sketches 2007
February 12, 2007
An experiment in collage techniques. My drawings are usually a mix of line drawings and photos. I tend to do all the non-people things in my drawings as clear-line renderings. But I’ve always loved brush drawing so this was an attempt to use an ink wash drawing instead of the usual clear line approach. It seemed to work pretty well I think, but I’m not ready to try it in any professional context just yet.
February 12, 2007
This image draws some inspiration from Retrovirus, one of my favourite Japanese artists. I wanted to create an image where the focus was only on the hands and face of the character and everything else just became part of the background.
February 14, 2007
I actually drew this picture a while ago, but I thought now would be a good time to post it as winter has hit us with a vengence. There’s a mountain of snow outside and it’s really, really cold. Dress warmly. Happy winter!
February 25, 2007
The background painting here was cropped from the edge of a painting done by my daughter. I guess I just liked the composition of the discarded bit of painting. I carried it around in my sketchbook for a long time before I drew the boy holding the umbrella. I think it creates a nice mood.
March 6, 2007
A pixie-y elf-y thing that I drew on Heather’s birthday card. Cute and silly. Ink and markers on paper.
March 14, 2007
This isn’t a new image, but I like it. And it’s got a slightly older appeal. See? I don’t always draw cute round-headed kids and fuzzy animals.
March 22, 2007
I drew this image a couple of weeks ago on a particularly cold day. I think I was mainly concerned with the number of drawings I do of people from a straight-on sort of angle. I decided, just to prove to myself that I could still do it, to draw a person sitting on the ground. Something with a little more foreshortening. It was also a great opportunity to do some painting and not worry about the usual background details that I do — to let the painting and colour create the mood. It was fun! I really like the finished piece. And it looks like something magical is happening to him! Not sure what.
April 2, 2007
This isn’t a new image, but it’s probably new to YOU which is why I’m posting it now. I love drawing people on windy days. I’m not sure why, perhaps because wind can create a sense of action where there isn’t any.
April 17, 2007
I did a few watercolour paintings recently after looking at a bunch of Chris Raschka’s art. The guy is one of the most amazing illustrators working in children’s books. Period. I’m not sure how successful this one is. I guess the pose is similar to that drawing of the girl in the snow (also in the sketches section of this blog). It’s a very static pose. However, there’s something about it that I like. And I very seldom use red. I find red extremely difficult to use, it’s a little overwhelming. So perhaps this was as much an exercise in RED as it was an exercise in watercolours. The finished drawing looks less like I had imagined it would than I’d hoped, but there you go. Still, it’s not bad.
April 30, 2007
On my recent visit to the Frye Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick I had the opportunity to spend some time in classrooms talking with children about books — especially Grumpy Bird. As part of my presentation I talked about collage techniques and, time permitting, made a collage for the students. This is one of those collages. I just glued some torn paper to the easel, took a huge marker and drew a Grumpy Bird character on top of it — much as I did it on the computer for the book, only “low fi”. It was a lot of fun. I photographed a couple of the more successful pieces and will post them here in the next few weeks. Here’s the first one:
May 11, 2007
Another collage demonstration from my school presentations in Moncton. This time Bird (from Grumpy Bird of course). I only did images from Grumpy Bird since that’s the book I was there to talk about.
May 20, 2007
This is the last collage from the Frye Festival that I’ll upload here. They get a little repetitive after a while. This time out it’s Beaver, again from Grumpy Bird. Enjoy!
May 29, 2007
A portrait of sorts. I love mixing traditional drawings with digital drawing and photographs.
June 14, 2007
A new sketch! The little swirly bits were inspired by Thomas Campbell whose work I’ve been enjoying lately.
July 13, 2007
This was an experiment with digital painting techniques. I “painted” the entire piece in Photoshop. I think it turned out pretty well.
July 31, 2007
This little pirate looks a little startled for some reason. I love pirates. I fact, I am a pirate.
August 9, 2007
I drew this the other day on a larger sheet of paper than usual. I didn’t think it was a very good drawing at the time. Mostly because it’s bigger than I’m used to and the brush I draw with didn’t suit the larger size. Then I coloured it very quickly and loosely using only four markers, figuring I’d throw it away when I was finished. But the more I’ve looked at it since, the more I like it. It’s spontaneous in a way that I really love. Since it’s a pose with lots of action I superimposed it over a photo I took last weekend of my friend Doug playing with a sparkler in the dark. Now it looks like she’s leaping away from an explosion? Perhaps.
