Sketchercise - Music related art: Roy Orbison - part 2

Well after tweaking the brightness/contrast in photoshop it came to me that I was a few steps ahead of myself. It wouldn't looks right to go back in on a high contrast piece, so I went back to the original and cut out what I wanted to redraw and left the contrast alone.

step 1.75


I reduced it a bit to fit an 8-1/2" x 11 sheet and printed it out. I then went back in with a 4H pencil and drew the corrections. I used the same tools to ink these changes (Prismacolor pens, faber-castell big brush pen, prismacolor cool grey art markers) I then added a gradient behind his right hand.

step 2.0


I'm still unhappy with the right hand, so instead of adding in the white acrylic splatter I've decided to redraw the right hand first. Once I have it the way I want it I'll assemble it in photoshop, print it out and add the splatter...stay tuned!

Sketchercise - Music related art: Roy Orbison!

Not sure if that's exactly what Seth chose for the topic, but that's the direction I was going! I decided to go with one of the bigger musical influences of my childhood: the Voice...the incomparable Roy Orbison! This was taken from the album cover art for his triumphant comeback "MYSTERY GIRL." For most people growing up it was the Beatles, Stones or Elvis...but in our house Orbison resonated the years of my childhood. The most amazing thing about it, no matter what age, what time period, his stuff holds up remarkably well!
This is part one of a 3-4 part process. This is the raw inks over my pencils. The next step is to clean it up a bit and add gray tones. And last, I'm going to add some white acrylic splatter to give it some atmosphere. I'll post each piece as they're complete. Hope you like it...now, go listen to some Orbison! :)



Part 1.5
I scanned in the drawing at 300 dpi and took it into Photoshop (CS2). I then proceeded to bump the contrast levels up to get a darker, more solid black. After that I went in and removed the areas I didn't like. Specifically the hands/wrists. I tend to do a bit of contour drawing when I do hands and in this instance it wasn't a good thing. I want the drawing to balance out, and the simplicity of the face was being overwhelmed by the rendering of the hands & writs. I'll print this out and draw in the fixes over the weekend. (stay tuned!)

What should I draw?

We started prep for the 5th volume of the Big Dog's Studio Presents Sketchbook this week! As mentioned earlier, we've added Henry "Oh the Humanatee" Eudy to the mix and this one promises to be the best and biggest one yet!

Here's where you come in...I hope! I've decided to start doing 20 minute sketches over my lunch break 2-3 times a week. Problem is, I always draw the same things! I was hoping for some creative suggestions to get me back on the sketching saddle...or even better yet, ideas for the book itself! If your suggestion leads to a sketchbook piece you'll get a free sketched copy of the 2011 version* (debuting at the 2011 Heroes Con)! You can post your suggestions here or fire me a gmail: BigDogsStudio. The more creative and unique the better, just please keep 'em clean!

*to be picked up at the show or mailed inside the continental US.

*edit - this post looked way too empty without a sketch...here's a headshot and subsequent marker study I did of Swamp Thing at last week's Sketch Charlotte. Had an Art Adams drawing of ol' Swampy out on the table for reference, inspiration and and intimidation! :)


edit - quick sketch of Brave & the Bold Aquaman...all I had was a super-thick brush pen, so forgive the thickness please! Had fun with this one...I have plans for this style! Thanks B!

LONG way to go...

I, like most people in the Carolinas, was iced in on Tuesday so I decided to try my hand at some watercolors. Keep in mind that I'm predominantly a black & white artist with minimal color background. (I haven't tried watercolor since I was about 12-13 years old!) I played it safe here with the hopes of something presenting itself in the process. The biggest lesson I learned this go around...your tools have a lot to do with the process. I had a really small brush trying to create large moving imagery that watercolor is known for on a 9 x 12 piece of paper. (mistake #1) Until I can get a few different sized brushes I've since decided to cut the paper down and work much smaller. We'll see how that goes! Until then, here's attempt #1 - Mike Mignola's Hellboy!

A few things...

I should have posted something sooner, but the $5 art sale is officially over..thanks to everyone who participated! Even though the sale is over, most of the art posted here is for sale or trade. Especially if you have anything on my want list!

The holidays have come and gone and I managed to pick up some cool art supplies during the process, so hopefully there will be more art to share. Keep in mind I'm learning my way through some of this new stuff, so most of the stuff I'll be posting will be roughs, sketches and just plain bad art! :)

Before I go I also want to make a special announcement (made on twitter a few weeks back): Big Dog's Studio is proud to announce that the amazing Henry Eudy will be joining Terence, Mark and me in the 2011 Big Dog's Studio Presents sketchbook! Henry is bringing a tremendous amount of craft and class to the sketchbook and we're all a little giddy to have him aboard! Head over and check him out and welcome him into the fold:
http://ohthehumanatee.com/
oh-the-humanatee.deviantart.com/

Sketchercise: Superhero Fairy Tales

If I’m not mistaken, this Sketchercise could either be a Superhero reimagined as a Fairy Tale or a Fairy Tale character turned into a Superhero. I opted to make a superhero into a fairy tale. In this case I chose the obvious, the Incredible Hulk as Shrek!

A few more...

A few more...

- Scott Pilgrim & Romona are 4-1/2 x 6-3/4 on cut to size comic backing board. Copic multiliners with marker gray tones. ($5 each or both for $7.50)

- Metamorpho is on recycled sketchbook paper - 6-1/4 x 10 - microns & sharpie

- Savage Dragon is on 8-1/2 x 11 tab stock - Copic multiliners

- Hellboy sketch is on 8-1/2 x 11 tab stock - pencil (SOLD)

- Liefeld inspired Hulk is two pieces, both on tab stock - Copic multiliners
A digital composite print will accompany these