LEARNING ANATOMY THROUGH SCULPTING PART ONE: THE HEAD

For the past year I've been stretching my boundaries as an artist. I've experimenting with painting, figure drawing techniques, and design. In an attempt to go a little further and learn something valuable along the way, I've decided to start sculpting. 

I bought some clay from the art supply store and took it home, where it remains in the box untouched. I honestly had no clue how to start.  I realized I would have to do something soon when a co-worker gave me some of his leftover oil-based (never drying) clay. 

My father sculpted all the time while I was growing up, but I never really tried it myself ( randomly playing with clay as a kid doesn't really count).  The Palette & Chisel Academy Of Fine Art has open studio sculpting from a live model, in addition to quick sketch figure drawing. While I wanted to go try that, I thought it might be a good idea to practice first.  I had a small skull model that I bought for reference about a year ago, so I decided to recreate that in clay.

Once I completed it, I thought that it might be neat to put the individual facial muscles on it. I consulted a couple of anatomy books to see how to go about adding the muscles.

Because the skull was my first creation I was reluctant to cover it up. I also worried that the non-drying clay could get messy if I started adding to it so I decided to add the muscles onto the model skull. Here are the results:

Front

I found the neck muscles so challenging that I had to consult multiple anatomy books for the sides and under the chin. It was fun, but tough. 

Neck

Side

One of the results of this exercise is that I am finding that the way I draw heads is changing. Creating something in 3-D puts a different perspective on the object and that change is reflected into the drawings. My drawn heads seem rounder and more solid then before. They feel more real.

Because I the fun I had and the lessons learned for the head, I have decided to do the same with the entire figure. Stay tuned...

NOW ON SALE

My Final Femforce story ( at least for awhile while I work on other projects) came out a few weeks ago and is still available. Here's a description of what's in the issue:


FEMFORCE #167 IS NOW AVAILABLE!!! The long-absent NIGHTVEIL returns to the team, just long enough to reveal a new crisis- the disappearance of her Cloak of Darkness-before vanishing again herself, in a story titled “Roundabout”, written by Mark Heike, penciled by newcomer Jim Sullivan, with finished inking by Scott Shriver. The other wandering team member- SHE-CAT -likewise returns, and makes herself a bit more useful in a tense situation.  A mysterious and powerful stranger forces a dangerous stand-off at the Orlando International Airport, and the FEMFORCE race to the scene to deal with the emergency as best they can, in “Stuck In The Middle”, scripted by Mark Heike, penciled by Rock Baker and inked by Jeff Austin. Then, things turn strange in the 30th century as The BLACK COMMANDO is held captive by girl space pirates, while in the present, the villainous ALIZARIN CRIMSON uses dupes from the future to slip the bonds of her Altrannian prison in  the latest installment in the Adventures of Blackie and Bullets (guest-starring JET-GIRL) , “Future Shock”; written and inked by Bossman Bill Black, with pencils by Eric Coile. If you’ve been wondering what sort of things former military liason to the FF, ROBERTA STROCK has been doing since she was appointed to a cabinet position, read “Time To Take Strock”, illustrated by the FF lead art team of Baker and Austin, from a story by Mark Holmes. You can’t keep a good soldier down!! Next, everyone’s favorite reluctant superheroine YANKEE GIRL is forced to make a difficult decision in “Yankee Ingenuity”, written by Mark Holmes, pencilled by Riccardo Desini, and inked by the redoubtable Jeff Austin. Then, it’s a three-way blast from the past with a trio of never-before-seen “retro” adventures. First, we go back to 1956, for a rare solo story starring one-time FF member The BLONDE BOMBER.  BB finds herself mixed up (in more than one way) with illegal arms dealing and third-world freedom fighters while vacationing in Spain in “Busman’s Holiday”; scripted by Mark Heike, penciled by Manuel Diaz, and inked by Scott Shriver.  Then, in 1948, Miss(the future Ms.)Victory is forced to confront a former Russian ally during the Berlin airlift in “No Substitute For Victory”, written by Mark Holmes, with art by Scott Larson and Jeff Austin. Finally, back during the war-torn years of the early 1940′s, DINOSAUR GIRL  must team up with a half-dozen other costumed operatives to deal with submarines and giant marine demons while breaking up an enemy plot to mine the dangerous ore that gave Vivian Strand the awesome size-changing powers in “The Menace With Eight Arms”, written and drawn by Rock Baker, and inked by Mark Dail. All this plus a special text tribute to the late, great former FEMFORCE artist Dick Ayers by head honcho Bill Black. 

