It figures

Ballpoint pen drawings from 2 recent figure drawing sessions. Mostly two minute gestures.

Music Shoppe [WIP]

Work in progress. This is the shop that the shopkeeper from the previous post owns. I plan on keeping a lot of the linework for these environments but I still haven't done the final drawing that will be laid over the painting yet. There are some relatively minor fixes I wanted to make to the drawing before cleaning it up some more. After that, I just have to fix the painting beneath and fine tune the colors and values. I'll probably do something different with the instruments in front of the window... they're not really working for me. I'm so weak on environments.

Viennese Shopkeeper

This is the shopkeeper design that goes with the Josephine design from the previous post. Like little Jo, this one is also a first color pass that isn't final. This guy is the owner of a shop that sells musical instruments in Vienna in the early 1800s. He not only crafts new instruments but also repairs them. He's very dignified (like one of his antique violins) but also very warm and welcoming. I'm thinking of adding some subtle pinstriping to his pants or a pattern to his vest.

Jojobee

This is my first pass color version of a character I'm doing for school right now based on the life of Beethoven. This character is Josephine Von Brunsvick, Beethoven's love interest. I made up a bit of back story about this nasty undertaker who falls in love with her, as well, after seeing over her husband's funeral. Her nickname is Jojobee.

Anyway, this paint job definitely is not final but I'm getting closer to what I want. I'm normally not really into this type of character... she's really sweet, but damnitall if she didn't grow on me. I'll post the final version in week or two. I also have a shopkeeper design that goes with this. Oh yeah, and a big thanks to Devin Crane who gave me awesome advice on this project twice!

That One Guy

These pages are from a spread I did for a zine. The topic was "That One Guy". Originally, I wrote a short story for one of the pages and was going to do an illustration for the opposite page but then I thought a comic format would tell the story better and be less of a drag to read. I spent a long time in the writing and thumbnailing stages to get the pacing right and to try to make it as clear as possible using only 2 pages. I'm actually pretty happy with it. A few of the panels could have been more clear but I was working under the gun and it's really the best I could do with the time I had.

It feels so good to actually finish something. I've been in the middle of a bunch of projects for ages and I kind of feel like I've been spinning my wheels, by this point, because I don't have much to show for it all.

Done on Bristol. Media used: Ink, chalk pastel, gouache, white gel pen, and black electrical tape.

The Misadventures of Lonely Bobby

I'm pretty much exactly in the middle of every project I've been working on so I'm posting some super awesome collaborative pieces that we did as an in-class exercise in my illustration class a few weeks ago.

This first exercise was a comic where 6 people each add a panel. The topic was "Addiction". I drew the second panel... My XXX Pony:


The second exercise was called the Exquisite Corpse (I think). Each person had to add a part of the body. The paper was folded after each part was added so the only information each person had when they started drawing was the ends of the lines from the previous drawing marked on the folds so the character comes out all mismatched. I drew the head on this one.

I should have some real stuff to show in a week or so. I need to update my website with a downloadable PDF of my portfolio too since I spent my entire spring break redoing the whole thing. And I just got back from 5 days in LA touring studios, etc. And I'll probably post a few choice photos soon.

In other news, Supergrass apparently just released a new album! I can't believe I didn't know about this the second the release date was announced months ago... where is my head this year? Gotta pick that sucker up.