New Artwork And A GREAT Old Song

Hello,

Today I'll post a couple of new sketches/character designs—and an excellent old song that's related to the second drawing.

Let's get to it!

"The Shepherd" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ I went out to draw one afternoon and as I drove I prayed that God would help me come up with something that would serve Him.

While I'm not exactly sure how this sketch fulfills that—I definitely felt inspired as I drew it—and enjoyed the process a lot.

BTW—I also asked God to open doors with people—and as I finished this up several employees where I went were really engaged by this character (and were complimentary and encouraging)—and that led led to some enjoyable conversations about their interests and lives.

"Fat Food" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  I prayed before starting this one too—but had a bit more of a struggle to bring it to life.
I started with my world famous, and patented "Scribble Technique" ™ ☺—and after a bit—began to "see" the GIGANTIC...ummm..."well-fed" character emerging from those lines.

As I put more detail into him, however—I was left with a large open area on his shirt that looked far too empty.

Since a lot of people walk around giving free advertising to corporations etc—I mused for a bit about who/what this character would happily advertise for—and then a light-bulb went on.

I've seen first hand the terrible health costs of our processed "convenience" and fast-food diets—such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, joint issues, edema and skin disorders, sleep apnea, heart-attack, stroke, depression, and social isolation, etc.

In fact—a few years ago, I lost a friend who was just in his early forties—and his death certificate listed his weight as a contributing factor to his early departure.

So, as a protest of sorts—it felt "right" that this...ummmm....large character would be wearing his corporate "master's" advertising on his shirt—while simultaneously advertising the effects of their poisons (oops...I mean products) on his body.
☺
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Even though it's about another vice—smoking cigarettes—Randy Stonehill's 1976 tongue-in-cheek, Lung Cancer, seems appropriate to include with this post.

It's fun and light-heart but has a pointed message too.



BTW—while smoking cigarettes has decreased—the use of vaping and e-cigs has now surged—and there are over 400 illnesses and and as many as FIVE recent deaths being attributed to them.

In this first link, it reports the US Center For Disease Control (CDC) "said 450 cases of vaping-related lung illnesses in 33 states and one territory are now under investigation by state and federal health officials."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/five-vaping-related-deaths-confirmed-another-under-investigation/ar-AAGV7FB

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7432983/California-man-diagnosed-respiratory-failure-placed-medically-induced-coma-vaping.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7433569/Teen-18-claims-nearly-died-vaping-starts-campaign-hospital-bed-ban-products.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7432067/Second-person-dies-U-S-lung-illness-linked-VAPING.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7408783/Vaping-cost-college-athlete-20-lung-family-says.html

Update (7pm - 9-10-2019):

Since publishing this post a sixth person's death has been linked to vaping.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7448731/It-time-stop-vaping-Kansas-reports-6th-U-S-death-linked-mystery-illness.html

Update (9:30am - 9-11-2019):

Today—another article on a serious vaping related illness and hospitalization.  A twenty-one year old man is "fighting for his life on a ventilator after developing a lung-related disease" after vaping for six years.

Minnesota student hospitalized with vaping-related lung injuries and SIX US e-cigarette users die | Daily Mail Online 

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Thanks for stopping by!

See you again soon.......

Four New Sketches - Nearly 100% After Surgery

Howdy,

As you may know by reading other posts here—I had a lover'ly surgery about 2 months ago.

The recovery process took a while and when I first started trying to create again I had absolutely nothin' in the ol' tank.

Finally—slowly but surely—I've climbed back into the real world—and have been creating some sketches that feel worthy of posting.

In fact—now that I'm thinking about what to say about them—I actually began all of them BEFORE my surgery—but was already feeling some pain (that made the surgery necessary) and was stressed about going under the knife—so I had NO energy and felt COMPLETELY uninspired, and got no where with them until more recently as I've felt way better.

Anywho—on to the sketches and a few words about 'em:

'Love Struck - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ Regular visitors here will know I start most of my sketches by lightly scribbling on the page and looking for ideas from those lines.

With the pic above—I went out before surgery and scribbled around a bit and "saw" this figure in my scribbles almost immediately—especially those big feet and YUGE out-stretched hands.

