The Penguin

Ten Ton sketch challenge prompt again.  I've never drawn the Penguin, but thought he was creepy enough to try.  I started with a base of reference using nature photos and some images from comic books.  I tried to make him more penguin and less like a man dressed as a penguin.  1 hour painting session compressed into an 11 minute video.  One of these days I'll record audio commentary over one so I can explain a bit better why I did something or how something is not working for me.  For now, you get the silent treatment. :)

Woman in Chair speed painting

Another speed painting based off of photo ref from Ten Ton. Not sure if speed is the right term since I did put about 40 minutes into this one, but it was done with the mentality of working fast and not using tons of layers and blending modes like I would in a finished piece.

Speed painting

Ballpoint, over on the Ten Ton Studio board started a speed sketch thread with some reference pics and instructions.  (Check it here.)  I thought it was a good idea.  Here is my first attempt.  I got camera shy and made some odd mistakes that I wouldn't do if I wasn't recording and focusing on speed.  Still, it ended up about 20 minutes long.... way over the 10-15 recommended, but I'll get faster.  I sped up the video 500% so it only takes 4 minutes to watch.  Lucky you. :)

Monster of the day

I watched part of Steve Firchow's Gnomon coloring video last night.  While our styles couldn't be farther apart, I liked what I saw and still learned a lot of concept stuff more than technical stuff.  I pulled his pallet file and one of the texture files and tried them out today.

Quick sketch, more for experiment than results.

Ten Ton Power Girl

Inspired by the weekly Ten Ton Studios sketch challenge.  I don't draw women much or well, so this turned out better than I expected for me.  Still think I broke her spine by twisting her so much and the legs need a lot of work, but I'll let it go for now.

All digital in Photoshop with Wacom Intuos2 tablet.

Rough

Tightened up

Maybe final?

Avengers quicky

My littlest one started drawing a bunch of Marvel heroes tonight.  Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man.  He likes it when I draw stuff for him to color, too, so I whipped this out.  A little rusty, but it was fun and he loves it.

Congress of Night Peter head concept

Here is a new Peter character head concept from my project Congress of Night.  Enjoy.

Aquaman

I don't think I've ever drawn Aquaman before.  This one is also for the Ten Ton Studios sketch challenge.  Done 11x17 with HB and 2B graphite.

As you can see, I'm still trying to work through lots of anatomy issues and continue to struggle with hands.  I used the wrapping lines a bit more decisively than in the Green Lantern picture, but still working to get them to help define the forms and not creating too much surface texture.

I've been working digitally more in the past few years with my Wacom Intuos2 in Adobe PhotoShop.  This has spoiled me in some ways.  Mainly, if I draw something too small or just plain wrong I can re-size or add  layer on top and draw over it.  Can't do that in traditional ways as easily.  Unfortunately, the Ten Ton challenges are for traditional media only, so the digital isn't an option.  I supposed I could work it all out digitally, print it, lightbox it, and finish it that way--but that's way too much work for a sketch.  Plus this is good practice for doing convention sketches.  That said, I'd still love to get my hands on a Wacom Cintiq 21ux and do the majority of my work on that. :)

Flash

Flash sketch for the Ten Ton Studios sketch challenge.

Getting into the blog swing

Yes, I know I'm years behind the curve on blogging, but I want someplace to throw some of my sketching.  I'll try for a few updates a week, at least one a week.  I'm currently working on re-educating myself on figure drawing since that is my biggest weakness and most potentially lucrative skill.