Leslie

Four hours.

Speed #2

Two hours from reference. Backlighting is pretty tough to paint since the values get compressed in such a narrow range and saturation goes out the door. I'm not really all that used to painting a full figure either. People tell me it's easier than painting a head, but I don't believe them!

Speed #1

Two hours from reference. One thing I realized after doing that last illustration is how terribly slow I am with painting digitally. My current rate of production is totally unacceptable for professional work. I need to make a concerted effort to change that.

I also am trying to let go of the tendency to work so tightly and just enjoy the feel of a carefree sketch. I picked up Sargent's Figures and Landscapes the other day and I was pretty amazed at how loosely the guy worked. Seeing his art, as well as those of Chinese artists like Benjamin and Zhuzhu convinced me that I need to start doing speed paints from reference as a way to get used to the digital process, understand color relationships, and experiment with how efficient I can be with the default hard round brush in Photoshop.

I'll try to do at least one a day, and aim to spend no more than two hours on a study. It won't be that hard to fit in the time for these actually; I usually have a couple of hours to kill before heading to bed, so I'll dedicate that block of time for these exercises. Gotta get my hours in whenever I can.

Loss of Innocence

A bajillion hours. This was done for the Battle of the Sexes (Gentlemen vs. Ladies) Thunderdome competition over at conceptart.org. The guys and girls were given different topics - the blokes got "Loss of Innocence". I'm not sure how the voting is supposed to be tallied, but to be honest, who wins and who loses doesn't really concern me too much. I just wanted to push myself to my very limits and get a decent portfolio piece out of the process.

I'm going to start doing more illustrations from now on for the simple fact that I need to be doing more of them. In order to become a successful concept artist and illustrator, I need to get used to pumping these out as often as I can. Sure, studies are vitally important to my growth, and I will continue to draw and paint from life, but unless I test myself with these more creative endeavors, there's no way I'll be able to break into the field I want to be in.

I learned so much doing this piece... working out a composition, developing an effective coloring process in Photoshop, learning how to use different types of layers, experimenting with rendering different surfaces and textures the list goes on and on. I feel like I'm ready to tackle an even bigger and better piece... in fact, I'll go get started on that one right now!

Binah

Three hours or so, with some clean-up and simplification at home.

Christie and I met up at Art Center to paint in their Friday evening workshops. We had made a deal earlier to teach each other our fortes, so tonight I gave her pointers on traditional painting in oils, and she let me borrow her laptop for an attempt at a digital black-and-white study from life! Yeah!

I got teased by some of the old timers in there for betraying the "cause", and lots of curious on-lookers came over to see what I was doing. I'm kind of surprised this is a big deal to everyone, and sort of shocked that more people aren't doing it!

Oh, and sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been kind of lazy in photographing my work, but I haven't been idle at all, and am constantly drawing and painting. I'm currently working on a couple of illustrations for competitions. I'll post those lickety-split.

Nicole

Four hours. 11" x 14". I wasn't terribly happy with the drawing I did on Tuesday, and even though I have impending deadlines for illustrations, I decided to head down to a workshop to get some practice in... and boy am I glad I did! We had gorgeous models tonight, I ended up getting a decent painting out of the session, and best of all, I finally got to meet Michael Hussar, who dropped by for a surprise visit. Yeah! I've admired his work for so long... it was such a pleasure to finally meet the guy! What a cool cat!

Alma

Four hours. I went back to drawing with good old charcoal again tonight just to add some variety to the routine as well as to help me pinpoint trouble spots with my painting process. Painting is drawing, after all. Hm. I've got to find a better way next session to keep the blacks down on this paper - and I need to invest in a decent mahl stick too!

Sara

Four hours. Hopefully this one makes up for the shitty painting I did of Sara last week!

ともさかりえ

Three hours. I'm calling this one done. Learned a lot from it!

Kirsten

Four hours.

ともさかりえ

Four hours on and off. A work in progress. I'm still trying to understand Zhanglu's methodology behind his portraits. With each head I draw I pick up another piece of the puzzle.

I took some liberties with the reference I was using of ともさかりえ, a popular Japanese idol in the nineties whom my college roommates and I went gaga over. Ahhh, the memories. I really want to bring this to a refined finish, but I've got to get up early in the morning for work... ! Hopefully I can squeeze in some time this week to return to it, but it'll be tough, since I've got looming deadlines for illustrations and my portfolio hovering over me.

Lunchtime

Three minute sketches? I like to draw people on my lunch break whenever I can to get some practice in during the day. It's pretty amazing how variable the human head can be.

Paul

Ten minute quick sketches focusing on drapery as well as light and shadow patterns.

Angela

Fives and a two-hour long pose. Aaron Westerberg subbed in for our portrait and figure drawing class on Wednesday. He helped clean and spice up my quick sketches, and also suggested that I go as light as possible on the larger drawing and slowly build up to the darks. Looks kinda cool that way. I tend to have a heavy hand so this was good practice for me.

Sorry about the wrinkles; heat and sunlight warp newsprint. For some reason it's really hot these days in Southern California. I think we had like two days of actual winter temperatures.