Colourific!

After talking about values and tones at sketchgroup I decided to try rendering a greyscale image using different colours. I worked under a white "colour" layer and in hindsight I should have tried working without it in order to actually gain something from doing this drawing. I was more curious than anything though, so I guess now I know what that looks like ...pretty psychedelic!

I've been wanting to put up photos of the skull model I got for Christmas for a while now so that more people can get some use out of it since I am probably not doing it justice. So here they are for all those artists looking for a (fairly) clear turnaround of a skull. Below is a just thumbnail but you can download the .zip folder containing high res images using the link below.

Download high resolution skull references here

Taking photos of the skull was kind of my way of "backing it up" as well because I was about to cover it in plasticine and I'm not sure if it's going to come off easily. I sculpted the muscles of the face onto the skull which was actually a pretty good learning activity. I figured they must be fairly accurate because the face started creeping me out while I was working on it. At least it stuck in my head what the muscles look like and where they go (what they do exactly is another thing!).

I think I will take a similar set of turnaround shots before I do the skin layer and then keep them as references for later.

Here are those handbags I was talking about in a previous post. I'm not sure if I would actually expect anyone to use these but they were fun to make and I have some better ideas for some that might actually be acceptable in public. These are my Aunties' dogs, say hi to Molly and Wishbone.

I've also been doing a fair bit of reading lately (probably a manifestation of my procrastination) but if you are a serial procrastinator like me try to get your hands on a copy of the War of Art by Steven Pressfield I'm confident just about any creative person can pick out a few quotes from this book to keep them soldiering on. It also comes in audio tape format so you can listen and work at the same time.

Sketches and C.H.O.W 207

I did a few quick sketches for CHOW this week. The subject is supposed to be a military unit- "the hacker" in 2090 but without wireless technology. My approach was to boil the character down to 2 words: they were "intelligent technology" and if I could create a character design that spoke those words it would be a successful one. Below are a few really rough sketches. Again I missed the deadline but the current topic doesn't really interest me so I'm going to continue to work on this one. I kind of like the guy in the bottom right, maybe with the helmet of the top right.

And now all the random sketches produced this week.

Anatomy studies and master study

As part of an activity on conceptart.org I've started a 'master study' of sorts. I've basically taken a picture I liked and have studied it's colour and composition and am now trying to recreate it in oils. The original picture is called Springtime by Pierre-August Cot . Below are some progress shots including evidence of my tea drinking addiction.

Mark, Ed and I went to the Amazing Bodies exhibition, hoping to closely study human muscles. Unfortunately the exhibition only had whole plasticised animals (no people) so I studied a skeleton and a horse.

and finally some general anatomy study:

Moar catch up

More stuff... this brings us up to date.

Catching up..

Okay it's more like a month and a half! Anyway here's some more... there's some me and Ed collab in here.

Big update incomming...

Wow I haven't updated for what.. a month? Geez where does the time go? I've been in Melbourne for almost 6 months now.. what is going on!?

Anyway I mostly blame my PC which I have been trying to fix (to no avail yet) and due to repeated formats I have been reluctant and too lazy to continually install the drivers for my scanner and tablet. Anyway I decided to do it last night because I have a few days off work which is ample time to tackle the growing pile of artwork that needs scanning. So the next few posts should catch up to where I'm at now.

Sorry for the lack of responses to comments too, that I can't really make an excuse for but I will be replying soon.. I appreciate the feedback.. so thanks guys :)