Late summer studies and pocket sketches

 I read a book about the American Golden age of illustration and made master study of Charles Dana Gibson's iconic pen-and-ink drawing. A fraction of a millimeter makes a difference in such a delicate profile.

My summer job is over. I used every chance to draw from life when I could. These pocket sketchbooks were really handy. Drawing from life is like doing push-ups for the mind. I used the Reilly method to capture gesture from moving figure and then  relied on memory more or less.

Rodent

Doodles part 2

Drawing is thinking. Instead of forcing it, I start by scribbling light random lines of basic geometrical shapes and then let the mind fill the rest of what they could imply. Later I just refine the selected characters for further uses in comic or illustration. Drawing is like gymnastics, if you don't practice on a daily basis, raising the bar little by little, the muscles will wither.

Pocket sketching part 1

It's summer job time again which means plethora of pocket sketchbooking to keep me sane. Just mindless brainstorming without prejudices which usually produces surprisingly weird stuff, which is awesome. This is my fourth moleskine pocket sketchbook going on since 2009. A loyal companion that book is, always there to remind me to draw.

Face emblem process (updated)

Oil on A3 illustration board.

Process:

 

Sketch from moleskine pocket.

 Trying to decide the colors. It has been said that what sets apart a graphic designer and  a graphic producer is that creative design is about making promising alternative versions and then choosing the best idea instead of working straight on the finished piece.

After settling for a satisfactory color scheme I transfer the sketch to A3 paper by grid-to-grid method. Then I insert it to lightbox and trace it to illustration board with red pastel pen (it smudges less than black charcoal, and graphite would permeate through oil). I start colouring face first, dry brushing since turpentine and linseed oil would soak through paper. 

I decided not to use much shading as someone mentioned this would look better if left like this. This is closer to drawing than painting because I used thin brushes (as opposed to contemporary concept of painting which is often defined by expressive, large brush strokes) and I wouldn't call this an illustration either since this does not have a particular purpose other than aesthetic pleasure. Almost finished...

Quick scene sketch

Drawing during train travels again. Bunch of pirates with their crooked plans.

More pocket drawings

To get better at concept art, one should study nature and try to memorise the structures and textures and then let them influence one's imagination-based drawings, according an Imagine FX magazine writer. By the way, I do not want to support guns or violence, but if I ever manage to enroll into a gaming company, I got to know how to draw them.

Notes

Ink and graphite studies of photos and live (the car)... trying to improve skills in realism.

Wondering

'skine spreads

Selected pocket sketchbook drawings made during work day breaks, train travels and pretty much anywhere outside home.