Let's Draw Real-Life Dragons

Drawing from life is hard. 

And drawing from life that insists on being alive and wandering off or slithering away is even harder. 

But it can be highly rewarding as well. There is a wealth of information that you glean from direct observation that you just can't get any other way. Like that someone taught that miniature monkey over there how to make obscene gestures and he has been making them at me for the past ten minutes.
But also more useful things like how reptiles breath, how they interact with one another, how they act when they are startled, or how they sit with jaws open to cool off (and not in the hopes that I will carelessly step there.)

These drawings were done at a reserve called Alligator Adventure, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This reserve is home to one of the largest crocodiles in the world, "Utan." (pictured above)
Utan is 20 feet long and weighs 1 ton.  He is in his own spacious exhibit, because he ate everything else.

He is a genuine monster, a horror from another age. In other places in the world his kind allegedly still kill more humans than any other predatory animal on the planet.

I doubt this chicken wire would really do much if he really decided he wanted to eat me, it looks like it's a screen door he might accidentally trip through on his way to the loo. But as you can see, I'm not worried at all. This is because I am wearing my sweet camo hat, which renders me pretty much invisible to him.

Here we got the head done, and then Utan decided he'd like a swim.  This was inconvenient, but you don't argue with 20 foot crocodiles.

So I moved on to the smaller lizards:

These juvenile alligators, like the juveniles of other species, could not sit still for more than 30 seconds. Drawing them proved fruitless.

Here we were able to catch a tail, and that is all.

Still there were fascinating tidbits that now get filed away for future projects on enormous, man-eating reptiles. How the water moves around them as they submerge is particularly fascinating.  

This alligator didn't like the way I was looking at him. That, or he didn't like my sweet camo hat. Either way, he eventually had enough and made a break for it.  But not before I snapped a photo which I would later use to cheat and fill in all the missing details.  Justin: 1, Alligator: 0

This guy knew that I knew that he knew that I knew that he was there and that he was NOT a log. I watched him slide into the water for crying out loud.  But that didn't stop him from slowly drifting up to the edge and pretending to be a log.  We all knew the game, and he knew that sooner or later, I would have to cross the water to get back to my car. And in my haste I'd forget that he wasn't a log.  And he'd even that score up a little.

But I knew a little secret called, "using the bridge."
Final Score: Justin: 2, alligator: 0

Back from Spectrum

Today's post will be brief as I am still recovering from the awesomeness that was Spectrum Live 2012.

I can't remember the last time I have had so much fun. Apart from how great it is to get together with old friends and see what everyone has been up to this whole time, it was great to meet so many new artists that came out for this event.  

It was also really great to see so many of the European artists make it out.  There is just so much talent in Europe but it seems like we rarely ever get to cross paths with them, which is a shame.   

Jean-Baptiste Monge, Paul Bonner and Petar Meseldzija all came.  

Monge did a watercolor demo that I showed up for a half hour early because, well... it's J.B. Monge. 

Bonner brought some really wonderful prints, a new sketchbook and a few of his flabbergastingly detailed originals.  (I offered him my car as a trade at one point.)

And Petar brought some of the most gorgeous oil paintings I have ever seen.  

Every time I go to these events I get extremely depressed at how amazing all the other artist's work is and wondering what I have been doing all these years. But I also leave extremely inspired and eager to try new approaches and start on new images. I am really looking forward to getting started on some new work.

Studies

Some preliminary work for an upcoming project...

Tiny Wizard Drawings

 Rough Sketches

Digital (CS5) and Traditional Pencil

Study of Sugar Glider 

Pencil

Tight Drawing 

Pencil

The Forest Troll Part IV: Color Comp and Drawing

The color comp is done as fast as possible. I don't want to get bogged down in the details here. This is all about the mood and atmosphere.

Color Comp

The main goals of the color comp are:

#1 Nail down the lighting.
(Sources, direction, strength. etc.)

#2 Nail down the value relations.
For instance, the tree behind the dwarves: is it more attractive as darker than the background or lighter? By exploring and solving this in the color comp I will be more confident when I tackle it in the final image.

 #3 Nail down the color theory.
This image will be confined to a warmer spectrum, one that you might find at midday in an old growth forest with patches of sunlight breaking through the canopy. I wanted to make most of the tones fall in a rather narrow color gamut, and then choose a bright color outside this gamut as an accent. In this case, it was mostly golds and browns accented with a bright green.
In the color comp I just want to make sure this theme will work for my image. I go through this on almost all of my pieces because my brain is incapable of solving value/color mixtures on the fly, so I need a cheat sheet. The color comp helps me idiot-proof my image so I don't bungle it in the final.

Tight Drawing

Let's Draw Warthogs

I have an upcoming illustration project that has warthogs in it. Before I begin, I am taking some time to familiarize myself a little better with these ugdorable creatures.

"I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirror, and I ask myself; just how did you get so good looking?"

I often do this before starting on a drawing that has animals or costumes I am unfamiliar with. (The drawings, not wondering how I got so good looking.) I like to do studies from life when I can, or photos when no models are available. 

