Hunger Games Finished

 
   I finished this one last night.
The finished size is 9" x 12" on Canson artist paper. I'll give it a day or two and see if it
needs some small touches here and there. Other than that, I call this one done. Seeing the 
movie and reading the books inspired me to do this portrait. I'm ready to work on some
more portraits, but first I have my next project ready to transfer to paper. I'll post more so
you can see my progress.


  Well thats all for now, enjoy the weekend.

Tips & Tricks

   Hi everybody,
hope you're having a good week. I'm doing great, one more day to the weekend.


   I thought it would be fun to share some tips & tricks this evening. I'm a couple of hours
into my latest portrait and I think it's going well. The first tip is photo reference, especially
if your doing celebrities or people in general, you want them to look like the person.
As long as you get; the eyes, nose and mouth right, everything else will fall into place.
I'm constantly referring to the photos to get it just right. I also leave my tracing, that I used
to transfer the image taped to the paper, so I can check and make sure that everything
is were it should be.
   Tip number two, keep a scrap piece of the paper I'm working on, so I can check and see
if a certain color will work. Later I'll use it as shield when I lay my arm across the image.
The oils from your skin will slightly smear the image.




   A quick little trick I learned back in college, is to flip your drawing upside down. Why you
say, it's so you will look at the shapes instead of the overall image. And trust me, If
something is off, you'll see it. I also flip my illustrations and work on them upside down.

   Well, there you go some tips & tricks.
I'll promise to keep posting as long as you keep drawing.
Goodnight everybody!

2 New Projects

    Hi everybody, hope you all are doing well.
I have 2 projects in the works, that I would like to share. The first is this picture I've been
working on for a couple of weeks. It's still in the rough stages but I think it's ready for a nice
tight tracing and then it will be ready to transfer to paper. I have a nice dark charcoal Grey
paper that I'm going to use. Like I said I've been playing with image for the last couple of weeks. I thought it would be cool to have a tower of books with the actual steps made out
the books. I know this one is going to take a while to finish but I think it's a good start.
I'm still debating on if I'm going to do this as a horizontal picture and more books on each
end, or do a vertical crop it the way you see here. I'm still thinking about that but I'm happy
with what I've got so far.
     Any way, as I've explained on my previous post; I start out with a rough drawing like the
one you see here, then I do a nice tight tracing to work out the kinks on tracing paper and
finally transfer the image to illustration board or artist paper. 


   The next project is a portrait I thought would be fun. I recently read the first book of 
"The Hunger Games" trilogy. My lovely wife Connie wanted to see the movie and as
usual we thought it help to read the book first. It really enjoyed both, so I thought it would
be cool to do a portrait.

    I thought it would be fun to do the love triangle between the main character and the two
male characters she's torn between. I've already transferred the images to my paper. It's
a medium dark Green artist paper. I left the tracings taped to the paper so you can see the
images. I couldn't get a decent shot of the transferred  images. I use a white carbon transfer
paper on dark papers and boards and a dark carbon paper on lighter surfaces. Carbon
paper is getting harder to find but some craft and fabric stores still sell it. The main focus
will be naturally on the characters, the background will be subtle. I was thinking of the
forest for the background, since most of the story happens in the woods. The bottom right
corner I'm still debating on what it put there. Maybe a number 12 for the district that they
are from in the story.
    
     Anyway, thats it, I've rambled on long enough
 I've got to get to penciling, and as usual I'll post my progress on these and other projects.
So, keep drawing!

Color Pencil Comparison #2

    Hi everybody,
Trying to get back into a blog groove. So, I thought I would do a quick one just to get back
into the swing of things. A few months back I did a comparison of other color pencils
products. Last time I did my comparison, I did it on a colored paper, and it didn't go so
well. I got to thinking I should try another comparison on a white surface.


   The Derwent Colorsoft are a good starter pencil. The colors are bright and smooth.
Blending is OK a little bit on the light side, so it would take some work to get a lot of fill in.
Not a bad pencil for the price.


   Next is the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor this pencil has a oil base,  the other pencils have a
wax base. Bright colors, very good blending, and the colors mix pretty well. Rembrandt's
are hard to find in stores and they are quite pricey. I would like to try these on a illustration,
I'll have to purchase a set because I only have a partial set.
  
