Thursday, March 21, 2013

Sketch #13- Peter

Peter Dinklage caricature in ball pen. I heard from an interview of an animation artist somewhere who said that, when one draws with speed, at first the quality of work will fall behind. But as one practices a lot with the same fast speed overtime the quality catches up. I think my quick sketches are revealing such theory.

Sketch#12-Pitt

Brad Pitt quick sketch in ball pen.  With Brad I try not to exaggerate too much, a little bit of stretch in the nose, sagged the cheeks a tad, "botoxed" the lip a tiny bit and make the chin short.  Overall, it's not a big of an exaggeration because I tried doing it with other faces, and I always think that too much of it is too sylized that I find it less appealing.  Check out on what I did on Kirk Douglas.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Sketch #11 Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani sketch in ball pen. I did a marathon of quick sketches when I realized I cannot have access on my charcoal pencils and paper- I left it in another place. I wanted to prove to myself that nothing can stop me from doing art. I'm not working that day so I thought that I might as well be productive. And I did.

Artist Bobby Chiu once said that," artists don't have to look for inspirations before they could do art. They must train themselves to get into it at anytime, everyday. Once you get hired for some artwork or commission, you have to start right to it and beat the deadline no matter what!"

Pen and paper- that's all I need.

Sketch #8-Ken

Kenneth Galbraith quick sketch in ball pen.

Sketch #9- Ali

Muhammad Ali quick sketch in ball pen.

Sketch#7 -Ray

Ray Charles quick sketch in ball pen.

Sketch#6 -Gary

Garry Shandling quick sketch in ball pen.

Sketch #10 -De Niro

Robert de Niro quick sketch in ball pen. I noticed in Dave Malan's sketches that he only darken parts of the subject where he wanted viewers to focus first, that his focal point. Usually, it's the eyes and/or something else. I'm still training myself to get conscious about it.

Sketch #5 -evel

Evel Knievel. Quick sketch in ball pen. People say he looks like Larry King.

Sketch #4

Lauren Hutton quick sketch.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Sketch #3

Larry Flint, American publisher. Wheelchair bound Larry is a producer of the sex magazine Hustler. Caricature in ball pen and paper.

Sketch #2

James Caan. American actor. Caricature in ball pen and paper.

Sketch #1

Kirk Douglas, american actor. Quick study in ball pen and paper. When I do studies like this I'm looking for best exaggeration I can come up with. I don't stop on trying if I wasn't satisfied till i figured it out. This one came out in the first try. I would try the exercise of imagining first the end result before I do my first line, lest the lines goes all over the paper with no idea where the effort would lead me.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Elvis Costello

Caricature in black and white charcoal. His birth name is Declan Patrick MacManus. Now who would name a baby with a name like "Declan"? Yeah, but he married the famous jazz singer/pianist Diana Krall on 2003. How cool is that! I still think he's too old for her; the guy was born on 1954!!! I honestly don't know how old Diana is, but she looks very young for him.

I started the day with a quick sketch in ball pen at around 4:30. I learned to love working way early morning, it makes me feel I 'm ahead of my regular time if I were to start the day like most of us do. Let alone I am out from work for a stay-in vacation. Anyway, after the study-sketch I decided to do a charcoal on him. I started with the linear drawing on toned gray paper, looking at my quick sketch I did earlier as a guide for exaggerations and on the other side is Elvis's picture as a reference for likeness. The size of the head, its tilt over the neck and shoulder, source of light comes to question at this stage.
Then comes the stage when I blocked the shadows from light. I was still trying to figure out the likeness of Elvis. His identity has come more revealing at this stage, and I was looking for little flaws. Often times a tiny bitty of a tweak could make a big difference. The trick here is to get away for 10 mins or so, then come back to it. For sure, you'll find something! I was tempted to outline the spectacles at this stage. I thought it might distract or inhibit my goal of capturing Elvis's identity. I decided that after I am done with the whole face, then I'll concentrate only on the spectacles. Regardless of when to do it, it will ruin the whole project if it is done wrong, so I had to be extra careful with it.

Next, at this stage I couldn't wait to tackle nothing else but the spectacles. I was like a receiver (football) with the ball at hand, my eyes on the end zone for a big touchdown! I knew already that the project is going to look satisfactory good with only one thing in mind- don't mess it up. And so I carefully prodded in with the ball safely tucked in arm,and swaggered everything in the way. There was a minor problem with its symmetry of the spectacles, but I let it go for a touchdown!
I hope my little graphic analysis with football didn't throw you off, instead you were able to pick up some helpful tricks. Happy drawing!










Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Ted Cruz

US Senator Ted Cruz caricature in a quick watercolor sketch.



Thomas Nast

Watercolor on cold press paper. He is an American political caricaturist in the mid-1880s illustrating mostly about the rampant corruption of New York and the Civil War under the banner of Harper's Weekly. I picked up this subject from artist username Donkey Hotey of Flickr.

Robin Williams

Black and white charcoal on gray toned paper. Below are steps showing the formation to the final artwork. I was doing this while watching the announcement of the newly elected Pope, Francis I.







Friday, March 8, 2013

Clint

Clint Eastwood caricature in black and white on gray toned paper. I struggled on this one trying to work on its likeness while exaggerating features. It took me longer hours to finish this one.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Asian Beauty

Black and white charcoal on gray toned paper. This artwork was inspired from the work of Chen Shu-Fen, a digital artist. I was trying to explore on some other style of art outside the world of caricature that I would like to try it myself, and I stumbled on japanese manga and anime. I think there are a lot of great asian artists out there who are equally good.







Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Mistress

Black and white charcoal on gray toned paper. Her being a mistress to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragoza has nothing to do why I decided to draw her. Her beauty and the light setting was just perfect as my subject. Her name is Mirthala Salinas, which was all over the news when their story broke out. The title "The Mistress" is just a catchy phrase.
Showing below the top finished artwork are the stages of the process.