Friday, May 31, 2013

Engaged Couple Portrait in Graphite


    Hello all! How are you guys doing? Check it out! I was just recently commissioned to do another portrait drawing in pencil! This drawing was to be of a sweet engaged couple for their wedding gift.  I thought you all might want to take a look at the piece as well as a very quick look at the process.


    I used the same process as I did on the last couple portrait. Applying the grid method, I blocked out the image, drew in the basic shapes, and then filled in the values.


    As you may be able to tell, I then enhanced (darkened or lightened) the values and forms with the used of different pencils (such as 4B, 6B & maybe an Ebony?) and a kneaded eraser. I also changed and corrected some of the placement of the eyes and shape of their faces etc. I also used a smudging stump (or whatever you call them haha) to soften and blur certain areas before I came to the final version of the drawing as you see it above.


    I hope you all enjoyed taking a look at my process on this commission and I wish this couple a "Congratulations!" Have a great weekend, folks! God Bless!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Comic Ink Studies

Click to enlarge the image.

    Hey pals! I trust you have been doing well. Just wanted to share I little tip I picked up a while back. If you are wanting to practice and improve your line making and inking skills, you can simply use a piece of tracing paper and most types of ink pens. Above, I used one peice of tracing paper to trace and ink over multiple different artists' & inkers' works out of Scott McCloud's book, Making Comics as well as out of numerous comics I own.

    This was very helpful in my understanding of how different qualities of lines were made and which tools that could be made with. The exercise also made the differences in each artist and inker's approach more evident. It was a pretty cool think to try out and I'm certainly going to do more of it. I encourage you to try it out, even if just for the fun of it. Just make sure you have quality tracing paper and the appropriate drawing utensils as to avoid any ink bleeding through the paper onto your comics! (By the way, the date on the studies above is obviously wrong -or else I completed it in the future!)

    I tried to note the original creators of the studies. I'm definitely not trying to take credit for their amazing and inspiring work! If you do try this out, I also encourage you to try it with different styles and subjects. It is really eye opening and great practice! God bless and enjoy the weekend!