Characters And Concepts - A Work In Progress

Stalker

2012-01-05T00:11:00.002+11:00

Well, I was working on this before Christmas for a Chow Challenge over at conceptart.org. Unfortunately though, the 'joy of the season' got in the way and I never finished it in time for polling. I was originally hoping to detail it more but now I am discouraged and dumping it in the 'has-been' basket. I do love Chow though, and I swear, I swear, I swear I'm gonna do LOADS more of them...!

Barbarion cuties

2012-01-04T23:28:00.000+11:00

Just did these little guys for fun. It's a portrait of Barbarion, a band some mates are in. They are big, manly men. I think I captured their likeness here!

Grannies!

2012-01-01T23:01:00.000+11:00

I drew some grannies! XD

The Aquarium Cafe

2011-12-13T21:27:00.001+11:00

Did a little paintover of a recent sketch.. I did this sketch in a local cafe that used to be an aquarium. I used to love visiting the aquarium when I was growing up; there was a huge variety of fish there and they even had a small crocodile (which, in retrospect, was kinda cruel given the size of its tank). When I first moved out of home I decided to get goldfish, and I loved watching them swim around in their bowl. Unfortunately though, I was terrible at keeping them alive. I did everything the aquarium guys told me to do, but for some reason, the little buggers just kept dying on me! I became a familiar face at the aquarium during this period (not something that I am proud of..).

Eventually, I gave up and packed up the fish bowl. Since then, as I mentioned, the aquarium has closed and been turned into a cafe that does killer breakfasts. I'm a bit of a regular there now, and on one recent visit I found myself remembering all the fish that used to be there. I imagined their little ghosts swimming around the heads of the customers; an idea that I found a lot more cute than creepy... Anyway, that was what inspired this sketch.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that my ultimate favourite variety of goldfish were the pearlscales, AKA golfball fish. They are goofy little fish that are shaped like golfballs (as if that wasn't self-explanatory), and I LOVED them, so they are the fish you see here.

Some more sketches from the tram..

2011-12-05T22:29:00.001+11:00

Below are a few sketches of some characters I've been developing for a comic that I may eventually write... They are nameless and will probably remain so...

Ane here are some regular sketches from the tram...

Aand I drew this with the intention of giving it to somebody as an apology... but as it turned out, I wasn't really sorry! So here it is. He is 'sheepish', get it?!! OK, not my most brilliant moment.. but I think it's pretty cute...

My other blog..

2011-11-06T19:46:00.002+11:00

Spent some time today on my 'little mechanic' character. There are a couple more screenshots at the blog that I have set up specifically to track my progress with this character. Link here.

Something's going on here...

2011-10-07T23:26:00.001+11:00

But I'm not sure what...

Like a tiger...

2011-10-05T22:59:00.000+11:00

At the risk of sounding like a primary school kid, tigers have ALWAYS been my favourite animals. But for some reason, I've never really drawn them that much. Was googling tigers today and did this sketch..

Hot ZBrush Woman

2011-09-21T17:31:00.001+10:00

An oldish sculpt that I just found on my hard drive. Yes, her ear is a mess... was just mucking around. She's a bit of a babe, though, right?!

Another one..

2011-09-13T20:20:00.000+10:00

Tram Lady - Painted

2011-09-13T14:37:00.001+10:00

Just had a little play with Painter this afternoon. Painted over a tram sketch from a previous post. Was fun!

A Drunk.

2011-09-10T16:50:00.004+10:00

I keep hearing stories of moose feeding on fermented apples and ending up in compromising situations; ie. stuck up trees or in backyard swimming pools. It gave me a humourous image of a moose with a penchant for cider...

I couldn't think of anything funny that a drunk moose might say.... Suggestions welcome!

Nude Sketch Lightbox

2011-08-24T21:43:00.003+10:00

I was recently approached by Zac Ford, a design student from New Zealand, with a request to use this sketch for one of his projects; making a decorative lightbox using fibre optic lights. He has just sent me photos of the result, and I am absolutely delighted! I think it looks gorgeous. Thanks, Zac!

