaggeration and clothing....

...a full sheet with some details below it...

....and another full sheet with some detail shots below...

...a quick demo on the idea of rigid masses linked by a bendable spine...

...and a quick one done during a summer drawing one while the students worked...

....I'll be back again with even more of this stuff!...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Eight

2010-11-01T18:03:00.005-04:00

...and I'm back with more of this fall figure madness, this time it's a rare full one hour pose done with china marker on newsprint at an open model session....

...below are some detail shots...

...be back real soon with some more...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Seven

2010-10-25T00:13:00.007-04:00

...and we'll wrap the weekend up with some stuff on drapery and imaginative drawings based on the model from storyboarding classes..

...here are some details from the above full page...

...a new page of newsprint...

...with it's own detail shots...

...and some other loose stuff....

...more inspiring stuff with Jason Farrah as the model...

...yet another page of newsprint work with Maggie another model...

....with it's own details....

....and back to Jason for the finish...

...I'll be back in the next few days with even more posts in this figure drawing series!

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Six

2010-10-24T23:58:00.005-04:00

....once again I'm back with more gesture drawings in yet another installment of the fall figure dump....

..and we'll end with some basic figure demos on thinking in three-dimensions...

...be back real soon with part seven...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Five

2010-10-22T17:11:00.007-04:00

...ahh...I'm back already with some more work from my Drawing for Storyboarding classes...
these were dealing with using surface lines as "cheats" for volume....

...here's a detail of the above

...and some more awesome with Jason.....

...here's a bunch of detail shots of the above page...

...there's also a healthy dose of some notes on Applied and Directional Forces ala Mike Mattesi, I'll be back next week with some more figure goodness...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Four

2010-10-22T16:47:00.005-04:00

....and so I'm back with some more gesture drawing...

these were all done during classes dealing with drapery and costumed figures with china markers and ball point pens....

.....these two were done at Sketch Club, some nice interaction between two figures...

and we'll wrap up with some plain old gesture from Open Model sessions here at the school...

...I'll be back shortly with the continuing saga of figure drawing....

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Three

2010-10-10T22:38:00.006-04:00

I'm back with the third of many figure drawing posts ( I've recently shot about 8 months worth). Let's start with some gestures....

...this was a thirty minute rough in as a class demo....

...with a detail....

...the first part of the anatomy lecture/demo was with conte crayon on tracing paper...obviously the concentration was on the chest and torso...

....then a second layer of tracing paper for a clean rendering demo in ballpoint pen...

...with it's own detail...

....these are from a lecture/demo on the construction of the foot...

...then some twenty minute block in drawings of the head and neck for demos as well...

.....then we follow with a detail and some shots of the anatomy lecture/demo overlays on tracing paper, again they are conte on tracing paper....

.....and we will end with some gestures, I always have the students work with gestures every day even the ones where we get heavy with construction and anatomy. None of that stuff does you any good if you can't go with your gut and just draw...plus I always want them to connect to the whole and not just the parts...

...I'll be back with even more soon...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part Two

2010-10-06T00:15:00.006-04:00

..ah back with the second of many installments...

let's start with some creative interpretations of a costumed model.....

Jason Farrah was the model, he always bring a great enthusiasm for the ridiculous stuff we do in my storyboarding classes..

MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER!

...our model changes..

....it's always amazing what a little imagination will bring to life drawing....these were all one to five minute drawings

..another twenty minute block in with conte this time...

...twenty minutes with markers, color pencil and a bic pen....
below are a bunch of one to three minute drawings...

...and we will wrap up with a last couple of imaginative drawings....

...more gestures soon and twenty minute drawings soon...

Figure Drawing Fall 2010 Part One

2010-10-04T00:29:00.006-04:00

It's been awhile but get ready for several figure drawing purges here!
Let's start with some demo stuff from summer classes....

a quick twenty minute block in concentrating on the torso...

and the corresponding muscle overlay on tracing paper

here's a first detail

and one of the muscle overlay....

and one final close up of the original drawing....

another twenty minute block in demo

...the first detail shot...

