Salah - The Righteous

Graphite on 9x12" Canson paper. He's the brother from Egypt that I never had. Never compromising, he always stands for what he believe is right, regardless. Always ready to lend a helping hand at any time, no matter what it takes. He's surely living up to his name -the righteous. A very pious man who has read the Bible from cover to cover more than many times than anybody I know. He's excited to be the Godfather of my first baby due on September. That would make us both next to being real brothers. The guy is a good man, what else can I say?
I would have to look at Seiler's works as reference for me to come with something on my own. I'm kinda having fun doing this funny faces of friends, it's relaxing though still challenging. My works hasn't gone that exhageratingly interesting or stirringly funny, not as Seiler as yet. I am still testing the water and see where will it take me.

Sleeping Willow

Charcoal and white chalk on 12x18" brown paper. A registered nurse from Boston. She's quite a gem with 3 brilliance: beauty, brain, and talent (plays violin!). She's friendly, outgoing, and a workaholic bee.

Darwin Harris

Chalk pastel on 11x14 Bristol Vellum. Darwin, movie and tv actor, a typical guy who speaks his mind, very straight forward, tells it like it is. He's been working with us for 4 years or so; funny guy who loves people, a good friend to many, and charming around women. I did this cartoon from his website, trying to see if I have the knack for drawing funny faces in the style like Seiler's. You be the judge.

Inspired by Jason Seiler's funny faces

Graphite on 11x14" Bristol Vellum. My Romanian buddy, Constantin. Some characters are just bound to draw attention from anybody at a drop of a hat like a piece of magnet. The guy is amazing, he would nonchalantly chat with any of the top brasses in the hospital about anything. And they love the guy! I saw how the man operates and that's pure confidence cooked right in my very eyes. He's Mr. Congeniality to many and loves to play Casanova to lady nurses.

Inspired by Civardi

Blank ballpoint ink on 9x12" Strathmore paper. Giovanni Civardi has one hell of a pencil rendering that I like most. It's a crisscross hatching that is raw and revealing of every treatment of shadings he did. I copied these set of eyes from his book,"Complete Guide to Drawing".

Black ink Ballpoint & Pastel on 9x12" Strathmore paper.

Head Study of a friend

Sanguine Chalk Pastel on 11x14 paper. She used to be a Facebook friend, a fellow artist whose into interior designing from Middle East. Frankly, I forgot her name, I only knew her for a brief period of time. She just poofed out from my list of friends. I was only intrigued of her beautiful middle eastern face and the talent behind it; she is pretty good on what she does. I'm glad I saved her pic and was able to draw her, but, sadly, I wasn't able to show this artwork. I can't believe that I cannot even put a name on a face.

Figure Study

Charcoal on 11x14 paper. It's strange that even before I hit the paper I knew that this time it'll be a different perspective of approach in my study of this figure. I was thinking mostly on treating the light in a more conscientious and intellectual way, and not just by going by instinct of not having my brain "to have a part of it". It came out easy and fast, and not being enslaved by hit and miss, by its tedious detail, by anatomy, or of any other choices an artist has to deal with. I dealt the form by way of looking at light, and with that it came out all together in linear, planar, and light and shadows as I progress. On top of all, everything has to make sense.

Head study

Chalk Pastel on 9x12" Strathmore paper. This one was a repro of Lipking's. The ear looks awkward that obviously I don't know what I was doing. The forehead looks short, not proportional to her bigger face inspite of the foreshortening. The sternomastoid muscle in not correctly stressed. Here is the premise: even for a small degree of error from the original the artwork would look awkward, simply because the foundation of the anatomy is weak. The structure of every part is not convincingly articulated. The artist is enslaved by his/her ignorance or lack of mastery. Some really good illustrators, like Jason Seiler, can be exageratedly or grotesquely bent, but could still maintain the facial character of the model. It's not enough if one could anatomically name all the parts (that's the easy part), but still COULD NOT draw without looking at the model. Until one has embedded visually in mind, from bones to muscles, with its contractions and extensions, and can draw them well even without a model in different perspectives and movements, then, in my opinion, the artist has mastered his craft. I thought I still have a long long way to go [sigh].

Dashing Debonair Pierce

Black ballpoint on 9x12" Strathmore paper. I feel comfortable using ballpoint unless they bleed occassionally. The fineness and consistency is what I look for a good ballpoint. It's as versatile as a pencil, I could get darkness or lightness out of it depending how much pressure I put on my drawing. There is only one downside, which is bigtime if one is not careful, and that is, everything you put down on paper is final, no erasures. It's easy if you're used to looking at your artwork as a whole in the first stage before you go on the detail, as it should be with any medium. That way, one is commited to not making many significant mistakes.

Inspired by Jeremy Lipking

Black Ballpoint on 9x12" Strathmore paper. I wanted to know what I can do with Lipking's painting, rendering the light, the main idea of this masterpiece with black ink. Most of his paintings have dramatic lighting and very expressive with his figures. I like the skin tones of his figures that blends well with fuzzy background.

Quick Sketches #7

Wolff Carbon on 9x12" paper.