August tram sketches..

2011-08-24T21:36:00.000+10:00

I wish I had time to do more drawing at the moment, but unfortunately the only time I seem to be able to get into it is during my daily commute. Here are some more random sketches from the tram....

More...

2011-07-17T17:59:00.001+10:00

The Lil' Mechanic

2011-07-16T17:47:00.006+10:00

Just spent a few minutes doing these (obviously) VERY rough sketches of a little steampunk mechanic, just to satisfy my 'creative needs'.... She's a character that I have had in my head for a while now.. I'd love to use her as a little project, eventually create a nice sculpt in ZBrush and even some finished renders! I can dream, can't I? I am TERRIBLE at seeing things like this to fruition though, so I am thinking about setting up a blog devoted solely to this little project.. Maybe having people watching my progress will help me to find the motivation I need to actually see something through for myself. Feedback would be ace! Which one do you guys like the most?

But I can't concentrate....

2011-07-09T22:47:00.001+10:00

Young Madonna

2011-07-01T23:14:00.003+10:00

Good lord, I feel like I haven't done a drawing in years. Desperately needed to doodle brainlessly for a few minutes tonight, and ended up doodling from a photo of a young Madonna. The photo was from her time as a life model, before she skyrocketed to superstardom. And she was a bit of a babe! I didn't really capture her face properly.. but I kinda liked the face I drew, so I kept it...

Will probably draw some clothed people soon...

Paint Tool SAI nude sketch.

2011-05-23T20:38:00.002+10:00

Been playin' with the brushes in Paint Tool SAI tonight.. It's a pretty neat little art app. I like its brushes for inking way better than anything Photoshop can do. Here is another nude.. 'cause let's be honest, who doesn't love nude lady sketches!

EDIT: I was having fun, so I did another one...

Space Invader

2011-05-19T22:21:00.000+10:00

Quick sketch before bed..

More May Tram Sketches

2011-05-18T18:19:00.002+10:00

...

Tram Sketches - May 2011

2011-05-11T20:08:00.000+10:00

I am working in South Melbourne at the moment and while I am not a fan of the commute, I AM a fan of the time it gives me to do some sketching.. Here are some doodles from today and yesterday.

Another redhead...

2011-03-23T22:31:00.001+11:00

Really shouldn't have spent time doing this tonight, but sometimes I just get to the point where I can't focus on anything until I do something for myself..

Sunday Sketchin'

2011-03-01T15:04:00.000+11:00

A few more sketches, this time from Sunday sketch group. Nothing earth shattering, just documenting my progess..

Feb sketches

2011-02-26T14:34:00.002+11:00

Haven't posted here for a little while (been super busy again) so just thought I'd throw up some sketches from my day in the city yesterday, just to keep the ball rolling...

Another simple nude..

2011-02-07T21:26:00.005+11:00

Once again, I have found myself with very little time for personal work, but here's a quick geisha..

My love affair with Painter...

2011-01-11T19:02:00.002+11:00

It's long overdue, but Painter and I are together at last. I have been putting it off for so long, due to a mixture of fear and laziness, but I believe the time has come for me to get to know this little gem of a package. Blending heaven!!

This was drawn from photo ref, but stylized obviously. I can't remember where the photo came from unfortunately.. I think it was one of those 'National Geographic Best Photos of 20-whenever" lists, but I wouldn't know how to find it again to credit the photographer. It is a gorgeous photo at any rate, there are actually a lot more children in the line in the actual photo, but I ran out of stamina. I really enjoyed attempting to capture the expressions on the faces of the little girls. I feel like that sort of thing comes so naturally to me and I find it so lovely and cathartic. This was lots of fun. And now I REALLY have to go and do some work....

A Blue Vampire.....