As I draw from my reference, I try to commit everything I can to memory.  Most of this will happen automatically as you draw. Your brain beings to see certain things as correct and others as incorrect.  

Studies from photos

After you have worked from the photo it is amazing how much information your memory retains. Details you didn't realize you were taking in come back to you as you draw.  

From Memory

The next drawings, done from memory with no reference around, will lack the sharpness and realism of the ones worked from the reference, but they will have a little more personality to them and I usually find them more interesting. 

 Once I feel like I have a decent understanding of my subject I start on the final drawings for my illustration. 

 Warthog Tracker #1

Warthog Tracker #2 

Later on, when I am into the final illustration I will bring out my reference again to fact-check, and make sure I haven't put an extra leg in there somewhere.  My brain is good, but it has been known to trip over itself from time to time.  

Most of this method of handling reference with illustration I blatantly stole from the Disney artists.  On some films, like the Lion King, they would have workshops where they would bring in an actual lion and do life drawings of it before they began work on the film.  It was a very good way of both keeping the personality in the character, while at the same time making sure it is anatomically coherent and believable. 

To see this process clearly outlined and executed, check out Ian McCaig's Visual Storytelling Tutorial from the Gnomon Workshop. It is a really excellent demonstration and has been very influential for me in my approach to using reference.

This article is a re-post from an article on MuddyColors.blogspot.com.  To check out the original article and comments, click here.  

Sketchbook 2011 Shipping Out

Today I am shipping out the first batch of sketchbook orders! 

The response has been amazing. We sold through the first 50 in 3 hours! Of the original 250, we are down to about 45 left. 

The first 50 drawings are individually numbered (using fancy roman numerals) and I will be shipping them out in the order received.  So Fernando from Spain, (who somehow managed to order before the blog link was even up), you will be getting numeral I. Congratulations!

If you came in just after 50 don't give up hope. Thanks to my somewhat curious numbering system (pictured above), there are a number of extras who numerals aren't *exactly* standard that will be shipped out as well.

The sketches feature a lot of dragons, dwarves, elves and vikings.  Why?  Partially because all of these characters are interesting to draw. But also because I was watching Day[9] livestream Skyrim while I was drawing these.  You heard it right, the future is now; I don't even have to play video games anymore.  I can just watch other kids playing video games while I work.

Along with the fantasy creatures, there were also a fair number of monsters that managed to creep in as well.  

Like the were-rabbit.  

Note: XXXX is not a real roman numeral. Someone will be getting this as a bonus...

 And some old friends from previous Quickhidehere posts.

Thanks again for all the orders and support! You guys are all awesome. I look forward to getting the books in the mail and I hope you enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed making them. 

UVU Demo

Last post I showed a few studies for a demo I was scheduled to do at Utah Valley University. I am back and today I will show how the painting progressed and eventually turned out. 

Thumbnail

Digital Color Comp 

Drawing on paper

9 x 15 

 Values

Color

Detail and Final Adjustments

I didn't get to the Detail and Final Adjustment stage in the demo because I am slow.  This piece is relatively simple, but even still it ends up taking a little over 30 hours for me to finish. (Which was too long for the students because they apparently have other, non-art-related classes they are forced to go to.)  

I will repeat Lesson #2 from the lecture: Draw all of the time.  Especially in your non-art-related classes. 

The lecture itself went well and only once did technology stab me in the back. (I'll get you Bill Gates if it's the last thi..)  

No, really it was great. Nobody got shot or mauled or anything. I wish that every time I go speak in public it could go as smoothly.  

It was a ton of fun and I hope to get the chance to visit again in the future.

AWOL No. 4 Studies

I am currently on the road so today's post will be a quickie of some studies done for an upcoming digital painting demo in Utah.

This article is a re-post from a previous MuddyColors post.  To see the original post and comments please visit Muddycolors.blogspot.com.

Flying Monkeys

This is a digital, 1-hour speed-painting I put together recently to demo the brush sets I have been shamelessly plugging. It is Photoshop CS5 over traditional pencil.  

St. George Final

As some of you may recall, I planned to tackle one of these two final St. George pieces in oil.  This was the piece I chose. 

Oil Underpainting

Things started off really well. But after finishing the underpainting, I ran into some minor health issues... 

Side effects may include...

And I turned into a monster and ate my neighbors.

  

Apparently my problem is that I cannot seem to manage to paint what I want without solvents and solvents just don't agree with me. 

So, while I sit here filing down my fangs and waiting for the manufacturers to solve this problem,  I tackled this piece digitally, in the same manner as the previous St. George painting.  

Digital Underpainting

St. George #10

12 x 16

Pencil and Digital

Note: This post is a re-post from Muddy Colors.  To check out the original post and comments visit Muddycolors.blogspot.com

St. George Drawings

This is some recent development work on the St. George project. I'm still not sure how I want to tackle these two pieces. Oil, watercolor, or all digital. Decisions, decisions....