After my surgery when I was feeling much better—I worked on refining all that in a local coffee house one day—and had most of the body including the animal skin wardrobe—but was struggling with getting the face right (and understanding in my own mind what in the heck the character was doing).

☺ 

I'd been in a bit of a grumpy mood—and was trying to add a surprised/scared or angry expression to the face (most likely as a result of my negative disposition)—and was imagining our stone-age friend reacting to a BIG dinosaur or something—but WHAT??

As I struggled, a young woman who worked there walked by, and smiling down at this image, said simply that she liked what I was doing.

I laughed and thanked her, but added something about not knowing how to finish it.

That quick exchange with her, however, lifted my spirits, and when I started on his face again it reflected my improved mood—and after adding a few hearts circling over-head—our "love struck" cave-man was born.

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The next time I went to that coffee house, I showed the young woman the drawing and thanked her again—and told her she had helped me finish it.

She seemed to like the final sketch, and even asked if she could take a picture of it.

'Professional Stick Pony Championship Rodeo - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

 
^ ^ ^  Another sketch began with some scribbles.

I "saw" the cowboy with his boot in the air almost immediately—but before surgery just didn't have the energy to finish it up.

One day when I started feeling better—I turned to this one and began working on it again.

Once I added the "stick-pony"—everything else practically drew itself.

I hope anyone riding in the Professional Stick Pony Rodeo Circuit will feel I captured the spirit of this exciting and challenging sport.

☺

'Super Rick - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  I scribbled some lines before my surgeryfor this one, and "saw" the elongated legs right away—but also a torso with the body thrown backwards and the arms and the hands way back over the head.

When I started working on this one again post surgery, I tried and tried to make that pose work—and somewhere along the way he sprouted GIGANTIC feet (which amused me)—but making the body look and feel "right" was definitely eluding me.

One night in frustration—I erased the entire upper part of the image and experimented (with some light lines) by moving the body and arms forward.

After a few attempts in that direction, a body and arms began to emerge that I felt suited the character a LOT better.

I then created a city skyline background—and "Super Rick" made his first appearance in the world—dashing over the roof-tops—lookin' for baddies to battle and bring to justice!!

"The Surprise Party - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  This one is actually the first sketch I finished after my surgery.

Before they sliced me up, I'd scribbled the basic idea for it—and when I started to have some life back in me I began working on it again, and while her pose didn't change much—and I just refined what was already there—when I added the balloons and purse it finally began to feel complete.

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Well—that'll do it for t'day.

Thanks for looking in on my little corner of the world.

See ya soon and God Bless!

April 30, 2019 - More Sketchbook & Bonus Video

Hi,

Today, I'll share two new sketchbook drawings.

You'll also find a very inspiring video from Greg 'Craola' Simkins below—which is a time-lapse of him painting his AWESOME piece, "Let The Outside In."

'Momento Murray' - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ If you've visited other recent posts here—you'll know that I had begun doing more cartoony, light-hearted images.

While today's sketches both still have a bit of a cartoonish feel—they are also a bit "darker" as well.

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Scribble Technique:  I started both of today's drawings—by just doing some light scribbles on the page—and then began looking for ideas to spring from those lines.  

I love utilizing this method and have been very pleased with the unusual character concepts that emerge when I use it.  

It's a bit like looking at clouds and seeing shapes and animals and so-on.  

If you haven't tried it yet—I highly recommend it.

'Siege' - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

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Video

A time-lapse of Greg 'Craola' Simkins painting his master-work, "Let The Outside In."

It's about 50 minutes long, but well worth a look—especially if you are interested in seeing another artist's technique and approach to a piece.

If you just want an over-view I'd suggest increasing the playback speed—or just click through and watch segments that catch your eye.



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That'll be all today.

Thanks for stopping by,

See you again soon.......

4-10-19 New Sketch And Tales

Sketch Posted Below Commentary

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Hi,

Yesterday, I went out to a coffeehouse to sketch for a few hours and on the way there asked God to open the door to some good interactions with folks there.

A large table that I like to work at was open but two women took it right as I entered—and there was only one unoccupied table right at an entrance—so I grabbed it, got settled in, and began sketching.

The coffeehouse is near a large hospital complex and is usually pretty busy, so there were a lot of people there and most of them seemed to be in good spirits, and I nodded "hellos" and exchanged smiles with several people.

