Ballpoint Heaven

Boxer Commission

2012-02-20T20:34:00.001-05:00

A commission of a boxer. The size is quite small.

Wolf as Wolf

2011-12-27T23:35:00.003-05:00

I've been embarassingly tardy with my posts! Here's something I did at the request of someone.

Sketches

2011-09-04T23:17:00.001-04:00

A subway sketch and a random doodle. Fire is fun to draw.

Dragonzzz with a Z!

2011-08-31T08:42:00.003-04:00

Part of my IMC piece. I might still work more on it, to get the darks darker. I had to rush to finish it for a contest. The story is a desert tribe has to cross the barrens to get to food, the dragons lie in wait for them of course.

Experiment

2011-08-29T17:43:00.003-04:00

Trying something new: make up a skull shape and then try to make the imaginary animal that would fit it. No reference. It didn't turn out that good, probably because of the lack of reference. I might try the exercise with ref this time. It's hard to do short fur.

Coming up, I'm going to attempt a video of my drawing, also do drawings of birds in flight.

Sacrifice

2011-07-31T22:15:00.003-04:00

Apologies for the long absence. I was at the Illustration Master Class for a while, then trying to get some illustrations finished before deadlines. This is one I just finished in pen. Previously I had done it in acrylic, but I wasn't satisfied so I redid it. I think it works much better now.

Pulp?

2011-06-05T12:28:00.002-04:00

I had some cool reference of me holding a banana, so I did this little thing, haha. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make the image look like real life..

Nazgul Help

2011-06-03T21:19:00.003-04:00

As promised, here's the maquette I made for my Nazgul piece. It's a wire armament with paper towel on it, held in place with lots of matte medium and water.

Dragons Redux

2011-05-21T17:07:00.004-04:00

Thanks to the lovely folks at CA.org I've tightened up my thumbnails, eliminated one and added one more. Which do you like now?

Thumbnails

2011-05-20T16:34:00.003-04:00

Getting ready for IMC and thinking of some ideas for the dragon + 2 figures prompt. As usual though I need help deciding. I'm most partial to C..What do you think?

Eowyn and the Nazgul Challenge

2011-05-16T20:28:00.003-04:00

Phew! I totally messed up and got it into my head that the Nazgul challenge was due on the 18th, not the 15th. Thankfully a friend straightened me out and I managed to finish it in time for the deadline. I'll post some sketches and ref shots later. Here's the final piece.

Also, check out the other entries over on Art Order.

White Wolf

2011-05-11T15:08:00.004-04:00

No, not the band :)
1 days till the Nazgul is due, so I'm working on that every day. In the meantime, here's a little sketch of one of my favourite animals.
This is a problem that happens when you don't draw a background -- it's very hard to draw white fur and show a body when the paper is the same value or lighter. Next time I want to try not drawing the outline at all and letting the shadows create all the form. Other than that, he was super cute and a very cheeky fellow. It kind of looks like he has arthritis..

Rusty, and Ordering Portraits

2011-05-09T20:29:00.004-04:00

Hi all! Now that the commissioner has received the portrait, I can show it to all of you. Here's Rusty, a poodle mix.

Also, I've updated my website with links to the blog and a portfolio where you can order portraits. I'm open to commissions at the moment, so if anyone's birthday or special occasion is coming up, you know who to call. Link to the website is on the side, or you can always email me directly.

Alaskan Husky

2011-04-29T18:36:00.003-04:00

Doodle turned into a lovely drawing. This picture is interesting because you can clearly see the photographic distortion in the smallness of the head and the giant back legs. This is why you should be very careful when using reference. Unless you know what kinds of problems photography can cause, you can never be sure that you're copying the right thing. I didn't mind it so I drew it exactly as it was. Also messed up on the muzzle a little from not paying attention.
Still, it's a gorgeous dog..love it.

Circus Keyhole 2

2011-04-25T22:48:00.003-04:00

Finished the "finishing" on the Keyhole Circus drawings. The initial drawing didn't have as much information as I usually work with, but I took it pretty far.

NSFW :

Keyhole Sessions: Latex 2

2011-04-15T19:50:00.004-04:00

Ok, I finally finished the second portrait from the Keyhole Latex Lust night. Would you believe it's the same model as this post? Clearly I haven't gotten better at faces yet.

Keyhole Sessions: Fire in the Hole?

2011-04-14T14:03:00.004-04:00

I decided to do something a little different this time. Instead of finishing the drawings from Keyhole and then posting them, I've scanned them as they were at the end of the session. I'll finish them, and then post again with the final version. You'll be able to see exactly how far I go from the sketches. Also coming soon: the final dog portrait and an older Keyhole portrait I've finally finished.

