What did I learn today…..hmmm. Not much. Just more on the idea of making masses of marks instead of “one touch – one mark”. I do like the way digital brushes make many marks simultaneously. Isn’t that the computer a nutshell. It’s the tool that makes massive replication of your activity easy. It’s the force multiplier of ideas. Both good and bad.

I think the main thing to grasp with drawing on the iPad is – what does it actually do *better* than pen and paper? Not much actually. But a few things. Building up a web of tiny marks goes a lot faster for instance. Or having layers – that’s the key benefit of digital art. Had to remember to stop trying to find an app that simulates pens or brushes. That’s hopeless enough in desktop digital painting – on this thing, without even pressure sensitivity to help – you just have to adapt to what’s here. Not what you *wish* was here.

Second poke at Sketchbook Pro on the ol’ pad.

Tonight’s drawing – Sketchbook Pro, using a Jot stylus.

I was doing some quick poses yesterday, thinking about drawing the shadow shapes with the brush. Each major chunk of shadow should have its own temperature gradient. Think like this: Sketch the contour>Draw the major shadow shapes >Spot in some contact (cast) shadows….and done! 15 and 20 min sketches.

And here’s the warmups from that session. You can see some of that ‘draw the shadow shapes’ in the faces I think.

Trying out the watercolors with a range of approaches. These were 10′s and 15′s I believe. Was a random lot of sizes and paper types. I taped a bunch of scraps I had lying around onto a big board to use them up. Lots of bad landscape painting on the backs of these :)

I’m happy to announce the 1995 New York Times Notable Science Fiction Novel “Resurrection Man” by Sean Stewart, is now available as an illustrated ebook featuring 80 of my illustrations.

Sean is the award winning author of such projects as “Year Zero” (the Nine Inch Nails ARG), “I Love Bees”(the Halo ARG) and 12 well received novels, including the Cathy’s Book Series, (Cathy’s Book, Cathy’s Key, and Cathy’s Ring), “Perfect Circle” a 2004 Book Sense Notable Book, and Best of the Year from the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as the Nebula World Fantasy Award year 2000 winner “Galveston”.  He was a founding member of 42 Entertainment, and is now at Fourth Wall Studios where they are currently changing the nature of storytelling via integrated media.

This set of illustrations has to be the most challenging project I’ve tackled to date. I’ve certainly done hundreds of drawings for my video game projects – but this was my first experience weaving images directly into a work of fiction.  The novel has a eerie atmosphere. Dark and foreboding, but somehow not gruesome, even when it takes some grim turns.  It was a great experience, finding that strange tone and somehow injecting it into the drawing.

I spent approximately 3 months with the story, working on it nearly every day. Reading and re-reading, choosing symbols and incidents from the text, pacing out where to place drawings, and of course how to express the atmosphere of the story to the best of my ability.

I feel I’ve been given a tremendous opportunity, being given free rein to illuminate the text. I hope you’ll check it out, and enjoy the experience.

Here’s a few sample drawings from the book – but of course you can download the first few chapters from Amazon, or of course purchase the novel for only $2.99!

Stay tuned for future announcements! I hope to have the chance to do more illustrated fiction. I can’t wait to be able to talk about what comes next.

[after "The Implorer", Claudel]

Les Grands Ballets here in Montreal put on a small drawing contest in honor of their production Rodin/Claudel. (“A work about the torrid romance between Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel”). I’d heard about the open invitation to come and sketch two dancers in poses inspired by the sculptors – so I thought – That’s for me!

It was well attended I think, for this sort of local radio/facebook/PR kind of thing – looked like around 60 or 70 people turned out to draw or watch drawings happen. I was surprised it was a series of 5 minute poses – quite challenging for an ‘all-skill levels’ type of drawing competition. Especially on the two figure compositions. 5 minutes with two figures is not a lot of time if you try to get all the hands and feet and faces in:)  I chose to econcomize on these sketches. Just go for the feeling of the pose/sculpture. The dancers were of course, elegant emoters (if that’s a word) – and no doubt well aware of the original works. It think it’ll be fun to play spot-the-sculptures in the full performance.

Unfortunately I cannot show you my favorite drawing – as it was selected as one of the five competition winners, and hopefully now sits in a nice frame on the choreographers wall. But, they did give me a pair of tickets to the performance next weekend – so that’s not a bad use of five minutes time on a rainy Saturday.

I do wonder if they’ll get into the part where Camille goes mad, smashes up her sculptures with a hammer, and eventually ends her days imprisoned in the asylum. You have to wonder if living in Rodin’s shadow did her in.

["The Kiss", Rodin]

[The Thinker, Rodin]

Some snapshots of the event, courtesy John Hall of Motion Photography. I’m in there toward the middle of the pack :)

I’m always concerned with live demos. It’s 50/50 if these kind of drawings turn out well. She’s constantly in motion, whipping the ropes around, and the patterns of knots and angles of the model’s limbs are always changing. But that’s what I enjoy about these – the unpredictability of what’s going to happen next. I have to freeze what I’ve seen in my mind, and finish it from whatever I can find in the motion.

It may be that I draw better under pressure. Or just that I enjoy the freedom of sketching without concern for ‘pretty’ results. You get what you get, and you have to live with it.

Here’s some shots from the event:

Here’s a second try with the live model at Atelier de Bresoles, working under Eric Manmella.  I’m trying to apply everything from his previous workshops on cast drawing and master copies. This was a four day pose. (Same model as the previous sketch).

The first day was just the the linear block-in. Done in Raw Umber with a touch of Ivory Black.  (A fast drying mix).