After a bit, a woman stopped on her way out the door and we visited about her grandson who is also an artist.  Later an older gent stopped by and we talked a bit about my drawing process and his background as an author.

"Enrique 'Hammertoes' Johnson" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  I had a lot of fun drawing this po' creature who dropped his treat—began as a scribble (of course : ).

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Bonus Video

Kim Jung Gi, is a South Korean artist who has an amazing ability to sketch his ideas directly from his mind, using his amazing memory and recall, and is able to literally fill a large complex drawing with characters, backgrounds and props, etc—without any preliminary sketching.

The video below a live drawing demonstration Gi gave in 2013—and shows his incredible abilities.

Please be advised, however, that his drawings are not always so tame and often contain nudity and sexuality—so if you do further research about his work you will likely encounter those kinds of images.





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That'll do it for today.

Thanks as always for stopping by.

See you again soon........

Early June 2013: Jephyr's Most Recent Sketchbook Drawings

Hello,

Hope your summer is off to a good start!  We've already been having 105 to 111 degree days here in Phoenix.

I'd promised myself that I would tame the jungle in my yard as soon as the spring semester ended so I've been working both early in the morning and late in the evening...avoiding some of the heat...to accomplish that. 

I'm nearing the half way point...at least on the initial go-round...but these temperatures are ridiculous.  Whew!

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Fortunately, as I wrote in my last post on 5-22-13 I've still been finding a lot more time to work on my own art since school ended too.

I have several digital "paintings" I'm working on...and have been enjoying drawing a LOT in my sketchbook.

It's pretty interesting to discover how quickly I get rusty if I don't draw all the time...and then how rapidly it seems to comes back once I start up again.

Today, I thought I'd share some more of my latest sketches:

^ ^ ^ ^  Not to sound like a broken record...but this guy started out by using the "scribble technique".

I just begin putting down some random scribbles on the page and then look for patterns in them.

Once I start to "see" something in the scribble I begin to work that into a final sketch.

Since the human eye is fine tuned to see faces many of these wind up as my cartoony/caricature people like the guy above

In this case I kinda saw Keith Richards at first and worked toward that. 

Later I began to see more of F. Murray Abraham's, "Salieri" (from the movie Amadeus), and finished it with more of that in mind.

- BTW...as I sat in a coffee house finishing this drawing two separate guys came up to me to talk about it.

When I mentioned Keith Richards and the movie Amadeus, neither of these two 20 somethings really knew who/what I was talking about.

That made me feel ancient...like some old codger when I was a kid going on about a silent movie star I'd never heard of.

OUCH! 

LOL    ;)

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I wish every drawing I did was as easy as this guy!  ^ ^ ^ ^

 

I started with another scribble and immediately saw that magnificent profile.  As I worked on it...it was like it was almost drawing itself!

 

I'd just watched all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and clearly had pirates on the brain.

 

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^ ^ ^ ^   Not a whole lot to say about this guy...just another chance for me to play with exaggeration and "caricature" of the face. 

If this was going in a portfolio...there'd be a lot I'd tighten up.  But I called him "done" so I could move on.

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^ ^ ^ ^  I tend to like drawing craggy old male faces because they can be a lot of fun to exaggerate...shading and rendering all those nooks and crannies.

But for this one, I decided to draw the face of a young woman I'd seen in an old movie on TV.  She had amazing eyes...and so I set out to capture her from memory.

The final drawing above ain't even close representing her...but I was enjoying just letting this drawing "happen"!

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Man did I sweat over this one!   ^ ^ ^ ^

I call it Prisoner Jx-25.

I met with my friend Elkanah to have some grub and draw...and was scribbling on the page to get started.  At first I "saw" an astronaut type guy in a space chariot and kinda sketched some of the details in.

I kept saying that I wasn't happy with it at all but Elkanah said he was confident I'd figure something out.

I found that to be very encouraging...and so over the next few days kept working on this page.

Finally a weird head with horns all over it began to emerge.  I still wasn't very happy with it...but as I eliminated some of the horns...I began to see a wart-hog type head...and at last I felt like I had something going on.

Then I began to add the body...and later even used some reference photos and anatomy books...trying to make the musculature, though exagerated, a little more legit (although I still took a lota liberties in the end).

