Category Archives: art

Hardship

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I got a little further on my Silver Surfer image today. Laying down all the base reflective surfaces in his chrome, with the clearing work to come. I’m happy with it, but I actually had someone ask me about the color swirl he was looking at.

“It’s a blackhole’s event horizon.”, I answered.

Then ended up watching them Google it as they tried to argue with me. I just put my earphones back on.

Okay… this is my third drawing of the actress who played GoGo Yubati in “Kill Bill”. I need to get her out of my system. She’s like Amy Winehouse that way, lol.

When I draw her, I try not to make her appear demure. Too much of that going on among artist as is. It gets attention, but then so does a stick figure with circles for boobs. You never know what people are REALLY into when you sex it up.

My style causes me trouble occasionally. Like when I mix genres.

I started this out in the usual way, but I knew that I would ink over a lot of it. No biggie.

However, when I started to do so, I realized that the tones weren’t dark enough. I had to go back and deepen it.

So it worked out, but not the way I wanted. There’s a lesson here.

Do your homework.

Misplaced

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So… I got kicked out of a Facebook group. I had a blank lunch and decided to draw a few cars. So I posted a request for pictures on a thread. I got a bunch of replies and started doodling away!

Then suddenly, I couldn’t add them. And I was no longer in the group. Understand; I didn’t charge anyone. And I only drew cars for a short while. Oh well…

I did this one for a daily drawing page. Honestly I went a little overboard with the skirt, lol. I try to draw these for time, so they aren’t always my best. Do you recognize the character? Because I’ve drawn her before…

Now this one is of a lady that I find to be funny and honest. She’s a fitness trainer, but you’d never know it looking at her. Then she flexes and BOOM! Muscles out of nowhere, lol.

I HATE using pencils with my prismacolor markers! For one thing, the stupid lead is easily absorbed into the brush tip, completely ruining it. At $6.99 a marker that SUCKS.

Sometimes using a rag to brush off the excess works…

Sometimes.

I used to do pallets for these and still do, usually. But I have enough experience with certain skin tones that it’s unnecessary. Besides, I gave myself a 30 minute time limit. I’m training myself to make videos and I’m trying to keep the time down. So get ready!

So, when I was done, I presented her my picture and she LOVED it! That’s a really awesome feeling. Vindication!!

At least she didn’t kick me out of her group.

Specific

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Okay… I’m going to try something for the first time.

I’ll tell you WHY I drew something. If you guys like that I may share more stuff like it. WARNING!! It may suck, lol. Anyway…

I drew this picture of my son’s mother, my ex-wife. We talked for mother’s day and afterwards I felt physically ill. She was the love of my life and I still miss her everyday. So I was hit with this certainty that I didn’t exist anymore. I wanted to scream and I wanted to ugly cry.

I started drawing instead.

I did it as fast as I could. I just drew her like she was in the shower, except the water is mine. My tears. And NO ONE would know that. Unless I told them.

…

So as I went along, creating this little slice of my psyche, I began to feel better. So now you know.

Taking a

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I get asked alot about the type of women that I draw. People think that you’re attracted to what you create. Only a few ask why.

I’m a big fan of confidence. Vulnerability isn’t my thing. Whether in body or mind, I m intrigued by the way certain people express it.

As far as female bodybuilders are concerned, they are girly in a geeky way. They’ve learned how to modify themselves as an act of willpower. There is a certain amount of confidence gained from the endeavor.

I like showing them in that light, happy and self assured in their physical accomplishments.

All of time at its end

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I’m trying to draw away a dark cloud that is trying to settle over me. I might succeed; it’s worked in the past.

There’s no guarantee that it will though. But motivation is motivation,and even though I try not to tap into negative emotions for my art anymore, sometimes it helps.

But you can’t stay there. It’s a loop and the only real way to break it is to do the things that you don’t feel like doing. Upbeat music. Time spent outside. Go online and listen to jokes or comedy clips…

….get out of your head.

come back

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I’m VERY busy lately and it’s my own fault. I’ve been working on a pretty big project that started in the wrong way….

