Going Painterly

Well in the never ending quest for self improvement, today I attempted a quick study with the goal of making the illustration look more painterly. Painterly can mean many things but in this instance, I wanted to push my photoshop skills and try to paint like I would with the real thing. This meant more controlled / confident brush strokes ( not so many searching marks and less CTRL Z), less concern with modeling the forms and more focus on value and edges. Not bad for a first go and I intend to do more down the road so stay tuned for more.

I've included a second version with the direct reference as comparison and yes, I did use the color picker.

Also, I tossed in a few pictures from my sketchbook. Go Green Ranger!

Enjoy

Sketchbook and Studies + Reilly Method too!

Hey all,

I was going through my files today and I realized that I have not posted any studies or Sketchbook stuff in a long while. According to my blog's statistics, I get a lot of hits related to my Reilly Method studies and since I have not really stopped doing them, I thought that I'd get back on the horse and share. All of these studies are digital but I do still scribble in my sketchbook. I have not gotten around to scanning anything from there but when I do, I'll post those up as well.  I apologize if some of the images are doubled up in one or two pics but that is just how things came out this time around.

Thanks for tuning in and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Reilly Method quick Portraits. I try to do these in under 10 minutes each.

 So for a while there I was on a Predator kick and I was doing some studies of the various characters. My favorite was always "Blaine" played by Jesse Ventura. I still have plans for these....

 Gestures and quick studies.

 The two on the right were drawn using the palette knife in PS. There is something about that tool that gives the drawings a nice mark and energy. I don't know why I don't use it more!

Back to Basics Part 2

This post is an extension of my last one and this time I am posting up my Pencil work. I love drawing with a bic pen and most of my sketches and studies are executed with that tool but I was feeling out of practice with using a pencil. So, here we go with more studies, this time using a different tool. There are several Nudes in this post so if you have a problem with it, I suggest that you look away ;)

Back to Basics

For the last year or so I have worked almost exclusively digitally and recently, I was given an assignment whereby I had to actually draw using traditional tools. What a novel idea! All joking aside, at the time I felt Rusty and it took some time to get into a rythm with my tools. Now combine this rustiness and with the fact that I have been spending a lot of time working on more graphic based illustrations, I was having one of those " I can't Draw" moments. All of us go through this to one extent or another and for me, the only cure is to go back to the basics and do some figure drawing. Today, I am posting a ton of figure work that I have put together over the last little while between gigs and as warm ups. If any of you out there in blog land go through the same type of illustrators block, I highly reccomend that you do the same and in addition, try to make it part of your daily routine to warm up and get your juices flowing. Like with any skill, if you don't use it, you lose it. Ok, enough with the lecture. On with the drawings. I can tell by my stat counter that many of my visitors get here because they google the term "Reilly Method" or some approximation of the same spelling. To be honest, I'm not even sure what is the proper method to spell the name. Reily, Riley, Rielly ?... Since I discovered this method of quick drawing through Chris Legaspi's blog " Fresh Designer", I've been hooked and it has had a tremendous impact on the way I draw. Prior to that, I was very much a student of the Loomis school which I think compliments Reilly nicely. I tend to start my drawing with several quick head sketches or figures in the using the reilly method to quickly block in the forms and later in my session, I move to a " Loomis" approach to execute a longer and more finished study. None of my studies are taken all the way through to a highly polished result. For me, I draw for pleasure and to study the individual from my reference and not to end up with a gallery piece. That being said, I recognize that I could benefit from some long poses and new material for my portfolio. Anyways, I am posting several pages of my sketches starting with the Reilly method style and then I will have another post for my pencil work.

One More Study

Here we have another portrait for your viewing pleasure.

And you thought that I don't use my sketchbook anymore!

Although it is true that I have been working mostly digital these days I do still draw in the old sketchbook albeit not as often as before. I went through a 3 month phase where I thought that I should only work digital period. Blah Blah Blah. Needless to say, I'm back on the wagon and here is a sampling of images for your viewing pleasure.

Cheers!

Here is my latest installment of Riley Method Pen drawings inspired by Chris Legaspi's posts up on his blog Freshdesigner. I really enjoy doing these quick 5-10 minute portraits and I find it to be excellent warm up exercises . According to Stat Counter, people out there seem to be searching the term Riley Method and are taking a look at my images so I decided to put together another page for anyone out there who is interested.


These Images are simply more Ball Point Pen sketches from my Sketchbook. We have some figures and some portraits. The Portraits took me about 20 min or so each.



Pencil Studies from my sketchbook. Every once in a while I pick up a pencil to prove that I can still use one but for now my favorite drawing tool is the humble ball point pen. Call Me Crazy!


Lastly we have a scan of a page out of my sketchbook. This i'd say would be what a typical page looks like ( at least one that I'd be willing to share ).

More Work

Hey all,

I've finally gotten together another update for you. Mostly studies this time, Enjoy!

Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater. Alternate cover 2



Process Animation of How I created that Piece:


Process shot from a Magpie Image I'm working on. The other day one of these guys jumped right up onto the hood of my jeep and sat there for over a minute. It was surreal and I figured, that I'd better do something about it. So this is what I am doing....



Figure Drawing.



Recognize the character? Hint: he was a nazi spy in a certain 1980's movie....


Christina Aguilera Study.

Cintiq Studies #2

Ah so Grasshopper. You have much to learn....


Another Inca Mummy



Inca Mummy Process. Just in case you were wondering how it was done.



Not quite Bargue material but...


More Figures...