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when I was looking at this drawing across the room and realized I had it's eyes too high on the head.   Once I moved them down to where you see them now...this sketch/character design finally felt right to me.

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Well...that's it for now.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Jephyr Posts A Few More Images From The Ol' Sketchbook

Hi!

Hope you're day is going well!

I finished another semester of college recently as I inch closer to completing my degrees in Fine Art and Digital Illustration at Mesa Community College.

I usually pour myself into classes so even if I only take one it quickly begins to eat up most of my free time.  So when a semester ends I realize how much I've had to put aside my own interests.

One thing that suffers is how much time I can spend on my own art...both on the digital painting side but also in my personal sketchbook.

As I looked back through my sketchbook over the semester I didn't like a lot of my efforts recognising now I was often too tired to really feel inspired about drawing. 

Thankfully I still enjoy sitting in a coffee house, or after a meal sketching...so it's only in retrospect that I can see that about individual drawings.

Fortunately there were still a few that I felt I could share here:

I call this guy "Crunch".   ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I'd found a tiny little Mexican Restaurant, owned by an older couple.  He took the orders, and she was the chef.  They spoke only Spanish between themselves and I had the impression she spoke no English.

There were only 3 tables inside and all of them were occupied so I found myself sitting out on the covered patio. 

That wouldn't have been my first choice but soon enough I was very happy about it.

It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining but there was a gentle cool breeze so the temperature was just right. 

The patio is set off the roadway just far enough that I could indulge in some people watching without being seen myself.  There were pretty girls and street people...and young toughs...and old timers and families passing by. 

After my meal I began to scribble in my sketchbook and eventually "Crunch" began to appear. 

As I was getting close to finishing him, there was a knock on the window beside me and the old guy who took my order (and was a little gruff with me at the time) was smiling down at my work.  A few moments later his wife also tapped on the window and smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.

All in all a very good day.  :)

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I really enjoy using the "scribble" technique to begin a drawing...and use it fairly often. 

(see my May 2, 2012 blog post for more examples)

The old woman, admiring her coiffure above, is another case in point...begun as a scribble.

I'd started the sketch a day or so before and then sat one evening in a fast food joint and finished her up.

Sometimes I go "un-noticed" by the people around me, other times I see that people are interested in what I'm doing but don't approach me.  And then sometimes, usually after someone first gets the courage to come over and break the ice, I get a steady stream of people coming over wanting to see what I'm up to...and often we end up in conversations that cover all kinds of ground.

It can be a lot of fun.

That night I had a lot of company...and was enjoying my sketch...so it was definitely a good night.

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The sketch above, and the next two, fall into a category the guys over at Concept Art call my "super-exaggerated" anatomy.

They are done without any references so I know that the anatomy isn't perfect...but it does help me practice movement and musculature in my characters...and makes me hungry to really understand anatomy so that in the future I can spew out this kind of work without reference but have the anatomy be more accurate as well.




 

 

 

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The next drawing below came at the end of the semester, and after a few weeks of sketching again on a more regular basis.

Later I was thinking about where her sad face and look came from. 

Then I remembered seeing a mug-shot of one of the stars of "That 70's Show", Lisa Robin Kelly, after a DUI arrest.

I did a google search I found the photo again...and was struck by how much seeing this image just one time influenced my drawing.

These sub-conscious connections to my drawings come to me from time to time and I really enjoy when they do!

(I hope nothing but the best for Lisa Robin Kelly)

 

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Finally, this last drawing came about one day after a meal at a little Greek cafe.  It probably falls into the "super-exaggerated" anatomy because of the over sized feet and musculature. 

 

Later I returned to the cafe and realized I might have also been sub-consciously influenced by the table tops there. 

They are apparently left-overs from the previous restaurant and have an Asian-Chinese flavor with flowers painted on them...and honey bees.

 

I call this picture "Worth It"...imagining our hero got into a bee hive to eat some honey and is now being chased by its angry occupants.

 

 

 

 

Well...that's it for now. 

 

I'm already at work on more pages from my sketchbook and plan to finish up a lot of my digital paintings this summer.

 

So look for those in the future.

 

As always I really appreciate you stopping by.

 

Until next time...God Bless!