…so I am a member of the Mustang Club of America. I’ve owned a few and I draw them constantly. Some of you already know that.

Well, last week I decided to post a couple on the group’s Facebook page.

Big mistake.

After a few hundred people contacted me to draw their personal cars, I decided to draw different ones from different eras and make them available for sale. To get everyone excited about the idea, I drew the new Shelby in illustrator and promised to include it in a coloring book that I was also making.

So far I’ve had a little over 8 thousand likes and a ton of responses.

I guess that I’m going to be busy.

Unobtainium

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You know that it’s going to be an interesting week when it starts with a phoenix in the sky. Good news? Only time can tell…

A project being completed should be cause for happiness, but this picture of Alucard from Hellsing is about closing the books. A friend who passed away recently loved the character, so I did this. Cried a little.

That’s okay.

Then immediately started another picture on sort of a dare. Someone claimed hyper realism on a picture they drew and I…disagreed. Not in a bad way, mind you. Just pointed out some places where the guy missed the mark.

Well, he flipped out, called me a hater and worse, gave me the old “if you knew anything about art…”. Ugh!!

So I reverse Google searched the image, found the pic, sat down and made it in about two hours.

And I posted it in our art group. With time stamps.

I guess I wanted to make a point. I’m pretty sure I did; he shut up and tried to get me blocked by admin! She read the thread and decided that since he had requested critiques and comments, nothing I’d done warranted being kicked out.

Also, I got the same response. It’s the art world.people are going to disagree with what you’ve done, how it’s done, WHY it’s done. You gotta roll with it and you can always tell who to listen to and who to nod politely at.

We’re all trying to get better at creating.

Do try die

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I finished this project for someone new. She doesn’t know about the blog. She just thought the image was cool and I agreed.

We talked.

And I was really enjoying myself until this voice inside me asked, very quietly, “what are you doing?”

I finished her picture and packed up my stuff. She seemed confused and I couldn’t explain. We parted. I’ll try to never see her again.

Because #skyphoenix never forgets and the stars haven’t burned out yet.

Birthdays are for the Living

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For the first time since I was 15, I had my birthday off! This is entirely new territory for me; so I decided to draw something meaningful to me.

I drew my homeworld.

I know it sounds pretentious, but it’s not incorrect, is it? Plus drawing Terra is not as easy as it seems. So many colours, so many layers, set against an almost velvety smooth blackness. It’s a really gorgeous place.

And I get to live there.

You do too. Isn’t that amazing?

He’ll Heal Heel

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I promised you red, didn’t I? Well after trying four separate times to get started, I finally gave in. I’m just more in people mode. Maybe later.

Skin tones. They tend to be the single greatest pain in my ass! I limit myself a lot on colour choices, because I believe that I can create most of what I need, which is true. Still, it requires a bit of experimentation sometimes.

When it works, like here, it can give the feeling that the warmth and shadows are coming from within the image itself. That’s definitely the goal.

Sometimes I run into an unusual problem that’s kinda normal. People are NOT perfectly symmetrical. Who knew?

This is a study I did of a good friend. She is very chatty and always seemed to have a totally normal facial symmetry… until I looked closer…

I had never noticed that before. I erased her eye a few times before I went with it.

Here you can’t see it as well. Most people are this way; arms too long, short torso, nose curves slightly to one hemisphere. And once you start seeing it, you can’t stop!

Relax.

Although we draw from anatomy and physiology, understand that nature has its own quirks. Try to find a way to make that work for your image. It’s no secret that breast are rarely the same size on a woman. You can choose to give her “plastic surgery” or draw her in a way that highlights her beautiful essence without changing it.

The young lady in this picture loved her picture. She has a disorder, but she likes that her image makes her feel beautiful and special but doesn’t leave it out.

Always remember, “If every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs”

We Greg’s are good for stuff like that. 😊