Tag: sketches

Boat House Sketch

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boat house

I’ve been experimenting with ways to streamline my workflow and get the most out of digital and analog tools. This is a warm-up sketch of a boat house that was inspired by/stolen from Mike’s work over at Creative Mints. If you want to see some good artwork, you should really be looking over there instead. For my purposes, I was going for something that looks finished, and has some visual presence to it, but wasn’t over-worked and crowded with detail.

I find that digital line work is slow and tends to look stiff. Good ol’ paper and pencil is far more flexible. Color, however, is far faster and easier to tune on a computer than on paper. So in this case, I used a fine point sharpie over the top of rough pencil work. Then scanned and colored in photoshop using a wacom tablet.

Young and Old Portraits

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young and old portrait color

This is a pencil sketch I did a while ago exploring some character ideas. Then on a whim I did a color study with it in photoshop. Typically I draw on white paper, so I’m intrigued by how a bold color in the background can influence and permeate the whole color palette as I work. I’m afraid all this digital manipulation is a creative crutch for me when it comes to color, but hopefully I am actually learning somethings along the way. Maybe. Read More …

Getting to work sketch

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kid getting to work

 

You know you’re serious when you pull out the hard hat! That laundry doesn’t stand a chance.

I wanted to experiment with a looser, more textural style of illustration, and this was the result. I kind of like the interplay of details and rough edges here. This was done entirely digitally with some supporting fabric textures.

Cutest. Walrus. Ever.

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cute walrus

With a three-year-old suddenly running around the house, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of toys around here. I did this sketch during some rare downtime, interpreting what has to be the cutest walrus bath toy ever made. I mean, have you ever seen a real walrus up close?  They may have some level of charm, but cute doesn’t readily spring to mind! This sketch was done with black pen and colored pencil.

Lighthouse Sketch – Oil Pastels

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lighthouse

I was drawing with my six year old nephew the other day, and ended up with this lighthouse. I didn’t use any reference, just experimenting with oil pastels. I may also have been influenced by the bold impressionist colors in a friend’s Pinterest boards.. And I don’t even have a Pinterest account!

My nephew drew a pirate ship with lots of cannons and TWO planks to walk. So I think we were on the same page.

Mechanical Maze Sketch

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Mechanical Maze Sketch

I have been trying to find excuses to use my Wacom tablet in the hopes that I will develop some level of skill with it. Some level above zero is preferred.

This sketch was one I discovered laying around when shoveling off my desk the other day. It was originally something I worked up while brainstorming video game ideas. This was my first take on a mechanical obstacle course game concept. That’s about all the farther it got, although there may be some potential there… Anyway, I took the rough pencil sketch and dropped in some color using the tablet and some secret techniques I picked up from Tony Cliff. Now obviously this isn’t very refined. (Why didn’t I go back in and fix some of the perspective flaws?) But it was fun, and way easier than my efforts before I had the tablet.

Lets see what other sketches need some color around here…