Friday, March 31, 2006

Medusa Layout

Heyas,

So here's a sketch in progress. I was thinking about Medusa, the Inhuman, and wondering about all that hair. In this image it could be hair, it could be fabric or some kind of magical warping thingee. That has to be decided soon.

The grasping hands at the bottom - I'm okay with for now.

But I was wondering about the woman's anatomy. Seems like I'm not really getting the foreshortening right. Maybe I should move the hips and legs up and behind the rib cage more? The arms and shoulders also look wrong. Comments?

Yeah, like what Chino said!

Chino brought up an invitation in his most recent post - to call out to him anything that we see as being, in his words, "screwy". Love that word.

I so enjoy posting here (thanks Skribbl!) and it's rewarding when an occasional drawing hits home for any one of you. But since this blog is contributed to by my most respected colleagues, artists extraordinaire every one of you, I too would REALLLLY appreciate specific pointers. Gotta grow, gotta grow, gotta grow.

So please allow me to add my name to the list as seeking critiques of ANY kind a'tall. It was really helpful when Tom, for instance, found a recent sketch disturbing, as I had totally missed that! But then I saw it, especially when he pointed to the color scheme and quote context. "Oh yeaaaah!" said I.

More o' that please!

And I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, as this is not my blog - and not my intent to hijack it! I just see this as one of my best chances to get expert eyes to 'hep me improve. Even in simple sketches. Not just because some of them spark more finished work, but who doesn’t dig a simple sketch done juussst right!?


TTFN,
Dok

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Why yes, I do spend all my time in museums!


Some brush pen work from the Louvre, done SAT and MON. Two of my brushes (cheap, prefab things I buy for 3 Euros from a Japanese store called Muji) are getting quite dry, hence the depth of the drybrush effect here. It's beginning to look like Ritmo-style charcoal! Only drag is when brushes beccome this dry, they can't hold a point, and line work suffers. I'm trying to discipline myself to reach for a fresh brush when I need it, but y'know, I get to caught up in the drawing....

I'll stop posting dry copies of dead, "Old Europe" museum pieces soon.

(And yes, we do have passes for the Louvre, but no place else.)

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Gaining Perspetive


I've never been able to execute a convincing perspective study. I've just never been able to do it. Figures in the foreground don't relate correctly to the figures in the background, the converging lines don't converge, etc.

But Friday at Le Louvre I felt inspired, and tackled this room with my ball-point pen; t'aint perfect, but if it is in fact successful, (and I submit it humbly to your collective gaze for appraisal and criticism), it is proof, perhaps, that if you wish hard enough and look at enough examples of people doing it correctly, you will eventually absorb the lessons of perspective--"wishfull osmosis" I'll call it. 37 years is all it takes to bear fruit this way, as opposed to a semester or hard two of study.

(An aside: I woke up singing a garbled version of Erasure's "Oh L'Amour," then turned on my internet radio station with the unreasonable hope that I'd hear this exact song--and thusly was I rewarded! That's reverse osmosis at work, I guess.)

This room at the Louvre, the Salle de Ménage, has the weird problem of the escalator pits; I got a little hasty in the execution of the foreground pit. But I haven't messed with anything in Photoshop, just scanned it in two parts and slapped it together.

We've had visitors and my commenting on this BLOG has suffered. Two weeks are all we have left before returning to the 'States, so I'm gonna' try to pack in as much drawing (and living) as I can!

(To continue the 80's music aside: I'm really hitting the drawing hard in these last two weeks--I don't want to wind up like the last song played, Tears for Fears "GOING FAR AND GETTING NOWHERE".)

p.s. In Europe they spring ahead the Daylight Saving's clock one week before the U.S. Does that make us 10 hours apart? It's 9:30 AM right now. Good night from my good morning.


My final Kaiju!

Friday, March 24, 2006

The Mighty Tor!



