Snow Day Special

My friends in warmer climates constantly say they wish that it snowed by them. I say fooey! While I love how the first moments of a snow fall are incredibly beautiful, snow is just a pain in the butt. Eventually it gets dirty and brown, you have to clean it off your car in the morning, driving conditions are usually terrible, and grumble grumble grumble. So I'm pretty much snowed in and might not be going out at all today. As a result, I am making this post. I'll even include an extra piece. That's right, three pieces today! Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Robot Speedster

Horror

Dragon Turtle

I'm Alive But My Computer Isn't

I wanted to drop in and say that I'm still around. I feel pretty awesome at this time but something horrible happened! My computer is no more. I'll be setting up this old laptop so I can scan some more art in but my new wacom is kinda useless right now. Digital art is on hold. I'll be back to updating by the end of the week hopefully. Here's a bunch of art to make up for my absence. Actually, it's the rest of what I have uploaded. Enjoy. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Cartoon Cats

Heart

Robot

Robot Freddie Mercury

Screamer 4

Skull

Animals Inked

Bookshelf

Climber

Hay Bales In a Field

Hay Bales In a Field (Inked)

Coastal

Bone

Leaves 1

Leaves 2

Red Mask

Primitive Dock

Sea of Wheat

Treant

Treefolk

Warbles

Weasel

Just FYI

I have a quick update for today. I may have another long absence coming up. I'll know more by tonight but I'm second in line for the transplant I need and the hospital has me on standby. It's bittersweet really. I want this transplant so bad but I'm terrified. Anyway, if I don't update for a couple months I'm in the hospital recovering. Here's a bonus sketch.

Screamer 1

 A quick gesture drawing using a soft pencil, probably 6B or 8B, of a person screaming. Being chronically ill can make you feel like screaming sometimes. I've never thought of it this way but this is one of a series of self portraits really. If I get a liver they'll soon turn into people smiling. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

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.

Who Would Pay That Much For Markers? I Would.

I thought I'd post a little review again just to keep things fresh. I had an great night last night and this weekend should prove to be pretty damn awesome as well. As I've informed you all I will be going in for some routine surgery this Monday and have to spend at least two days in the hospital but it could be more. So this is me continuing my burst of posts before a possible week of silence. Anyway, here is another one of those posts in which I review a product I use or have used. I previously reviewed Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pads and Moleskine Notebooks. This time around I'm gonna tell you about my little collection of Prismacolor Double Ended Art Markers and how awesome they are to work with.

Prismacolor markers come in a huge array of colors of which I currently only own seven. I know, I know, not really a collection worthy bragging about but I don't have tons of money and so I tend to buy them one at a time. The lack of local art supply stores in my vicinity forces me to shop at Michael's but you can print out a 40% off coupon pretty consistently. Their regular price is $4.49 per marker. It's not much worse than Amazon's price and with the 40% off it becomes even cheaper than Amazon. Expensive? I think so. Worth it? I know so.

These markers come in a huge variety of colors but I think the best thing about them is the ability to mix colors on a palette. That's right, rub the marker on a plastic palette, I use a plastic plate, and use the colorless blender marker to lift the colors like you would with a paint brush. Mix them elsewhere on the plate and then simply draw. Cleaning the colorless blender is as simple as wiping it off on a paper towel. So even with only seven colors, I feel like I have more. But wait! There's more! These markers have fantastically vibrant ink. It'll bleed through drawing paper or sketch paper so I've been using them in a small watercolor pad where the paper is thicker. Oh, and did I mention they're double ended? One end is a fine point and is great for detail work while the other end is a chisel tip suitable for multiple tasks.

In short, these markers are the best I've used so far. If you use cheap markers, like I still do sometimes, that can be fine for practice but if you want to make something truly beautiful, use Prismacolor Double Ended Art Markers. They're pretty awesome. Now on to the bonus drawing.

Steampunk Flying Tugboat

BONUS SKETCH
I included this drawing for two reasons. First off, I think its pretty good. Secondly, I copied this picture from the same magazine I got the dragon from in my last review so it's not my concept. Copying from pictures in magazines and from photos is good practice. Drawing from life is much better but where am I ever going to see a flying tugboat or a dragon. Use the internet, magazines, pictures, TV, movies, comics, books, cards, anything. Just don't copy something and claim it's your own idea. It may be your hand that drew it but it's not your mind that came up with it. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

Links

Prismacolor Double Ended Art Markers

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