Friday, November 26, 2010

ten minutes


Just a ten minute sketch to keep me sane.
Working on movie comps today but I need to draw something else .
Perhaps if I get chained to my desk and not get distracted by things like eating, exercise, and sleep then I might be able to produce something of my own!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Perseus and Medusa


I went over to the J. Paul Getty Center today and brought along my Modbook.
Sure I can draw in a sketchbook but with the Modbook I can work in full color.
I just need to make myself paint/draw from paintings and sculptures to refresh my mind of things that are not tainted by modern times.
Of course I'm painting from ancient art using modern technology but I think the muses will forgive me .
Here I'm painting in Photoshop CS5 at about 7 x6 inches at around 200 DPI.
Usually when I start one of these I think it's going to come out crappy because I see I need to spend more time that I'm willing to stand in front of a painting.
But as the minutes pass by I find that I'm getting involved with the process of figuring out the
lights and darks, the warms and cools and the lines of composition.
This is just one figure in a small painting by Sebastiano Ricci depicting Perseus and the head of the Gorgon Medusa.
Some day I'm going to have to take my Modbook over to the Louvre!
Click on the image to get a larger view.
Lar-

Pencil SuperGirl


I seem to remember saying early on that I wanted to put stuff un related to work up here.
Also to stick to pencil-
Well , not much work stuff so far. But I have strayed away from the path of the pencil.
So here's another actual sketch book drawing on actual paper using actual graphite.
But I've seen that I get positive comments if I explain some of the digital procedures that I
do. So I plan to do more of that .
With this drawing there's not much to explain.
Number 4 graphite lead in a lead holder mech-pencil.
AquaBee 9X12 sketchbook.
If you've followed this blog then you are probably already are familiar with
my inspiration for the figure.
As usual , click on the image for a closer look.
More to come.
-Lar

Monday, October 18, 2010

Taiko Idea



Just something I was playing around with today. I've been wanting to do something involving an O-daiko player. ( Big drum player)
I sort of like this but maybe it's a little too static looking. I Played taiko for a while so perhaps I get hung up on the proper form and stance. When I start thinking about technicalities then it starts to lose a little life. I thought I'd post this anyway. I'm pretty sure that this is not going to be the final version. I'm not doing this for anyone anyway Just an self given assignment.
You can see that the drum looks a little weird. That's because I used a 3d object that I imported to Photoshop. I know I can draw a taiko but why spend the time when this is just a rough.
-Lar

Monday, October 11, 2010

in progress


I've been playing back and forth with this image for a couple of weeks now I guess.
a little bit here and a little bit there.
You can see the earlier versions of it in earlier posts. First as a rough sketch, then as an inking project. I liked the pose so much that I started painting it.
I know the back muscles are not right. It's because like most of my drawings it's all from memory.
I just can't be bothered to look for photo reference . I can never find just the right one . And if I do then I feel like I'm just copying a photo!
This again is another Pauline Nordin drawing of Fighter Diet Fame. She's my favorite model .
All the right elements. If I look at drawing I've done ten years ago I think she's there too.
So I must give credit!
I don't know where I'm going with this- I just need to work on it..
Of course it's not finished but I never know when something is finished.
This is why I'm showing it with all the photoshop palettes open.
It's all digital drawing and painting with adjustment layers to play around with color .
I did use a photo for the facial reference. I need something to keep me from doing countless interpretations of what I think someone looks like.
I'll keep playing with this one.
-Lar

Sunday, September 26, 2010

People working out


Just some sketchbook silliness.
I was working out next to some one who looked pretty much like this. The thing about working out and getting your body temp up is that if you are wearing perfume or cologne it tends to become stronger. Whew! And how do you wear so much make up with out it wearing off from the sweat? I guess the secret is not to sweat too much!
When I work out at Gold's Gym in Venice California I tend to feel like an out sider. I'm not a behemoth , I don't have numerous body piercings and I have no tattoos. *sigh*
A lot of people there seem to be screaming for attention. The good thing is that it gives me some good fuel for drawing!
I drew this in my sketch book but did some color in Photoshop- and obviously some type.
-Lar-