Hey! Somebody uploaded my CalArts film to ifilm! I don't know if I should be angry or flattered. Oh well, I guess it's the only way this film will see the light of day.

If you didn't know, the voice of Tor is our own Ron Thompson. Dante Fuget is the Demon and Mary Claire is the Princess that is screaming her head off.

I cringe when I see the it. Yikes! This is considered therapy.

Kaiju due on Sunday

A reminder that the deadline for the Kaiju contest is Sunday. Get your final drawings turned in!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Tuesday Drawing on Thursday



Sorry for not being around lately. Work has been so hectic (i'm actually posting from work and it's 8:50 pm) that I haven't had enough time to scan or post or even internet anything!!! So just started drawing while taking a break and for some reason drew a caricature of myself! Oh the vanity of it all!! What did I miss??

Down D'Orsay Way


My belated Tuesday post--drawn Wednesday at the D'Orsay, a place that still feels more train station than art museum to me.

Came home from an all-crepe dinner to the sight of 40 Gendarmes in riot gear grouped in front of our building, shields up, batons out.

They let us enter our building unmolested.

P.S. What about Tom's "Cosmic Theatre?"

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Two Fer Tuesday




Neither one of these were done on a Tuesday. Just sharing art you guys haven't seen. You may have boticed I took down my "bad" art posts. This was done because a guy at work impressed on me what a dumb idea it was to showcase my worst.

Paris on a desktop!

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen32.html

Friday, March 17, 2006

El Pacifico!

You guys will love this... you can thank Skribbl for posting this on the StoyBoredom blog so I could find it!

http://el-pacifico.blogspot.com/

The INVISIBLE FARMER meets LOUIE THE KING OF FRENCH BULLDOGS!


The farmer's green overalls are not only a tribute to St. Patty's Day, but also to Mr. Greenjeans of Captain Kangaroo fame.

My favorite part of which was the magic drawing board. I still want one SOOOOO Much!

But what was it that the Moose used to get the Captain to say in order for all those ping pong balls to fall down? I'd laugh til milk came out my nose.

Louie is in blue not out of ennui, but to pay tribute to St. Andrews day, as Scots are the best Kelts. Which rhymes w/ kilts afterall.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Big fella...


Okay, I'm still in Kaiju mode, as you can see.

Kaiju Later, A Doodle for Tues


I'll do a more involved Kaiju study for the DVD contest by this weekend. Here's a doodle I did this morning at work

THE UNKNOWN SHE


SHE has no mouth. No statement intended, just easier to draw that way.

I had to post this; it's just a funny page I did today, inspired in no small part by the COMIC tone pervading much of the TAG'ing I've been enjoying on this site. Working on anatomy again (I put up a couple pages on EUROCHINO), trying to keep the straight-ahead spontenaeity of ink, hoping it forces better intuitive anatomy/proportions. I like the doorbell ringing, wanted to show her holding a sack of groceries, but angle didn't cooperate. That's a jigsaw puzzle she's working on: I know, my "puzzle-pieces-in-perspective" skills need improvement.

SPEAKING OF COMICS: Tom Moon, what of Cosmic Theatre? And your vacation?

Also, DOK: what size tennis shoe does Anne wear?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Putting Some Midgets To Work



Certainly he needs a better name, something more memorable and menacing; and also the long-arm concept owes a mighty debt to Ellis's Kaiju; but the idea of sticking as many "Monster Technicians" as possible into the suit motivated me. In addition to the piggy-backed pair of monster actors working in the greater thorax region of Molluskzilla (it's embarrassing even to type that name), each slug mitt would be operated from inside by a little person; their independence of movement would be limited only by the rubber tether that kept them attached to the larger, lumbering body. And just imagine the hilarious mayhem that would result if, during combat, one arm were severed completely from the body proper, only to rejoin the fray as an autonomous actor, a free-lancing fist that would continue to fight--all the while dragging its bloody stump of a rubber arm?

(Those who detect a Gallic influence on my design are not wrong, though I don't eat snails myself.)

