Week 3 Employs the KISS Method

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid, or Keep It Super Simple if you want to be polite. It doesn't necessarily refer to the fact that I would totally be okay with kissing this guy. Well, I would if he hadn't just been smoking. Cigarettes are disgusting, yet sometimes I think they add a lot to a drawing. Maybe it's a morbid fascination.

As I worked on this and became more and more involved with the sketching phase, I realized that erasing the sketch lines and trying to color it would just take away from what's there. Part of being an artist is knowing when to stop and not over-work something, so that was my route this time.

Week 3.2

Today I went through painstaking steps to adjust his legs and anything else that needed work. A lot of the time I'll realize some anatomy is off when I've already started coloring and it's too late to fix it. I checked a lot of sources this time so we should be avoiding that.

I haven't inked his face yet because I'm paranoid about screwing up. Too many times I've quickly drawn and inked a face and it looked... awful. I guess you could compare it to the feeling Spongebob Squarepants had when he was prepping himself to pain Mr. Krabbs' house around all his expensive wall hangings and spent hours mentally prepping himself for it. And then it turned out to be really easy.

End of Week 30

Look what I made myself finish! I told myself no sleep until it was done, which may or may not have been to the drawing's advantage. In the end I had to use color fill on the computer for the area in the curtain because my pale gray copic marker fell in the line of duty completing part of the wall and Ivan's hair. Maybe some time later when I'm less tired I'll actually put something there.

Week 30: More of It

Riveting.

Anyway, after my last update I motored through drawing the actual clothes, started inking them and then... stopped for the next few days. Until this evening. Work was exhausting but the realization that I have until tomorrow night to finish this fueled my motivation. So tomorrow assuming that work does not leave me unable to anything besides lay on the floor and play Animal Crossing: New Leaf, this should be done tomorrow night.

Week 10 Is Done Enough

When I sat down to finish the drawing this morning it became clear that the direction it was going wasn't working for me. Thus, well-caffeinated and part way through my Lord of the Rings marathon, I grabbed my sketchbook and started attempt #4. It was slow going but actually worked this time! I decided not to press my luck with coloring though, so this will do.

Ivan is a very, very large man and Sebastian is a small boy.

Week Twenty Seven All At Once

After obtaining SAI today, I decided to run myself through a crash-course in using it and enjoying it while I was at it. I also decided to do something rather... self indulgent... before I head back to the land of academia and creating according to the professor's orders.

That pipe he's holding looks awful, so just stare at the pretty man instead.

Ivan from Hetalia.

Week Four: The Time Has Come..

...to declare this drawing done! The only changes from last night are the lighting and some blur to make the background more background-y, but I was honestly too tired to be bothered with it last night.

This was good practice getting back into using my tablet, and a good learning experience. It also more than makes up for how plain last week's drawing was.

Next week will be a re-do of one of last year's projects.

Week Four: Backlash

Man, so close! tomorrow will be for adding lighting to the smaller background objects and playing with the lighting as a whole. Still too darn tired for a much more cohesive entry than that. Maybe tomorrow.

Week Four: I'm Tired

Yes, yes I am. So sorry, not much to say about it other than that the tattoos and scars are next. And the hair. The hair will be fun. The tattoos and scars might not.

Week Four: Busy (Artistic Nudity)

It's already the middle of the week and this little artist is exhausted. It's been a week of running nonstop with small and few breathing periods and early mornings. But today things are finally slowed down at least enough for me to work on my drawing for the week after a day of creativity including Figure Drawing and actually doing something in Printmaking for the first time this semester. The results are the following. Enjoy!

Also, Scrubs is messing with my emotions. They have a big deal about the end of season 8 which was the end of the show, almost made me cry, and then they have a season 9?! What are you people doing to me?!

Week Four: Fleshy (Artistic Nudity)

Since the semester is officially started, Figure Drawing projects will start being posted, and yes many of them will contain nudity. I'll put a warning on each title, just know that it will happen a lot.

Started adding in the reflective image. The "real" subject (Ivan from Hetalia) will be slightly brighter. The stomach muscles are bothering me right now, but maybe I'll figure it by the time I work on it again.

Yesterday was our first "real" day of class, since last Wednesday was cancelled due to weather. We did a lot of obnoxious exercizes, but in the end were allowed to draw from the model with our own methods. We had to turn it in as a means for the teacher to track our progress, but it was the only thing I did that day that I liked, so I snapped a photo before giving it to her.

It's been a long time since I drew from a model, but I think I'm getting into the groove of it again.

Background noise: Scrubs. Not for much longer - almost caught up.

Week Four: I Must be Crazy

Oh hey, the parts came in to fix my computer so it won't crash with graphic-heavy programs! Turned out that buying RAM cards was all I needed to do, so no need to save $400 for a new laptop.

The idea sprang from watching an artist I admire work on Livestream. She was doing a sketch of the backs of characters and added tattoos. It was a quick sketch so their tattoos weren't overly complex, but since this picture will take a week, why not add a lot of detail? Also, since I'd like the character's face to be visible, I went even further and decided to do a mirror AND some detailed decorations. Like I said, I must be crazy.

Here's a 300% close-up of the nesting doll sitting on top of the shelves:

The other things are some porcelain Faberge eggs, books, a medal, and a portrait.

Contains Nudity

Well, now that I have everyone's attention, let's start things with my finished painting for my studio class.

It's... not something I'm particularly fond of, but I knew it wouldn't be from the start. I never expect that of my first time trying something. It's main issue is that it's incredibly dark, even where it should be bright. I've noticed that I have that problem a lot, however. Hopefully this semester will help correct that. Hopefully I'll also stop comparing my work to the other students and convincing myself that I'm not as good as they are.

This may be shameless and may be resulting in the rolling of several sets of eyes, but I did it strictly to enjoy myself. In my defense, however, it was also good anatomy practice. It's been a while since I really sat and studied a reference, so this was helpful (the reference was a hard-bound book called Anatomy for the Artist for those wondering.) And hey, drawing Ivan (Hetalia) as a sexy vampire was therapeutic. A real vampire, mind you. None of that Twilight nonsense.

Onward Ho!

So the art block is still mercifully non-existent, and to keep it that way I'm just rolling with whatever kind of mood I'm in. Right now it's a sappy fan art mood, so you'll have to bear with me until this drawing is complete and it's out of my system.

More Hetalia characters, Ivan (Russia) and Lien (unofficial name of Vietnam), and also a little addition that's incubating. Yes, clothes are coming. This is just how I work.