August 27, 2007
A real, live analog drawing! I recently had a hankerin’ to do an old fashioned drawing using “real” media. When I was in high school I discovered the work of Frank Bellamy (who I just learned I share a birthday with — how cool is that?). He was an incredible English illustrator who did extraordinary ink drawings and comics. I actually found his work through a book at the public library that collected all of his Doctor Who drawings. I instantly fell in love with his sense of adventure, realism, humour and his remarkable use of colour. I asked my parents to take me straight to the art supply store to procure some coloured ink (Windsor and Newton — the pigments in these are the most intense). I got them home and found out just how incredibly difficult they were to use. They’re not like watercolour paint at all, and yet there are similarities. I found that I could carefully mix colours ahead of time, but that they handled best when applied seperately and not mixed on the paper (something watercolour does better). However, the rich colour pigments made up for the other shortcomings. In the end I used them quite extensively for a time there. Then I abandoned them in favour of pencil and ink as I got more and more involved with drawing comics.
So the other day I dug them out and coloured this picture. I drew it with pencil, another medium I seldom use these days. The background was coloured with watercolours. However I found it getting muddy fast (which worked in the background), so decided to switch to the coloured ink for the character. The brighter pigments of the ink would allow it to really “pop” against the darker background. As a whole the image didn’t work, so you’re only seeing a small section of it (which involved a tree with a mysterious creature sitting in it). However, this little piece worked beautifully, so we’ll just look at that shall we? I might try and do more of this type of picture in the future. It’s refreshing to work with real tools — they’re much less forgiving than digital media! Good practice. And they give nice, accidental effects that you just can’t get in quite the same way with digital art.
September 6, 2007
Another pencil sketch. And more of a sketch this time than last — I never intended to do anything with this when I drew it. But sometimes it’s those ones that turn out best. I guess there’s a spontaneity that comes with that mindset that often makes for better drawings. It’s a fairy. My daughter loves fairies so I’ve been drawing a few for her.
I’ve been experimenting a lot with Photoshop brushes recently as I want to make all my art through only one application if possible. I still refuse to do my actual drawing in a digital environment, but will happily do the rest of the work on the computer. I’ve been enjoying Photoshop a lot recently as I’ve suddenly got the hang of the brushes palette. It’s really quite extraordinary what you can do with it now. I’m less interested in mimicking traditional media these days, largely because the focus of the image is so strong — the digital colouring doesn’t interfere with it. So I’ve just started experimenting with building my own brushes. I feel like the world is my oyster once again. The possibilities are almost limitless!
September 18, 2007
Another almost completely digital illustration. I pulled the drawing of the girl from my sketchbook and painted the rest in Photoshop. I’m most pleased with the sky — I think it looks fairly natural (but perhaps that’s just me). I built my own brushes for this one and am starting to get the hang of it. I have a thing for drawings of people standing in the wind. Wind is fun to draw and I love the sense of movement that can be given to an otherwise (almost) stationary figure.
October 3, 2007
I actually drew this picture for a friends birthday card. Since the drawing looks absolutely nothing like her I ended up drawing her something else. It’s a marker drawing on a nice off-white paper. I finished this particular one in Photoshop. I’ve included both versions just so you can see how it changed when it entered the digital environment. I’m really pleased with how it turned out (despite the “non-likeness”). All the background painted bits turned out nicely and I like the overall colour changes that happened. For those who use Photoshop: I applied a subtle Gradient Map over the finished piece to give it that nice blue/green hue.
October 30, 2007
I’m busy drawing the animals in the sequel to Grumpy Bird. So here’s a little picture of Raccoon. Just for you! It won’t be in the book but I thought it was kind of cute. I’ve been enjoying painting a lot recently. The background was built using a demo of Corel Painter X. Nice!!!
November 7, 2007
I have a “thing” about Hamlet. I thought Raccoon would make a funny Hamlet. Look for more Shakespeare themed drawings coming one of these days.
I just bought the new Corel Painter X. It’s really nice. This is the first piece I’ve done with it. For someone who’s spent such a long time developing my art style it feels weird to strip so much of it out. However Painter allows me to make a richly detailed image to place in the background, thus negating the need for all the usual collage. I like it! Specifically I like the atmosphere.
November 27, 2007
Another Raccoon. This time he’s going for a walk. Drawn with a blue marker that was rapidly running out of juice. But I kind of enjoy the scratchy quality of the inconsistent ink. The rest was painted with Painter X and Photoshop CS.
December 24, 2007
Well, it’s not exactly a festive holiday drawing to finish the year with but it’s a new drawing. I thought it a fitting image to end the year. Walking hopefully into a new year with its new adventures and the great unknown. It’s exciting. This has been a really wonderful year for me. Thanks, oh wonderful reader, for being along on the ride with me. Lots of best wishes and holiday cheer to all of you! See you in 2008.
|
©2007