..and just one of the head

often times I do small side drawings of the features to demonstrate that every level of detail should be shaped based.....

an experimental media for the figure demo...this actually is made of layers of bond and tracing paper....

the rare charcoal cast drawing demo...

with a detail of the the face...

and for now, one last twenty minute block in...

and a couple of details...

...I was very happy with the forearms on this one.
I'll be back soon with some gestures...

Robot Overlords smile and chase kids...

2010-04-18T19:49:00.001-04:00

As usual these were done with some technical pens, markers, jellyrollers, color pencil, a xerox machine and some Adobe Photoshop...

Spring Life Drawing Dump Part 1

2010-03-27T14:22:00.007-04:00

MARCH MODOK MADNESS!

2010-03-08T17:59:00.006-05:00

It's MARCH MODOK MADNESS!....See these again here or just catch the madness in general here!

..random junk....

2010-03-08T10:20:00.004-05:00

just some random sketches from the recent past.....get ready for a big life drawing dump soon...

...I WANT TO GO HOME....

2010-03-07T15:26:00.002-05:00

...a little LOST art...from a screen capture with a pencil and a bit of Adobe Photoshop...

A few new environments...

2010-01-31T18:58:00.004-05:00

These were for class demos as usual, both were done with a variety of technical pens, a xerox machine, whiteout, jellyroller pens, Copic markers and Adobe Photoshop...

...A Sunday Sketch...or...a sketch for Sunday..

2010-01-17T17:38:00.001-05:00

...it came from the seam of a sketchbook!...

2010-01-10T19:02:00.002-05:00

...slow times here on the blog...that'll change soon enough..

Fan Art for THE HORRIFIC ADVENTURES OF FRANKY!

2009-12-23T15:05:00.004-05:00

Fan art for another excellent webcomic by another pal, Joshua Greathouse's THE HORRIFIC ADVENTURES OF FRANKY. It's the only comic about a Frankenstein bouncer at a strip club on the web (well, as far as I know!..).... Go by and check out Josh's twice a week update!

Fan Art for DERBY GIRLS!

2009-12-09T16:50:00.006-05:00

My pal Matt Walters is getting ready to launch his new comic DERBY GIRLS and has commissioned moi to do a pin-up of one of his characters! I chose Derby Girl Clutch for mine. Go check it out when he launches in March 2010...

..some onsite sketchbook stuff...

2009-12-03T13:12:00.003-05:00

just some more sketchbook stuff...these were done with a bic pen in the courtyard of Anderson Hall, one of the buildings I teach in...

Another Environment Demo...

2009-12-01T14:29:00.002-05:00

this one came from one of my fall sections of storyboard, the other one I did got painted over for THE GODBOTS MUST BE STOPPED

More Power Puff weirdness...

2009-11-23T16:06:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's time for another visit from those little darlings from Townsville...
( as usual these are construction demos for storyboarding from my class )

...Blossom has degenerated into a buck toothed moron...

...Bubbles has taken to the latest fads in young adult fiction...

...and is having some anger control issues as a result...

...and Buttercup is studying abroad this term.

Also Blackhead Blossom from the Atomically Acne Fueled Power Pus Girls has news...

...it's that she thinks you're filth, hates the world, will rule us all...

...and WILL stab you to accomplish her goals.

I hope this is weird enough to fill the gap between posts. This school term has been kicking my butt! Go over to ...sketchyscribbles... , KNIVES OUT! or The Godbots Must Be Stopped to see that I haven't been totally slumming it.

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

2009-10-04T13:22:00.007-04:00

The Chernobyl Disaster has been on my brain recently and I've been cruising the ol' interweb taking a look at the footage, pictures and accounts of that day (April 26, 1986) and the following years in what's now known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I did these thumbnails from memory, based mainly on the archives over at Ghost Town and the Unexplained Mysteries Forum. I can clearly remember these events from when I was a kid and this really shook people up at the time. Now, I'm amazed at the folks who have no idea what happened that day and aren't aware of the monsters that lurk beneath the sarcophagus of reactor 4.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Site was comprised of six reactors, two of which were still under construction at the time of the accident

Some believe that Chernobyl is foretold in the Book of Revelations from the Christian Bible, apparently the name in Russian is somehow related to Wormwood from said book. Others reported seeing what is known as "The Black Bird of Chernobyl". They described a winged headless human flying above the site in the days leading up to the accident.

