Dropping down in size next for Melisande the Absinthe Fairy. I really wanted to add bottles and glasses and things to this one to help it read but the scale didn't work. I've had to make do with painting everything green!
I tried to push the pose a little bit further than my original sketch, it's gone some way to help the action read but it could still go further - I'm having trouble letting go of my classical training I think. Struggled a bit with the skin tone with this one too, she was extremely fair and my colour notes had a lot of very cool greys in them which made her look like a corpse against the green background. I think there's just enough warmth in their now, any more and she'd look like a prawn.
26/06/2010
Moving swiftly along, next up is Sophia Disgrace taking a well earned soak in her favourite barrel of toxic waste. This one wandered slightly from the initial idea in that there's now less reference to the whole radioactive theme. It's not necessarily worse off because of it, but I may have another crack at this idea later on to make it more obvious.
One of the things I'm finding now is that the portrait side of what I'm doing doesn't always fit with the illustration side, it's just one more lump in the road to iron out as I travel along my merry way.
06/06/2010
This is the fantastic Juliette October in magicians assistant mode, chasing that troublesome magic bunny. I'm just at the start of a little flurry of paintings and this is the first to be finished. So, just to keep my ego in check, it proved to be another difficult one.
It was always going to be a tricky pose to nail, she is supposed to be peering down into the magic casket but I'm not sure I pushed the pose far enough to help the action read. Also, this is the third time I've had trouble with trying to get my eye-lines working for a downward looking gaze, you'd think I would have learned by now!
The colour on this one was quite a challenge too, Julie has amazing pale skin which needed a toned background to help read well, it took a few goes to get this far, but I like the old sepia photo look that I ended up with. All in all then, not my best result, but I keep trying..
03/05/2010
Do not adjust your monitor! No, I haven't been struck down with colour blindness, this is my first official Zombie Pin-Up! This is also my first work for print which I'm very excited about. She'll be gracing the pages of a student magazine shortly and I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
I finished this one in record time, everything just seemed to come together perfectly and I'm really happy with the result - I feel like a proper pin-up artist now :)
07/04/2010
Crikey! Nearly April and this is my first post since the new year - disgraceful. Actually, I have been working away on various things but I just don't have anything to show for it.
This then is the delightful and talented Minki from the band 50ft Woman (and yes, she really is almost that tall..). This is actually my second take on the tall lady theme but this one is decidedly more glamorous.
Apart from the ridiculous delay between the sitting and getting round to finishing the painting, this one has been fairly smooth sailing. The initial drawing was very nice and the painting has a distinct Fritz Willis feel to it which I'm rather pleased about :)
My only hope now is to try and recover some of my previous momentum and start getting more pictures up for you all to see..
07/01/2010
My first official post of the year :) This one is from my little flurry of activity towards the end of last year, it's just taken me a while to get it finished and processed and put on-line.
I made a list of a few vaguely 'seasonal' ideas, and this one just happened to be picked - even though it wasn't summer. Anyway, this is the lovely Rayna Terror in essential English summer gear. The sitting for this painting went really well and I was left with a very nice drawing and a reasonably accurate colour study - all I had to do was not mess up the painting, simple! I'm very pleased with this one, although the flower in her hair could be better..
31/12/2009
LAST ONE!!
I've managed to keep my New Years resolution and have completed my year of weekly pin-up pictures! It's been tough, especially when time has been at a premium, but it's been incredibly worthwhile.
This final image is dedicated to seasonal excess, although I was laid up with stomach problems of a more viral nature the effect was much the same!
How to sum up my year of scribbles? There's been some real stinkers and a few gems, but the fact I've made them all public has spurred me on. It's been invaluable for my ideas process, that was something I'd always struggled with. It's also been a real delight playing with techniques that I otherwise wouldn't have considered. The scope of watercolour, marker pen, the limitations of pencil for reproduction, the value of good reference, the importance of scale and good composition. It's all stuff I can take into future projects.
What next? Well, no more resolutions, I'd like to give my work the time it needs to develop properly rather than rush out images for the sake of it. That said though, I'd quite like to aim for a painting a month next year, so keep an eye out for updates and I'll be back soon!
23/12/2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!
19/12/2009
I got to spend an evening with some vampires the other day, and it got me to thinking whether or not they still celebrate Christmas - being undead and all.. Maybe I'll ask next time I see one.
I've deliberately avoided doing any digital enhancement to my weekly sketches because they were always meant to be the best I could do in the time - that said, this one really needed a little extra help (I've darkened down the background and fixed the shadow on the floor). It's mostly due to my fear of watercolours, I'm still not brave enough about making bold statements. I couldn't put this on-line in it's natural state - I might go back and fix the original now..
11/12/2009
Yes, it's that time again - rushing around like a mad thing trying to find presents for the people who support you the most through all your trials and tribulations and all you can find is cool stuff for yourself!
If memory serves, I think I've managed to avoid this particular device all year - so I think it's about time I gave in to convention and had a good old fashioned skirt lifting picture. As usual, not a lot of time to spare (especially with christmas shopping to do) so another marker drawing, but I think I've managed to tick a few boxes this time round. If I wanted to be picky I could have made the expression read better, but then I always have problems in that department.
The countdown continues...
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