Contentment - WIP 1

Goodness, it's been a while; I'm sorry! I truly am. I really haven't been drawing; I've been focusing on writing my book, or generally just too busy. But, yesterday a wondrous thing happened... I drew three times in one day! (I'll upload the first two doodles at another time). The first was because I was a little bit bored in a lecture. The second was because I had an art class and we had to draw portraits of each other (this was for part of my degree, and thus to illustrate a point rather than practice any art skills), and the second made me really want to draw a portrait! so I started doing a very stylised portrait based on some stock I found on DA (link). Here's the sketch. Enjoy. :-)

Sketches

I've wanted for some time to make a small head/shoulders bust of a dragon (out of polymer clay). But I just can't seem to get the plans right! This was me having another failed attempt. I don't know why I can't draw a really nice dragon head. So back to the drawing board with this one. I'm debating as to whether I should skip the planning stage and go straight to sculpting?

The dwarf is just a random doodle I felt like drawing! ImagineFX magazine had a great dwarf drawing in the Christmas issue which I had just read at the time.

So yes. Random sketches, enjoy. Hopefully I will post something better soon, eh? :-P

Gesture Sketches 3

I didn't feel like doing more than one gesture sketch this day (Wednesday 7th December), so I spent time developing the shading instead. It's a hand, cut off by the edge of the page because I'm an idiot and didn't leave enough room to develop it! Hands are something I need significant amounts more practice on though, that's for sure!

Gesture Sketches 2

Some gesture sketches from yesterday. I used the same resource as last time; http://lovecastle.org/draw/

Gesture Sketches 1

I'm alive! Ok, so assignments aren't quite done yet but the end is in sight. Anyway, I decided I should really start getting back into basics, and experiment with some gesture sketches. So hopefully this will become a regular thing. I hope to be doing a couple every few days as and when I can fit them in. I spent 10 minutes on each of these, but I definitely aim to cut that down significantly with practice. Hopefully over time I can become a pro at creating gesture sketches and poses! :-) This is the site I used for this set of gesture sketches, it's really good! http://lovecastle.org/draw/ Enjoy. :-)

P.s. I am unsure whether to watermark these gesture sketches. They're not exactly a big deal, I know, but eh. I can't decide whether it's still worth it to. I'll see how it goes for now.

Georgina and the Dragon

Sorry I haven't posted in ages! Life has been busy and I've been working crazy hours lately so I dont have any time to draw really. But today I felt the need to re-sketch out a concept I dreamed up absolutely ages ago - Of George and the dragon, only with a female heroine (I mean why can't girls kick ass, right!?). I have two versions to paint up but I'm really not sure which one to paint up!! :S

I really want to do the whole one but I think the top one where its more cropped gives a greater kind of impact. I dunno. Thoughts??

Sketch - Brithilca and the Abbot

It would be nice to draw this one up! This was a theraputic neat sketch I did today, about an hours work. This is a scene from my story where Brithilca the dragon takes the crown of the Dragon Kings from where it is kept. ... I wont spoil any more of the story. ;)

It would be lovely to digitally paint this one up (with a background, I imagine this to be in a main hall of the monastery... But I wasnt creative enough to sketch it on!) to practice scenery and to paint all those delicious dragon scales! I've yet to digitally paint Brithilca, I have only ever coloured him traditionally before. :) And also, I have never drawn the abbot before so it would be nice to paint him... :)

The main point of this was really to practice my dragon anatomy. I always wish I could draw them better! I think have pinned down Bri's design / anatomy a bit more realistically here than in past attempts. I have been thinking about his anatomy and scale arrangements... Dragons are hard cause they dont really exist in real life so theres no definitive references to them. So I have been considering the features and functions of his anatomy, how he evolved to require certain muscles, and armous, etc. Haaard lol. I used the Dracopedia by William O'Connor for some assistance. That really is a great book for dragon fans. :)

(PS Bri's tail got cut off by the edge of the page. Whoops!)

Portrait Commission Final

Can't believe I forgot to post this here.. sorry! Enjoy :-) This is a commission I finished a few weeks ago now.

Portrait Commission WIPs

Some WIPs of a commission I just finished. This is the son of a guy I shoot with (competition archery, not archery/guns for hunting. Guns/hunting are bad, kids!).

First two were taken on my phone (hence poor quality), the second two were taken on my camera (hence better quality). Final piece will be posted in my nest blog update.

