Inspiration has struck! And not in the whimsical sort of way where I think to myself that oh, it'd be fun to do this and this and this. Gut-moving, convicting inspiration. The characters felt and spoke and I fiddled and world built in every spare moment and then some.

The synopsis: Our heroine is an android- a created machine. Like most of her kind when abandoned, she's had her memories wiped, and a new set of programming uploaded. In this case, she's destruction itself- her owners send her out to kill people. And even amongst the myriad number and types of machines out there, she seems to have a certain gift for it. But she's different in more ways than one. She feels and she longs in a way that she knows other machines do not. She wakes up wanting to cry, and not knowing how that is possible.

One day, she's given a remote command to terminate a man- a young one at a university, gifted in the field of artificial intelligence. This man opens her past up for her, and nd this leads her on a journey and down a path to her very creation.

I found my abilities stretched and left wanting- I KNOW what I want it to look like and I know what I want to portray, but there's a vast difference between that and what is actually shown on the paper. Now if I actually manage to finish some of these pieces and do a proper study and concept we might possibly get going on this.

Someday.

These three are some that I really am quite pleased with. While playing Cranium one night I was inspired by a friend and her scribble of... King Kong. Except that I had to, y'know. Do it BETTER. (I'm terrible, I know.) So I went home, did a couple of studies and dove into it feet first.

And on another random note. People, just because I draw and I like to draw and I work to get better at it does not mean I am the natural candidate for drawing... with my eyes closed. Really. George, I'm talking to you.

But, back to the topic at hand. It's in this picture that I realize how much farther I need to come when we talk about my ability to ink. And to draw inanimate objects in general. This is difficult, because I have about as much time as, well. Let's just say I work 11-12 hour days, and my attention span is about, uh. That of maybe a 12 year old preteen's. Said attention span petered out right about the time when I needed to finish up the Empire State Building. I also do blame the lack of photo references from the TOP of the building. You have no idea now many images were from the bottom up.

That said, King Kong!

Updates!!! These are old- at least a month. Sometimes I get into a minor conundrum- Draw? Scan? Draw? Scan? And like the epic battle of semi-truck crashing into hybrid car, drawing almost always wins. Prepare to be spammed.

Doodled last Sunday at my sister's boyfriend's house. I'm already seeing multiple issues with that anatomy.

Quick and hasty update. It's been about a week since I posted, so I'll just put what I've done these past couple of weeks. There's not been much, and this actually is older. I'd been holding off until I could properly finish this. Taken whilst Livejournal surfing, when I came across somebody's pictures of their trip to Rome. My lack of angles and proportion don't do the facade justice.

Did this in about an hour or so this evening. Someday I'll actually think to put shading and backgrounds and important details like that into the picture, no?

The last of the 20 minute gestures. She had gorgeous toned arms, but it was hard preventing her from being manly. I'm not so sure I like this one either, but it's a good lesson. I had a ton of fun tonight- the model was super cute. She burst out into snorting laughter when Tina Turner's "Rolling on the River" came on the radio. How could you not find somebody like that endearing?

I perhaps like this one for the shading I did. I'm a little surprised by myself at the subtlety of it. Her face, however, is off off off. Terrible. The whole face to shoulder relation thing I was having issues with.

The 1st of the 20 minute poses. I like this one the most of the 3 I did tonight. There's more, but as my sketchbook is ginormous and my scanner is itty bitty, there's not much I could do about putting in her feet/legs.

The 2nd 10 minute gesture. I like the way her back was done.

These were all 5 minute gestures, with the exception of the last one, which was 10 minutes. Goes to show more time does not equal better looking drawings.

I referenced this off of a BEAUTIFUL shot of a boy named Ashley Stymest. I had wanted to ink his pants- they were just a sea of shadow and it would've been gorgeous, but... i had some pictures on the other side that would've been ruined if i did. So I refrained. I actually made myself render all the studs on his belt. I think if I had to do more I'd be twitching in horror still. Need to learn more patience.

Utter, sheer fun to do this one. John Constantine from Hellblazer!! I wanted to make this more than just a guy standing on empty paper, but... I'm lazy. Still! So much FUN. He's one of my favorite characters.