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Digital Inking in Photoshop

I thought I'd share some Digital inking . Of course I like inking with real ink and brush but Digital tools keep getting better and better. Here's a sample of Photoshop CS5 inking.
With this I'm working on my 21 inch Cintiq which has over 1,000 levels of pressure sensitivity.
The new 21 inch Cintiq has over 2,000 levels! ( Be still my foolish, foolish heart!)
However you can do this using a tool with fewer levels. I've done this with a 99 dollar pen tablet. You just need to make adjustments in Photoshop.
What works for me in P.S.CS5 is that you can intuitively rotate the canvas and return to standard view with a few keyboard clicks. I tend to use the standard hard nylon tip for the stylus. I could use the "Felt" tip or the spring loaded tip on the stylus but I find that they are less accurate.
Here are my brush settings for inking . Pretty simple. Shape Dynamics on. Transfer off. Hardness at 100 percent . Spacing at 1 percent.
You can see I just took the previous drawing and practiced on that .
This is not to show actual inking techniques - that takes lots of practice and understanding of how brushes work with ink. This is just to show how you can mimic that look in photoshop.
Lar-

Monday, September 13, 2010

beginning sketch


This is the beginning of a little sketch that got bigger.
I like where its at in this stage but I got to painting it with more color and I like that too.
But for now I'm just showing this small bit of it.
That's all.
Lar-

Monday, September 6, 2010

Same pencil sketch- partly inked.


Breaking out the Windsor Newton series 7 water colour brushes for an inking session.
Inking in cold pressed paper is never as good as hot pressed. I knew that. But the sketch books are supposed to be for practice. I guess you can say inking on less favorable paper is like jogging on sand with leg weights. It toughens you up.
I don't like this very much but I'm posting anyway. I've been experimenting with digital inking as well . You can get spoiled with this. You don't have to wait for the ink to dry , you can click undo as many times as you like - but you may never be satisfied .
Here's a sample
:
This is a small portion of a much larger piece of art.
So with digital inking you can take a 4 by 4 inch drawing and ink it like it's a 20 by 20 inch drawing. you could be inking for days. But I like it!

back to sketchbook


Just posting another sketchbook thing . maybe these will come to something.
Just do a lot of them . Keep throwing them at the wall - something will stick !
-Lar

Thursday, September 2, 2010

pencil in sketchbook


Just some graphite in the sketchbook before I fall asleep.
I was looking at a sketchbook from 1987 and noticing how incredibly tiny my drawings were.
Tiny little faces a quarter of an inch high. I'm surprised how I could have seen something so small and draw it too!
Well this is a small sketch too. The head is about an inch and a half high.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Older sketches


I was reorganizing my studio again and decided to have some book shelves dedicated to storing my sketchbooks. They date back to around 1972.
Sketchbooks are for keeping in practice drawing, recording ideas and also serve as a diary of sorts. I always meant to go back and revisit some of the sketches but I seldom do. Maybe I will do it more now.
Funny. Sometimes I look at the old ones and think I used to draw some things better back then . Or maybe I just wasn't as rushed when I was younger. What I do find is that it easier to look back quickly to see the different ways I used to draw. Pen, brush, pencil, marker, watercolor.
This page isn't that old . I think it's from early 2010 . I like the girl with the pointy nose.
I've been called a "nose man".
-Lar

Friday, August 27, 2010

just Sketchy


just a real quick bit of sketchiness done in P.S. CS 5.
10 minutes . Maybe.

Monday, August 16, 2010

soft pencil in Moleskine



Just another little sketch.

Another sketch from Japan


Just a couple of people sketches done sitting outside of La Foret in Harajuku , Tokyo.
Great for people watching and sometimes people drawing . The only problem is that everybody is rushing around really fast! And it's always crowded.
-Lar.

The Art Crowd



I didn't actually draw this while they were standing there- It's just the impression of what I see when I go to the Art museum . People shuffling along from on piece to the next, reading the card next to it. All dressed pretty much with the same uniform : Kaki pants, white walking shoes and in this case all wearing nylon bomber jackets. Gray or no hair, glasses and back packs or fanny packs. I need to draw people in places other than museums. It's getting to be the same old thing. Well, at least they don't move very much.
-Lar.

San Francisco Sketchbook



Here are some Pencil sketches done at breakfast in San Francisco.
It's done in one of those little Moleskine books- 8X6 .
I like the really soft Design Ebony pencils for this book. Different papers need different pencils or pens. I need to find places to draw people.
This one Waitress had a great face. Fair complected, turned up blue eyes. Sometime you find "Interesting" faces that you like to draw. Other times pretty faces.
I think for me it's just trying to recreate that person in pencil. And to try and draw them without giving away that you are drawing them. Really tough sometimes - especially when they won't stand still!
I didn't get a chance to draw her face front on. Just a shape . These were actually copied from the place mat that I drew them on. I gave her those. You know - everyone have legal rights to their own likeness.
Lar-

Monday, August 2, 2010

Standing figure



Photoshop drawing. No special set ups , no color.

