This blog...

...was initially for pieces done on a computer, but has since become a free-for-all. Here you'll find process work (digital and otherwise), sketch pages and studies, sometimes with commentary.

You can see the rest of my work here.

Remember kids : if you can't make pretty designs, at least make pretty lines!

-Paul

Sunday, July 31, 2011

lifedrawing log - 07.31.11

Every time I do this, I try to have a "take."   In his book The Art Spirit, Robert Henri talks about studying for information. [pg. 25] "...what we can carry away with us -- is often a revelation of the very little understanding we had in the presence of the model."  That's pretty much it.  Even if I come in and bash out another 20 sheets of the same-old-same-old, there's usually one new nugget that sticks in my sieve of a head.  This week it was a shape the fleshy pad the foot makes on the outer side when it contacts the ground, and how it runs into the piggy toe.  That's mine now.



Side note 1 : I've listed "anatomy" and "light" at the very bottom of my lifedrawing agenda.  This is because I feel like I'm still struggling with the stuff closer to the top of my list, most of all "proportion."  I'm still, after all these years, misjudging the relative size of arms, legs, heads, torsos and, well, everything else.  When I feel like I'm consistently nailing gesture and proportion, I'll be able to let myself focus on those other, more cosmetic things.  

Side note 2 : If you moderate a lifedrawing session, leave the music up to the model.  Or at least make an attempt to differ it every week.  HUNDREDS of new tracks have come available in the brief time it took me to post this, and there's many free, streaming services that don't require much musical knowledge, let alone taste.

For that past, oh, six months, I've heard the same 30-or-so songs on perpetual loop at the session I attend.  It's maddening.  I even said something.  I could just suck it up and keep bringing my own listening device, but goddamn, people, NO ES DIFICIL.  

Friday, July 29, 2011

Lilith model

Thanks to Josh Manning for sharing his rendition of an early Lilith concept from Darksiders!


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Beloved door.

OMG, another Quake door, this time by Swedish hard-surface wiz Disting!  Sweeeeet!

Tor Frick Strogg

Tor Frick did this badass model based on one of my old Strogg Grunt concepts.



















Awesome texture job on this, too, Tor!

Monday, July 25, 2011

/purge

It's dangerous when the act of drawing becomes more satisfying than the drawings themselves. I *could* do more with these but...mmnnn...don't wanna!


What I need to do is to give myself a PAPER ALLOWANCE. 2 sheets a week, max, and really love those pages up. Tools are plentiful; it's *willpower* that's in short supply!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

lifedrawing log - 07.24.11

This isn't conclusive, but I'm pretty sure all blonde women in the world hate me, actively or inadvertently.
Pro tip I picked up from tonight : If you sit cross-legged when you draw, like a dainty little princess, you can stick spare drawing implements *in your shoe.*  I saw a guy with six pre-sharpened pencils jammed up against his sock, ready to go. It was so simple, yet so obvious, and I complimented him on his ingenuity.  (Just don't forget they're in there, or you're likely to stab yourself in the calf muscle.)

Celia Calle!

Miss Monster, you weren't at Comic Con this year, so I took refuge in the arms of another art crush : Celia Calle!


She signed all my Celia-swag and gave me some bonus insights into her process -- totally intuitive and free.  Should have known!

Some inky quickies from the con...

...and a badass web comic I found out about directly from creator/concept artist Anne Szabla -- Bird Boy.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Oni

This is more of a visual note to my future self : horn shapes that overlap the eyes like shaggy hair and/or menacing brows.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

lifedrawing log - 07.16.11





Playlist :

Orchid Star "Faster"
Ott "Mir"
Amit "9 Times"
Atari Teenage Riot "Is The Hyperreal?"
Zomby "Dedication"
Submotion Orchestra "Finest Hour"
Troubl "Avalanche"
Von D "Daydreaming"
Silkie "City Limits Vol. 2"
Bop "The Amazing Adventures Of One Curious Pixel"
Mobthrow "Mobthrow"
The Teknoist "Trainwreck Magnetism"
Amon Tobin "ISAM"
A Dancing Beggar "Follow The Dark As If It Were Light"
Winterlight "Hope Dies Last"
Dalot "Loop Over Latitudes"
Last Days "The Safety Of The North"
Near The Parenthesis "Music For The Forest Concourse"
Port Royal "2000-2010: The Golden Age Of Consumerism"
John Tejada "Parabolas"
Siriusmo "Pearls & Embarrassments : 2000 - 2010"
Loud "The Remixes"
V/A/ "Reconstruction Of Fives"
V/A "For Nihon"

Friday, July 15, 2011

Ninja Assassin Party

Here's a silly little flyer graphic I did for a cross-team event today at Blizzard. They're doing some game where you have to fake-assassinate your coworkers (getting to know them in the process -- clever, clever), so the ninja theme is totally random and doesn't have a thing to do with any Blizzard properties. I figure it's okay to share.

Also, there's beer.