I’ve been busy playing music, so I haven’t had a chance to do any drawings. Here’s a short video from last night’s gig:
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I was too tired to draw today, so I played a song for you instead:
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A portrait of my wife, based on a photo I took this afternoon while we took a walk next to the railroad tracks.
I’ve been increasingly unhappy with the sloppiness of my recent submissions. I admit, this was mainly due to my exhaustion after a long work day and forcing myself to get something, anything, finished and submitted. Since today was my day off, I decided to spend a little more time on my submission. My goal was to attempt to recreate the look of an engraving. I don’t think I succeeded, but I learned much about the medium.
I didn’t even get started on this until around 10:30 pm. Completely the wrong type of paper for marker. I wish I had been alert enough to do justice to the hair.
One day, when I have ample time and am not exhausted, I might be able to do one of these I’m actually happy with.
Another busy day, and tomorrow will be worse. Expect tomorrow’s thing very late.
So, what does one do when their thing is absolute crap? They start all over again.
My mistake was that on the first drawing, I attempted to do a marker wash over pencil and do my hatching later. Big, big mistake. Copic marker seems to lock pencil in, therefore completely ruining the drawing. Stubborn fool that I am, I tried to fix it and ended up with a crapfest. I almost abandoned it, deciding instead to do two things tomorrow. But I don’t work like that. I’d have stopped posting all together.
So I did another. Not possessing the fortitude to hatch my shades, I decided to do my tonal work in a sort of jazz-era cubist fashion. It’s dramatic, it’s different, and I’m not sure I like it.
So. I’m considering the length of a day equal to the amount of time between sleep. Technically, it is the 17th. Ha! So what.
I used copic markers for the “wash.” I think I’ll be experimenting with ink washes a bit.
Sorry. Ran out of muttonchops. You’ll just have to settle.
If anyone out there needs a character portrait for a roleplaying game or has any cool old photos (or links to reference) they’d like me to draw, please send them to me. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to do it, but if it’s interesting and inspiring I just might.
For those of you who are interested (Kay!) I’ve included a scan of the preliminary sketch that eventually evolved into the finished work. I’m using the Copic pigment liners I was allowed to buy myself for a Valentine’s Day gift. The aluminum barrels feel great.
Strangely enough, this is the most modern of my subjects so far.
Before (10 minutes, max):
After (30-ish minutes):
This one almost didn’t happen tonight. I had a very long day teaching guitar lessons, and I taught a class that didn’t end until 8:30. I got home exhausted and saw our monstrous electric bill. Stress. Tomorrow is my estranged father’s birthday. More stress. The gash on my back from this morning when I awoke with a full bladder, wasn’t wearing my glasses, trying not to squish two cats and hit my lower back on the protruding air-conditioning unit. Pain. Two false starts.
I almost didn’t do it at all. I started it and got discouraged. I told my wife that I wasn’t going to do it tonight. Then the shame set in. I HAD to finish. For myself. For you, whoever you are.
I did as half-assed a job as I can possibly allow myself to do without hating myself for it. It’s much looser than the other ones. In some ways I really dig it (the vibrancy, the motion), and in other ways I hate it (dammit! I can do better).
But I couldn’t leave you without someone to tie your respective Penelopies to the train tracks (tremolo diminished chords ascending in minor thirds…).
I took my time on this one, as much as could be expected. I meant to submit one like this in honor of Mardi Gras, but I hadn’t yet found the proper reference.
This one, surprisingly, only took 45 minutes from beginning to completion.
This one is a little better. I went for a more minimalist approach to shading and got better results. I would’ve liked more time for the hair. Hair is the hardest thing to render (so far) in pen and ink.
