Sketches and Paints

A few watercolor sketches and a few sketchbook pages...

Sketchbook pages!

Well! A week and a half after Heroes and I decide to update. Heroes Con went very well. Once again, I got to meet Sanford Greene and Guy Davis, both swell guys that I'm a huge fan of, and got to chat them up a bit. Chris and I also met some readers of Border Crossings, snagged a few new people, and I even got lucky with a Mark Chiarello portfolio review (the level of excitement I had for that was immeasurable.) In anycase, I'm now backed and pumped to keep working on Border Crossings, drum up some more freelance, and keep churning out art. Speaking of, here's some new sketchbook pages.

Painter Portrait

Another little paint study...like last time, it was done in Painter, and I focused on developing the light forms out of the dark. If there's three things I can take away from all this new stuff I've learned about painting (and still applying!) it would be these three things:

1) If you think your values are pushed enough, push them some more. Chances are you're lingering too much in the halftone (middle value), which is why your picture looks muddy. (I'm still struggling with one.

2) Don't paint objects. Paint shapes. (This rule alone has gone a long way for me in making me aware of how to paint stuff. Thank you, Richard Schmid.)

3) Don't paint/draw what you know, paint/draw what you see. This is something that I think a lot of beginners (myself included,) don't realize: If you think you know how to draw an arm, I guarantee you that you're forgetting 70% of the visual information (landmarks, how the form rolls, angles, shadows, etc.) Maybe after years and years of drawing it it'll become committed to memory (and even then you should still double-check once in awhile,) but until then, ALWAYS use reference to build your visual vocabulary. It's funny how often this gets overlooked.

On a side-note, I'll be in Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con this weekend! As usual, I'll be selling sketches and issues of Border Crossings, as well as some watercolor pieces! Stop by table 336 (I'll be across the guys who make the terrific book Owly,) and say hi to me, Chris, and our tablemate Eric!