Warrior Sketch 3



Another sketch. I like drawing musculature. This is another drawing from imagination.
The influence again is Pauline Nordin. She's my model for now.
I'm drawing in Photoshop CS 5 extended. I'm avoiding sketching in color because I find that it takes too long and is distracting when I should just be drawing not painting.
I really got to put together a collection of drawings with a theme. Make it a little more marketable. But in the end I really do this because I just want to draw.
click on the image.

Warrior Sketches



Again, just making myself draw. Setting my 21 inch Cintiq on my Norman Rockwell style drawing table seems to work well these days . I'm always changing the way I sit and work. Eventually I always get cramped up from sitting.
Here are just some figure drawings from imagination. The inspiration for the figure is again
Pauline Nordin. I think she has a great physique for action type illustrations. So I can't help but draw that.
I'm not saying that the likeness is all that great but when I do these I'm trying to draw a likeness without copying a photo of the person. If I were doing this for a job I would be using photography because you don't want to play around with the likeness , you just want it to be perfect.
In this case drawing a likeness that is in a made up pose that is not copied is part of the exercise.
As usual, click on the image to get a closer look.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sketchy Demon



Time to do some fantasy creatures.
Of course this is just a quickie like all the rest but I like sketching in color.
I just did a rush job poster for Warner Brothers . Basically a day and a half turn around. I never expect this rush jobs to come out an good but I always seem to surprise myself. I think I can post it after it gets published and is out there already.
all for now.
Lar-

Thursday, July 8, 2010

20 minute sketch


My wife came by and said that this drawing looks cartoony.
Well I have to say that I was thinking in terms of a big eyed anime look.
And when draw from imagination things tend look cartoony.
I like the way the black and white looks. A lot of times I get thrown off course when I use color because it's too much to think about when I'm just doing quick sketches. And color is so easy when working digitally.
I almost went to sleep a half hour ago but I made myself come into the studio and draw something and post it. Even if I don't like what I draw.
remember to click on the image to get a bigger image.
--Larry

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Photoshop is closer to painter now


I still need to experiment with the wet paintbrushes in photoshop to see what I can do with it.
One thing that is a sure thing : It's super fast . Na slowing down at all and I like to work in 300 dpi.
This is just another sketchy sketch .
-Larry

Just Sketching



Sketching in Photoshop CS5 . Not playing with the new paint brush capabilities yet on this one.
The 3D aspects have much improved but I'm not using it here.
Just trying to loosen up here.

Thin lines in Photoshop CS5


Just drawing in Photoshop CS5 .

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Soft pencil Hard paper


Just another pencil in sketchbook drawing.
Still experimenting with the Photoshop CS5 . The brush tool is is getting easier to handle . Way faster that Painter. That wet on wet is still hard for me to control at this stage so I keep going back to the old spatter point brush with my own settings.
The 'Other Dynamics option has changed it's name to Transfer now but it still works the same.
Trying to get a handle on some of my 3d programs today . Just gotta study .
It's real good for doing things like packaging - but that's work stuff.....
-Larry

Pen line


There was a sale at the art store the other week so I had to make myself go to it.
I don't buy much there anymore because a lot of my work is digital these days. So I have to remember my roots. Pencil, ink, paper.
This one is a quickie like a lot of them , and it's just a pencil sketch with some inking done with one of those Hunt drawing nibs . I used to use actual India ink in the past. Now Im using Acrylic india ink. It's not as thick and black as real India Ink but it has some advantages.
First it doesn't clog up quickly. So it's easier to keep drawing without cleaning the nib every minute. Second, it seems to dry a little faster. And it seems to last longer in the bottle.
The head on this sketch is about 2 inches high. Drawn in my Aquabee sketchbook.
---Larry

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

soaring close up




Here's a close up of the Photoshop CS5 sketch .

Soaring



Well, it's been a while since I posted so here's another sketch.
I just upgraded to Photoshop CS5 since it now has a "Corel Painter" type of function.
I'm still in the process of checking out the new features. I played around with the Paint brush tools but I haven't tried the wet on wet features yet .
It's seems to run very smoothly . Still my favorite painting program.