The progress pics below are all from the second day’s underpainting. Eric suggested I work over the (now dry) block-in with a 2″ hog bristle fan brush. It was pretty strange (never having tried a fan before). Sure gave me a lot of rapid coverage.

I spent the remaining sessions rendering with progressively smaller and softer brushes. Going down to a #2 round on the facial features. Now that I’ve been through it, I would have tried to be a bit less aggressive with the underpainting. I left myself with too many ridges in the paint surface. Next time I’ll try a synthetic fan and more medium.

It’s fairly crucial to give it a few days between sessions, so you can work over dry paint.  It’s a totally different experience going over a dry surface. Most of my previous alla prima attempts always ended in a mess of thick muddy paint. This method, while requiring patience, is very relaxing. The paint just obeys your every whim.

Another of Eric’s tips – first thing on each return session, I went over the entire panel with clear linseed oil (spreading a very thin glaze). This brings up the dried (matte) color to the correct rich values of the wet oil. You need to see the value as it will look after the final varnishing – so you’re not drifting into chalky colors over time.

This is of course a long way from the level of finish I hope to get. But it is the first time I felt I grasped the entirety of this system of ‘academic’ painting.

So after 16 sessions, we’ve moved through drawing via measuring, glazing in black and white (cast painting) and again in color (master copy), and now *finally* working from the figure full time :) Huzza!  This is what I’ve been waiting for!

So this is my first oil study applying part of what we’ve covered. I did a linear block in with raw umber using a teeeeeny brush (checking measurements frequently), and went in with a pre-mixed range of warm and cool skin tone, organized the values into two zones – light shape vs the shadow mass. What I am *not* applying in this 6 hr study is any glazing. This is alla-prima (all in one shot). We have another two sessions with this model, so for the next attempt I’ll be working larger, and taking in more passes (block in>mosaic ‘ebuache’ >dry a week>glazing>edge adjustment). Basically going at it more formally.

Alla-prima is completely different than the glazing we did on casts, so I feel like I slid backwards a bit in terms of rendering.  Basically, when faced with the model, I kind of  just fell back into what I always do, just with more drawing theory supporting me.

The surface isn’t anywhere near as sensitive as I’d like.  So the next one! For Real! Going old school glazing :) But this was a good warm up, and I feel like it’s a better likeness than usual for me. (Due to beating the drawing with the measuring stick). Training is paying off.

This afternoon Dr Sketchy’s Montreal brought us some real star power! Burlesque performer Scarlett James wowed the crowed with sultry stage presence and classic glamour poses.

This was a top-form Sketchy’s style event. Great model, snazzy costumes, and a littel strip-ter-mission between posing sets. You know you’re drawing burlesque when the model’s rocking a 12 foot ostrich feather boa!

[Linkage: ScarlettJamesBurlesque.com, Dr.Sketchy's Anti-Art School]

Anyway – for your amusement, this is whatchoo get on day three or four playing with this pad thingy.

At first glance my app of choice is Art Rage. I like the way brush size  and undo/redo are available with three finger moves. So the main activity of painting can be done without opening menus. I could wish for layers to be faster to use. And for the color picker to be available by gesture. But of course the main feature with Art Rage vs a drawing app like Brushes is the simulation of of oil paint.

I’m just scratching the surface with this – soooooo. I’ll get back to you when I know more :)

It’s snowing like crazy again in Montreal – so if you want to do some urban sketching, you need to find something indoors.  I’ve had the Redpath Museum on my list for a while now, so a snow day was all the excuse I needed to head down to the Mcgill Campus.

Turns out, this is an awesome little museum. Really fun place.  Packed to the rafters with zoological, ethnographic and paleontological specimens.

The Redpath is the oldest purpose built museum in Canada, (build at the behest of a Sugar baron, one Peter Redpath), which dates it back to 1882. The structure is classified as ‘Greek Revival’ – but that sounds too dry. I’d call it  ‘Victorian Ebulliance’ .

Something about the whimsical design of the building seems to have influenced the curators. The exhibits have an old-school cabinet of curiosities feel.  Some of the collection makes little sense – such as a  stranded Japanese suit of armor that’s sitting amongst the dinosaurs and stuffed wolves. But the randomness just makes it more fun. Like a carnival side show; but a Carnival of Science !

I particularly liked the raptors mounted on little perches around the windows.  Drawing these birds against the blizzard outside was fun.

The stairs up to the gallery level are guarded by a taxidermy trio of African animals. I can only assume there’s no where else to put them. I liked the look of this Ibex watching you from the landing.  I’m sure I’ll be heading back here for some more sketches soon.  If just for the variety of skulls one could draw!

It was all quite a blur.  If I’m talking and painting at the same time – I can’t be sure I’m making sense.  People tell me it was lucid. But I only had an hour for simultaneously painting and extemporizing a lecture about working in the games industry.

Here’s the demo I did in front of the group, and a couple of test pieces from the night before when I was making the brushes.

I didn’t really get to my main point – spent the whole time drawing and talking about the biz. I was meaning to say, one of my philosophies on PS brushes, is you should draw your own by hand. At least for a while, till you get the feel for how they work. Yes, there’s tons of brushes available for download. But you need to mess around with making textures by hand in order to learn what the brush engine does. How to use spacing and rotation as well as just making a complex brush tip.

I’m making specific brush samples for different effects I want to create. Like the  open scratchy stuff on the  left side – or the highly spaced graphic shapes in the jewelery. (See the stars on the belt). The drawing is a product of the small set of brushes you’re into at the time. These three fall have a similar feeling, created by using the same 5 or 6 brushes. Gives it a kind of  texture space. You make new ones for new pieces. Give each set of images it’s own style.