There were also reports of a large disk that hovered over reactor 4 for six hours the night of the accident. There are no known photos or film of these events.

The explosion hurled radioactive chunks of graphite onto the reactor roof , blew a hole in the side of the building and released a tremendous cloud of radioactive gas. Eyewitnesses said that you could see the glow of the reactor going into meltdown through the crack and that the sky was a spectacle of colors. The forest next to the plant glowed bright red that night as well. Almost everyone who was witness to these events died within 48 hours of radiation poisoning.

The clean-up of the radioactive debris was costly in lives. Workers on the roof of reactor 4 had two minutes shifts due to the radiation levels and they were in full protective gear. They just shoveled up the debris and threw it into the core once the radioactive fire had been put out. Once that was complete they erected a concrete sarcophagus around the reactor four building to contain over 90% of the radioactive debris

This hastily built structure spared further contamination but parts of what are now the Ukraine and Belorus are saturated and uninhabitable. It may be up to 900 years before it is safe for humans to return to live permanently in the exclusion zone.

Pripyat, forgive my misspelling above, was home to 300,000 people. It originally sprung up for the plant workers and was a good sized city. It was evacuated just hours after the accident and no one had lived there since. It's a time capsule of the former might of the Soviet Union. There was also an Olympic training facility in Pripyat.

The land outside of Pripyat is known as the Land of the Wolves. It's hundreds of square miles and filled with abandoned villages and smaller towns. Some of the most radioactive villages were bulldozed to try to stop the further spread of materials. The wildlife is flourishing in the Exclusion Zone despite the radiation. At some point these sketches may get developed into something more tangible...this will all go somewhere, I'm just not sure yet.

Dr.Sketchy's will see you in September (or lose you to a summer love...)

2009-10-04T11:13:00.004-04:00

Dr. Sketchy's was Wild West themed for September...

Some gestures done during the model's performance...
moving gestures are always a fun exercise...

These were from last Sunday and I just got around to putting them up, it's been a busy week on my long march to eventual total burnout...

...some new sketches to tide us over...

2009-09-20T09:46:00.003-04:00

these are just some sketchbook doodles, I've been using the super horizontal layout again...nothing for anything in particular...

the GODBOTS must be stopped

2009-09-07T19:32:00.002-04:00

..more on the GODBOTS rampage soon...

100th Post Wolverine...

2009-08-29T19:43:00.002-04:00

It's been almost two years since I started this blog and now I've finally hit 100 posts. So, to celebrate that milestone, it's customary to do a Wolverine theme...to 100 more!

...Dr. Sketchy's for August...

2009-08-24T17:26:00.007-04:00

Dr. Sketchy's was Midnight Summer's Dream / Shakespeare themed for August and as usual was a blast. Find one near you and get to drawing!

THE ROMAN

2009-08-22T16:10:00.002-04:00

THE ROMAN walks among you! He has come from the ancient world, seen the glories of the 21st century and his plans of conquest will soon come to fruition! BEHOLD HIM AND TREMBLE!

someday maybe he'll be the subject of one of my comics....so little time, so many stupendously ridiculous ideas...

some final summer term life drawing part two: Open Model Sessions

2009-08-19T00:22:00.005-04:00

a detail, I was very happy with this particular drawing...

and to finish us off..a few portraits...I've been trying this out with markers and col-erase pencils..

These are all from the last two weeks of open model...There's a Dr. Sketchy's Sunday so I'll be back with some more august figure drawing....

some final summer term life drawing part one: Sketch Club

2009-08-18T08:29:00.004-04:00

I ran Sketch Club week before last, usually their faculty adviser does it but they needed a hand and I never pass up the opportunity for some model drawing! I was feeling a bit rusty that day though...I'll be back soon with part two from last week's open model.

MONSTERS OF WEBCOMICS!