Monday, May 31, 2010

brushy lines

Just another quick one before I have to draw some more commercial stuff. Just some quick indication of drapery of clothes.
I'm using Photoshop again with a speckle brush with the shape and other dynamics turned on.
I'm using Photoshop CS4 here but I just ordered Photoshop CS5 and I really want to play around with the brush tools now. They are getting closer to Painter
with their brushes now.
Can't wait to see.
-Larry

Sunday, May 30, 2010

quick elf

Just drawing anything again just to put something out there.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Either flying or lying

This is a typical "start drawing a head and see where that takes you" sketch.
This ended up looking like the pencil work for a comic book inker. It has that classic Comic Book
drawing look. Well that is where I started to learn to draw... from comics. It's probably obvious.
Seems like with this style you need to be a little more careful to keep the lines clean because you end up handing over to an inker who has to follow your lines. I don't like that idea. I used to have to do that at Disney. But most times I'd want to ink it myself. I was told that if you do a scribble on the side of the page that the inker would ink that too. They were very literal.
Maybe I'll start to ink this even though it's on ruff paper. Hot pressed bristol is the way to go on inking.
This was drawn in my 9 X 12 aquabee Sketch book.
-Larry

Running

Just pencil on paper. 9x12 sketchbook .

Little Sketchbook
















This is not current but I like it. It was done at the Neue Museum in Manhattan. Drawn with pencil and brush pen in one of my little Moleskine 5X8 books. This was at the restaurant that had mostly German food. Nice and heavy so people didn't move around so much.
If you try and draw people at malls they eat too fast and just move around too much.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Violent figures


I just came back from looking at Leonardo da Vinci's horse drawings that are being displayed at the J. Paul Getty Center in L.A.
It takes me back to when I really wanted to become an artist- when I was about 13 and was able to get to the Central Library in downtown San Diego. They had a much better collection of Art books than at my local area library. I was able to borrow books on Leonardo and Michelangelo
and copy their drawings and learn from them .
At the exhibition of Leonardo's drawings I was amazed to see how tiny his drawings were, even though I've seen them before. He must have been working in direct sunlight to be able to see such tiny detail.
I'm not comparing my drawing to any of the old masters it's just that I like to see drawings where the artist is figuring things out and creating from his mind. That's where a lot of the fun in drawing is.
This is just a group of figures. When do you see a group of male nudes in various poses in art if it's not in some classical scene from history of mythology? That's why this turned out like this.
I used Painter 11 using Conte tool followed by Acrylic brush.
Nothing new in technique, just drawing.
-Larry

Friday, May 14, 2010

Still influenced by Frazetta

Well, back from Tokyo and my biological clock is
back to normal. I haven't done a lot of interesting drawings while I was there just that last one on the plane and some scribbles in Harajuku.
When I got back I needed to draw something so I relied on the influence of Frank Frazetta.
Although influenced by I don't want to "do a Frazetta". I started doodling this drawing on
Sunday night around midnight. The next morning
I discovered that Frank Frazetta had passed away.
So over the next few days , here and there I kept playing with this drawing ( or painting as it turns out).
I need to mention something about the figure inspiration right here. If think you've seen her in previous drawing of mine then you are not mistaken. Her name is Pauline Nordin. She's a world class fitness trainer and fitness model and has appeared in many publications and television. She is the owner and creator of Fighter Diet and trains and works in Venice California. www.fighterdiet.com
I met her at Gold's Gym in Venice, Ca. and have subsequently trained under her guidance. --But only a few times so far. Before I met her I've seen her and thought -"Now she'd be a great model. Why couldn't we have models like that in art school? We had to draw flabby fat people". I always want to draw bone and muscle.much more interesting to me. I realize I always have a muse for my drawing at one point or another. I'm more inclined to do figure drawing so who better. But I don't want to completely create from
nothing and I don't really want to copy from a photo. Okay on this one I did refer to a photo for the face because likenesses are so hard to do from memory. It may be because when you remember someone you don't remember a flat two dimensional image but a live three dimensional person that is moving and changing all the time.
Like trying to hit a moving target while sitting on a bucking bronco.
Okay now for the specs:
I started to sketch this out in Painter 11. I like to work in very high resolution since I can go in and do some detail work . This started out as 19 inches across by 300dpi. I find that Painter gets memory pains at this resolution and especially when I star adding layers . So I save it in .PSD format and quit Painter 11.
Once It's opened again in Photoshop CS4 Extended everything is better. I can work in high resolution and have many layers. What I find is that it's much more efficient to ruff thinks out in photoshop because you can move much faster . Yon apply fast gradations, adjustment layers and even import other elements from other documents just by dragging.
Once things are where I "think" I want them I save a flattened version and open that up in Painter 11. I did this because I want to play around with brush tools. Since I was thinking in terms of a Frazetta painting I wanted to have some of that rough painterly look. You can sort of do it in Photoshop but for all of it's in conveniences Painter really can create that look of wet oil paint.
I'm slowly giving Painter it's run throughs. What I find for myself is that the oil brushes are
harder for me to control . I know it takes a lot of tweaking but I don't want to do that most of the time. The Acrylic brush however seem to work better for me. It feels much more pressure sensitive that the oils. With the oils I seem to get an "all or nothing
" sort of application.
I know some will tell me it that getting better will come with time.
Another thing to mention is that Painter seems to work SO MUCH smoother when you only work in a one layer document. That is not my usual way of working. It's okay for this kind of thing but would be impossible in my normal work.
Here's a detail of the figure at right.
Well if you click on the first pic it will show up better.
I should work on this more. I sometimes don't know how far I'll take something . I just go along and see where that takes me.

