CMY( ) colors

Ink test for a larger printing project.

continuous line finneas

A pesar de que solo dibuje durante siete minutos, se sentia como un maraton.  The payoff was that dense, beautiful line work around the eyes.

bamboo pen and charcoal experiment with figure lines

A continuation of form studies- more texture, more action.

Stellated octahedron

Such a beautiful composite of intersecting tetrahedrons. <3

ink hands and water texture

What's cool about these is that I did an invisible under drawing with just water.  The paper has this unique property that causes it to become slightly embossed instead of just wet when painted.

shoulder profile

 

Not from this week exactly, but I was digging through my most recent sketches and this one stood out to me. 

constructing tetrahedrons

Actually those "not technically tetrahedrons" technically are tetrahedrons, just not regular tetrahedrons.

cube perspective analysis sketch

The setup is this: you're looking directly at a transparent cube with the vanishing point in the dead center of the face orthogonal to your line of sight.  Since you can see straight through the cube you are also able to see the edges of the face furthest away from your position.

origami cranes

I love origami.  Maybe more than drawing. 

os frontale anatomical study

I've been working on anatomy studies all week.

erika

...incredible features all the time.

continuous ink technique

I figured out a high flow ink/brush technique where you use a water-filled brush pen and feed it ink by using the tip of a fountain pen to conduct the supply inside from the fp reservoir. 

design notes on lateral and diagonal bisects

I've been working on breaking 2-D composition down to its most basic components: line and shape.  There's a lot of different ways of looking at it, but I've found that the 3 foundational layouts on a rectangular canvas are vertical, horizontal and diagonal bisects.  Or in math terms, y = x, y = 0, and x = 0 in a Cartesian coordinate plane.

This is where the approach diverges.  The diagrammatic lines can be thought of as delineating interior shapes, or defining directional line segments (vectors).  In the case of shapes a diagonal bisect would give two opposing triangles.  In the case of vectors you would have the line denote a directional movement as in the example of a plane crash.

These are the basic frameworks.  For simplicity's sake I avoided talking about the types of geometric transformations that would move the bisecting lines away from the center axis.  I did, however, include the framework for a spiral built from vertical and horizontal bisects to show that these elements can be incredibly powerful for building complex structures to support interesting compositions.

sumi dragon

This was done with an ink-laden tortillon on smooth paper which quickly progressed to the dry brush effects visible on the sides of the dragon's head.

false negative and line contrasts

A couple of sketches looking at how to contrast the figure of the woman with the background.

beloved hypotrochoid

looking down

Just messing around pastels and blending.  I like the contrast with the unblended texture of the black pastel around her profile.

And those random ink marks?  I hate to waste paper so a lot of times I'll do sketches on top of sketches. 

ink study of a dog

Adorable.  This was from a "reddit gets drawn" photo ref.  I did the underdrawing with a ballpoint pen so those stray marks before I properly inked it are that.

the apartment across the alley

This was a nearly blind continuous-line contour I did in the middle of one winter night with a micron pen.  It was late so I only drew by the scant light of street torches from the comfort of the bedroom.

It looks kind of crazy, but that's exactly why it's here.

Inque-nan

I love this drawing.  My brother was sitting on a plush chair in the living room with his knee across the armrest and head resting on the back of his hand. 

I originally sketched him all loopy style with a 2B mechanical pencil and then I went back and inked the lines with my pilot parallel pens.  I want to say this was the 3.6mm nib.

Monique

Very sweet girl in one of my studio classes.  Also a very focused worker so I got the chance to draw her on a couple of occasions.  This was my favorite drawing.  I discovered that conte crayon is semi-watersoluble and you can pull the blacks across each other to smooth out the tone.

Finneas w/brush pen

Finneas is my cat, and best buddy since my days in New York.  He's always at my side so he makes a pretty reliable subject.  That long line across is ear was originally going to be his back but then he moved and I caught him in the next pose for a few seconds.

When an archer is shooting for nothing he has all his skill.
If he shoots for brass buckle he is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of pure gold
he goes blind
or sees two targets
- he is out of his mind!

His skill has not changed,
but the prize divides him.  He cares.
He thinks more of winning than of shooting
and the need to win
drains him of power.

- Chang Tzu

n

Thinking Ahead by Yasuo Kuniyoshi

Thinking Ahead - Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington D.C.