Sunday, March 27, 2016

Reddit gets drawn - BuffHagen + Daily sketch 309 - Southpark

I am really enjoying getting back into silly watercolour cartoons. I did a Reddit gets drawn picture of BuffHagen's dad and nephew. I really like the overall feel, though the nephew looks like some dwarf or something. I'd like to blame the size constraint making his features hard to draw but I do find myself having trouble drawing children.

I also did a daily sketch, the subject of which was Southpark. I decided to try for a half way realistic monochrome Reservoir Dogs pastiche, but when I had pencilled it it became clear to me it wouldn't work so I just did a straightforward watercolour. I kind of like it but I still have massive shortcomings when using watercolour, not helped by the paper being to thin to properly take it. Maybe if I had spent another hour on it I could have improved on it but I am not sure.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

More Reddit daily sketches

I haven't posted much recently, so several daily sketches in one post.

299 - Pokemon
I'm too old to have been into Pokemon when they came out and I didn't want to just copy some anime, so I did a cartoon or Ash charging his phone on Pikachu. Not a great drawing.

300 - Pre Raphaelites
I've always kind of liked the pre Raphaelites. On the one hand they produced moody, atmospheric paintings but on the other side they were fairly boring usually. I went for a coloured pencil version of 'Angel playing a flageolet' by Edward Burne Jones. It's not awful but my unfamiliarity with coloured pencils and gutlessness with strong colours show though.

301 - Teeth
I suppose I could have tried to do something clever or interesting but instead I just did some pencil studies of teeth.


302 - Mermaids
I actually like this drawing. I was planning on colouring it in with watercolour but it turns out that the pens I used for the outlines aren't waterproof so when I tried the colours leaked and ran. Luck I took a picture first. Also I need practise drawing hands.


303 - Gerenuk
Gerenuks are a funky looking type of gazelle. I did a nice little drawing and coloured it in with watercolour. I quite like it, though I could have maybe used stronger colours.



Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Reddit gets drawn - Thurgebroketoe & Donavarion

Another two rgd pictures.

Thurgebroketoe was from r/redditgetsdrawnbadly, so I didn't feel the need to go all out for a likeness. I intended to squash his features into the middle of his face but instead it turned into a chinny superhero picture. If I had intended it to look like this I would be really happy as it's quite a nice drawing. I just wish I could have more control on how my art ends out.

Donavarion posted a moody and cool black and white photo. I thought I would try to do a colour version, and while I think my little watercolour is nice it looks nothing like him. I could try to pretend it's a result of using a tiny drawing pad but if I'm honest it wouldn't have been better if I done it bigger. Still, practise, right?


Daily sketch 293 - Don Quixote & 294 Android vs iphone

Two daily sketches in a row!
The first was Don Quixote, he of windmills and stuff. I should really read it some time. I did a nice little watercolour sketch. I really wish I had more time because the idea is cool but the execution is just a little lacking. It actually got featured on the daily sketch instagram, which is nice!

The second was Android Vs Iphone. I was initially going to go full rule 34 but I was drawing it while looking after the kids so I decided to dial it back. I did a version of the iconic VJ kiss photo. I of course knew of the photo but I hadn't really looked at it closely before and while I can see why it is so well known there is definitely something wrong about it to me. The tension in the hand, the leering crowd and the way he almost has her in a chokehold. I posted about this on Reddit and apparently the sailor grabbed her roughly and she wasn't willing, then was traumatised by seeing the image posted everywhere.
Even though I actually really like my drawing and I wish I had had more time to flesh it out and add some colour.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

RGD - Hugz-are-fun + Alistairs

I did two Reddit portraits.
The first was a small watercolour sketch of Hugz-are-fun, which I think came out nicely, though I could probably have been more decisive with the colouring. To be honest I should have just done a larger image, I was planning on trying to do something a lot more simplified and stylised but could pull it off and found it was too small to add more detail.

The second wasn't actually from r/redditgetsdrawn. It was from a similar sub r/redditgetsdrawnbadly. It has the same idea (you post your picture, people draw or paint them) as r/redditgetsdrawn except the quality is more uneven and there are no expectations. There are still people who are amazing doing stuff in r/redditgetsdrawnbadly, but in r/redditgetsdrawn, everyone is amazing. Except me when I post, or at least that's how I feel. It means I don't feel quite so insecure which is nice, and I am hoping it will make it easier for me to experiment instead of just producing bad attempts at likenesses.
I drew Alistairs, and I didn't have much time so I just did a quick pencil sketch without trying too hard. It came out ok, though it doesn't look like her and I didn't abstract it at all. Still if it were r/redditgetsdrawn I am not sure I would have had the courage to post it but I had not problem here and I actually got replies to my post saying how good it is.

Daily sketch 288 - Samarkand and 290 - International women's day

I been spending all my free time working on my game so I haven't had time to do much drawing recently. I promised myself I would get some done this week, and managed to do something, helped in no lage part by having house guests sleeping in my study so  I couldn't use my computer in the evenings.

I did 2 daily sketches, both of them quite difficult subjects.

The first was day 288 - Samarkand, which is a beautiful and inspiring city in Uzbekistan. Unfortunately it's known for very precise and intricate tiles and architecture so it was extremely hard to draw. I opted for watercolour, but as usual the painting was ruined by my inability to take risks and use bright, strong colours. Also it would have probably helped if I had used a ruler.

The second was 290- International women's day. I was stumped as to what to draw so I started drawing a Lady Justice image. Half way through I realised how boring it was so I switched the scales and sword for a large severed set of testicles and some garden shears. Very silly but I am actually quite happy with it, though it might say something bad about my psyche,