This book can be purchased on the AC Comics website. I have a number of other projects that should be coming out in the near future. Please continue to watch this space for more information.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS- PAINTED COVERS #2

In addition to my interior pencil art, I sometimes get the opportunity to work on a painted comic book cover. This doesn't happen all the time, so when  it does it's a very special event. In a previous post I showed the process of creating a cover for AC Comics. This one looks at it from a different perspective.

Erica Schultz is a brilliant writer of M3, a modern day international spy book that she and comics great Vicente Alcazer created. Although Vicente does all the interior art, the covers have been done by such talents as Bill Sienkiewicz, Andree Maitland, Chris Notarile, Rick Buckler, Jayel Draco, and Nouri Zander. Erica asked me to do a cover as well.

Instead of being a random image like the Gargantarama cover, this one was story specific. My cover was to appear on issue number 9. I started working on it by rereading all the previous issues of M3 as well as scripts for issues 8 & 9. And then I thought and sketched. I sent a series of thumbnails to Erica and Vicente for approval.

 The second image was chosen as the winner and I did a detailed pencil.

Erica and Vicente had a specific person in mind for the faces, so  I did a black and white gouache paintings of the reference:

 Once approved, I moved forward on the final color painting.

M3 is a fantastic book. The first trade paperback and single issues, including #9 (featuring this cover), can be found HERE

PAINTING

One of my goals since April of last year is to stretch myself as an artist. Drawing comics and commercial art is all well an good, but going outside those boundaries is important as well. Not only does it flex different muscles, but also it also effects the artwork already being done.

I've never been much of a painter. I took one oil painting class at American Academy Of Art, which was kind of a flop. My Dad painted all the time- especially with Acrylic. My only use of Acrylic paints was to paint different color outfits on my Star Wars figures as a kid. I decided to give it a try.

One of the nice things about being an artist living in Chicago is all the different resources. The Palette and Chisel Academy Of Fine Arts has a number of open studios. Some are used for quick sketching ( a model poses for one minute to Thirty minutes in a three hour period). Others are used for long poses. I attended one of the long pose sessions with cheap black and white acrylic paints and did a value study of one of the models. Here are the results:

I spent the first half hour doing a pencil drawing. Foolishly, I forgot to take a picture of it.

This was after the first half hour of painting

How the artwork looked after painting for an hour and a half

This was the paining after about 2 and a half hours

I'm having lots of fun with this and am interested to see what my work looks like in the weeks ahead.

If you would like to see the finished artwork, take a look on my Facebook Illustration Page. The album it's in, labeled "2014" can be found HERE

COMING IN FEBRUARY

Femforce issue no. 166, which features the first of two Ms. Victory stories I've illustrated, is coming out next month. Here is a description of the issue:

 A simple trip to feed NIGHTVEIL’s cat turns into an extradimemsional battle for SYNN when a trap set for one heroine actually nets the other, in “Cat And Mouse”, featuring the return of the villainous VIVARNA!! Then, the story you thought you’d NEVER see-  “She-Cat Goes To Prison”, penciled by great new Spanish  sensation Manuel Diaz.  Cellblocks brimming with rioting thieves and murderers are NOTHING compared to the REAL danger ‘Cat discovers in the basement of the ‘State Pen! It’s a lucky thing that Ms. VICTORY  was in the area when a  touring mini-sub ends up at the mercy of a giant squid in “Pumped”.  While plans are made to start the investigation back at FFHQ, we  finally get a peek inside the headquarters of Century International as the master plan of WAMPYR and CIANOSE DJAB begins to unfold. SYNN makes an encore performance, teamed with a heroine from AC’s past in “Just Synn Time”, and we return to the mysterious Dawn World for a second helping of SHE-CAT solo as well, as we come to the stunning conclusion of last issue’s flashback adventure with CAVE GIRL and THUNDA. Then- NIGHTVEIL RETURNS!!  But, is she the same heroine that left? And, back in the 1940′s, DINOSAUR GIRL must contend with an entire island of feral, savage giantesses in “Found World”. Get set for thrills, fun and excitement with stories and art by the usual cast of characters- Mark and Stephanie Heike, Mark Holmes, Rock Baker, Scott Larson, Jeff Austin, Scott Shriver, Mark Dail, and Riccardo Desini.  All this behind a spectacular group-action cover drawn and colored by comics/animation sensation WILL MEUGNIOT!!