-Larry




Thursday, April 29, 2010

Adjusting Hair


This is a drawing done from memory ( As are about 98 percent of my drawings) of a woman Adjusting her hair. The subject has been a favorite for artists through out art history. So I'm
just following the call. Usually it's a woman at the bath or at a stream or being visited upon by Zeus. In this case it's a girl on an Elliptical Cardio machine.
Actually it is again some one I know and when I saw her fixing her hair I thought "There's a nice image for a drawing".
When you see this subject matter in art you don't often see arms and shoulders like that unless it's Michelangelo. That brother could draw some arms!
So here's the tech story on this . Drawing started in Painter 11 using Conte on my Modbook.
But I still find Painter 11 a little stiff so I opened it in Photoshop to continue drawing. Just like using pastels. Just not as messy.
Also this was done during my flight to Japan so there's the reason for using a computer and drawing from memory!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fantasy Warrior


This is a sketch based on a photo of someone I know. I can't say that it's a likeness really because it doesn't really looks like her . But you could say that it's inspired by the photo.
This was done only in Photoshop on my 21 inch cintiq. There are a lot of things about it that I don't like but then it's not a finished piece. Just a sketch and the reason to do a sketch is to see if you want to pursue it further. I would do this one over again but the point of this blog was to do things quickly and not over work it . Just to get things out.
I get used to working in grays because of some of the work that I do where color isn't needed.
It gives you less to think about so you can just think about form and mass.
I originally liked the stance in the photo that this was based on but I don't think I got it.
The head is also a bit weird. I didn't use the pose that was in the photo - I just made it up .
I find it hard to use models because they never do what you want them to do . But you do need them sometimes!
-Larry

Monday, April 12, 2010

Detail of Oils Practice

painter oils w/acrylics

Today I had to wait around for a input on a job so I had time to fool around with Painter 11 again. With this one I just started out with the graphite tool and charcoal tool. That went okay if you only want your image to be achromatic . Actually you can work in color with these tools but the results aren't as satisfying. Next I started playing around with the oils brush and the acrylic brush . They are similar but the oil seems to be a little more unpredictable.
This is sort of a classic reclining pose but the image had no real function except for something to practice Painter 11 tools on.
-Larry

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Quick sketches


Again, just doodling with no plan in mind. Trying out the oil brushes in Painter11 for sketching. The acrylic brushes seem to work better for this just because I've noticed that the oil brushes "drag" color and leave a white streak on the background. I still have better control
of what I do in Photoshop but I'm trying to give Painter its chance.
I'm going to have to make myself go back to traditional real media again. But you can't resize or rotate or change color as easily.
-Larry


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

just details


Painter Oils tool




Today I thought I'd move on from the dry tools like charcoal and conte and play around with Painter 11's oils tools . This is also a 25 minute sketch with no model , just painting from memory/imagination. As an exercise I thought I'd take screen grabs in progression.

-Image 1 is the beginning at 10 seconds. Just sketching in a head. I started with a pale colored background and started painting on a separate layer for convenience. You can choose this color when you start a new image or use the paint bucket tool later. I didn't bother with setting a paper texture although I guess canvas would have been nice.
-Image 2 is at 2 minutes. Just feeling out the forms grabbing colors from the color wheel and deciding on the type of oil brush . It's a basic bristle oil , variable size. A default brush. The default brushes seem to do well even though I know you can create endless brushes in Painter 11.
- Image 3 is at 4 minutes - still feeling it out
-Image 4 is at 10 minutes. At this point I flipped the image to check symmetry and fixed any imbalances. After doing that I decided that I liked the flipped version. The advantage of working digitally.
- Image 5 is at 15 minutes. Here I'm playing around with how Painter 11 handles the paint. Like real oils the colors smear into each other and you can mix the color on the canvas to a point .
There's a little impasto there but it doesn't read unless you view at actual size.
-Image 6 is at 25 minutes. At this point I'm just placing more color and dropping in some highlights. Working this way is very satisfying if you want to do an oil painting in less than an hour. I thinks it takes me longer than an hour just to set up an oil palette and brushes.
I'm not saying that Digital is better. It's just depends on what your needs are.

Even though this is just a sketch it keeps me drawing.
-Larry Navarro