2009-08-07T15:13:00.003-04:00

My webcomic KNIVES OUT! will be featured in the virtual gallery this year! Visit the Cartoon Art Museum for more details!

color demo for my summer class

2009-07-30T11:01:00.002-04:00

This was a demo for direct color storyboards, I went over the techniques I use and the materials as well. This was done with Copic markers, Col-Erase Pencils, Jelly Roller Pens and Acrylic paint with a last tweak in Adobe Photoshop.

...Dr. Sketchy's July time drawing jamboree...

2009-07-28T14:37:00.005-04:00

Dr. Sketchy's was all about the drag this month!

This session was a real blast and as you can see, I was having fun with the costuming and gender-bender theme.

...some summer 2009 model drawing...part three

2009-07-26T00:25:00.009-04:00

I got there just in time for the models to switch, so I caught
the last two poses with the first model....

some direct pen drawings...

along with some details...

some more of those pen drawings...

with more detail shots...

a last few drawings from this week's session, these are with a col-erase pencil...

with some final enlarged details!

Dr.Sketchy's is tomorrow, so I'll be posting those early in the week....

...some summer 2009 model drawing...part two

2009-07-25T11:50:00.006-04:00

Some examples with depth exaggeration from class....

below is a detail....

some random sketches done while the students worked....

along with a detail...

and power shapes to finish the in-class sessions!

I'll be back with part three soon!

...some summer 2009 model drawing...part one

2009-07-24T23:57:00.005-04:00

Working out the pose..

Below are some details...

"Every pose tells a story"...

with details...

...more thinking on the page...

...even more details!...

Finally some good stuff!

see you in part two!

...my webcomic has begun...

2009-07-21T18:28:00.002-04:00

KNIVES OUT! has begun. Read it here

alchemy madness....

2009-07-19T21:15:00.002-04:00

I've posted about this process before, the piece was done with Alchemy 7.0 and finished with a touch of color and texture in Adobe Photoshop

Above is the initial alchemy sketch for some sort of mech

and here it is after some work in Corel Painter Essential 2.0, I actually think the original sketch is more powerful though. Get Alchemy Alpha 7.0 here, it's free and open source, so you have no excuses.

...summer quarter environment demo...

2009-07-16T17:07:00.002-04:00

This quarter's demo came out ok....but, not one of my best. News on the webcomic soon...

...some doodles and such...

2009-07-16T16:56:00.004-04:00

these are just a few sketches that have been piling up around here...

...so, i'm gonna do a webcomic....

2009-07-07T21:28:00.003-04:00

...and it's gonna be a bloodbath....

details soon

Dr.Sketchy's fantastic scribblytime for June!

2009-06-30T15:12:00.005-04:00

Dr. Sketchy's was fun as usual and I turned out a few decent drawings this time around! Come on out and draw with us!

An additional new Portfolio Site for BRP!

2009-06-20T15:50:00.004-04:00

Check out both my more compact BRP! WORK portfolio site and my BRP! DeviantArt page, they're great companions to the original BenjaminReidPhillips.com!

more sketches

2009-06-19T20:25:00.002-04:00

some pretty girls and one UGLY dude!

another random sketch

2009-06-14T17:05:00.003-04:00

...Just another skecth in Corel Painter Essentials 2.0...a lot of this sketching is trying out different digital drawing approaches

something a bit better today

2009-06-12T17:18:00.002-04:00

Today, I futzed with SketchUp but got sick of it and just started sketching in Corel Painter Essential 2.0 instead, here's what came out....

a new idea...a bad first try

2009-06-10T17:24:00.005-04:00

So, I've seen several artists using Google SketchUp to start off their concept environments by creating basic forms and setting camera angles, so I had a couple of hours and thought I'd give it a go for the first time

This is what I built in Google SketchUp 6, it was my first attempt without really bothering to look at any instructions...and it shows...

This is the fairly awful digital painting that I did over top in Corel Painter Essential 2. I've posted plenty of environments on this blog, but most have been traditional pen and ink pieces and as you can see I'm still having some issues getting my usual quality into the digital approach. I hope it just the tools, my Mac G4 sawtooth only has a 16mb video card so Essential 2 is the only version of Corel Painter that I can support and I'm using a 4x6 Graphire tablet....I've used a Cintiq, they're much friendlier....

All new Portfolio Site for BRP!