This issue will be released on February 26, 2014.

DIGITAL DRAWING

In my lifetime I've seen a number of things change. I remember when vinyl records became CD's, and CD's became MP3s. I remember when telephones had busy signals before call waiting, when rotary dials were replaced with buttons, and when landlines became cell phones. I remember when models used to be built by hand and now they can be build 3D in a computer program. Technology changes the world around us, but that doesn't affect how someone draws, does it? While the basic principles of art stay the same, the materials change. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci never owned a pencil. It didn't exist in his lifetime. Leonardo drew with chalk.

For those of us who live in the 21st Century, it's the computer that effects everything. This includes drawing. There is a ton of digital art being produced. I experimented with digital painting myself when I produced my Christmas card last year.

This illustration was painted completely digitally

I had never really considered line drawing on the computer until recently.  The idea of it intrigued me so I looked into it. What I found was this, there are two ways to do it using either a Cintiq, or a Wacom Bamboo Tablet.

Both devices are plugged into the computer. With a Cintiq, the user literally draws on a screen as if they were drawing on a sheet of paper. It's like having a digital drawing board.

This is how a Cintiq works

The Wacom is a little different. The user  draws on a pad, but needs to look at a separate computer screen while drawing on the separate pad. A Wacom operates in much the same way as a mouse. Both the Cintiq and the Wacom have their advantages and disadvantages.

This is a Wacom Bamboo

For my purposes I decided to work with a Wacom tablet. I started experimenting the same way I started drawing way back when. I pulled out my George Bridgeman book and started drawing from it. It took me a while before a realized that the way to go was to do my "roughs" in "blue pencil" and then the next stage with a "2B pencil".

The rough

The finish

Done with blue "pencil"

The finish on top of the blue

There are things I have yet to learn with this.

After my initial drawings I decided to do my comic book roughs completely digital. Here's the result:

My blueline digital rough

my second more finished digital rough

The final drawn on bristol board by hand

Once the roughs were finished and approved, I finished them up the usual way. I prefer to have the finish be by hand -  at least for right now.

For more information on digital comic book illustration, check out the excellent book by Freddie E. Williams, The DC Comics Guide To Digitally Drawing Comics.

LEARNING THROUGH PRACTICE

When I first enrolled at American Academy Of Art in Chicago, we were required to attend an orientation. Not much about that day stuck in my mind. I remember hearing the school rules about attendance, where the library was, and dull things like that. Before the end of it however, we were told an interesting story. It story went like this:

While being interviewed a famous musician was asked why he practiced everyday. His response was "If I don't practice one day, I can tell; If I don't practice two days, my family can tell; If I don't practice three days the critics can tell; and, If I don't practice for four days the audience can tell."

A number of years ago I received a copy of The Complete Terry And The Pirates Vol. 1 by Milton Caniff. This book reprints daily and Sunday newspaper strips from 1934 to 1936. I'm not really a big fan of newspaper adventure strips, so when I got it I flipped through it a couple of times and then put it on my bookshelf with the intention of reading it "someday".

Well, someday came at the end of last year when looking for something to read on the way to my office. I was a great deal of the way through it when I decided to take a look at the first couple of strips and discovered something amazing. The artwork done over the course of one year had improved drastically. It changed so much that the illustrator in 1934 couldn't be recognized as the same person by the art in 1935. Hard to believe? Take a look at this:

This is the first Terry strip from October 22, 1934

This is from June 8, 1936, about a year and a half later

So why was there such a drastic change in the artwork? The answer is easy: Milton Caniff drew every day - EVERY SINGLE DAY. He wasn't endowed with a magical "talent" that allowed him to whip up masterpieces off the top of his head.  He worked by drawing and drawing,  observing and observing, experimenting and experimenting and then drawing some more. 

The magic formula for becoming a great illustrator is drawing everyday, observing what others do, and experimenting with techniques learned. 

For this new year, I am making an effort to do this. I myself am guilty of not being consistent with my drawing. So both when I am working on something and when I am in between projects, I will also be creating a side illustration. It may be a sketch, a painting, or  figure studies. If you are interested in seeing how I do, you can chart my progress of my Facebook page in the album 2014.  My plan is to have, at the very least, 365  pictures added to it by December 31.