Sketching Hands: Techniques Explored in My Sketchbook
Here are a few pages from my sketchbook where I’ve been drawing hands. Hands can be challenging to draw for me so I like to draw them whenever I am able. When I start a sketching session I usually start with drawing hands.
With these hand sketches I tried a few different techniques. I used shapes to form the hand and fingers. I also used contour lines through observational drawing. I really enjoyed drawing the bones of the hand too. I think they came out cool.
Character Creation Journey: Sketching Supporting Cast for First Legacy
Here’s a character sketch drawing for my upcoming comic project, First Legacy. I’m excited about this comic because I’m writing and illustrating it. Right now, the story is set in a Dark Goth Cyberpunk world. I’m still trying to work that concept together into a story.
This design is for a supporting character for the main protagonist. I haven’t named him yet, but I know where he’ll fit in the story. He’s wearing medieval armor, which will be interesting to make fit with a cyberpunk future. It’ll make sense in the story, though. He looks a little like talk show host Conan O’Brien; I think it’s the hair. lol.
Marcio Takara: Female Character Design for Comics online course at Domestika
From Inspiration to Creation: Insights from Marcio Takara’s Female Design Class
I’m always looking for ways to better myself and my art. While on Facebook this week, I kept getting an ad for a figure class on Domestika taught by one of my favorite comic artists, Marcio Takara. I’ve been a fan of his for years, first discovering his artwork on Deviant Art and Tumbler. He’s drawn for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I really like his approach to drawing the female super-heroine form. Both feminine and strong at the same time.
I decided yes; I want to take this online course by Marcio Takara. The class name is Female Character Design for Comics. What’s very cool is that Marcio will actually look at and evaluate your character designs. The comic art course is broken up into several sections, these include tutorial videos by Marcio Takara and character design assignments. We share our designs in a group forum.
I haven’t finished the online course yet, but here are a few of my initial female character designs. A hard-knocks street-level hero, a martial artist/psychic character, and an alien or underwater warrior. I’m both having fun and learning in this class.
Fan Art Frenzy: Diving into the Six Fanarts Challenge
I’m a little late to the Six Fanarts Challenge. What’s the Six Fanarts challenge you might ask? Well, it’s an art challenge put out by Visual Artist Melissa Capriglione on her Twitter account. The challenge is for artists to ask their followers/fans/friends for six characters to draw.
The artist then draws the six characters in a template of portrait boxes that Melissa Capriglione created and shared on Twitter. The fan art is done in the artist’s style. I do love a fun art challenge, so you know I have to participate too. I learned about the Six Fanarts challenge from other artists posting their work on Instagram.
I asked my followers on Instagram who I should draw, and these are the characters they suggested.
Alucard
Anne Shirley Cuthbert
Aelita Schaeffer
Batman (Michael Keaton)
Gekko Kamen
Kratos
Thanks to everyone who suggested these characters. I had fun drawing them.
Finding Inspiration from Reference and Observational Drawing
There are so many great images and photo references on Pinterest for observational drawing exercises. I found a cool image of a woman in armor and her sword in a cool parry position and instantly wanted to draw/sketch her.
I had fun adding the details to this drawing with shadows and highlights. I really didn’t use much hatching or crosshatching, I used a lot of shading though. The armor was especially fun to draw with all the integrated metalwork on the shoulder and upper arm.
For an observational drawing exercise in my sketchbook, I’m really happy with how it came out. I can’t find the original images anymore or I would cite the source.
Drawing Scarmother Vrynna from Legends of Runeterra
Here’s my first drawing for 2020. It’s a pencil sketch of a cool image I found on Pinterest. I just had to draw this awesome Warrior Woman. Pinterest has become my go-to for image references and inspiration for my artwork.
The original image comes from a collectible card game called Legends of Runeterra. I had’nt heard of it, but from what I found the artwork is amazing. The character I drew is named Scarmother Vrynna.
I had fun with this quick sketch. Just using a cheap 0.7 mechanical pencil I bought from a dollar store and drew. I aim to enjoy the creative process more and try not to worry about always being perfect. Guess this is my 2020 New Year’s resolution, Create Art Today.
Every so often I like to dig into my collection of old drawings. The ones I did as a kid. Luckily I’ve kept all my childhood drawings. I’m kind of a pack rat when it comes to things from when I was a kid. When I was 11, I put all my toys in plastic bags and put them in storage boxes. Somewhere at my mom’s house are boxes of He-Man, GoBots, Wheeled Warriors, and Star Wars toys. I really enjoy going back and looking at the artwork I did as a kid. It helps to inspire me and my current artwork to see what I use to like to draw.
Excalibur ink drawing from 1989
Here is a drawing I did way back in 1989 of Excalibur. The original image comes from the back cover of Excalibur Issue #8. I remember thinking t was the coolest poster/pinup I’d seen. At this time I was just starting to read X-Men comics, and I really like Excalibur. This was the first time I had read anything with Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Rachael Summers. I knew I just had to draw it. I didn’t start with a pencil or a sketch. I just jumped into drawing with a regular Bic ballpoint pen.
Here’s the original image from the back cover of Excalibur #8 drawn by Comic Artist Ron Lim. In the late 80s, he was one of my favorite artists. Drawing Excalibur, Silver Surfer, and the Infinity Gauntlet.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Check out this illustration of Captain Marvel I got by comic book artist Jon Hughes. This fantastic piece is full color, marker, and ink on an 11″x14″ Bristol board. -SHAZAM!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Last year in November I participated in an awesome challenge called 30 Characters which was found at 30characters.wordpress.com. The idea was to create 30 original characters in 30 days. The challenge was thought up by comic artist Tyler James. It wasn’t easy and there were days I would hit a creative block. But I’m proud to announce I completed the challenge of creating the 30 characters. I even received a cool digital award plaque. I meet a lot of other cool creative people interested in creating comic book artists like myself. There were even characters created in this challenge that I incorporated into my personal comic project.
Well a year has come and it’s time for the 30 Characters challenge again. This time it looks like there will be over 40 participants. As an alumnus of last year’s challenge, I’m ready to jump in and let my creative juice flow. I’m even more excited this year than I was last. I have a better idea of how to approach the challenge. The last time around I only submitted pencil-drawn character designs. I’m planning on inking them this time, and if I have time color them too. My style and ability have changed and improved since last year. So I’m excited to show everyone what I can do.
The 30 Characters Challenge
Tyler James has set up an awesome new blog site (www.30characters.com) to showcase this year’s 30 characters in 30 days. He’s even supplying a cool PSD template to put the characters into for posting on the site. All are invited to “Join the Challenge“, the registration deadline is this Friday, October 29. And the characters will start going up on November 1st. Make sure to check it out!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
I started creating this piece for a silent auction being held at a Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. Here are the finished inks. I decided not to enter it but continued to finish it. The original drawing was on a 24″x19″ 2 ply Bristol board paper. The next step was inking it. I’ve seen a lot of great comic artists use a grey wash in their inkings, so I wanted to try that. I also added some movement lines in the background of the main panel. I used a 102-nib pen and a brush to ink it. In the past I’ve focused on digital inking, but lately, I’ve been enjoying inking by hand. Once I finished inking this piece titled: Renegade. I framed it and hung it on my wall. I’m proud that this piece and I had a lot of fun working on it.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
