Tag Archives: brunette

Life goes on

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My mom passed away.

It was Coronavirus. She fought for as long as she could. Over a month. All we could do was hope. We couldn’t visit, couldn’t console. We couldn’t stay in her home, our home. She passed away on the 4th of July.

So I haven’t been able to draw. We’ve been making arrangements, trying to settle things. It’s a surprisingly difficult thing.

I’ve been angry with her church. More specifically, with the arrogance and stupidity that lead to my 71 year old mother being infected during a pandemic.

I finally got back to drawing. Time never stands still. And no one is as isolated as they think.

I know…it seems inappropriate. I had to start with the last project I was given. It’s probably why it took me so long.

Anyway… thanks for being patient while I worked through my grief. You guys are the best, thank you.

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The Luxury of Sleep

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Hey guys! Sorry but I’m super busy with something that should cover my bills for a considerable amount of time if I can accomplish it. But hey, I’m a former paratrooper. The difficult can be done immediately and the impossible takes slightly longer. 😉

So I decided to show you the difference a little time makes. I was happy with this when I first produced it. But one of the ways that you know that you’re growing as an artist is that your old art looks primitive when you see it later. You see where you went wrong.

So fix it.

As you can see, it’s a lot more refined and the hair looks more like hair, lol. I kept her muscularity without losing the graceful flow.

And her hands aren’t big and thick.

And since one person liked my video, here’s another. Again, older work, but just as fun.

See you next week!

You can’t isolate a hermit

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Meet #maudecharron. She’s a pretty cool powerlifter. After watching her at an international meet, I felt the urge to draw her. Her expression tells a story. She was about to go for her second clean and jerk and while chalking up she shot the weights a defiant look. Now you have to understand; up until this point she had been a ray of sunshine. She almost danced with glee on the platform for her first lift. She was so energetic and upbeat that I was happy for her. But her demeanor changed here. You could tell that she felt that this would be a challenge, but her confidence in herself was unwavering. I love that about athletes. It’s a confidence borne of achievement. “I can because I have”. Of course she made the lift. And her playful excitement returned, but I CV had seen the steel and conviction behind her grace. So I drew her. Right at that moment when she decided that she would succeed, no matter what. Look at that expression. You almost feel sorry for those weights.

Red

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If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I often draw people that I see on my ride into work on the commuter train. The responses I get vary, but it usually works out for everyone. Usually.

The above picture is one that almost got me in trouble. A lady called the conductor and accused me of drawing her. I wasn’t. Worse, she didn’t ask me, she just assumed. I was drawing my friend, Rebekah. Ugh.

On to happier thoughts. I did this one for a Facebook group. Everyday they post a new photo for members to draw. You have until the next post to finish it. I check in when I’m bored or need to draw, but can’t come up with anything. So there’s the pencil work. Not bad…

Then I started to color in the easiest and obvious parts. I find that if I do this it brings all the other layers forward.

Throwing in that much poppy red was a little daunting. It was either going to make the image or make it a mess! I knew some of it would leach into the subject; but if you’re in a room THAT red, that would happen from saturation.

Skin tone is being determined by values. I had to be careful not to over shade or add too much detail on one side of her. She’s supposed to seem a little washed out.

The buckles on her boots were made easier by leaving a accent line in the black of the boot. Then a slightly darker red was added to give a sense of balance. After all, if there’s a bright light on her, why would her background be flat?

Someday prismacolor is going to make a subdued red and I won’t have to blend to get this look! *sigh* It was so bright in the image so I had to go there. I removed the tape(I’ve gotten much better at it) and there you have it.

Keep in mind, while they give you 24 hours to get this done, I try to work it in about 2, tops. It’s really fun and if you draw, give it a shot!

Insertion

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I had a pretty decent weekend. It started out with a quiet Friday, something I truly needed. Saturday I decided to go sit in my local Starbucks and draw a little.

It usually takes me a few days to become more neutral in my thinking. This can usually turn up in my art. I start making pictures of faces that are not so much “happy”; more like, relaxed.

That’s sort of what I was going for here. No stress, just a tranquil look.

I feel like I did a decent job.

