lifedrawing log - 02.27.10

Even after I paid for Saturday's session, I still didn't believe I had a right to draw this model. It's not the kind of thing you can place monetary value on. Now, had my drawings done her a scrap of justice, maybe I'd have earned it.



There was the usual pre-pose squabbling. Our moderator was kind enough to let us vote on whether or not to have her hair tied up. To me, this was a no-brainer. I can't even get into the mind of an artist who wouldn't leap at the opportunity to draw this kind of hair. It was a gift.

Crabby Pants Pastel out-nickpicked herself yet again. "Your fingernails were pointed down more before." Yes, because you really can't trust your lay-in drawing at this point. Because you haven't, in your 104 years of life, figured out how to draw a hand from memory. Incidentally, there's not much to remember. People have two wrists. They bend in certain ways. People have ten fingers. They bend in certain ways. Oh, and hey, if you forget any of this, LOOK AT WHAT'S CLUTCHING YOUR PASTEL STICK YOU HOPELESS DINGBAT.

Exorcising Demons

I kicked the year off by doing a demon a day, as warmups for work. While I can't rightly post any of those (as they were done under Vigil's roof and may potentially be used in Darksiders 2), I *can* continue the practice independently. So here are a few from last night.



Sometimes you just gotta draw demons, no matter who you're drawing 'em for.

pose exploration

Killin' time on the couch with my clipboard, letting the space on the page influence (dictate?) the next pose...like a puzzle...a sexy, sexy puzzle.



I need to foreshorten my legs more. I have apprehension when it comes to foreshortening arms, legs, trunks, feet, hands...foreshortening in general. Putting that on my to-do list, along with "make heads smaller" and "stop breaking necks."

The thing that's hardest about drawing girls is obscuring stuff. You feel like it's all good enough to be on display, but showing too much actually hurts the pose. Gets stiff and/or inplausible. Plus, even with a nude, something ought to be left to the imagination. Gotta be choosy and let your audience fill in the gaps.

lifedrawing log - 02.23.10

No drama...just drawings.

From Pencils To Pixels

My bosses talk about game development from adversity, realistic pitches, iterative design, the origins of Vigil, Darksiders and more!

Not to be confused with Star Wars Galaxies' "From Pencil To Pixel" (singular).

A snippet of conversation...

Wendy : I don't understand why you always draw penises coming out of their mouths.
Me : It's like a double-dong.
Wendy : Then why is there jizz coming out of it?
Me : That's supposed to be saliva.
Wendy : Well it's not reading as saliva.
Me : Can you go now? I get really embarassed when you watch me.


Slapped some color onto one of these just to remind myself how. I can only seem to get into coloring stuff when my art metabolism slows to a crawl. Or when there's boobs involved.

lifedrawing log - 02.20.10

Upper right : While Jurassic Park was in the bathroom, I was able to stealth-capture one of his abstract masterworks with my cell phone camera. Kinda says it all, doesn't it? I'll bet when someone gives this guy a delicious cake, he uses it as a doorstop.



Crabby Pants Pastel, an old lady who's a dead ringer for Mama Fratelli from The Goonies, protested that the model had "changed the pose" after inhaling deeply. We were all of two minutes in. I had to laugh audibly, and the model shot her a vicious look I wish had remained. Crabby Pants Pastel is famous for the line, "We aren't drawing porno." I forget the exact context, but the model's vulva were most likely visible. Obscene!

Later, to see how much I'd absorbed, I tried redrawing the pose. Wound up breaking her in a bunch of places, but eh...a few things stuck. Not much point in going to these things if you can't retain anything.

Pixel Painting

Tonight I reduced the resolution and worked small, which will sometimes coax unpredictable results and help me not get so lost in the daunting, digital wilderness.

I could have noodled this all night, but I'm more interested in ironing out a process. Some people have this down pat. I feel like I've been neglecting it.

CG Channel Interview

This was filmed during my Thumb War presentation at Gnomon Live Workshop last summer.

You get to see my twiggy, childish frame flailing around and hear me talking with a slight lisp! Imagine a less composed version of this, and you'll have a good idea of what I'm like in real life.

Lots of Vigil plugs in this. Sellin' the brand, sellin' the brand!

Special thanks to Editorial Director Matt McCorkell for piecing this together.

Autodestruct music review : Broken Note

Review - "Terminal Static"

Interview

Thanks again to Headphone Commute for letting me pry into the lives of great musicians.

lifedrawing log - 02.15.10 (I attack weakness.)

Hand making contact with foreshortened face = double-hard.



The vibe the model was putting off was "defeated" or "Christ, I can't believe I'm doing another sitting pose." The drawing near the center where she's slumped conveys this better than the rest.

When the 2 hour session wrapped, the room erupted with strange applause. "Yay [model's name]!" someone behind me squealed. "Yes," I replied under my breath, "Yay for sitting there." My friend Matt, clearly unaware of my jaded attitude at these things, chided me. "Don't be a dick. They're just saying thanks."

On one hand, he was right. The model showed up and did her thing, and as sitting poses went, it had a good amount of character. But really? Applause for a pose where every limb was pretty much completely at rest? You might as well applaud a bowl of fruit. "Way to stay in that bowl, fruit." Now if that bowl of fruit got up and did a handstand or some cartwheels (as this model has practically done in the past, it should be noted) -- yes, applause.

A girl to my left came early and set up an elaborate painting station. A phalanx of supplies was splayed out, ready for action. The model showed up, got into position and -- oh no -- the girl packed up all her shit and took off. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt this time and assume something important cropped up (30% off sale at Michaels), but I'm betting dollars to donuts this is what went through her head : "Oh, unkind fate! I don't have a particularly good view of the model, and now there's nowhere for me to relocate my cumbersome art fort. Guess I can't be creative now."

Yes, I'm a dick.

trees + babes

This crap's been piling up over the past few weeks. I'm not going to attempt to justify it. It just is.





So much for ArTracker, huh?