Mighty Good Sketching 4/26/14: Control those line weights!

This week I had one simple goal, control my line weights. Here's why.

I drew this guy last week and loved it instantly. I liked the shapes. I liked the flow. I liked the expression. Then I totally screwed up the inking. The more I tried to fix, the more it got away from me. When all the dust cleared, it was mess. After I finish the personal project that I'm doing now, I'll revisit this sketch and ink it correctly.

I broke several rules of sketching people with my drawings this week, but I was more delicate with my line weights (with and exception or two). So, I'll call today a success.

This guys is a bit boring. One of my goals for next week is to introduce a story for each drawing.

Shame on you Dave. Never draw just a bust!

I love this guys hair. It was everywhere, suddenly......all at once.

Also, T minus 4 weeks and counting until I'm off to Montreal for the Schoolism Live Workshop!

Mighty Good Sketches 4/19/14

Here's the sketches from this week's session of life drawing at mighty good coffee.

Helpful Resources

In this technological age, it seems that well all collect a little horde of blogs, videos, and websites. Here are a handful of mine.

Schoolism: Inspirational interviews with industry professionals, online schools and the chiu-stream
http://www.schoolism.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYeDibhb-hs

Chris Oatley's ArtCast: philosophy, tutorials, interviews, and cheerful ramblings.
http://chrisoatley.com/category/podcasts/

Paper Wings Podcast: philosophy, tutorials, and interviews. (All focusing on comics and the creation there of.)
http://paperwingspodcast.com/

Adventures in design: The business of print making.
http://www.aidpodcast.com/

Writing excuses: 15 minutes podcasts that cover everything you need to know to become a storyteller.
http://www.writingexcuses.com/

Write about Dragons: Brandon Sanderson's Creative Writing college course, online......for free!!
http://www.writeaboutdragons.com/

Muddy Colors: Artists and Art Directors talk about things you didn't know that you've needed know until after you've read the blog.
http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/

Skottie Young's Blog: Because it updates all the time, and everything in it is awesome.
http://skottieyoung.com/

The Self Absorbing Man (AKA Paolo Rivera's Blog): Tons of Great comic book related tutorials.
http://paolorivera.blogspot.com/

Proko: A fantastic resource for understanding the human figure. There is a ton on content here!!!
http://www.proko.com/

Figure and Gesture Drawing: A free site for practicing hands and Feet. (Thanks DemonJack, this site rocks!)
http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/hands-feet-practice/

Tutorial for scanning line art
http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/tech/Line_art/line_art.htm

FZD School: A fantastic youtube channel for digital artists. There is a mindblowing amount of content on this channel. Like, put off art school for a year and work through these episodes. (Don't quote me on that)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1McYZX6KScg

Mark's Drawing Tutorials: This first video on the basics and understanding 3D geometry in terms of elipses is great. It will make your life easier.The other stuff is great too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk84EpHmZKQ

Will Terrell's Blog and Youtube Channel: Life philosophy, and the most cheerful voice you will every find. I listen to this guy just to get into a happier mood.
http://willterrell.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/willterrell2001

Stephen Silver's Youtube channel: How and why to tell your clients to PAY YOU!
https://www.youtube.com/user/silvertoons


I have many many more, but I don't want to give you an information overload.

Mighty Good Sketching! 4/12/14

As always, here are my life sketches from this weeks session at mighty good.

When I started doing this, it was a struggle to get out there. It seemed like there were a million other more important things to do on a Saturday morning than "doodle" some people at a random cafe. However, it's become one of the highlights of my week over the past two months. 

I've been tossing the idea around in my head, and I'd like to start getting a consistent sketch group together. I've gained a significant increase in confidence by making this my ritual, and I'd love to share the experience. So, here's the official call to action. If you like to draw, eat delicious scones, or creep on total strangers, come join me at Mighty Good coffee from 10 am -Noon on Saturdays. Let's make this a thing. 

This guys computer was way too small for him. 

I've noticed that most of the people that I get to draw have really tired/ drawn/ stressed out expressions. This guy caught my eye. I don't know what he was reading, but he was tickled pink.

Mighty Good Sketching 4/5/14

My apologies for the late update everyone!

Here are my sketches from this week's life drawing at mighty good. Nothing too special happened this session. Though, I did try a cinnamon scone instead of a cherry one. That was earth shattering in it's own way. Though, I suspect less interesting to you.

This guy was a bit strange. He sat like this with that sneer for 10 minutes. I don't know why, but I think he has the tortured soul of a true artist. Or a broken arm......and no health insurance. 

This second sketch might not seem like a big deal, but it was a major milestone for me. This is a regular that I see every week, and every week I try to draw him. This is the very first time that I feel that I've successfully captured his character. I have dubbed him turtle man in my head.

Secondly, Noah Bradley put out the first lecture of his art camp class on youtube for free. It clocks in at a whopping 2.5 hours and is well worth the time it takes to watch it!

Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQfF-P70V2Q

Life Drawing at Mighty-Good 3/29/14

Here are my Saturday life drawings at Mighty-Good Coffee. It took a month or so, but I've finally found the best place to sit for optimal lurking.

Thank goodness for hipsters with interesting glasses and denim jackets. They're just plain fun to draw. However, his hand was so bad that I've decided to do an intense hand study for a couple of months. (I'll do a separate post on that though).

These are both of the same guy. He must have been working on his thesis, because he was clearly hating life. After drawing him the first time, I was thinking about his eyes. They're a decent short hand, and I don't think that they look bad. However, they're very similar to all of the eyes that I've been doing when drawing from life lately. My subject clearly wasn't leaving anytime soon so I drew him again. This time, I wanted to try using a different type of eye that was more expressive. I don't think it's enough for me to draw a picture of a person that doesn't look bad anymore. I need to start adding feeling and story.

On a side note, I do him a great disservice. He didn't have man-boobs like this in real life. They were the result of an errant mark that I made and liked when I was doing the initial pencil sketch. Sorry moob-man. 

That's it for now. Hand studies and more Spreepo stuff coming soon.

DC, signing off.

Misc. Doodle and Practice

Today is my off day from the gym, so I though I'd post some sample of studies and doodle from the last month or so. I'm plying my skills as an inker at MotorCity Comic Con. So, I did a few practice samples inking with a brush (No. 6) with mouseguard and Out to Sea. Both of which, are great graphic novels. Then some other doodle and side projects.

I was being anti0social at a party and started doodling. I just kept adding smaller and smaller textures until it was time to go home.

My copy of the first pane of Mouseguard from free comic book day last year.

More MouseGuard Practice

My copy from a page of Out to Sea.

The Ink from a poster I illustrated:  Polar Bear Bombardier.