Of course, there were a few people (and at least one baby 😊) that took an interest in my work. One young lady even wanted to buy a print of one of my pieces!

I sent her to my page lionbrowneyes and offered to draw her as well. She happily agreed.

I was so motivated that I ended up creating another while talking to people around me. THAT was new! I hadn’t had to do it in awhile. But in the end I felt better for having done so.

So I had a nice, calm day. I didn’t think about any problems or concerns. I just commited to relaxing.

Show [No] Go

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       Travel has been a big part of the last few weeks of my life. It’s good to be home, in a lot of ways.

      My life studies are still going on. I’ve gotten a little better, though I won’t pretend to have mastered anything yet. Work in progress, right?

     It’s not skin tones or their shading that bothers me. It’s hair! I’m finding that while there is one overall dynamic to doing it, variation on the theme is extensive!

    So these images have allowed me to get somewhat better at creating realism.

      This sketchbook is clearly filling up a lot faster than others. Maybe I’m getting better at making casual art? Who knows…

     I have a lot of work to get caught up on. Maybe I will have time to draw again in a few days. Things are THAT hectic. It’s hard to find time for my own art while working on stuff for others.

      It could be worse I guess. These were problems I wanted last year, lol. Unforseen consequences.

     So. This picture took me almost an hour. Not bad. 

    See? Practice pays. 😉

A Good Life

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     I’m doing a series of sketches for a young lady that will be made into postcards for her. Easy enough work, and she seems easy to please.

     So many of my projects are like this. Cute drawings meant to flatter without being overly expensive or extensive. I don’t mind; it keeps me active without getting bogged down on one thing.

     I feel pretty content right now. No, it won’t last, but it’s not supposed to. Your good times get spaced out so you can enjoy them. 

Do so.

Illicit Response

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     Okay…. I’m not sure about the age of my audience. I drew this pretty quickly, so hopefully no one gets upset. Ready? Here we go…

    So as much as finished pieces gets all the glory, it’s the ground work that makes it all come together.

      I honestly was never one for sketching in the past. If I had an idea, I would just dive right in, no plan, just improvising as needed.

     But as I got further along in my career, I learned that having a plan isn’t necessarily a bad thing! It actually helps to know in advance what you’re doing. It helps in a lot of ways.

    For instance, I already knew ​where my light source would come from. It made layering my skin tones a LOT simpler.

    Having a good layout helps with the speed I’m able to use here. I can reverse the image to make sure I have the balance needed.

    Now that I’m happy with it, I can begin to blend my colors and perform little tweaks that are required for the look I’m after.

     Now all I need to do is clean up my Image and give her shadows a little depth by cooling them off.

    A lot of these things become easier with time. Give them a try!

It’s Too Bad About Me

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    I’m trying to keep my sanity lately. My usual cycle is to feel better,  stop my meds then feel worse. But the good thing about#inktober is that it’s helping me with my perspective.

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     Inking with brushes takes a lot longer than using pens! Still, I like knowing how to ink the old fashioned way.

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        Sometimes the backgrounds take me even longer than the main image. My real job puts me in hotels occasionally, so I know what they look like. That means this one was easier.

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        Oh and it will be nude. Did I mention that? Sorry I’m freshly medicated so my attention span is…off.

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All the News

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BBWeather

      While at home Friday, I was watching the news here in Baltimore and noticed something amazing; our weather lady was hot! Yes yes, they put cute heads on television all the time, but this was different. This girl had a porn worthy body and they almost NEVER let women like that on air. (except Galavision and Univision, bless you both)

   When I worked out of the DC bureau for ABCNews, we noticed this. Some of the PA’s definitely had custom car bodies, but the producers preferred the more model types.  The fact was if you were simply stunning, you probably didn’t get to go on air. Maybe they wanted the women to not be too pretty or sexy, maybe the old duffers upstairs had a type and only picked it. But it was definitely discriminatory towards certain types of beauty.

    So here I was staring at someone who met that mold, on air! I guess times are changing. It might be a good sign. After all, for many ethnic women you could only be two types, big mama or beanpole. It’s cool to see an average woman with an adult build make it. A little less hypocrisy is always a good thing.