Click below to see the drawings:

NSFW : Nudity

Older Drawing

2011-03-16T20:59:00.003-04:00

I finally finished this drawing (one left) from a Keyhole two months ago. It was fun to draw the latex suit she was wearing, even though I didn't get many of the details. I thought I'd have more time and as so often happens with these things, I didn't. So I basically made up everything from her neck down. I love drawing the highlights on latex, leather, metal, etc, though.

Sexy Secretary

2011-03-13T21:33:00.004-04:00

I hate that I haven't been updating this lately! I have so many drawings up in the air that just have to get finished so I can post them here. Currently working on a dog portrait, a rework of a fantasy piece (I started it at Sheridan in oils, now doing it in pen), and finishing several Keyhole drawings.
This is from the latest Keyhole - devoted to secretaries (sexy ones, and what could be better?). Billie Black is so gorgeous! It was fun to draw her.

Little Drawing

2011-03-03T21:44:00.003-05:00

A drawing I did for..some reason. Maybe I could use it as a banner or something..

Mary and the Black Lamb

2011-02-12T11:49:00.006-05:00

A local band (title) was having a cover contest, so I thought it would be a great exercise for me. After listening to the single, Emily, I got a lot of mental images and sketched out some thumbnails. I can say that right up until I ran out of time, I was again having my usual problem of being unable to choose between thumbnails and was going to do two drawings. The photo shoot was fraught with problems (I couldn't get my original idea of a little girl to come. I ended up having to pose myself), but I think in the end it turned out fine. I have always loved skulls and I think it shows since they're the best part of the whole picture..

Until next time!

Mexican Wolf

2011-01-27T14:46:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure what the difference between northern wolves and Mexican wolves are...this one seems smaller and more delicate, maybe. But he's cute! Ref from National Geographic.

Star Geek

2011-01-21T11:40:00.001-05:00

I've been watching old TNG episodes so I thought I'd give myself an appropriate exercise. Plus he's cute.

Cards

2011-01-19T21:54:00.003-05:00

I made some thank you cards for some people. I love squares...They pose interesting compositional exercises. The last is a friend's Boston Terrier named Beringer...which for some reason I want to call Bosley..

More Dogs

2011-01-18T16:12:00.003-05:00

Some more older and rougher sketches of dogs. A Finnish Laphund in the top right, and a Eurasier Liegend in the bottom left. The bottom right is a Shikoku, and the other is one I can't remember! Maybe a Golden retriever or something..

And this is a drawing of the candelabra my mother had made by a local artist. It's so gorgeous my drawing doesn't do it justice, but I do love wrought iron so I had to draw it and add my own design after.

Keyhole Sessions: The Reeperbahn

2011-01-15T12:03:00.004-05:00

Keyhole Sessions are back, and better than ever! Although I would like them to be every week, since I hardly get enough drawing, I like the 3 hour sessions. It helps you get warmed up and I think I get better drawings out of it. Of course, lovely models and awesome costumes help. I love pinup/50's style, and especially legs! I tried to channel Aly Fell a little..heh.

And of course, as always I'm not very good at faces. Tried to draw Dolores 3 times and none of them look like her! Sigh..

Secret Santa Part 2

2011-01-06T00:53:00.009-05:00

So, I got this email from my Secret Santa recipient (anonymously of course): "For christmas I want a squad of mercenaries to hunt down the grim reaper for me. (optional) the grim reaper likes to ride a zombie unicorn."
Of course that gave me lots of ideas and creative brain juice. I started by sketching out some character ideas; since I love drawing horses and animal skulls, I thought it would be cool to do a sort of 'Grim Reaper of the Desert'/'Wildebeast Grim Reaper'.

Then I began sketching thumbnails for the scene. I knew I wanted it to be dramatic, moody, and heavily reliant on lighting, but I struggled quite a bit with whether to do a more serene vista or an action-oriented scene. I liked both ideas I had, so I decided to do both. Go big or go home - and these were the most complicated pieces I'd ever attempted in ballpoint. Finally I settled on two and blew them up, then created a Photoshop montage with my reference photos pasted over the sketch.

I created a maquette for lighting reference with paper towel and a little plastic horse I had. It stands about 1.5 inches tall, and it was a huge help. I never realized before how pain-free drawing could be when you had adequate reference. I regret not making one for the second image, but I just couldn't find any horse figurines in motion!

Finally, I pulled everything together and drew for about a week straight! Here are the final illustrations. I hope I did the brief justice, and something tells me I might revisit these characters sometime...

Secret Santa

2010-12-28T02:04:00.003-05:00

I mentioned a while ago that I was doing Secret Santa over at ConceptArt.org, and mine finally arrived, just in time for the holidays. Here it is thanks to FraserMCT. Next post I will show what I did, since my recipient finally got theirs. Thanks, Fraser.

Last Keyhole of the Season

2010-12-04T17:21:00.003-05:00

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that Keyhole is over, but anyways here are the last drawings I did there.
The inestimable Nymph Suicide.

