Week 37: King of the Pride Lands

Finally done! I actually didn't finish last night, but just a few minutes ago. Once again I found myself remembering why I don't draw dreadlocks very often.

For the most part I'm proud of it. Seeing a few errors now but I'm going to leave it.

Week 37: Lion' Around

This is one of those weeks where I need to finish as quickly as possible before the puns become any more awful. Thankfully I should be finishing this tonight.

Week 37: The Lion's Share

I finished the graphite drawing last night but didn't get around to updating this until now, and I've just started (and twice re-started) the digital paint-over. So because I want to show off the finished "before" drawing, I'll go ahead and include that and a progress shot of the paint job.

Week 37: Here Comes A Lion

I'm sure all of you are familiar with Disney's The Lion King and how it opens with a man yelling and then singing in an African language (Swahili maybe). It turns out the first lyrics mean "Here comes a lion. Yes, it's a lion." How's that for anti-climatic?

Anyway, the point of bruising your childhood was to introduce what I'm drawing this week. I'm trying a portrait of Mufasa as he's portrayed in The Lion King on Broadway by L Steven Tyler. I had the pleasure of seeing the show live at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center back in June and it was wonderful.

This is Mr. Tyler with all his adornments and such, though my reference is over twice the size of this image.

My drawing won't be nearly so... complex. I need to practice faces so I'm just doing head + neck and a little shoulder. And no headdress or face paint. I don't want to still be working on this during Christmas.

Already I see that his lips are off, and I've been staring at a distance for a while trying to figure out what else I'm uncomfortable with.

Week 1: Something Spotty and Something from '12

First I'd like to show off the last painting I did last semester, which couldn't be posted until after Christmas as it was a gift for a couple of very close friends of mine who are also the proud parents of this little cutie. His name is William and he just turned two! I'm his honorary aunt and think he's the cutest thing. I'm gonna steal him. Shh, it's a secret.

Also, until I came to the face the spots weren't nearly as horrifying as expected, but after attempting to paint the bricks in a wall I suppose anything's easy. Tonight it's being set in front of a space heater to help it dry and by this time tomorrow it should hopefully be finished. The whole face will be re-done, as well as some of the neck spots so they shrink at a more believable rate.

Week Five: Works for Me

I like to think I'm someone who learns my lesson from doing something stupid the first time around, but apparently not. After staying up until five in the morning on Saturday night I'm sleepy enough that I wouldn't be surprised if I nod off sitting on the drawing horse in my Figure Drawing class later today. It's my own fault, of course. I was with friends and family over the weekend and I usually conk out at 11 when I'm with them. This weekend, however, I wanted to hang out as much as possible, so I downed more coffee at about 7 that evening and wasn't ready to pass out until we'd watched two other movies and were half-way through the steaming pile that is Van Helsing.

Anyway, I did color in my drawing as planned. The background can wait until some unlikely occurrence when I have nothing better to do, but for now it's time to move on to Week 6.

Also over the weekend I completed my art assignment of three expressive busts. Only two are shown here because the other was so awful that no one needs to see it. At least it's done.

Week 8 - Complete and Compare

Yesterday was when I finally gained confidence about this project, because it finally started looking like him, and to more than just me. A lot of my family members on Facebook agreed, which boosted my confidence a lot. The photo you see here was only used as a reference after a majority of the work was done. Before that I was working from his high school senior photo because it's large and I could prop it up beside my computer screen. Of course, it was taken twenty years before my father died, but it was a good base to start with.

The thing about my dad's hair is that it's not the same color in ANY two photos. Or it sure doesn't seem like it. Sometimes it's blond-ish, sometimes it's more brown. I decided to go half-way. Also, the drawing apparently has a golden tint on some computer monitors, which is a pity because that's not what color it is. I adjusted the tint just a little, but I don't think it's enough to make a difference.

This was my first time trying a portrait digitally, and I hadn't done one for quite a while even on paper. It was... interesting. Not bad for a first shot, really. In fact, this is the first time I've drawn my father and been happy with it.

Music: None, but watching "Taken" (starring Liam Neeson) while I added finishing touches.

Week 8 - Progress 3: Vast Improvements

Another two-ish hours was spent on this last night after my journal entry, and I spent a few more on it today. Hopefully this is the last time I'll have to move either eye, because I was pleased enough to add the irises and pupils, etc. Mom was right, it looked a bit... creepy... before.

I think I'm mostly done with the skin shading. Not so sure on the hair but I'm almost done. I can feel it.Also trying to decide on a background color/texture. Also, the hair should be wavier. Dad had natural curls, which he passed down to me and my brother.

Music: Some Hanson again, but today watched "The Jungle Book" while working as well.

Week 8 - Progress 2: Subtle Improvements

I was kind of kicking myself after reading yesterday's feedback (and thank you all for that, really), realizing that I'd forgotten more about facial anatomy than I'd thought. I am working from a photo (sort of), but yesterday I didn't have it propped up right beside my computer screen like I did today. I think it helped a lot.

Since working on the nose without a solid outline was messing me up, I added a temporary one to serve as a guide for the lighting. It will be erased for the final image, but it's helping a great deal. I also re-did the eyes completely, but something about the left one still bothers me.

It was nice to finally start blending the shadows so it doesn't completely look like some weird "paint by number" thing anymore. Hopefully tomorrow I can at least start adding hair. My dad was balding, but in the back, not the front.

Music: Hanson, again, mostly the song "With You In Your Dreams"

Week 8 - Progress 1: Huge Undertaking

Even as I upload the first progress on this, I'm in the "what was I thinking?!" phase of it. I'm not only trying to digitally paint a portrait, but one of someone that I've never managed to get on paper without disappointing myself; my father.

So far, attempting to accomplish it digitally is working better, as mistakes are taken care of with a simple "CTRL + Z" command. But still, with three hours of work down and several more to go it looks really odd and I'm asking myself if I can really finally do it.

Already I'm seeing that the eyes are uneven and scratching my head as to how to make hair look realistic. Cartoon hair I can do in color. Human hair I can do with graphite or grayscale media. But human hair in color? Already dreading it.

Music: Hanson album "Middle of Nowhere" (...I owned the cassette thanks to my dad. Don't look at me like that.)