Yes, we're in a kinky mood. From the same, "Love and Hate" editorial with Linda Evangelista and Tyson Ballou. No, Linda wasn't nekkid, I was lazy to draw the crazy feather boa thing she was wearing. I love fashion, but high fashion and editorial shoots are a bit crazy sometimes.

Haha! This was fun. I take alot of my reference pictures from a livejournal community named maleeditorials. How could I resist? Beautiful pictures, beautiful boys... This was from an editorial named, "Love and Hate", and the models were Linda Evangelista and Tyson Ballou. Both were great. I took some liberties with the picture, but really just had a ton of fun with this.

Just a warmup from one evening. My hand, as you can see, is still very wobbly. We're working on it.

All from tonight's live studio session. This was incredibly fulfilling- it's the first time ever that I've been able to *draw* and not want to throw my pencils down in frustration. The 1st was a 5 minute gesture, the 2nd a 10 minute, and the last 3 were 20 minute gestures. Notice them progressively getting better. The last 3 were also done on an 18 by 24 inch sketchbook and it's way too large for my poor itty bitty scanner. I think I'll take a picture or try to figure something out.

I love this because it's full of little breakthroughs. Up until her lower torso I had no issue with proportions. I love the happy accident that inking her hair was. That dragon tattoo on her back is pretty dark decent. We might be slowly getting the hang of this, folks!

Oh yes, and because I promised. This is for Shauny and his tattoo fetish.

This was referenced off an ad that Penelope Cruz did for her Mango collection. It's beautiful, she's beautiful. This is also unfinished. I think it was just a doodle/warmup, but I like what I have of it so far.

Yes, that is Vader. Did some rough studies in preparation for a gift for a friend. Surprisingly fun to do- fun to draw and shade and doodle in general. I need to remember to just let go and enjoy myself more when drawing. Making mistakes and learning and having fun through all this is probably the aspect I lose the easiest. I am so far from where I want to be.

This... surprised me. It is most definitely a first- multiple subjects and a story and inks and some sort of inanimate objects? It's not too bad for a first attempt. I also stopped angsting over how I could not ink perfectly and just had fun and let loose. Yes, it is Adam and Eve (that's why they're nekkid!!) and you have no idea how much of a pain it was to get all of their bits covered up. I had started this with the idea of using it as an illustration for a Sunday School lesson and went from there.

And no, I did not use this with the kids. Please. Give me more credit than that. Also ignore Adam's proportion, I don't know how I made such a huge mistake.

No real comments on these two images. They were mostly doodles that I sat down to do. I like to think going for the open studio sessions and working with live models has helped my understanding of things a bit. I see things I both like and dislike about both images. And my word, what is up with how this chick butchers faces, dude?!

Skydolls. I walked into a comic store one day intending to find The End League or Body Bags, only to walk out with this and multiple other things. I've wanted- nay, coveted Skydolls for a Long, LONG time. Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa are genuises in their own right, so I came home and did this little doodle. The actual inks were brushed on right before I scanned it in- I liked it but it was too light to really see as I hadn't been intent on finishing it. I butchered her tail. I need to invest in some whiteout.

This was inspired after I had flipped through an issue of Inked magazine one Saturday afternoon. I wanted to come home and render the heck out of some gorgeous girl's back tattoo. Needless to say it didn't happen. Not only that, but I think there's something off about the whole image. But her angel wings were beautiful.

Just doodles- I'm still catching up on Gossip Girl and I adore Blair's style. This is actually rather EW. I need to do a better image sometime.

Now this was interesting. Just ran through scans and came across a black and white cinema beefcake site. This was a still from a movie about a wife who helps her drunk of her husband overcome his addiction to alcohol. I was pleased with it when I drew it, now I don't like it. :P

I am vaguely bemused by how I never seem to be able to nail something. If the body is great there's something just OFF about the face. Taken off of a photo of my sister. She is much prettier than this, just so you know.

Taken off a Drawing Jam image of one of my favorite male stars- Ewan Mcgregor. And, errrr. Let's not think about why his pocket is so far in front.

Attempted shading. My word, I see so many issues with this now.

This is incomplete, actually. It's a slightly more finished version of some funky pose my sister was sprawled in on the floor one day.

This was done off of a picture of a friend on Facebook. It was taken after she had won runner up in the Miss Phoenix Chinese pagent. I was struck by how gorgeous she looked here- the picture is a resemblance but doesn't do her justice.