2011-01-11T00:40:00.002+11:00

Played with Painter a bit tonight. This is the result of going back and forth between Photoshop and Painter. Loved the effect I was able to get in Painter with the hair. It's better on full view...

I should be working......

Perspective Girl.

2011-01-03T00:24:00.001+11:00

Just messing around with perspective.

Snooty...

2011-01-02T17:49:00.002+11:00

Another little doodle...

Another sexy lady sketch...

2010-12-30T18:34:00.000+11:00

Lots and LOTS of time to draw....

Colour Play.

2010-12-30T15:57:00.000+11:00

Plenty of time for drawing at the moment. Just wanted to mess around with colour for this one, since it's an area where I really am completely clueless. Just decided to wing it and try to get lots of different tones and hues in there. No idea if it really works, but it was kinda fun anyway...

Character Profiles

2010-12-29T17:51:00.006+11:00

Just did a few character profiles today for fun.

Good times.

2010-12-28T14:59:00.000+11:00

This one has been languishing on my hard drive FOREVER. Finally decided to slap a little more shading on it and send it on its way. As you work your way down the pictures, you can see my shading get lazier and lazier. Good times.

Surprise, surprise....

2010-12-27T17:55:00.003+11:00

Another emotion, one that I am not feeling so much today...

Grumpy.

2010-12-27T16:34:00.001+11:00

Happy holidays, everybody! XD

Yet another quick nude..

2010-12-18T00:43:00.002+11:00

Aaaggh! Been so bogged down with work. Just could not sleep tonight until I did this though...

'Nother one..

2010-12-04T17:33:00.005+11:00

Illustrator doodle...

2010-12-02T23:15:00.003+11:00

Just a quick little update tonight. Have been doing a few jobs that require Illustrator lately. It has been aaaages since I have used it and since I've gotten so used to sketching in Photoshop, I had forgotten how nice it is to sketch in a vector program. Have had very little spare time though, so here and there I have been busting out little doodles to keep myself sane..

Tram sketches for November

2010-11-22T17:19:00.011+11:00

Just some sketches from the tram this month...

Pillaging and plundering...

2010-11-22T13:36:00.004+11:00

Some mates of mine have formed a theme band called "Barbariön" (they wanted "Barbarian", but apparently there is already some Scandinavan metal band by that name..). They play barbarian-themed metals songs and each band member has his own persona. They have put a LOT of time and effort into their costumes and stage props as well as their music, and seeing them play is a truly entertaining experience. They asked me to do an illustration for the cover of their new EP, "AAAAARRRGGGHHHH" (I'm not sure if I spelt that correctly...), so here is Frank in all his glory.

Check out Barbariön's website here.

Quick zombie..

2010-11-16T22:13:00.007+11:00

Zombies seem to have been following me around this month! They have appeared as the theme for several forums and competitions, and I have been watching The Walking Dead and playing Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (briefly... it's damn scary...). Anyway, with all these zombies around, I feel like I am the only artist I know who hasn't at least sketched one yet! Had some free time tonight for the first time in a while, so here 'tis.

P.S. I realise this is an unnaturally sassy looking zombie... it started as a sketch of a healthy human girl before I decided to zombify her. May do another one soon with the regulation vacant zombie expression that we all know so well...

and some life drawings...

2010-10-31T22:22:00.001+11:00

Definitely have not been doing enough life drawing. I always love it when I go though...

'nother sketch..

2010-10-31T20:45:00.000+11:00

Just a quickie...

some sketches...

2010-10-31T19:21:00.011+11:00

Spent this afternoon scanning a big backlog of sketches from the tram and sunday sketch club. Lots of gestural sketches and faces. Woo!

Gangstas

2010-10-16T17:14:00.002+11:00

Just doodled up some tough lookin' folks this arvo...

a sketch

2010-10-10T00:26:00.002+11:00

Been working a lot lately, and mostly 3D stuff. Reallly needed to draw something tonight.. so just did a quick sketch...