Who wouldn't pay to see this matchup?
The apparently caricatured ethnicity of the monster operators would be shameful if it were intentional, which it is not--I tried to make a grimace on the hunched over guy's face, and damn if it didn't come out looking like a bad propaganda poster from WWII! My apologies to everyone, everywhere, esp. the hard working people at Toho Studios.

Thursday, March 9, 2006

The Temple of the Seven Golden Camels


I have a friend from Disney who just started his own blog called "The Temple of the Seven Golden Camels." (check his first post to see why he named it this). It's an instructional blog that leans toward storyboarding/drawing. I know you all know how to draw but it's good sometimes to refresh the old noodle.

  • Temple of the Seven Golden Camels
  • Lobster Gorilla

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4785482.stm

    I think this could be the Kaiju winner right here!

    Tuesday, March 7, 2006

    Ha ha ha! Thanks Dok! From now on I'm posting only in Orange!

    So here are my Kaiju sketches so far... very rough, and I'm not happy with the robot at all. He's neither high tech nor retro, he's just boring. The guy on the left has some potential, though. You can still see the human stickman sketch inside these guys, so I'm concentrating making these guys true "suitmation" creatures.

    Anyone seen Godzilla: Final Wars yet? Too much Matrix style action and not enough Kaiju action, but still a fun romp. They have just about every Toho monster in the thing, and even the American Godzilla, who Japanese Godzilla promptly mops the floor with.

    SNIPEZILLA



    Just thank God when they took you Snipe hunting that you didn't find one.

    Kaiju Contest Sketches


    So here's my first sketchy ideas on my Kaiju entry. Just playing with the concept of a lobster/crayfish monster. I saw a shrimp at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and I guess it subconsciously jumped on the page. A lot of the newer kaiju seem to be more outrageous and I prefer the simper "man in suit" concept. It seems truer to the genre. After all it's going to be wrestling with Godzilla after all right?? On a side note, I've seen Krayonzillas massive vinyl kaiju collection and it's cool how they sculpt the folds and seams into the figure itself! Awesome detail!!

    INKY DINKY DOODY BI-POLAR MOODY


    Hey Right Brain,
    Think you might want to add some LEAN into a figure if you're trying to "convey" some motion?

    Puh-leeze!

    Hopefully by the time you finish this sketchbook you'll have learned to use some of the simpliest techniques known to man since cave paintings.

    Back off Left Brain - I can do without your noise. Go make a list or something! Pay our taxes while you're at it.

    Lists? Oh goody - I'm going to start by writing your name down... on the naughty side!

    Nooooo! Not that!



    Sunday, March 5, 2006

    http://www.drawergeeks.com/




    http://www.drawergeeks.com/

    Has some one already posted this group's URL? I think they have an interesting idea we might explore. They have the artists for the group all reacting to one iconic comic book idea. The image I posted is from the group reation to Bizarro. Check it out. Some funny stuff.

    Friday, March 3, 2006

    Negadon Attacks and Bonus Kaiju Contest!!!



  • Negadon Attacks!


  • Here's the contest info:
  • Kaiju A Go Go Contest!


  • I'm going to enter. I know Rickart will be up for this (and Krayonzilla if he ever posts something :-P). Hey Let's do it as a group and enter in memory of Rick Johnson! Whaddya say???

    Prado swipe...fun to draw

    Euro-Skribbl?

    Is it me, or does the main fellow in this drawing look a little like a certain Monsieur Skribbl?

    JUDGE FOR YOURSELF
    These are French folks spied while sittin' in a café drinkin' hot chocolate. Any resemblance to persons living and drawing is pure coinky-dink. Images were rearranged on page to protect the innocent—and make Skribbl more prominent.

    Wednesday, March 1, 2006

    Belated Tuesday Drawing


    Sometimes ya just gotta render something. I think I was inspired by Tom's posts!! (and also Rick's graphic behind the character trick)