   Faber-Castell got a bad rap last time, on the white surface they worked pretty good.
The colors laid down nice and bright. Blending is good, the only problem I had was, I went 
to wipe the excess off with a tissue and it smeared bad, so don't do that, unless you are
going for a smeared look. Still for the price they're not bad.


   Finally of course I had to show off the Prismacolor Premiers.


   It's getting late, gotta go.  Coming soon is fun with watercolor pencils and of course more
illustrations and sketches and demos and maybe what other crazy things I can come up
with. So, keep drawing!

Scholar vs Premier

     Happy Holidays!
I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving.


     I thought it would be fun to compare Prismaccolor Scholar and the Prismacolor Premier
pencils. The Scholar set is Prismacolor's less expensive version that is geared for students
and beginners. The Scholar come in 48 colors and relatively inexpensive, about 10 to 12
dollars for a set of 12. The Premier are around 20 dollars for a set of 12. The Premier come
in 132 colors and have the color names on the side of the pencil, so if you need a certain
color, like Indigo Blue or Tuscan Red. They are also marked with a color number.
The Scholar only have a number on them. So if you need a certain color you'll need a color chart. I couldn't tell much of a difference in the way they preform. The Premier have a softer
lead, so they're smoother and blend a little easier. Both have nice bright vibrant colors, I
would suggest to a person just starting out that the Scholar is way to go. I myself am
sold on the Premier for their blending and wide range of colors, but I still have not found
use for the metallic colors.

            This one is finished, I'm really happy with the turnout. Correction the finished size

is 12" x 14", I think on a previous post I had the wrong size. I used a brown piece of

Strathmore art paper and the usual prismacolor pencils. I had a lot fun working with this

gang and can't wait to see more of their misadventures.

Change of Plans

   Hi,
everybody sorry it took so long to post. Sometimes life gets in the way, I'm doing great,
if your wondering were I've been, my son started marching band season for Alton
Marching 100. This has been keeping the family busy. 


   Anyway I decided to change gears. My last post I started an illustration, don't worry
I'll be back on that one shortly. A few weeks ago I posted this picture on a prismacolor
pencil forum, and another person asked if this is a drawing. I thought that would make a
cool illustration, after giving it some time. I figured in stead of doing a still life why not
throw a little fantasy into it.

   

  When I came up with the concept, it pretty much took off. I started working on this idea
and as I was drawing this one another idea popped in my head and another and another.
It's so much fun when something sparks an idea and flood gates open. All I wanted to
do was show this goofy pencil rack I made. This first picture is going good I'm already
about 1/3 threw it. I'm going to call this one "Helping Hands". It reminds me of the story
of the shoe maker thats overwhelmed with so much work, and these elves come in and
help him while he's gone. This is what I like to think is happening while I'm at work.

    The final piece will be 12"x 24" on Brown Strathmore Artist Paper. It's going great and
as usual I'll post the finished piece. I'm pretty much using the same techniques as
previous works. It's crazy how something so simply an idea.

New Project

      Hi everybody, I hope all is well.
I'm ready for a new project, for some time I've wanted to redo some old pieces that I did
years ago. I like both pieces as is, but I thought it would be fun to join them into a more
exciting illustration. I'm going to use cave scene and add the characters in the picture on
the right. I guess I should name these guys, since they show up in other pictures I've done.
I'll make sure to put names to faces by the end of this project. Who knows the might even
end up in a story. 

  

 Like always, I start out with a tracing of the subjects and they are ready to transfer to

my paper. I'm using a Canson black artist paper for my surface. I'm going to do this

illustration like the wizard with the owl. To refresh your memory, I will transfers the subjects with white carbon paper and I'll freehand the foreground and background in with a light

color pencil.  I really enjoyed doing it this way, it keeps the scene from looking to stiff.

         I also would like to share with you a rare glimpse of one of my scribbles. I normally don't show these to people, because part of my creative process that I don't share with people. I do a lot of these scribbles, because I have to get the darn pictures out of my head. Most of them I file away in a folder and use them for later projects.

       This scribble is just a loose idea, it helps in the design and placement. That's what

makes creating fun is you can always change it or leave it. 

       Well, I've got work to do   See Ya!