I’ll be in Miami for the next two weeks (June 23 - July 5) visiting various loved ones that inhabit the vicinity, so this will most likely be the last drawing posts I’m able to make until after that. I’m taking my sketchbook with me, of course, and probably my tablet so I can get my MSPaint on, but I will be sans scanner and Photoshop.

But first, here’s something I did not draw–rather, I’ve seen it wheat-pasted in various locations around the city, and I had to document it because I thought it was rad.

It’s a film poster for the Will Smith movie Hancock, which–to those unfamiliar–is about a drunken and irresponsible superhero who causes massive collateral damage. Basically, a film I want to see (because my tastes in movies are nothing if not REFINED)–and this illustration caught my eye. It looks like concept art, but I don’t know who can be credited to it. I was just pretty glad to see this type of illustration used for a poster of a high-budget film, for once.

Now to some arts. Some sketches:

(inspired by the animated short “Meet the Sniper”–brilliantly stylized and funny)

Jing at drums

This next one is the final for a poster contest held by PostersForHumans.com. The theme was to parody an cliched poster genre, so I chose to parody vintage babe pin-ups…changing it to the sort of thing I’d like to see tacked up on walls.

So refreshing! I just want to drink it.

It was kind of a rush job since I overestimated the amount of time I had left in New York, but I’m pretty satisfied with it. Of course thanks goes out to SL, patient model, and Dan Allen for listening to me whine about it and giving me his valuable opinion.

I hope I win. I lost the ADAA contest, and a group gallery show I had lined up was canceled, so…I was kind of hoping for an opportunity to lift my drawing spirits.

Some sketches (click on image for full size):

I wanted to draw something for my friend Daniel Allen, so I settled on NWS beefcake, whether he wanted it or not.

So it’s definitely a little strange to draw for myself now that my time is not completely monopolized by school. Not that I wouldn’t normally draw if I didn’t have school–but most of my personal work during the semester is strictly confined to my sketchbook. Now, however, at any given time I tend to have my hand in several different illustrations or projects that I intend to take beyond the sketchbook. And I can take it at my own leisurely pace.

It’s not something I’ve encountered in a while, that’s for sure. Or probably ever, since it’s difficult to find the motivation during the sluggish (lonely) summer months.

But here are just some of the few things I’ve had my mind on–I got a chance to ink my schoolboy skateboarder illustration. I’ve gotten some criticism that they sometimes look a little mature, but…I don’t know, I’d rather make a schoolboy that looks a little more college-aged and call him as 12th grader than sexualize a boy that looks too young. But I digress:

And the color of the paper brightened and de-saturated is courtesy of Photoshop. Technology lovingly rules my world!

I finally felt like doing a proper watercolor painting/exercise on my own, for once. I have two watercolor blocks I never use and an excellent reference picture, so I figured what the hell! (click for whole image–nude but no boy parts)

I’ve recently also made a licensing deal with PostersForHumans.com, which is a small start-up poster company whose owners are very personable and treat their artists very well. So hopefully some of my more marketable illustrations will be up for sale soon! I’ll keep all two of you posted.

I sure do!

Pretty-fying the cover of my small sketchbook.

And the following are the beginning stages of an illustration I’m thinking of doing (NO–that I will do. Use the power of positive thinking!). See, it starts out as a bad sketch of a really rad pose (courtesy of Jason Lee skateboarding). Coloring is just an added fun bonus.

Next is a larger pencil sketch of a modified version of the composition. If I had any brains today, I would’ve done it on nicer paper, but…I didn’t. So sketchbook paper it is! That’s okay, though; I foresee most of the colors being added on Photoshop, and even if I choose the rare traditional media route, I am vastly more comfortable with this paper when it comes to coloring.

I’ve been wanting to make some illustrations involving the boys from Samuel Butler Academy and skateboards for some time now. Perhaps, as is the tradition with all Sam Butler drawings, he will have a buddy in the background–but I ain’t making promises right now.

An inauspicious start to personal freedom this summer!