Had quite a bit of fun on this, this little chappie has a nice cheeky grin which was quite a challenge to capture, but I think I have done well! :-) Fingers crossed my client likes it. :-)

Took roughly the usual amount of time for a portrait this size, though to be honest I wasn't too on the ball about keeping track of my time on it this time so I may have gone over a bit, I'm not sure. Used the usual mechanical pencil for it all, and deepened the shading with some nice soft B pencils, up to 4B this time. :-)

Enjoy! :D

Mistletoe - Concepts

Some concepts for a commission.. :-)

Ok so, Concept 1 (top) is meant to be the two characters laying down (on a bed?) with the male dangling some mistletoe! I thought maybe they could also be laying ona rug with a fire in the background, or a window to a snowy scene, etc etc.

Concept 2 (bottom left) is meant to be the characters snuggled up in bed.

Concept 3 (bottom right) could be a more easily adapted scene in terms of location. Indoors, next to a roaring fire? On a snowy hill? (etc etc)

Portrait Commission - Final

Subject to clients approval this is the final version of the commiission. I am actually pretty happy with it, and it was a lovely piece to draw :-)

Letter Doodles

21 August 2010

So when I write letters I usually doodle allll over them! Nothing fancy but its about as close to sketching as I get so, thought I would share! Enjoy!

21 August 2010

21 August 2010

13 May 2010

13 May 2010

Portrait Commission WIP 5

Gosh this is turning out deliciously ^_^ I love drawing such beautiful people haha! Enjoy WIP no. 5!

Portrait Commission WIP 4

Work in progress of a portrait commission. Its really starting to come together here :) I have done more of the hair and also added all the depth into the face. It really "pops" now :)

Portrait Commission WIP 3

Just a quick WIP update of a piece I have been continuing to work on this week. Enjoy!

Portrait Commission WIP 1 & WIP 2

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few weeks! Life has kind of swept me off my feet and I havent really had time to draw! I do have a further WIP to upload for the Field of Lilies piece but until I get around to that, please enjoy some early works in progress of a portrait commission I'm working on :)

Below, is also the reference photo I'm using for comparison. I still have a long way to go but the foundations I have so far are going well I feel :-)

On a further note, its so HARD to try and get a decent photograph.. either the lighting in England, or my camera, is terrible lol. I had to edit the heck out of these to try and get the contrast right and its still nowhere near... technology fail!

Doodles

A doodle I forgot to post from a couple weeks back. I actually really like this! :O Anatomy not fantastic but for a few minute doodle I think its pretty kick ass all the same haha. I really like the pose in this :D

Geoff WIPs

So I only took pictures of my portrait of Geoff on my phone. Go figure its taken me about 4 months to upload them, but better late than never! Sorry for the small and not particularly quality shots, but, enjoy and I hope it gives you an insight into how I work!

Final piece can be found here.

Click the image below for the fullsize version :-)

Chloe (Final Piece) + Coronation WIP 4

I know I didnt really show any WIPS of this piece - sorry! I did try take some photos but they came out shockingly awful so I didnt post them :) I am so happy with this piece - it was the funnest portrait I've ever done, and it was so different to draw. For the first time I have used a mix of colour with graphite in a portrait, and I have also done much more than just a head portrait. I really cant wait to try out a piece like this again! You can find this posted on my Deviantart here.

Model is the lovely Chloe Pridham, in a shoot for the Sunday Times Style Magazine.

Here is the next WIP for my coronation piece featuring Naisa (right) and Rasir (left). I really LOVE how her dress is coming out, so I had to share it! Also pretty happy with the sword. Can you see how I have embedded her lovely golden bodice with pearls? Pretty :D I wish this dreass was real

Anne Hathaway (Final piece) + Chloe WIP 1

So I am really inspired to start this new piece, but in the back of my mind I was thinking "You still havent finished that portrait of Anne Hathaway yet.. tut tut...."... so I decided that my reward for finishing THIS picture would be to start the one I am so inspired to draw haha!

The picture I'm really inspired on is a graphite & colour pencil portrait of a model who I believe is Kaya Scodelaria (it looks to be her spitting image if not!)** You can see the first pencil sketch below :P Its fully cleaned up and mostly erased out so I can colour over it without the lines showing up, which is why it scanned faintly, and why, as you can see I had to max out the contrast!

** I looked up the name of the model in this sketch... sad to find its not Kaya at all, its actually a model called Chloe Pridham. Oh well. Shes beautiful to draw all the same...