Just a little update...

2010-09-30T21:54:00.007+10:00

Gee whiz, has it been a while! I have been working like a madwoman lately, very little spare time for drawing and blogging... but here's a couple of little tidbits. First up is a little kiddie having his kindergarten portrait taken. Secondly is a late ArtJumble submission. Topic is pretty self explanatory I guess. I wanted to make her a bit more 'ballsy' than her traditional wimpy, "damsel-in-distress" persona. I guess it's just my inner feminist but I've never been a big fan of Peach....

RollerGirl

2010-08-13T13:40:00.005+10:00

I recently joined the world of Twitter and have been really enjoying its benefits. I'm finding it's a great way to connect and keep in touch with other artists and stay up-to-date with what's going on in the creative world. I wanted to jazz up my Twitter page a little, so I drew this surly little lass to use as a border image. Pretty happy with how she came out...

Follow me on Twitter here. I'll even return the favour!

Cartoony Bettie Page

2010-08-11T10:37:00.002+10:00

This week's ArtJumble topic is simply "girls". Thought it would be fun to do a little pinup...

Animal Mix 'n' Match

2010-08-10T14:36:00.004+10:00

Quick little doodle done for ArtJumble. He's a fennec fox/porcupine/weasel. Fun!

Hypnosis Rodent

2010-08-05T08:50:00.004+10:00

Spontaneously decided to join the weekly Sketchoholic CHIUstream halfway through. Wish I'd joined at the start as this was suuuuper rushed! Also super fun though, will definitely make the effort to get involved next week! Topic was 'Fluffy Animal Mind Control".

Shark Week!!

2010-08-04T18:29:00.005+10:00

I wracked my brains trying to think of some funny or clever situation to draw some sharks in. Came up blank, so just drew these guys rollin'...

Orange

2010-07-31T18:56:00.003+10:00

Did this real quick tonight for this week's ArtJumble. Can't actually stand looking at it.. too messy! But it was nice to draw after a week or so of intensive ZBrush study...

ZBrush rocks my socks!!

2010-07-26T08:39:00.004+10:00

Been playing around some more with my nerdy man, messing around with MatCap materials. Oh, the power!!! It blows my mind.. anyway I like this sort of fleshy material a lot more! Also made proper, indented eyeballs for him, but am yet to figure out how to add a transparent cornea to the eyes from within ZBrush. My research so far tells me that it's not actually possible, but we'll see....

3D Sculpt

2010-07-24T16:29:00.007+10:00

Spent the last couple of days making this little guy. It wouldn't have taken so long except that I am anal and I MUST have good topology (no plans to animate this guy.. so it's not exactly necessary, but as I said - anal), so I ended up spending a good deal of time re-topologising. Everything was done in ZBrush, and I learnt a lot while doing it, which was the point, so I am happy. There are a lot of little details that could use tweaking and I thought about bringing him into 3DS Max (where I am a lot more competent) and adding proper eyeballs and doing a nice render or something, but for the moment I think I will just let him be.

Does he look familiar? I have plans to do a bunch more of these, who should I do next I wonder.... ?

heh..

2010-07-23T18:47:00.003+10:00

Quick little drawing I did tonight for my cousin. Thought it was cute enough to warrant an upload...

EDIT: Cuz wanted the scene to look more dangerous, so I added a precarious stack of boxes behind our badly lifting little monkey...

Bleh..

2010-07-19T11:13:00.003+10:00

Quick cartoony self-portrait done for ArtJumble.

Arrr, me hearties!

2010-07-11T19:03:00.006+10:00

Finally got around to taking part in Character of the Week at ConceptArt.org again, it's been a while! Got a bit carried away here but I'm pretty happy with the result. The topic was "Captain of the Sky Pirates", I opted for a slightly different angle. You can see the forum thread along with eveybody else's entries here. To any artists out there who have never taken part in one of the ConceptArt weekly challenges, I highly recommend having a go! It makes for amazing motivation and a great way to get honest feedback from other artists.

