Monster Portraits Month: Amanda & Heath

     What better way to wrap up the year than with the last two portraits that were commissioned in October as a part of Monster Portraits Month? Above are two cool friends of mine, Heath and Amanda. It was fun to finish this series of commissions with another couple that could have their drawings paired together.

    Here is a fast run through my process on these two. Above is one of the pages of sketches where I doodled out concepts. Even though I initially tried out other ideas, I just couldn't shake the thought of them as vampires (no offense intended! haha!) So once I settled on that, it was just a matter of finding the right approach and compositions. It took very little time to decide what type of vampires they would be, but you may be able to tell that I spent quite some time working out the relationship between the two drawings.

    I settled on this.  When presented together, Amanda's wings would be able to visually "connect" to Heath's drawing no matter which drawing was on which side. I used the talented Edward Gorey's take on Dracula as inspiration for the wings.

    Below are snapshots of the pencil drawings of Heath and Amanda's faces on Bristol board, the "monsterized" and inked faces, and then the finished pieces once they've been scanned and adjusted (only for values and clarity) in Photoshop. You can see how in between the pencilling and inking stages, I not only added their new monster features, but also made slight changes in an attempt to improve the likenesses.

    To see all of the monster portraits together on this site, click HERE. If you'd like to view them on my portfolio page via Behance, click HERE. For more how you can get your own original art or purchase products featuring my art by clicking the "SHOP" at the top of this page. 

    Thanks to all of you who continue to take an interest in my work and those of you who hired me or inspired me to make more. You have all helped to make this year even better! Your support means a lot! May God bless you as you finish 2014 and enter 2015!

A Man-Eating Christmas Tree! (Merry Christmas)

    MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! BEWARE!!! There is a Man-Eating Christmas Tree on the loose! And Santa is missing! Just kidding you guys, it's only the 8x10 ink drawing that Kirsten ordered through my shop. It was a lot of fun to draw such a cool idea!

 
    Kirsten even sent me this picture of her "household art critic" approving. Cats are tough critics, guys. I think I got lucky this time.

    As I'm writing this, I am excitedly awaiting my sister and brother in law to arrive from out of town. I'm happy they'll be staying a while to celebrate Christmas with us. I sure hope you all have a wonderful time with your family & friends celebrating the holidays! I'll end this post with a passage from the Bible which describes what Christmas is all about. Until next year, God bless you and yours!

Luke 2:1-20 (New Living Translation)

1 "At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his fiancee, who was now obviously pregnant.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 

    14  'Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.'

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them."

Monster Portraits Month: Destry the Wolfman!

    Look out, guys! Here comes Destry! He's a wolfman! A werewolf! Whichever you prefer! Above is yet another one of the portraits that was commissioned in October as a part of Monster Portrait Month. Something about my pal Destry's photo just howled "Wolf!" Little did I know the Wolfman is his favorite of the classic monsters!

Click images to see them larger.

   After doing thumbnail sketches of  different compositions, I practiced drawing wolves (as seen in the little sketches above.)

Just a couple of sketches I did while trying to learn to capture Destry's likeness and wolfiness.

    Next, it was time to get a grasp on drawing Destry accurately and to plan out his "monsterized" form! 

    Here, you see the same page shown above, only now the "regular Destry" drawing has been transformed and notes to myself have been added! Most of my notes to myself end in question marks, guys. Sometimes they end in intense exclamation points!

Light pencilling on 5x7 inch Bristol board paper.

    Here I begin the final piece with a light drawing of "regular Destry." Even "regular Destry" is still a special guy, just so you know.

Monsterization begins!

    I carefully erased parts of the drawing and added more wolf-like qualities. The technical term is "monsterizing."

Here is a look at the inking process. Music: Canis Lupis by Alexandre Desplat from The Fantastic MrFox.

A video posted by Philip A. Buck (@philip_a._buck) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:07pm PST

    Here is a look at the inking process (video via my Instagram account.)

    And viola! A wolfman named Destry! Thanks for taking a look at my process on this one. To see the other monster portraits go here. There are still a couple of monsters on their way! While you wait, feel free to check out how you can get your own original art or purchase products featuring my art by clicking the "Shop" tab above. Until next time, God bless! 

Society6 Holidaze! 7 DAYS OF DEALS!

   Friends, Romans, Countryfolk, lend me your wallets! -err, um, I mean... 7 DAYS OF DEALS on my Society6 products has begun! It all starts with $5 OFF ALL APPAREL & FREE SHIPPING on most items! Just click the "Shop" link toward the top of the page and then click "Society6 Store" or just click here: http://society6.com/philipabuck

    Keep your eyes on that page or follow my social media profiles to find out about each new deal everyday! Thanks for your time guys- God bless!

CYBER MONDAY 2014! New Designs, New Products, New Deal!!!

     I have added new designs & new products over at my Society6 shop! And today only (12/1/2014,) you can get 5 off + FREE SHIPPING* WORLDWIDE!

*Free Shipping excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Rugs. 

Monster Portraits Month: Patrick & Sarah (The Monster & His Bride!!!)

Ink on two separate pieces of 5x7 inch Bristol board paper. 

     Hey everybody! Here's two more monsters from MONSTER PORTRAIT MONTH! This fine couple has a particular fondness for Frankenstein's monster and the monster's bride,  so I was happy to "Monsterize" them accordingly. This was kind of tricky, but loads of fun!

    Here are some of the earliest little sketches I drew to plan out the drawings. After that, I moved on to working on the likenesses. 

Light pencilling of likeness.

      I usually start the finished piece by trying to lightly sketch a likeness of the subject. Though, I have a tendency to press the pencil down too hard and often have to roll or press a kneaded eraser on the drawing to lighten it.

Monsterizing!

    After achieving a likeness, I start "Monsterizing" the person by erasing and adding elements. For some reason, I find separating this into two steps helps me to get both the likeness and the monster qualities roughed in better than just sketching them out as the monster from the get go. 

INKS!

    After lightly sketching it out, (sometimes tightly, sometimes loosely,) I then ink over the pencils while still referring back to the original photo and my preliminary sketches occasionally. After that, all that's left is to erase any stray pencil lines and then retouch some if the inks that may have faded when erasing.

Final Piece!

     For the rest of these two guys (their bodies and her hair,) I referred to stills from the classic Universal film as well as the work of Jack Davis (among others.) Here are the same steps with Sarah:

Final Piece!

     Believe it or not, but there are still more monsters on the way! Until then feel free to check out how you can get your own original art or purchase products featuring my art by clicking the "Shop" tab above. There's lots of deals going on right now, folks! Thanks for stopping by and looking! God Bless!

P.S. I hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving and will have a marvelous holiday season!