Some more old sketches...

Had all these doodles sitting on my hard drive, so I thought I might as well send them out into cyberspace...

The big ol' US of A....

I've finally found some time to dump some of the sketches I've been doing during my travels here in the states. Haven't really been drawing nearly as much as I should be... there is just so much to see and do here! But I'm pretty determined to lift my game. Watch this space ;)

Sketches...

Just a small post here.. a few more tram sketches and some life studies. Hadn't been to life drawing for weeks, and I was going a little nuts, so I had to turn to the internet for some subjects to sketch....

And now for something completely different..

Doodled up this little lady last night. Wanted a cel-shaded sort of look.. it was all I could do to resist the urge to start painting and polishing!


Also thought I'd chuck up this old sketch.. don't think I'm ever gonna find the urge to touch it again...

Sketches, studies and demons with motorcycles....

Just spent the afternoon scanning a few old sketches and stuff. Thought I might as well chuck them up so it looks like I've been doing something...

Vamps

Here is another piece that has been lying dormant on my hard drive for bloody ever. Vampire children! Based on yours truly and her two sisters.. this one was a LOT of fun... (full view is best!).

Steampunk biatches and other cool things...

Well, it's been wayyy too long! I feel like I've been drawing constantly but I have nothing to show for it. Well, that's not entirely true, I do have things to show for it, but nothing that is finished. But I think my attitude has changed dramatically in the last couple of days. Some very positive feedback on my work, combined with the realisation that I am leaving Australia in just over four weeks has given me the motivation I need to revisit some old, incomplete pieces and just bloody finish them. This is one such piece, a doodle of a steampunk character that I started something like a year ago....

Granda

Well, I have been incredibly slack these last two weeks. I HAVE been on holidays, which is kind of an excuse, but really it means I should have been using all this free time to get some stuff done. Anyway, I finally did something today. This is a portrait of a man who I love and admire immensely; my granda, Ian McDiarmid. Today is his 79th birthday. Happy birthday, granda!

spaaaace monkey...

Done for the daily sketch group at conceptart...

Big update here. I'll start with my 3rd expression sheet. This is the same guy as from the others, but as a rookie baseball player, so he's a lot younger and leaner.


This is my second ChoW... this one was totally rushed cause I was very pushed for time this week. I laid down quick colours last night... I decided to go for a more cel-shaded look because it wouldn't take as long as doing a full painting. But even though it was a quickie, I am reasonably happy with the feel of the lighting that I managed to achieve. Always trying to push my boundaries....


Did these little dudes for a girl at work, as mascots for the fundraising committee. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Not my usual sort of thing but they make me smile, so maybe they'll make other people smile too...


And I just scanned some of my sketches from the last week of so. As usual, they were done on the tram, where I seem to do most of my sketching these days...

Puss In Boots and other fun things...

Well! Boy did I get carried away on the weekend... I finally decided to take part in one of the weekly competitions over at conceptart.org. This week's "Character of the Week" was Puss In Boots. I started this on Friday night and finished it on Saturday night, with a bit of sleep in between. It is an incredible motivator to have people looking at your works in progress! Shame I never had the time to do a proper background... but at least it's a finished image.. and it took me a DAY! What kills me about that is the amount of half-finished pieces I have sitting on my hard-drive that I'm sure I could just finish very quickly if I were to find the motivation... God bless conceptart.org. I am so gonna get into this ChoW business....


Speaking of not finishing stuff.. here's a little study I started in spare time at work quite awhile ago. It's not finished, but I am finished with IT! I don't expect to ever touch it again...


And I did this today for a guy at work. He's paying me with a six pack. I had to squeeze it in cause I am under the pump at work, so it's kinda messy but I am happy with how it turned out.



So, on the whole, I feel like I am living and breathing drawing at the moment. I think about it constantly, and most of my spare time is spent doing it. Not great for my social life but I don't really mind cause I am loving it so much at the moment. So hopefully this blog will see plenty more action in the days/weeks/months to come!

Monty Biggs - Has Been

Next expression sheet here. Same dude, just older and less successful. What fun! Now to go back and wallow in my influenza-ridden state.. not so much fun.....

I've started doing some work for a work colleague, for his short film. His name is Arran Potter, and he is working feverishly on this project, and it's exciting to be involved! You can check out his blog here.
This is my first complete expression sheet, and I've gotta say it was a hell of a learning curve. One of the lessons I learned was to SAVE MORE OFTEN! My laptop has been overheating on a regular basis lately.. I don't think there's anything wrong with it because it usually happens on obscenely hot days, but this particular time I think it was because I was foolishly resting it on a fuzzy cushion at the time... I have ordered a laptop cooler but it still hasn't arrived...
Yep. Interesting stuff.

More drawing from life..

It's been SO good to get back to life drawing after the 'festive' season. I'm finding myself looking forward to it every week now. Every session teaches me something new.

Snoop

An internet buddy of mine lives in Alaska, so while it's 40ºC here in Melbourne he and his pooch can be suffering through temperatures as low as -28ºC... Snow is not pleasant on a doberman's bare paws, so Snoop gets booties.

Attack of the Blobheads Pt. 1

I've been a bit of a free agent at work the last couple of days so I've had a lot of time to sketch. I was starting to feel frustrated because there were too many things I wanted to work on.. meaning I didn't know where to start! So, instead of doing any of them, I decided to do a little exercise that I remember reading about somewhere, maybe on someone's blog.. ? Anyway, I think you can probably guess the gist of it.. Draw a bunch of random blobs (even better if you get someone else to draw them for you) and proceed to attempt to turn them into faces. It is a super fun and organic way to loosen up and think outside the box.. I try not to dwell on any one blob for too long, and if i find that I am getting finicky, ie. constantly erasing bits of a face and trying to get it right, then I will usually delete the whole face and start again. I find that when I work this way, the shapes dictate the face for me, meaning the character practically draws itself! Super fun stuff......