And here's a couple of other little things I've done lately...

Retro colours...

2010-06-27T14:49:00.001+10:00

A couple of little colour studies. Ref used was creative commons images from Flickr.

Old folks

2010-06-26T18:28:00.001+10:00

Just did some quick greyscale studies tonight..

Toy Storyyyyy!

2010-06-22T12:54:00.002+10:00

Did this for an Art Jumble post. First time I've posted there, but I'm looking forward to sharing my work with other artists through this forum. Have a few other little things in the works that I will post soon!

The 3rd Dimension...

2010-06-02T00:53:00.009+10:00

I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to do some 3D sculpting. Well, after a couple of days of intensive ZBrush study, here is sculpt numero uno. Obviously, these are just WIPs, and there is loads more to do. Aside from giving her proper eyeballs so she doesn't look like the devil, I am planning to do the following:

- Finish detailing on the ears
- Proper hair sculpt (it's very rudimentary at the moment)
- Eyelashes
- Fine detail such as subtle wrinkles and creases in the lips. I'm not going to go overboard here though, I'm not shooting for hyper-real with this one.
- More skin colour detail, maybe some freckles?
- Give her a headband. I'm yet to figure out the best way to do this using ZBrush.

I'd like to take this one to a finished render, using some SSS to try to create a nice skin material. As mentioned, I don't wanna go hyper-real, I want to tread the fine line between the real-world and stylization.

You may notice the slight bumps on the sides of her forehead. This is a topology issue.. I really need to re-topologise but gawd.. who wants to do that! So I've been putting it off....

Anyways... I like her cheekbones!

Oh, and while we're playing 3D, found this guy the other day when I was sifting through old files on my iPod. I actually took him to a fully-rigged, animatable level in Max, but something got broken in the move from work to home. Will have to investigate, as I'd love to use him to play around with some lip-sync animations..

Oh, and...

2010-05-30T03:13:00.002+10:00

Forgot about these sketches...

Finally, an update...

2010-05-30T01:04:00.013+10:00

OK, so it's been a while! Been working again, earning a crust and sinking my teeth into 3D again, which has been really good for me. Hadn't touched it for over 6 months, and was worried about being rusty. Anyway, have some spare time now, so can finally make some updates.

First off, I've been doing a bunch of sketches for a new workmate, Jono Friesler. He's a talented young chappy who is making a short film this year. He asked me to have a look at some character designs and expression sheets, which I had a lot of fun doing. You can see his blog here.

And here's some tram sketches from this month.

Some more blobheads...

And a quick painting I did tonight. Saw this lady on the tram the other night, and was blown away by her dog-hat.

Lots more to come. As usual, I have loads of half-finished paintings to polish up, which I will hopefully get around to soon. Also planning some detailed zbrush sculpts and maybe some 3D animation tests, just to get back into the swing of it.

Aside from that, off to Colorado again in just over a week to see my sweetheart, and couldn't be more excited!!! Over and out.

A Wee Redhead

2010-03-09T01:32:00.002+11:00

I've been a bit inactive here over the past few days. Been super busy with some freelance work. Thought I'd pop this up to give some impression of productivity. Drew this little lady a few weeks ago but just finished off some minor details tonight. Neglected to polish her hair. I dunno.. maybe I'll tidy it up some more some other time....

Painter Play

2010-02-23T14:37:00.003+11:00

My first proper play with Corel Painter. Took a while to get used to the way the 'media' behaves, since I'm so accustomed to PhotoShop brushes these days. But it was loads of fun (I LOVE the paint mixer), and I look forward to getting to know the program better!

Just a little old lady...

2010-02-22T21:09:00.002+11:00

I started a painting with a bunch of blobs the other day, and before too long I found this evil old bat staring up at me. I decided to have some fun with her facial expressions. I'll post the painting when/if I ever finish it...

