Observations from an expedition to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which features an incredible paleontology hall. I brought with me a pad of sticky notes, a couple Micron plastic nib pens, a set of Copic Markers, my fanny pack, and some headphones. Prehistoric life has been an infatuation of mine since childhood, and there is something very humbling about drawing in the shadows of these fallen giants.
Finished this up. Not particularly a fan of Barcelona, but greatness is where it is. It’s funny, no matter how dark I make shadows and shading, I always feel I could have gone darker.
(2B pencil on a 125mm x 75mm notecard) Another juxtaposed artwork that shows an everyday phrase used against a completely out of context comic book frame.
(2B pencil on a 140mm x 88mm postcard) The reliance on devices seeing the rise of mindless techzeds (tech zombies). Dead, but kept alive by those same devices they couldn't live without as a warning to others.
"Robot Manflower." 8x8 ink and watercolor. New discovery: Noodlers 54th Massachusetts Ink (watered down) works incredibly well for painting shadows/value before the watercolor. Watercolor does not disturb that ink! Drawn with a Pilot Custom 743 EF with De Atramentis Document Ink Black.
Scanned from one of last years sketchbooks. Micron pens for basic sketch, added shadows with Koi watercolor pen, and used acrylic paint for the green background.
(2B pencil on 178mm x 114mm paper) An image of a line of shadowy figures, all chained together, going hopelessly and reluctantly in the same direction. Above them is a wisp of some scent or sound that was never meant for them.
Definitely doodling---This is my first mandela and it ranged from great fun to great frustration. It ended up a little "waby swaby," but I suppose that's in keeping. It's 12 inches across with 32 points. Drawn with a micron pen, then colored in markers (in whatever colors I happened to have) and has colored pencil shadows. I scanned it into PhotoShop and played with altering colors. Made a green one for my green-crazy friend and a subdued desaturated one for myself. It's quite printable on my oversized color laser printer---so ill be a fun "social distancing" poster gift for my friends. Each one with a personal color range.
I drew this with a brush pen, then used a water brush to blur out the lines into shadows. I used Photoshop to invert the background and tweak the colors.
Crosshatching was used to build up the shadows. It's probably my favourite drawing technique. Works best with pen and ink. This is the cover image for one of my children's picture books.
This portrait was created using mixed media like colored pencils, markers, and ink. The portrait features the face of a man resting in his hand, and staring dead-eyed at the viewer. I used non local color techniques to create depth and form using colors not typically found in the human face, like blues and violets for shadows and yellows and oranges or highlights. Parts of his face include small pink stars which originally faded from the previous page, but I really like the look it gives, they almost look like celestial freckles.
the Jack of the Lantern. He stalks through the night on his broom of flame. Laughing all the way to unholy Hell. He takes what he pleases, he takes many souls. And he vanishes into the darkest of the shadows.
Thankfully attempt number 2 came out better compared to attempt number 1, thank God!. I will say that I accidently went a little ham with the ball point pen on the first object.
