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.

I have to apologize for the absence. Real life sort of got in the way, and I have been drawing- I've just been too lazy to scan stuff in. I am also wondering if posting huge vomiting globs of art on this place is the wisest idea. There's something nice about the neatness of a 'finished' piece per post. That and the fact that everything prior to this is just rather ugly and messy. Facebook might be a better place to post all the unfinished stuff, or the studies and half finished things that I am prone to doing and leaving behind.

I am still working on the portfolio for the scholarship application. This has been some kind of long, protracted, creative torture. Drawing everyday has made me better, yes. But am I as good as I would like to be? No. Very far from it. Am I good enough to get this scholarship? I have no idea. They likely do not expect professional calibre work- after all, why else would this be a scholarship for a class? And yet I look at myself and that is what I want to see, and tell myself that if it is anything less I will not get it.

I also realize that not getting this is not the end of the world. But prior to this I've never put my stuff out there to be scrutinzed, judged and analyzed. By people who have no idea of who I am, or where I come from, or what I've done and not done. It is rather frightening.

But as mentioned in a conversation with a very dear friend, there is nothing else. This is, I believe, truly part and parcel of the creative process. This striving to be better. On the good days it is a drive that pushes you beyond what you normally would be able to do. On the bad days it eats at your morale and convinces you that you will NEVER be where you want to be.

Maybe someday I'll learn to find that balance.

Art will be in the next post. That I promise.

Finished stuff for this week. Not quite the quantity I would like, but we'll work on that.

No, it is no surprise that all the finished pieces this week involve female subjects. I'll make next week's involve a male subject somehow.

The first pieces was an attempt at a finished look for a dress my sister and I had seen at the Phoenix Art Museum. The designer's name was Chado Ralph Rucci, and the dress was STUNNING. My piece (and the faulty anatomy!) does not do it justice.

The second was actually finished in two parts- I went onto drawingboard.org and found this month's Drawing Jam involving Ms. Mosh. Picked out that picture, sketched it and found it appalling. Fast forward to... 2 days later? I brought the sketchbook with me when I went to a friend's house to chill, found it not as much of a disaster as I had originally thought, and reworked and inked it. This is the end result. Her hair's supposed to be flames. if you were wondering.

This week's unfinished stuff.