Studies, studies and more studies...

2010-02-20T19:51:00.011+11:00

I spent today doing some studies using stock photographs from DeviantArt. These poses are all quick sketches, referenced from photos by the marvelous SenshiStock. At her DA account you will find vast amounts of free-to-use reference photos, in practically every pose imaginable. I had fun doing these, but my hand was really sore by the time I got to pose 34. I did pick up on some bad sketching habits of mine while I was doing them, so at least I definitely learned something!

And this is a value study based directly on a stock photograph by Marcus Ranum. He was fun to draw, loving the zoot suit!

And now I should really go and do some actual paid work. Funny how no matter how fun a job is, I still prefer to do my own stuff. It's like I insist on rebelling against having restrictions of any sort (something I am going to most certainly need to get over, if I ever want to make it as a freelance illustrator!). Anyway, I've done a lot of black and white sketching lately.. gonna go back to colour for my next few tidbits I reckon......

last night and this morning...

2010-02-18T17:40:00.005+11:00

This is a drawing of Mike after he fell asleep on me on Skype while we were watching Family Guy. He left himself open to attack...

And this nursie is for my sister. It's going to be incorporated into a t-shirt design which she will have made up as a thankyou to all the nurses who took care of her after her recent motorcycle accident.

quick little sketch before bed..

2010-02-16T00:16:00.002+11:00

Done with photo ref.

bleh.

2010-02-15T18:45:00.003+11:00

Just some value studies from last night and this morning.

Some old giraffe pics...

2010-02-14T00:50:00.005+11:00

Yup yup.

about time.....

2010-02-13T16:50:00.017+11:00

WELL! It's been quite some time since I've done a blog update, but that's not to say I haven't been keeping busy. Quite the contrary, in fact. However, I certainly didn't draw as much as I told myself I would while I was overseas. I guess I am trying to make up for that now or something, because all i want to do is draw these days. Anyway, I have a few things to show. Unfortunately, most of the stuff I have been focussing my energy on is for a job, and can't be shown here for the time being. In the meantime, here is some other stuff....

Some fanart of the gorgeous Kira from The Dark Crystal. I wanted so badly to be her when I was a tot! Such a sweet face and such a sweet character..

A few colour studies...

These two drawings are of my lovely boyfriend Michael, who I met when I was in Colorado.

And obviously, this one is not.... Just started as a little doodle and I liked his character. Yesssss, masssssterrrrrr......

Here I was just screwing around with some silhouettes and sketches of people...

There is much more to come, but most of the other stuff I have currently either needs a little more work, or isn't allowed to be displayed yet. Phew! Glad to have gotten that off my chest....

Some more old sketches...

2009-08-12T03:20:00.014+10:00

Had all these doodles sitting on my hard drive, so I thought I might as well send them out into cyberspace...

The big ol' US of A....

2009-08-12T02:14:00.014+10:00

I've finally found some time to dump some of the sketches I've been doing during my travels here in the states. Haven't really been drawing nearly as much as I should be... there is just so much to see and do here! But I'm pretty determined to lift my game. Watch this space ;)

Sketches...

2009-07-03T23:45:00.004+10:00

Just a small post here.. a few more tram sketches and some life studies. Hadn't been to life drawing for weeks, and I was going a little nuts, so I had to turn to the internet for some subjects to sketch....

And now for something completely different..

2009-06-22T19:14:00.007+10:00

Doodled up this little lady last night. Wanted a cel-shaded sort of look.. it was all I could do to resist the urge to start painting and polishing!

Also thought I'd chuck up this old sketch.. don't think I'm ever gonna find the urge to touch it again...

Sketches, studies and demons with motorcycles....

2009-06-21T17:52:00.009+10:00

Just spent the afternoon scanning a few old sketches and stuff. Thought I might as well chuck them up so it looks like I've been doing something...