2009-06-03T15:27:00.002-04:00

I've revamped and updated the old benjaminreidphillips.com portfoilio site, get on over and check it out today!

Random Sketchy Junk Dump

2009-06-03T15:17:00.004-04:00

Sometimes the random sketches pile up and don't really have anything to do with the larger posts, when that happens I just let them collect and turn that into a post

Dr.Sketchy's drawing fun for May

2009-06-01T16:50:00.004-04:00

Dr.Sketchy's was fun as always and this month was a double model disco theme. I'll see you at the Savannah Dr. Sketchy's on the 28th of June in the Moon River basement.

MODEL FIESTA 2009!

2009-05-29T14:31:00.003-04:00

The 2009 Model Fiesta put on by the Sktech Club was back in April but I just documented the work this week. It's always a great event and a highlight of every spring

Big Life Drawing Dump for Spring! Part Three!

2009-05-28T09:47:00.006-04:00

The last of the random 2009 life drawing, but I'll be posting works from the 2009 Model Fiesta and this weekend's Dr. Sketchy's in the very near future!

Big Life Drawing Dump for Spring! Part Two!

2009-05-27T09:29:00.004-04:00

More figure drawing from 2009!

Big Life Drawing Dump for Spring! Part One!

2009-05-26T08:01:00.005-04:00

First of three for the week! This is all just random life drawing from the past 3 months.

Demos for in class model drawing!

2009-05-26T01:08:00.004-04:00

We start off with drawing through and constructing body forms

Then we get into squash/stretch forms aka forceful shapes

And at the end we get to applied and directional forces. I use the Mike Mattesi book FORCE: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators as a text, I have to hope that some of the info sticks because I only get a week with the model due to all the information we need to go over (Ten weeks of five hours a week is short and I have to teach them perspective from the inside out!). The good news is however that my class got bumped to a 200 level, so that means more model drawing in class starting next fall! A bonus for my students and me!

concept for a fairly useless vehicle

2009-05-26T01:06:00.002-04:00

As Advertised!

..For all my west coasters...

2009-05-23T13:45:00.005-04:00

“An essential volume of animation wisdom…”—Suite101.com

Talk & Book Signing
Academy Award-Nominated Producer
Don Hahn

Drawn to Life:

20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes

Thursday, May 28th @ 7:00 P.M.

Barnes & Noble
Glendale Americana
210 Americana Way
Glendale, CA
818-545-9146

Even if you can't make it to the signing (like me) be sure to pick these up from Focal Press, they're a must have series for any artist, not just you animators.

Materials and shot blocking-30 min demo-Road Warrior

2009-05-15T18:50:00.004-04:00

These were done as part of a demo on shot blocking from a shooting script, I used The Road Warrior for the demo and tried to get the point across that quick visualization is a necessary and vital skill to the entertainment industry artist, that's really what my class is about. Students tend to think only about their major, and art schools do that to them, I try to combat that by making them do works across a variety of fields (convenient that's it a storyboarding class) and showing them entertainment industry artists who are not bound by genre or preconceived notions.

Unused art from storyboarding class- Roadwarrior demos

2009-05-15T18:45:00.002-04:00

These were ones that didn't make the final cut...bad poses, editing out the dog and a variety of other reasons...

material demo/head test

2009-05-15T11:26:00.003-04:00

Some quick sketches in common storyboarding materials from a class demo.
..more to come soon..

random doodles

2009-05-14T10:39:00.003-04:00

...Just some random doodles...some colleagues and and a dope rattled alien...

Power Puff Girls! with a brief cameo from the Power Pus Girls

2009-05-13T10:27:00.007-04:00

You're probably wondering why on earth I'm posting PowerPuff Girls artwork, there is an explanation, I assure you. I've been using their model sheets along with a loose script that I wrote in my storyboarding class to introduce the mechanics of animation storyboarding. While I have students who are animation majors, I also have a lot of students who aren't and the PowerPuff Girls are simple enough that they don't scare non-cartoonists off. These drawings were just quick demos on constructing the forms by drawing them through for storyboards. I don't have them worry about being "On-Model" too much but rather to concentrate on hook-ups key framing and visual logic.

BUBBLES!