And the lovely Jennifer Rose.

Sweets

2010-11-28T19:14:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am taking the plunge! On Christmas Eve I'm having my annual "I don't celebrate Christmas" Christmas Party, and in addition to a meat tree, I'm going to try making this beast...a croquembouche. Let's hope it turns out okay.

Secret Santa

2010-11-27T14:25:00.002-05:00

I can't show what I've been working on for my Secret Santa yet, but here's a little teaser: it includes this little guy, whom I love to draw.

Gone to Dogs

2010-11-22T16:15:00.002-05:00

Some people recommend using animal figurines for reference in illustrations. It's good advice, but only if you have a clear understanding of the limitations of reference. I'd use the toy for lighting reference, maybe, or proportions. Drawing a toy dog really makes you appreciate the importance of drawing from life. Drawing from live animals, you'd realize the difference immediately. There's a stiffness in the toy that wouldn't be there if you understand and have experience with the weight on paws, balance in their body, and natural resting pose of animals. Trusting reference explicitly, you'd turn out with something like the above — a far cry from the real thing.

Favourites

2010-11-17T00:04:00.003-05:00

Yes, those are my used pens. People often ask me what kind of pen I use; what's my favourite. As little as a year ago, I'd have said it doesn't matter. Give me a hotel pen, a big fat one, or an expensive Cross, and I'd only ask that it be black. And, yes, it's true that a pro can use any media and he'd still be able to draw. I can use any pen, it's true, but do I necessarily want to?
First, there's the issue of consistency. When you're doodling for fun, it doesn't matter much, but if you're trying to create a product, then you want as much consistency between drawings as possible. If a watercolourist changed his paper significantly, we'd notice. I'll get more into the differences between brands of ink in a later post.
The second issue is artistic consistency. By that I mean, when you find a pen that gives you the result you want (you've successfully created a piece you like with it) then you can be reasonably sure that you know the result you'll get the next time you use that pen. Drawing and art making are hard enough in and of themselves that as an artist, it's a great comfort to eliminate that source of stress from the equation. It's in my best interest to use the most stable mediums, so that I am not constantly struggling against them, instead of focusing my energies on creating a good picture.
Of course, preference changes as you go on and are exposed to more mediums. At the tail end of high school I became obsessed with Cross pens. They look fancy, are expensive, and to my young mind, were the greatest pen since sliced bread. I later realized that their disadvantages far outweighed their cool factor. They're expensive and the metal casing is too slippery for constant use. They're shorter than most pens, thinner, and heavier, which makes them uncomfortable for prolonged use.
Now, my favourite pen is the Bic Cristal. It's light, just thick enough to be hefty, and it's transparent. That's a great feature, because I can tell how much ink I have left. New pens (and up to 1/3 full) are different from low pens. Their ink flows better and is richer. For intricate pieces, where I need to know the pen will work correctly, I'll use a new pen, then swap it out for a less full one for areas where I can be rough (such as black negative space). I also find Bic ink to be the best. It's richer and blacker than other inks, but still has a pleasant purplish cast, unlike other pens that are bluer, redder, or grayer. I like the Cristals because they have the thinnest nibs of all pens, and I can do more intricate lines with them. I'm not sure if their balls are actually smaller than other pens, the encasing is less bulky and that means I can see what I'm drawing better. Lastly, did I mention they're cheap? That's pretty important if you go through as many as I do. Anyways, I think that's enough of my views on ballpoints for now.

I'm working on two illustrations at the moment, and I would normally have something to show for it, but they're for Secret Santa over at ConceptArt, so I can't say anything, not even what they're of in case the person happens to see! The wait is killing me. I'll be posting preliminary sketches and thumbnails as soon as I can.

Keyhole Session Nov 9

2010-11-10T23:19:00.002-05:00

A little less refined, these ones.

NSFW :

Dog-ged

2010-11-08T14:56:00.004-05:00

Another pretty dog; an American Husky, not to be confused with Canadian Husky, Siberian Husky, Finnish Laphund, and several other dogs! Phew, who knew there were so many kinds of dogs!

Late Night Sketching

2010-11-08T14:17:00.003-05:00

I'll often go on Mucha kicks. That's where I pull out my Mucha's Figures Decoratives and try to copy the drawings inside. Although it's not my natural style, it's fun to emulate his. There's nothing more feminine, energetic, or strong as Mucha's linework, and it makes you feel awesome as an artist. I know it's blasphemy to say this, but I'm going out on a limb and declaring it. In my opinion, Alphonse Mucha is the best artist in history.
I added some more things to the page; one is a picture of Taylor Swift I found interesting, the other a screenshot of Artemis from the show Xena.

Dogs

2010-11-05T20:22:00.002-04:00

What breeds are your favourites? If you suggest one, I'd love to do a drawing of it!