Vamps

2009-06-21T15:11:00.009+10:00

Here is another piece that has been lying dormant on my hard drive for bloody ever. Vampire children! Based on yours truly and her two sisters.. this one was a LOT of fun... (full view is best!).

Steampunk biatches and other cool things...

2009-06-19T23:54:00.007+10:00

Well, it's been wayyy too long! I feel like I've been drawing constantly but I have nothing to show for it. Well, that's not entirely true, I do have things to show for it, but nothing that is finished. But I think my attitude has changed dramatically in the last couple of days. Some very positive feedback on my work, combined with the realisation that I am leaving Australia in just over four weeks has given me the motivation I need to revisit some old, incomplete pieces and just bloody finish them. This is one such piece, a doodle of a steampunk character that I started something like a year ago....

Granda

2009-04-22T14:09:00.001+10:00

Well, I have been incredibly slack these last two weeks. I HAVE been on holidays, which is kind of an excuse, but really it means I should have been using all this free time to get some stuff done. Anyway, I finally did something today. This is a portrait of a man who I love and admire immensely; my granda, Ian McDiarmid. Today is his 79th birthday. Happy birthday, granda!

spaaaace monkey...

2009-03-26T20:40:00.001+11:00

Done for the daily sketch group at conceptart...

2009-03-24T19:55:00.001+11:00

Big update here. I'll start with my 3rd expression sheet. This is the same guy as from the others, but as a rookie baseball player, so he's a lot younger and leaner.

This is my second ChoW... this one was totally rushed cause I was very pushed for time this week. I laid down quick colours last night... I decided to go for a more cel-shaded look because it wouldn't take as long as doing a full painting. But even though it was a quickie, I am reasonably happy with the feel of the lighting that I managed to achieve. Always trying to push my boundaries....

Did these little dudes for a girl at work, as mascots for the fundraising committee. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Not my usual sort of thing but they make me smile, so maybe they'll make other people smile too...

And I just scanned some of my sketches from the last week of so. As usual, they were done on the tram, where I seem to do most of my sketching these days...

Puss In Boots and other fun things...

2009-03-17T19:38:00.001+11:00

Well! Boy did I get carried away on the weekend... I finally decided to take part in one of the weekly competitions over at conceptart.org. This week's "Character of the Week" was Puss In Boots. I started this on Friday night and finished it on Saturday night, with a bit of sleep in between. It is an incredible motivator to have people looking at your works in progress! Shame I never had the time to do a proper background... but at least it's a finished image.. and it took me a DAY! What kills me about that is the amount of half-finished pieces I have sitting on my hard-drive that I'm sure I could just finish very quickly if I were to find the motivation... God bless conceptart.org. I am so gonna get into this ChoW business....

Speaking of not finishing stuff.. here's a little study I started in spare time at work quite awhile ago. It's not finished, but I am finished with IT! I don't expect to ever touch it again...

And I did this today for a guy at work. He's paying me with a six pack. I had to squeeze it in cause I am under the pump at work, so it's kinda messy but I am happy with how it turned out.

So, on the whole, I feel like I am living and breathing drawing at the moment. I think about it constantly, and most of my spare time is spent doing it. Not great for my social life but I don't really mind cause I am loving it so much at the moment. So hopefully this blog will see plenty more action in the days/weeks/months to come!

Monty Biggs - Has Been

2009-03-10T18:17:00.002+11:00

Next expression sheet here. Same dude, just older and less successful. What fun! Now to go back and wallow in my influenza-ridden state.. not so much fun.....

2009-02-20T21:57:00.001+11:00

I've started doing some work for a work colleague, for his short film. His name is Arran Potter, and he is working feverishly on this project, and it's exciting to be involved! You can check out his blog here.
This is my first complete expression sheet, and I've gotta say it was a hell of a learning curve. One of the lessons I learned was to SAVE MORE OFTEN! My laptop has been overheating on a regular basis lately.. I don't think there's anything wrong with it because it usually happens on obscenely hot days, but this particular time I think it was because I was foolishly resting it on a fuzzy cushion at the time... I have ordered a laptop cooler but it still hasn't arrived...
Yep. Interesting stuff.