I always round these characters out a lot more than the model sheets by making their bodies these cone forms and not triangles. I understand the reason for the flatness under the production constraints of the show...but I'm not beholden to that.

The students get the chance to design evil versions of the PowerPuff Girls that they fight in the script (I'm pretty sure they actually did this on the show). I can't believe that none of them have ever hit the comedic paydirt of the atomically acne fueled POWER PUS GIRLS!

doodles and color drills

2009-05-13T01:10:00.005-04:00

Little Robot as a class demo on color with mixed media

...Sad old Harry Potter...

A doodle redesign the old Captain America villian Baron Blood

ALL SMILES!

Process for an album cover Part Two

2009-05-02T21:02:00.004-04:00

Here's the inked version of the pencil art, as well as a rough halftoned version to throw the idea out there, these are off for approval now...

Process for an album cover Part One

2009-04-29T14:45:00.007-04:00

I recently took an illustration gig doing an album cover, the concept is about a blind street musician, whose a one man band, portrayed as some sort of multiple armed deity . It's not done yet, but I thought I'd post some process along the way. These two roughs were what we narrowed down to of about a half dozen. I really thought the top one had a great crazy energy but my clients preferred the second and given the concept, I'm not sure the first one was the best choice for the job.

You can see some refinements here in the pencil art and there will be a few more tweaks when I ink this. I'll post again after the inks and the cover design are finished.

...dr.sketchy's for april...

2009-04-27T11:24:00.005-04:00

..this month's theme was classic video games, we got treated to odes to duck hunt and a much more attractive mario...fun drawing even if you're a weirdo like me who doesn't play them (video games that is)

...alchemy weirdness..in spring colors!

2009-04-13T15:11:00.004-04:00

....if you haven't tried alchemy yet, it's worth the time...

New Environments: Step Three

2009-04-11T20:11:00.002-04:00

To finish these off, I did a little bit of color toning in Adobe Photoshop. Each was done with a different method but they were all done with the same approach as color glazing a painting.

New Environments: Step Two

2009-04-10T13:56:00.003-04:00

This is the markered art, I use Prismacolor Premeire Cool Grey Markers with one of their white color pencils. I'll be posting the finished digital images in a few days.

New Environments: Step One

2009-04-08T16:06:00.004-04:00

This is the lineart stage, I'll be posting the marker renderings in a few days after I've used them as demos for my classes.

...a sketch for Saturday...

2009-04-04T19:05:00.001-04:00

Two fantastic figure drawing books

2009-04-01T16:05:00.005-04:00

I just got a review copy of DRAWN TO LIFE: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes from Focal Press Yesterday and man, is it impressive. This first volume is a collection of Walt Stanchfield lectures from his classes at the Walt Disney Studios and only thirty pages in (of 400!) it's already one of the most impressive books I've ever read on Figure drawing. I've been a big fan of Michael Mattesi's FORCE: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators since I first read it three years ago and I have my students use it in class every term. I cannot say enough about this text, every time I read it I learn something new and bring it over to my figure stuff and I'm already feeling that way about DRAWN TO LIFE. Both of these are from Focal Press and neither bothers with bones and muscles, but rather the essence of communication with the figure. Get your own copies as soon as you can and you'll agree, these are art altering books.

sketches to start April!

2009-04-01T15:57:00.003-04:00

...Robot Police have a better fashion sense...

...Sean Knickerbocker is an old student of mine who happens to be a Norse deity...

...see he glows...

...Dr.Sketchy's for March 09...

2009-03-30T14:33:00.005-04:00

I missed February's session but here's some stuff from last night's March session

some more march sketches

2009-03-29T15:41:00.004-04:00

Prismacolor Color Pencil, Pilot Fineliner and Corel Painter Essential 2

Prismacolor Color Pencil and Adobe Photoshop 7

Prismacolor Color Pencil, Pilot Fineliner and Corel Painter Essential 2

Some new sketches mixing traditional with some digital painting

50th Post GHOST RIDER!!

2009-03-19T21:31:00.002-04:00

most folks don't know that the theme for fiftieth post is Marvel Comic's Ghost Rider, here's a quick painter sketch for our special post...