Figure Drawing, Pt. 16

~4x7" pencil, 20 min.

R: ~4.5x7" pencil, 20 min.

I know I left my blog page without naked folk on it for a few weeks. I apologize, if that's the main reason you come here. As an aside, might I recommend Arkady Roytman's "Nude of the Day" blog? He's a good guy, and helps coordinate the drawing sessions at the Society that I go to to do these. He does his usually in straight watercolor, and you may on occasion catch our results from the same evening. You can also buy his, where I haven't figured out what to do with mine yet. Though pt.15 was posted not that long ago, it ends up that I haven't been to figure drawing since I think late May, which I couldn't believe until I looked at the scans. And the last session I didn't even post anything from, as there wasn't much worth showing that week--a model had shaved her head bald, giving everything a slightly freaky look.

I've taken to making a point to draw small portraits of the models, sometimes when the poses aren't particularly interesting as a whole. These quick portraits are useful in just improving overall accuracy when doing portraiture.

It was a great night, as drawings go. I was happy with almost everything I did, which isn't always the case. The drawing at right may be my favorite one all year.

~5.5x3.5" pencil, 10 min. each

R: 4.25x8" pencil, 20 min.

As always, the 20 minute maximum length vexes me. The last drawing helps to show why I don't often draw the whole figure. I simply run out of time. You can see the detail fading as I go down. It's not that I can't draw feet, but they take more time to draw than, say, a leg, for a much smaller feature. Another 20 minutes would've given me all I needed. Even 10 minutes more would've at least gotten the feet in and more resolution on other parts.

As I sat down, I noted that I'm getting towards the back of the pad I've been drawing in. I told myself that after filling it, I'd change up and do something else for awhile. Figure drawing is always good, but there are other exercises I should engage in, in following with my bee-pollination/Jenga analogies of growth. I have a couple of ideas, but with winter coming, it may limit my choices. For now, I hope to finish up this pad by year's end, which would give me enough of these posts through probably next Spring at the current rate of posting one every few weeks.

The Unknown God

Back during art school, a pair of fantastic magazines were introduced: Science Fiction Age and Realms of Fantasy. I bought both, with subscriptions to one or both for a bit during their early years. I would keep them in my car. Since I commuted from So. San Jose to basically Berkeley for school, I would leave the house at 6am to arrive before the traffic got crazy. I'd arrive about 7:15 and be 45 minutes early (if I left even 15 minutes later, I might be late!). So I'd read in my car or nap if I was a complete zombie, and I often was. Sometimes the one would lead to the other. The stories published ranged wildly across the full spectrum of each genre, and what's more they both contained full-color illustrations by new and established illustrators. While art by big names was often re-use, newer folks were generally the ones who provided the new illustrations. The quality was mixed, but generally decent in those days. For instance, it was in those magazines that I first encountered the work of Todd Lockwood as he made his entrance into the genre after a career in advertising art. I remember noting him as someone to watch, and sure enough he's become a powerhouse.

Science Fiction Age eventually died off, sadly. But Realms of Fantasy continued on. After college, once I started illustrating more, I didn't have as much time so lost track of it some, though I'd flip through it on the newsstands from time to time. I was disappointed that over time the covers began to be media-related photo-design montages. A photo of Xena, or whatever. But hey, business is business I guess.

Then Realms of Fantasy died. That was sad. Then Realms of Fantasy was reborn with only the slightest hiccup in publication. That was nice.

So I included the new RoF team in my promotional mailings, and very soon received an email from their Art Director Douglas Cohen. In assigning it, he mentioned that it was the most difficult story in that batch of commissions to illustrate, because he didn't feel it was the most visual storytelling. That made me a little nervous, but I dove into the manuscript, reading Ann Leckie's "The Unknown God" multiple times, marking it up and taking notes. Doug was right, in that while there are visual references, to use some of them would've given the wrong idea about the story. A main character is a talking frog, for instance. But it isn't at all the sort of story one thinks of when a talking frog is present.

Doug and I chatted on the phone, and I communicated that I was hesitant to portray many of the straight scenes from the story, particularly those with the frog, and that many of the remaining scenes would not sum up the story well enough. Those were his thoughts, as well, to the point where he mentioned that had I come to the illustration seeking to portray the frog in a scene, he would've considered me the wrong person for the job! Whew. I gave him my idea, which was to use a scene from the story's past, where the main character utters a curse. The story eventually revolves around whether he will undo the curse. I decided that showing the curse literally emanating from his mouth would be visually interesting, and somehow showing that emanation wrapping back toward him might get across the "calling it back" concept. Doug thought it was interesting, so let me run with it. I began thumbnailing.

I never send these to Art Directors as they are illegible.

You'll see that in many of them, the script forms a loop around the character, as it makes its way back toward his mouth. This was harder to get to work than I thought, and when Doug emailed me later to express his concern about that same thing (two cases of mind-reading, now), I changed it to a sort of J-bend in the final two thumbnails, figuring I could incorporate the same into thumbnails 1-4 as well, quite easily. Changing it also changed my point-of-view to a higher camera angle, so as to show this new configuration. This also served to create a more dynamic angle altogether.

The final sketch was a combination of the last two. I worked up the drawing, and submitted a digital greyscale study to the Art Director.

