Sketches 7/19/07

I have been tied up on a new animation/illustration project so my sketches-of-the-day have fallen off. To replace that idea for now, I'm posting a bunch a quick sketches that I have been doing at night to stay sharp. Most of this is sketched from John Buscema's work. I have been trying to get my hands on everything of his I can lately. I think if I draw his stuff over and over again, it may rub off on me.

Cintiq Sketch of the Day 2

Another of my sketch of the day attempts...this one is a little different approach than Monday's. I still drew directly in Photoshop, but tried starting with the shadow areas first and then working on the midtones, etc. The last drawing I did in the opposite way...not sure which I like more. This approach was much quicker but it seems to be a little less subtle.

I am copying my friend Peter Krause's idea, for doing a sketch of the day. This one is sketched from a photo in Sports Illustrated of Rafael Nadal...all done in Photoshop on the Cintiq tablet again.

Sketch for the Extended Version of Fever

Another experiment...

I was trying to see what would happen if I drew directly in Photoshop (on a Cintiq tablet). It is a bit of a departure in style from most of my work but I think it is valuable to try things outside of your usual pattern in order to improve. I typically like to work with more graphic shapes and hard edges, but in this I was going for a much more painterly feel. I also tried to not use any reference and just draw straight from my head...just to push myself a bit.

I've learned a lot of great techniques for an illustration like this from the DVD's at the The Gnomon Workshop . They are a really excellent resource.

The Departed

Here is a drawing (and the pencil) I did as an excercise to stay sharp. The coloring was done in Photoshop on a Cintiq tablet, but the the inking and pencils were done traditionally.

You can click on the images for a larger view.

Recent illustrations for a Microsoft campaign

I just finished a large number of illustrations for a Microsoft anti-piracy campaign. Below is a sampling of the 70 or so images that were used in the final product, a 4 minute web movie titled "Suspicious Cargo". You can view the movie by clicking here .

Click on any of the below images for a larger view.

Here is a new illustration that I just finished up for Brandweek Magazine…and a little bit of the process that I used.



It began as a very rough layout for approval from the art director and editor…very rough.



And then I created a tight pencil…about 14 X 17 or so. This was for the second round of approval, and to get everything organized before I tackled the color.



The color was done in Photoshop…although I originally started it as an acrylic painting, but that wasn’t quite working for me. I learned some great techniques from some Photoshop tutorial DVD’s I purchased at http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com. The DVD’s at that site are awesome… I particularily liked Feng Zhu’s DVD’s. Based on these tutorials, I used a paint brush in Photoshop, varying the opacity settings and built up the color right over the top of my scanned-in pencil. It took some patience but I really liked the effect. Here are a few of the stages in the coloring.