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!

-------------------------------------------

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    ;)

-------------------------------------------




 

 

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.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

 



^ ^ ^ ^   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.

-------------------------------------------

^ ^ ^ ^  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"!

-------------------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------

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.  :)

-------------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------------



 

 

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.




 

 

 

-------------------------------------

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)

 

-------------------------------------

 

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!