Long Time No Post

So I fell a little behind on posting. It's been about 5 days since I last posted and, well, I have an excuse. I think its a rather good excuse too. I got my computer fixed and my Wacom hooked up. I've spent the past few days getting used to the Wacom and let me tell you. It's soooo much fun. It's been a while since I've used Photoshop so it's been taking some getting used to. Each time I draw something I learn something. I can't wait to post some of my work. Anyway, here are two more ink drawings from Magic cards.

Troll

Cliffrunner Behemoth

Derwent Pencil Rant

I've gotta take a second and tell everyone about Derwent Pencils. As far as graphite encased in wood is concerned I love Derwent. I like to make hash marks more than I like to shade so I use the Graphic line because I feel like the lead is less smudgy. But for people that like to shade more than hash I'd recommend the Sketch line. I recently ran out of 2b pencils and it was torturous. I love using 2b pencils, it's my favorite hardness. I finally got out and bought a few and drawing with them is like curling up on a couch with a hot chocolate. It's like riding a bike, like playing with your dog, like good food. It just feels awesome. Had to get that rant in there.
Alright, below I'm including two works I've done in ink. One of the ways I passed the time between not having a healthy supply of pencils and having one is using pens. I think ink can make me a more confident artist and every once in a while I use them. The first is from a picture I found on the internet and the second is a panel from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. Don't let the movie ruin it for you. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Reflections

Teaching Horror

Girls, Girls, Girls

I know all of my followers can tell from previous posts that I love drawing creatures, vehicles, and other such staples of the fantasy and scifi genres. I don't believe I've ever uploaded my absolute favorite subject yet and I'm not willing to go back and check. Today, this post, this is my favorite subject. Girls, women, females, the fairer sex. I love women, their shape, hair, clothes, eyes. Everything about a woman is beautiful. Hold on, I'm getting side tracked.
I've never been good at figure drawing and have, until recently, been limited to stick figures or lumpy and amorphous shapes that don't resemble the human body at all. This past year I've been practicing my ass off to get better at figures. Here are two from a couple months ago. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Purple Dress

Umbrella Girl

I'm Back

Sorry all for my recent absence. As most who have read my blog know I'm chronically ill. What most of you don't know is that I'm on several transplant lists. I recently had some complications with my spot on the list in the farther of the two regions I'm listed in as well as some medication substitutions. I had a couple of my meds changed because they have reduced side effects. Just this passed week I went to my second region of listing and had a horrible experience with traveling. My supposed one hour lay over was delayed due to storms until I was in the airport for six hours. Then my plane was in line on the runway for an hour and was eventually forced to take off heading south even though it was supposed to take off heading north west. Anyway, enough of my complaining and excuses. Here's a long overdue post with a bonus sketch to make up for lost time.

Horn Study

Demon

Coral Rock

Biker Cleavage

Blitz Helion

So here goes a quick description of each piece. The first is a horn study that I did in order to make some realistic looking horns on demons and other creatures. This was actually done chronologically after the second piece. I sketched the demon first (source image was from a magazine) and then I did a horn study. Coral Rock is a sketch I did while in Networking class. It was hard to listen to the professor drone on and having a sketchbook handy kept me awake. The source image came from the internet but I drew it without any of the people in it. The next piece was sketched and then inked. It was one off my first ink attempts and certainly one of my first figure attempts. I spent a lot of time on it. The last piece is the picture for the magic card Blitz Helion. I sketched and then used some really cheap colored pencils. With the quality and quantity colored pencils I have now it would come out a lot better. That's it for this post. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

My First Strathmore and Moleskine

I never really paid attention to what paper I was drawing on until this past August when I decided to take a more deliberate and serious approach to my art. I was in the hospital and you can only watch so many movies and TV shows, play so many card games and board games, and sleep so many hours before you feel you're going to quietly die of boredom in your sleep. I had some ideas I wanted to put to paper and asked my parents for a notebook, a sketchpad, a pencil, and a pen. They came back with a Moleskine notebook and a Strathmore 400 Series 6"x8" drawing pad.

The Strathmore 400 Series drawing pad is great. Spiral bound so it lays flat and pages aren't easily removed. It's the perfect pad to take with you everywhere. Amazing with pencil drawings and India Ink. I've used it for markers (crayola because Prismacolor and Sharpie will bleed through), color pencils, and charcoal. I find that 6"x8" is a great size as it's not too small but small enough that it's portable. I also have pads of other sizes for less portable applications. I've bought other drawing pads and sketch books but the weight and texture of this paper is my favorite.

Now a quick note on the Molskine brand notebooks. Moleskine pads and books has several great aspects to them that make them worth their elevated price. They have usually have a built-in book mark, an elastic band attached to the cover that helps keep it closed, it always lays flat, and it has an expandable pocket that is useful for storing scraps of paper. I only possess a ruled notebook but I've seen and felt their watercolor paper and I have wanted one ever since then. I use Strathmore Windpower and 400 Series for my watercolor and mixed media works but the Moleskine watercolor paper seems a little heavier and smoother. I'll let you know more about it when I purchase my own.

Gesture Dragon

BONUS SKETCH
Did this from a picture in a magazine. I used a graphite stick and didn't erase. If you've never tried it, don't erase at all in a sketch or two. I find that it's a good exercise in building confidence.Thanks for reading about my Brainsplosion.

Links

Strathmore

Moleskine

Sharpie

Prismacolor