More drawing from life..

2009-02-20T21:50:00.001+11:00

It's been SO good to get back to life drawing after the 'festive' season. I'm finding myself looking forward to it every week now. Every session teaches me something new.

Snoop

2009-01-22T22:57:00.001+11:00

An internet buddy of mine lives in Alaska, so while it's 40ºC here in Melbourne he and his pooch can be suffering through temperatures as low as -28ºC... Snow is not pleasant on a doberman's bare paws, so Snoop gets booties.

Attack of the Blobheads Pt. 1

2009-01-22T16:12:00.002+11:00

I've been a bit of a free agent at work the last couple of days so I've had a lot of time to sketch. I was starting to feel frustrated because there were too many things I wanted to work on.. meaning I didn't know where to start! So, instead of doing any of them, I decided to do a little exercise that I remember reading about somewhere, maybe on someone's blog.. ? Anyway, I think you can probably guess the gist of it.. Draw a bunch of random blobs (even better if you get someone else to draw them for you) and proceed to attempt to turn them into faces. It is a super fun and organic way to loosen up and think outside the box.. I try not to dwell on any one blob for too long, and if i find that I am getting finicky, ie. constantly erasing bits of a face and trying to get it right, then I will usually delete the whole face and start again. I find that when I work this way, the shapes dictate the face for me, meaning the character practically draws itself! Super fun stuff......

2009-01-17T12:40:00.001+11:00

Just doodled this guy up between renders at work. Reference was an old photo booth photo that I stumbled across online... I just loved his face!

Also.. I just noticed that I signed it "08".. Looks like I'm not accustomed to the new year yet...

Some more life drawings..

2008-12-18T20:32:00.001+11:00

Time hasn't exactly been on my side lately.. plus i broke my extra keyboard which makes it much harder to draw on my lappie... but no more excuses... I'm getting back into it tonight! In the meantime.. here are some life drawings from the other week...

Tram Goers Vol 1.

2008-12-01T22:52:00.001+11:00

Just scanned some sketches tonight.. all drawn on the tram. I often have to draw people's profiles or people who are looking down reading, as I don't want them to notice me doing it. I can imagine it could potentially make them feel uncomfortable.... ;)

2008-11-30T19:56:00.001+11:00

Thought I'd add some life drawings here too...

2008-11-30T17:26:00.001+11:00

These are the 3 pieces that I have finished most recently. I still have a bunch more that are sort of maybe 70 to 90% done.. I just need to find the motivation to finish them off somehow....

2008-11-30T17:06:00.002+11:00

Here's some more random old stuff, still nothing that hasn't seen the light of day before, but the new stuff will come...

This one's a self portrait.. another colour study done for fun...

This was a graphite drawing that I did for a fundraiser. Unfortunately I never scanned it (it was too big for my scanner) and only snapped this photo of it on my phone before handing it over. It sold on the night, which I was happy about, but I suppose I hadn't been expecting that or I might've tried to get a better quality photo first.... You can't really tell from this, but I suppose you can guess that there is a kid at the bottom of the well....

These two are concept drawings for a personal project of mine that most likely will never happen... they are very old and not very developed, but I have a soft spot for them nonetheless...

2008-11-30T10:44:00.001+11:00

So I thought I'd just start off with a big dump of the images I already have sitting on my hard drive. These ones are all 'colour studies', basically meaning I sketched the images and used photo reference for the colours. It was a massive, massive learning curve for me and it opened my eyes to the world of colour in a new way, which basically made my head asplode... I think I'm starting to understand it more now though, and working in the 3D world has certainly helped a lot with my understanding of colour and light and materials... More to come! Comments welcome!