Here's a beautiful Borzoi

Food, Glorious Food

2010-11-03T19:51:00.007-04:00

Lately I've been obsessed with the idea of making pork belly. Most of these cravings come from watching way too much Food Network. I saw Laura Calder making pork belly with lentils on French Food at Home and it looked absolutely delicious, so of course I had to try it for myself.

One of my other favourite shows is Jamie Oliver at Home. Not only is he one of the most knowledgeable chefs on TV, but he's also entertaining and makes you want to instantly make and eat whatever he cooks. This show in particular is great because it's all about cooking with vegetables straight from the garden. He'll actually go out and pick something, then come home and cook it right away (usually involving frying, cheese, or some sort of pork product — genius!). The garden is huge, colourful, and not maintained by him (he has full-time gardeners), but still it's obvious that he cares about it.

Second great thing about the show is its look. In betweens are illustrated (imagine! Illustrations on tv, in this day and age) by Hello Charlie, with cute and quirky drawings as if someone was keeping a journal. I've always wanted to do something like that, and I do keep a recipe book with small illustrations so I can quickly find a dish, but it's much more utilitarian than I'd like.

Another Friesian

2010-11-03T16:54:00.004-04:00

My favourite drawing I've done so far, mostly because the picture was great to work from, I think. It just turned into one of those things where everything fits and it seems like you can do no wrong (though that's not exactly true as I made several mistakes I had to fix).

P.S. Most of my drawings are copied from photographs I found through Google searches. Copyrights are NOT owned by me. If I used your image please send me your contact information so I can properly credit you, or I can take down the image. These sketchbook drawings are for my improvement, not for sale.

NSFW: Hallowe'en Keyhole Sessions

2010-10-29T17:46:00.013-04:00

Right, so this was Hallowe'en Keyhole Sessions (life-drawing with bondage! See Here) with a lovely model playing Persephone in Hades. I added the other embellishments.

NSFW :

Little Horse

2010-10-28T20:27:00.005-04:00

Another little tidbit, this time a colt of unknown breed. I found the picture and liked how energetic it was. Yes, his head is really that big! This was harder because his fur was light. I've always had a problem rendering local colour.

Coming soon: Drawings from Keyhole Sessions on Oct 26, and a banner for this blog, finally.

Friesian Horse

2010-10-27T21:43:00.005-04:00

I love love love Friesians. They're my favourite breed. Is there anything more magestic? They're well-defined, robust (I find most thoroughbreds and Arabians too skinny), and they have a wonderfully proud carriage. And of course black horses are so luxurious. This is a small drawing I did in my sketchbook.

How to love your Ballpoint Pen

2008-02-12T03:01:00.007-05:00

If you want to know one thing about me, it's that I love ballpoint pens. I plan to tattoo one on my body eventually — and if that's not a horrifying enough image, imagine the poor souls who have to listen to me wax philosophical about the importance of ballpoints to the American dream. Or something like that. Point is, I've had this obsession for as long as I can remember, and it ain't going away.

As an impressionable youth, I took in the prejudices of the 'professionals' I was trying to emulate. The pros don't use pens. And I wanted to be a pro, right? So I shelved my pens and used them only while doodling in lectures. It took me years to figure out that pro tools are only pro tools in the hands that wield them. Meaning, if sand in the hands of a pro can wow, then why not a pen in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, and more importantly, who cares. I took what I had before done out of love and devoted more time to it. By some stroke of luck I didn't make the mistake most people make when they choose to take their hobby 'seriously' — they make it like work. I didn't ruin pens for myself, as I suspect many people have over the years, by letting people guilt me into seeing pens as a non-serious tool. I suspect in my case, the 'stroke of luck' was, well, that I still needed a pen to write with. There was always one underfoot, so although I kept my 'serious' pursuits to more prestigious mediums, I still used pens in secret, so to speak. By that, I saved myself a lot of discontent.

I don't know much about how ballpoint pens work; I've never thought too much about it. Vaguely, I know that there's some sort of ball involved. More importantly, I think, is that after years of using pens I know what I like, and what I don't like. I can articulate it, and I will. If you disagree with me, I hope you'll speak up. Tell me why.

Truthfully, I'm not sure what I hope to accomplish by writing this blog. I don't have a grand master plan; don't know what each post will be about, or how far afield I'll go in search of topics. Beyond the goal of writing about ballpoints, I do have a hope. My hope is to bring the study and love of ballpoint to more people. I'm a firm believer in fueling obsessions 'til they burst — or yield their fruit.

Note: Much of the idea behind this post came about after reading Paul Graham's excellent articles How to do what you love and Hackers and Painters. I would advise anyone to read them, because they're amazing, and lucid, and articulate....just awesome.

P.S. I apologize for the initial mess that will be this blog. As I develop it and learn the tools, its look should stabilize and new features will appear. Happy drawing!