Doug liked the approach, and gave me the go-ahead. He had one suggestion, and that was to include an Easter Egg in the magical script, which would help to tie it back to the narrative. Since I was taking an actual scene, but imbuing it with more than was written, he thought it might help to unpack it a little and keep it tied to the story. It was a brilliant suggestion, the sort of thing that appealed to me naturally anyway. So I went ahead with the painting. You'll note that those runes got beefed up considerably. After doing the study it occurred to me that it was looking a little anemic. Doug was thrilled with the final, and I was pleased as well. A few months later, when the story was scheduled, I received another email with some particularly good news--the illustration was chosen for the cover of the issue! That was a very nice bonus piece of news, and I'm sure the author was pleased to learn it, too.

It was a very good collaborative effort: Ann wrote an interesting story (which took me a couple of reads to get a good handle on), Doug gave me an initial carte blanche to find a good solution, then used his suggestions as invaluable spice to the dish. My job was to be chef with these ingredients and make a nice meal. I hope you enjoy it!

The magazine hits your local newsstand in December sometime (despite the 2/10 cover date), so be sure to grab a copy. A book store would be your best bet. If you are curious about or interested in imaginative fiction, this has always been a good magazine to sample a very broad range of fantasy fiction without committing to novels, by established and new writers both. Most folks think Tolkien when they think fantasy, but truthfully the genre has always been much, much broader.

The original drawing and final painting can be seen on my site, including a link to a detail image.

Spectrum 16

Spectrum 16 just released. If you only buy one art book per year, and love fantasy art, this is going to be the one you'll want. Really, you should buy more than one per year, but I'd wager that if you enjoyed Spectrum, you'd probably eventually seek out other artists' books, too. If Spectrum can't make you a fan of fantasy art, nothing can.

It's an honor to be included again in this year's book, as it a very tough juried competition to get in each year. My artwork, "Balance" is featured on page 171.

Oil Over Water, Pt.1

About 4 years ago, a reader named Andrew emailed asking about my choice of medium, and the change in preference between Acrylic and Oil. So here I am, having dug up the email, about to discuss it.

When I started painting in high school, I only saw two options: Oil and Acrylic. I did not know any contemporary fantasy illustrators really using watercolor (they existed, but they weren't ones I was following). Oils seemed "hard" to do for some reason. Maybe because the old masters used them. I was all of 14 or so, so you must excuse the simplicity of my decision. Besides that, Michael Whelan used Acrylic, and I had just had my world changed by his work in that year. So the decision was made and I started painting in Acrylic. Nevermind that Elmore, the late Parkinson and Boris (other early favs of mine in High School) all used oils. They still seemed hard for some reason.

If I remember correctly, my first attempt at painting was a collaboration with my older brother, who was 2 years ahead of me at the same high school. We both had dug the art of Derek Riggs that was used on Iron Maiden's album covers. We never actually listened to Iron Maiden, but we loved the art. As an aside, apparently Iron Maiden have been complaining that Riggs was posting the art he did for them on his own website and so he has had to remove them. What the heck? Riggs probably did as much for Iron Maiden as they did for Riggs. I know I certainly would never have cared who Iron Maiden were without Riggs' art. Very cool, Iron Maiden. Way to stick it to the man.

So anyway, we bought a 22x28" canvas board, some cheap Acrylic paint, brushes and a cheap white chipboard palette. We alternated working on various parts of it night by night, and so did a copy of "Somewhere in Time" (at least the front cover of the cassette we borrowed. I think we listened to the tape once while working on it--meh. If I was back in California I would include a scan of it here, because I still have it. Of course then Iron Maiden might toss a lawyer my way, too). I really loved working with the paint.

From then on I painted a lot. My father procured for me an airbrush, which I used for years. It wasn't that great--I think it was meant more for industrial use than illustration, but it did the job. I used it mainly in art class where they had compressed air available. I cut friskets. I was on my way!

My trusted airbrush for about 10 years. Thanks dad!

A couple of times during those years I also attempted working in oils. That same brother, years earlier, had received a basic Grumbacher gift set--maybe 8 tubes of paint, some cheap brushes, a bottle of linseed oil, a bottle of turpentine, I think. He maybe used it once and then abandoned it (before our Iron Maiden debut). I basically appropriated the set. I copied illustrations I liked a lot in those days, often by the above-mentioned or other fantasy illustrators. It was the primary way I taught myself in those days. I worked on my desk in my bedroom, completely flat. Occasionally I'd use my brother's drafting table. Sometimes I worked on my bed, kneeling at the side of the bed like I might be saying evening prayers or something. I painted a lot. I read a book on Acrylic painting. I read Boris Vallejo's book, "Fantasy Art Techniques." Mainly, I reinvented the wheel.

By my senior year I was basically painting all the time. Prior to that I would do large finished pencil drawings, or drawings in Prismacolor pencil, which I won't link because I now despise them due to wax bloom that appears on the drawings you create with them, making everything hazy and light.

(Perhaps I sold it because I'd just started dating my now-wife. Motives are hard to discern.)

But mainly I worked in Acrylic. My junior year I sold my NES and all my games since I didn't have a job yet (I was 15) and bought a compressor so I could airbrush at home. I would do it outside because it was noisy as a...commercial compressor. I also didn't wear protective breathing apparatus and probably lopped a couple years' worth of life expectancy off. More things I wished I'd learned....