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words words words

WORK CAN BE BORING, BUT DRAWING IS GREAT!

One of these is more accurate than the other, but that’s okay. thanks to A Macbain for staying still for extended periods of time and only whining about it a little

Another in-office sketch; good for loosening up.

(click to enlarge)

Jelsen is a newly-minted dad

More soon, I promise.

Febroary 2010 is finally here!

Ah, to be young, in love, and in space.

Febroary. the month that was rife with problems preventing me from getting it done. All things considered, though, I’m very happy with it. If you were unable to tell, these two fine men are in a spaceship/space station, and they are bros (much thanks to the men who modeled for the reference picture, who are literally bros).

On a more work related note, today at work the other artists and I finally got around to having a roughly hour-long drawing session, in which the four of us would model briefly for the other ones to draw. Seeing as we draw/paint digitally all day, it seemed like in everyone’s best interest to exercise our traditional media hands and life drawing eyes. What’s astounding is how you never realize how miserable you were when you haven’t drawn for yourself for a while–until you actually start up again and you are suddenly incredibly happy and at ease.

I got two nice 15 minute drawings from the session, of two of the very talented guys I work with; Anthony Macbain and Stephen Bliss.

Anthony enjoys needlepoint and Swiffering his apartment on Friday nights

Stephen’s hobbies include drinking tea, eating Marmite, and other painfully British things

That blob on the arm rest is supposed to be an iPhone I neglected to render, and the Union Jack on Stephen’s shirt is pure embellishment.

Manuary 2010!

(click to see full calendar!)

Nothing better first thing (heh. heh.) in a New Year than some pop culture beefcake.

Don’t worry, I made room for the beefcake fictional sociopaths too:

Christmas was great, Miami was colder than usual, and I met a talented illustration student.

New calendar soon, I think.

So it’s about a week late for the start of the month, but I finally got it done (despite such petty distractions like Thanksgiving and work)

Here for the last month of the year is Hot Motorcycle Guy:

(click here to view full size!)

It seems to be a long-standing tradition to have pinup calendars of sexy women dressed in a skimpy bikini at least a decade out of style, perhaps straddling an equally unattractive motorcycle. I will have none of this. Behold, my appropriately dressed but rakishly handsome blue guy on a 1930’s vintage motorcycle (this particular model is made up but strongly inspired by a Royal Enfield model). He is lovingly sized for your printing pleasure, or as a wallpaper perhaps if you happen to have a widescreen computer monitor.

Lesson learned: For next month, start a lot earlier than the last week of the current month.

I’m beginning to suspect that painting manly, squinty, scowling men in great detail for hours at a time in bad on my skin. You see, I have this odd habit of getting really emotionally involved in the facial expressions of the drawings I’m working on. Most of the time, they are unreferenced and have to occur naturally within my imagination. I want the guy to look like he’s convincingly sneering at the audience, so I have to feel it as well. This manifests itself on my own face.

That’s right; I squint and sneer while I draw, because I unconsciously feel it helps me draw it better.

This is something I should probably stop given I now do most of my drawing in a crowded office

(Have a bad old drawing of a naked dude riding a giant bunny)

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah forever!

(Click here for full size)

As you may or may not know, work takes up a lot of my time. It’s a little difficult to set rigid standards for myself when it comes to drawing outside of work (you know, what people do for fun I think) so I’ve become determined to draw one really low-pressure personal illustration per month. It keeps me loose, keeps me happy, and lets me draw manly men any damn I want to. So what better time to kick it off than during my favorite months, Manvember, the Only Month Whose Name Can Be Conveniently Transformed Into A Manly Pun.

I’ve been fascinated by images of men and their dogs for a while, so I came up with this. I made it a calendar so I could have something to look at while I work. Not the most exciting of reasons, but there you are. It’s still somewhat a work in progress, but I haven’t been able to upload the work I’ve done on it since I saved this version.

I’m not sure what I’m doing for next month yet, but I doodled this on my spare time and was fond of his comically tiny legs.

Let’s hope I’m actually able to finish December’s before December starts.

and,

and,

.

Work has me swamped.