Video Tutorial: 10 Tips to Drawing Horses - By Bobby Chiu

Three Screen Captures From The Video Below

Hello!

Quite awhile ago, when I was first struggling to learn how to digitally paint I came across a YouTube video by Bobby Chiu.

In that tutorial, Bobby drew an image real-time and talked in a sort of stream of conscious way about art and staying motivated.

I have to admit I learned a lot from just that one video and patterned a lot of my early digital art efforts on what he had taught in that lesson.

Fast forward many years and I came across another tutorial by Bobby that he just published—and he has not only developed a great deal as an artist since I first discovered him—but his teaching and delivery has really improved as well.

The video is called 10 Tips to Drawing Horses and I learned a bunch from it—and so I thought I'd share it here.

If you've struggled at all with understanding how to draw a horse, Chiu gives a lot of great, simplified but very helpful tips about the anatomy and structure of a horse—while throwing in some very useful drawing tips too.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!











Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless!

Jephyr's Dia de los Muertos Painting

Hello again!

We're werking our way through another blistering summer here in the Phoenician desert I call home....and I can't wait for it too cool off again!!

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Recently, I received an e-mail from Sandy Luehrsen, one of my instructors at MCC reminding me that there was a call to artists for a Dia de los Muertos exhibition in Tucson.

(Tohono Chul - Día de los Muertos Exhibition, August 28 - November 8, 2015.)

I decided to see what I could come up with, did a little research into the holiday and its imagery...and one day did a quick sketch of a Mariachi skeleton dood that I thought might fit the bill.

The next day I began digitally painting him on my computer...and rather quickly decided I was liking the results.

Later, I decided to add a background...and once again turned to the iconic images from the traditional Dia de los Muertos celebration...and painted a candy skull to place behind my skeleton Mariachi dood.

I'll share images from those steps below...and plan to make a short video documentary of the process too.

BTW...I call this painting “Momento Maury” as a humorous homage to medieval church "Memento Mori" works (loosely translated from Latin: "remember that you are mortal"), designed to remind viewers of their own mortality.

: )

(click on theses images to see a larger view)

"Momento Maury", Dia de los Muertos Painting, Copyright 2015, Jephyr, All Rights Reserved

"Momento Maury" background - process steps
Dia de los Muertos Painting, Copyright 2015, Jephyr, All Rights Reserved

Thanks for schtoppin' by!!

Zombie Head-Hunter: Jephyr's Latest Digital Painting And Tutorial Video

Hi!

Recently I planned to do some more work on a digital painting I already had underway.

I opened Photoshop and was just going to warm up a bit...but decided to roll CamStudio (screen-capture software) too...so I had it capturing my "warm up" well.

Maybe because I didn't have an agenda...I felt relaxed and comfortable...and very quickly had a good start on a cartoony, creepy face.

So I decided to "work on" and just see where it took me.

Wow...did I go "dark" on this one!!

Even though it's a cartoon...I managed to ultimately work in a "shrunken head" that a zombie character is holding.

Whew!  :)

I took the screen-capture video, added a music track and text...and did a voice-over where I talk about how this image came together and elaborate a bit on some of the techniques I used.

All in all...it was a fun project!

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Enjoy!





Thank you for stopping by!

Jephyr's Art 202 Photoshop Assignment: Identity Project

Image from Art 202 "Identity Project" - Copyright 2013, Jephyr

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Hello!

Yesterday, my Art 202 - Digital Art Survey class had a critique day for the Adobe Photoshop "Identity Projects" we've been working on for the last three plus weeks.

A lot of students in the class are just beginning with Photoshop but I was surprised at how good many of the submissions were.  There was so much inspiring variety...and lots of cool, sometimes very thought provoking images.

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As usual I really went into over-drive for my assignment and put in endless hours...and was generally pleased with end result...but you never know how it will be received by others. 

