Resolutions

It's that time when many make resolutions for themselves with the expectations that they'll follow them through. I hadn't really thought about it to much but after thinking, why not make a few this year and see how I go. At least one of these resolutions is to actually paint more even if they're a just studies. Time being a hard thing to find while working full time and studying part time(mainly at night and Saturdays) I can only try. I've been looking at watercolours more of late and would like to have a better understanding in using them besides my oils. Although watercolours are harder to master than oils I think it would be more profitable for me at this time to play around with them due to the ease of setup and cleaning…not to mention drying time too. I have three mock cover arts to do for my assignments so I'll more than likely do those in watercolours for a practice run. Anyway here is one I did for the beginning of the new year, it's one of the w/c postcard books you can buy that I've had lying around.

Busy times

It has been very intense these last couple of months with studies and assignments. You'd think I have little time for drawing but to be honest I've been drawing quite a bit. My current study block is illustration and theres a great deal to be done...45 illos in all, three of those covers. In time I'll show those but for now here's a small few from my sketchbook. 

 

Quiet Times

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted anything so I'll throw up just a few thumbs for your pleasure. I've been working on a personal painting and it's taking longer than anticipated but I'm roughly half way there. I've been thinking of what someone had said to me recently about not having enough colour work displayed and they had questioned my ability to actually do coloured work since the bulk of my work is b&w. There is truth in that I have shied away from painting but that is more due to the fact that I work full time and then come home and study most nights while spending time with my wife and kids. So for me to paint does take a long time but I hope to increase my number of paintings to about
3-5 a year. Anyway, I'll hope to post something next month that's a little more interesting. Cheers!

A year of studies have passed.

Well, I've finally completed and passed all my assignments for my certificate 3 in commercial arts graphic design. What a year it's been, so many things happening all at once with work family and other commitments, no wonder it went quick! It has been a challenge to fill my sketchbook on a daily basis but I've always had time to sketch on other things not necessary in my sketchbook. Here are some thumbs from said sketchbook.



These ones were inspired buy the 2nd Robotech series with the Invid invasion. It took forever to watch the whole series but it brought me back to my teenage years.

I have some fascination with the whole fairy tale genre at the moment. I'm currently making a painting out of the last one of these thumbs that I have here.

Sometimes I wish I had the skills of a comic artist in the way the can tell stories with images.

  

   

And finally just two portrait thumbs.

All Hope Abandon, Ye who Enter Here!

I was only able to do few illustrations this last time and I thought I'd do something a little different. Knowing that I'm not overly fantastic with watercolours, I thought I'd experiment with one of the illos I had to do for an upcoming HARP product. Although I think I did reasonably well, I had to tweak it digitally to adjust values in certain areas of the painting. It's destined to be a b&w piece, so when I converted it to greyscale it showed the weak areas of my values. Overall it was a good learning exercise for me and it'll make me a little more aware of my values in future attempts.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

I'm finally nearing the end of the first block of my studies in graphic design. It's hard to believe that an entire year has gone so quick since I started. Studies, family life, work and trying to keep it all together has taken some effort. I've been wanting to do another painting but this time with my kids as the main focus/characters. Below is some conceptual ideas for this painting which sprang to mind by hearing the phrase "Something wicked this way comes," Yep, pretty peculiar.

A Sketchbooks End

Well I've just finished another sketchbook to add to my growing collection of ideas. I always have a sense of satisfaction when I complete a book, I guess it makes me feel I'm actually achieving something arty even though I don't do many finished drawings or paintings these days. Anyway here is a few thumbs from the last pages of the book. I'll have a couple of finished drawing to show soon so keep watching this space.