Another drawing test using the Procreate app on the iPad. I wanted to keep the sketch fairly loose, close to a scribble. And play with the hilights like I would when sketching with a liquid white out pen on ink. It was comfortable working in this technique as it feels somewhat familiar. I think i've found my prefered style for drawing on the iPad, but I'll continue exploring other methods.
My tribute to Canadian Thanksgiving was inspired by my desire to test out drawing on the new iPad using the Procreate app with a third party "Macally" stylus. The hardware (iPad/stylus) does not support pressure sensitivity. When compared with drawing on a Wacom tablet or Cintiq, the iPad lacks refinement and accuracy. The app "Procreate", is the best I've used on the iPad. But saying that, it still has a ways to go.
Another design created for the serigraph printing workshop. This one is based off a design created for a tattoo 10 years back, a Black Moor goldfish. It was always meant as a silhouette, but I've wanted to play around with the detailing of fish scales. I had started off with the traditional flat asian tattoo style of overlapping scales. But decided to try something a bit different while incorporating the circle motifs of the bubbles. Which was the same reason why I had gone with a round background stabilizer as opposed to the rectangular one. After adding colour the blue was too intense, and decided to break it up with the radiating lines within. Helped to balance out the negative spacing within the fish as well.
Just signed up for a serigraph printing workshop at a local studio called La Bourgeoise Serigraphie. The course requires us to supply our own design (2-3 colours) which will be printed on any surface/textile of our choosing, up to a maximum size of 8.5" X 11". For this I wanted to try a few designs which incorporate a heavy graphic element. One of which is this design based on the Imperial Stormtrooper character design by the late great Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars. I'm a fan of stencil graffiti art for its pop/comedic sensibilites and strong imagery. The image was composed of 2 photographs which I had shot. One was from a wedding, the other was from the Star Wars Identities exhibiton. I'll let you figure out which was which.
Wanted to experiment with trying to draw Totoro in my own style...that is if I actually had a definitive "my own style". I have a few drawing styles depending on the subject matter (i.e. life/realism, cartoon, comics). I didn't go that far off from Hayao's original design. Wanted to give him a bit of an attitude in facial expression, so along with that I decided to add sharp angles in his design with the fur and the more angular arrow patterns on his chest. I'll try to see if I can go more stylized next time.
Decided that I'll attempt to draw Elmo, Cookie Monster and Super Grover some time in the near future. I've never really noticed how diverse the character designs were within the Sesame Street main character lineup. Not only in color but in shape. From the furry Elmo, to the human-like Count von Count, to the googley eyed Cookie Monster (who for some reason is the only muppet with 5 fingers on each hand). I wanted to draw the characters as muppet-like as I could. Meaning that I wanted to keep them looking artificial and man-made, yet still retain the life-like mannerisms as on the show. (I reworked Elmo from the previous sketch cause he was looking a bit raggedy.) The more I researched Jim Henson and his company of puppeteers, the more I realize the great work they've done. It's amazing what they were able to do with these muppets, considering the majority of the characters do not even have a full range of facial movements or eyebrows. Especially with usually just a flap for a mouth. I've been playing around with the idea of altering the shape of their hands to be larger, and more human-like with proper articulation and joints. Should be a fun one to do!
Thought I should put in some time to do a few sketching exercises to practice Sesame Street characters for the nephews and niece. Besides drawing Elmo off the top of my head for the kids, I don't recall having ever drawn these characters before even as a child. (My childhood days were spent drawing Transformers and He-Man figures). Through these studies I was able to research the career and works of Jim Henson. Check out Jim Henson: The Works and Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook.