Sometimes what "speaks" to you as an artist...seems to completely miss the mark when you finally share it.

But in this case I was happy to find that there was a lot of positive feedback...and even a few compliments that would be wrong for me to repeat.  Let's just say I wish everything I did had this kind of response.

Below I'll post the full "Prospectus" I submitted to our instructor at the beginning of this assignment...but the summary will probably explain enough for most:

Project Summary: 

"This project will explore my own aging and its effects on my perceptions of life.  A series of self-portraits and other images will be shot with a digital camera and then enhanced and manipulated in Adobe Photoshop."

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So If anyone is still reading...and didnt' just go straight to the images...here they are...beginning with the "triptych and quadtrych" I submitted as the Final images for the project.

 (click to see larger views):

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(Triptych removed)

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Lastly, as you age, you become more and more aware of mortality.

While I'm not morbid about it...the older I get the more I find myself thinking about my own exit from this planet.

Here's a larger view of The Skull Image from the first Triptych.  I took several high contrast portraits of myself and a reference skull that I have and composited them together:



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And here's the prospectus I submitted for the project:

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Thanks as always for stopping by!

Jephyr Posts Even "Mo" Sketchbook Drawings

Hello,

As I wrote in my last post, recently I got around to scanning sketches from last year's sketchbook

I'll post a some of them today (along with a couple from this year) and add a few comments:


I call this handsome fellow "Zeb".  :)

This guy captures "something" I wish I could put in everyone of my drawings.  There's just something I like about his expression, his eyes, his face, and the shape of his head.

If only I could make this happen every time! 

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Ok...so I hear you saying (or is that the voices in my head), "Wait a minute friendo...this ain't no gosh derned sketchbook drawing!!"

And you'd be right of course.  It's included here because it began its life as a pencil sketch in my 2013 sketchbook.

I was very happy with the way the drawing looked...but when I scanned it in to the computer it didn't look as good.

So I took that scan into Photoshop and scattered some "pixel dust" on it...and done made me this digital version of it.

Anywho...this image is kinda "dark" thematically...so it fits in with some of the ideas I have for a graphic novel.  (read more in my December 29, 2012 blog entry)

I've also been having a GREAT time digitally "painting" this drawing in Photoshop.  Hopefully I can share the finished version of that with you soon too!

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Otherwise, I continue my love affair with "wacky" cartoony faces. 

They are so much fun to draw!

Here are three from last fall and one from earlier this month.

^^^   A quick story about this last image.   ^^^^

I was on the West side of Phoenix and was looking for a place to stop and have a bite and draw for a bit.

I passed a Chinese Cafe that looked promising...and saw a guy just leaving it.

So I rolled down my window to ask him if he'd recommend it.

Normally I wouldn't add details about his race because usually this is not important.  But in this case I hope you don't mind me sharing:  He was a black man.

But when he aswered my question...it was immediately evident that he had a VERY strong Chinese accent. 

Perhaps I might not be faulted to have been surprised because, other than American tourists and athletes etc, I've never seen a black person in all the photos and videos I've ever seen of China.

Statistically I've since discovered that there are only around 0.7% blacks living in China...a hair more than 1 in 143 people.

Later, it became apparent he'd made an impression on my subconscious too...because when I sat down to draw I began to realize this drawing looked like a very cartoony, caricature of him.

Drawing a likeness of someone without intending to do so happens to me on occasion....and I always enjoy when it does.

UPDATE:  Recently I was eating in a Chinese restaurant and started sketching after I was done.

One of the servers and I started talking and she said her family had immigtrated from China (unfortunately...I can't recall the city now).

Anyway...I related the story about the the guy with the chinese accent above...and she confirmed that blacks in China are very rare.

She said that other than in American films she'd never seen a black person until she came to America. 

  She said that you'd probably only find black living in major cities in China...or Hong Kong.

We talked for a while and I found our conversation very interesting.

I often find that drawing in public opens doors to getting to know people.

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Well...that's all for now.  As always I thank you for stopping by my little corner of the web.

Jephyr Posts Latest Digital Painting: "It Came From The U.N."

Hello!

Hope you had a great Christmas!

It's so hard to believe we are almost into a new year...and 2013 at that!!!

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Life has been keeping me very busy.  Earlier this month I finished another semester at Mesa Community College...and took an Art History class where I learned a ton.


And speaking of that...if you are in the East Valley of Phoenix I would definitely recommend taking a class from Lindsey Pedersen, an Art History instructor at MCC.   She is excellent!!


It's clear I'm not the only one who thinks so...because she has an extremely high rating on ratemyprofessor.com too.

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The Background Story For My Latest Digital Painting



Click to Enlarge
See A Larger View Of The Final Image Below

I've still been drawing a lot and digitally painting as time allowed...and after the semester ended finally found the time to finish a digital painting I'd begun long ago.

Started in December of 2011, I worked on the concept a bit using Adobe Photoshop and my Wacom Intuos Tablet and then fairly quickly lost interest and moved on to other things.

As seen in the "process steps" to the left...I just got as far as the weird, green "alien" head last year (top left).

After classes ended this fall I decided to look through my old files and when I saw it, decided to do some work on it again.

I was feeling most dissatisfied with the color choices last year...so this time around the first thing I began to do was mess around with that and experiment with color layers.

And finally something I was more happy with began to emerge.

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So....Why Is It Such A "Creepy / Scary" Image?

I've been interested in creating a graphic novel about the current state of the world and the "end times".
 

Meister The Construction of the Ark of Noah

According to the Bible, in the time of Noah before the Biblical flood, fallen angels had mated with human women and created an evil hybrid race which God detested.   (Genesis 6:1-8)

And apparently the fallen angels also messed with the DNA of animals.

All this created evil and fearsome, soul-less creatures.  These human hybrids were much larger and stronger than man and are called Nephilim (along with other ancient names).

God used the flood to purge the world of this evil. 

Unfortunately, afterwards the fallen angels continued their ways and produced more of these creatures. 

For example, long after the flood, the Jews were told to take possession of "the Promised Land" and Numbers 13:32-33 gives a report of what they found: 

"The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

Much Later, around the time of Jesus (2,000 years ago) it was recorded in Matthew 24:37-39 (KJV) that "as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (the return of Jesus and the end of our present world)

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Public Domain Image

Fast forward to today, when there are many Biblical prophecies and signs indicating the end of the world, such as wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, the "roaring of the seas" and more.

http://alltheangelsshoutedforjoy.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-words-of-jesus-on-signs-of-times.html

Many point to current research being done with human cloning and trans-humanism: the combination of human and animal DNA.

Others point to our popular culture and that movies and TV shows use human evolution as a regular theme.

Still others suggest that "they" are preparing humans for the appearance of these creatures by planting the notion in our minds that these beings will be extra-terrestrial...ALIENS. 

The "they" most often mentioned are the powerful elites:  The Illuminati, and secret societies...pulling the strings behind the scenes...assassinating leaders and toppling governments...causing wars...dumbing societies down so that they can keep everyone else in a servant class...obedient, uneducated worker drones...who are kept in slavery to drugs, porn, alcohol, video games, etc etc etc.

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So all these themes were in my mind as I worked on this image.

I know many of my Christian friends might recoil at this image...and might think of scripture that tells us to think about what-ever is good, pure and lovely.  (Philippians 4:8)

And I have no defense against that...except to say that I have been praying for guidance about what to work on.

And this is something that came from my efforts after those prayers.

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Anyway...that explains my thought process behind this image...and FINALLY...here is the large version of it. 
 


Click To Enlarge - Jephyr Art - Digital Painting - It Came From The U.N.

Thank you for stopping by!




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Please visit Jephyr.com to see many more examples of my artwork and photography!