Drawing figures is more than just copying. To blindly copy is not learning at all. Drawing is more of thinking. As Karl Gnass said, "Don't copy what's incomprehensible, ambiguous and unclear to the eye if it weakens your visual statement". You want to ask yourself, what action is the model doing? How will I put that action down to my paper? I know it is basic, but it is essentially vital that it takes couple of seconds to resolve it in your nuggin. Know your strategy. You would want to look at your model's torso and pelvis, it's turns and twists, and to where it is facing. Forget about the measurements for now. You want that ACTION down! Basically, landmarks like the sternum, and the anterior superior iliac crest or ASIS (please check your anatomy) are pretty much your guide to tell you how much twist and turn, granting your model is standing up.

Your next question is, where is the weight being distributed, and how are the other parts, like the extremities, and the head are responding to that gravity? If you're not sure, do the action yourself. After such investigations, you should be equipped to get it down to your paper. Make sure these points are clearly express in your drawing. It's what they call "gesture". It won't come easy at first, and if your figure looked stiff, something is wrong and you know you have to work it out. Fluidity is the operative word here. There are more details on such techniques, and I suggest that you invest on instructional books on figure drawing if you're serious into learning. You'll discover and learn a lot of stuff as you would learn from a class. Have some patience and you'll get it.

When you feel confident on your skills get some art classes for serious artists, not those kiddie classes in your neighborhood where you would only be embarrassed by some, still in their puberty, who are way talented than you. Adults are generally more discreet on this subject. Moreover, you don't want to waste so much money on trying to learn from scratch like you have never done drawing before. Come prepared. Figure drawing offered in community colleges are not that bad. When I started signing in for art classes, I was confident enough of my drawing and the stuff I learned from instructional books ( just have minor kinks that needed to straighten up) and it makes learning easy, fast, and not overwhelming. I always believe that talent, regardless of what they are, can always be acquired. If it is innate in you, then it becomes easy and natural to learning; and more so with proper nurture, it can even blossom to ingeniuty and mastery.

The drawings above are not that all perfect, but at the end of the exercise I ask myself those same questions to make sure that I was clear in expressing gestures. Can you feel the weight of that head resting on that model's right hand? Get busy!

Quick Sketches #6

Wolff Carbon on 9x12 paper.

Quick Sketches #5

Wolff Carbon on 9x12 paper.

Quick Sketches #4

Red Ink on 9x12" paper. I was watching a Laker game to cap my day after a day long of work. I got bored and got back to drawing again for a few more posting. I did it. That's what I call another mile stretched on productivity. I deserve a pat on a shoulder for a good job. By the way, Lakers spanked the Nuggets.

Quick Sketches #3

Red Ink on 9x12" Paper. I used the marker given to me by a co-worker, who thought about me when she found a stock of it in her cluttter one day. Talk about one's trash could be of some use for others. I know she will be glad to see these sketches; thanks Ms. Lanier J. Actually, I got another stock of pencils, markers, and pastels in one big tray from Ms. Tanya B - thanks to you, too.

These sketches are products of two days of quick sketches. I got a little momentum so I thought of doing straight ink on paper. Among these sketches, I like the top most- it takes a few curve lines to define the action. I did these sketches on an average of 3 minutes each. It's funny to realize how you could do so much in a little time when you're on a roll. However, I still don't get it on why is it a big deal to be able to do such skill -- the faster, the better. In music, my mentor always have to remind me to go slow when learning a new piece--that I dig.

Quick Sketches #2

Ink on 9x12" paper. Generally, I feel guilty if I don't do any progress in my craft. I don't know how I got that psyche, but it's like a voice over my shoulder trying to always push me to do some production. However, when I indulge myself into it I don't feel like doing anything else other than creating art, even if it is equally important for that day like doing errands, bills, returning books to the library, changing my engine oil, and some other stuff that make up my day by day activities to live in this planet. I even get lazy to eat anything. I could stay in the room forever! And at the end of the day, I get trip of euphoria to have accomplished something significant when I hit the bed. I personally don't see that wierd. The operative word is passion. I know some folks who could relate to this behavior. I got 3 strong words for us newbies: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Quick Sketch on Figures

Black China Marker on 18x24" Newsprint. I copied these figures from the book of Joseph Sheppard, concerning mainly on the gestures and quick sketches than his more detailed drawings. I am looking at more on the directional force of the movement and the applied force,as indicated by the arrows, to the gravity for a more definitive gestures. I learned that exaggeration of such movement is a good tool of showing the artist's idea or interpretation of the gesture. Quit assuming or blindly copying the figures, it suggests that nothing can be learned from it. Understand the action and be clear on interpreting it. Make sense?

Gnass Inspired

Charcoal on 9x12 Newsprint. I stumbled on a book entitled, " Spirit of the Pose", by Karl Gnass; I never heard of such name before. It's a pretty good material. Very inspiring. Full of concepts on quick sketching that I could benefit. I like his style of drawing--carefree and instinctual, yet precise. Anyway, this book gives me an inspiration of getting back to the basics of quick sketching and learning it's philosophy. I checked out Gnass' website (http://spirit-of-the-pose.com/home.html), it has full of infos and I learned that he runs classes and seminars for a very reasonable price for a ton of info that you could learn (the steep tuition usually stops me from coming back). Have they heard of starving artists? Mr. Gnass conducts his classes and seminars, and are usually full. It's conveniently located as it's just around the neighborhood, the American Animation Institute at Lankershim Blvd.. They just started their spring classes. And if you live around LA, check it out.

Chalk pastel on 14x17 Bristol Vellum. I was side tracked for 2 months from doing art. In this time of crisis I have to sort out my finances, and I am sort of a one focus at a time kind of guy. However, it feels good to be back on track and be able to do something good like this. Refreshing. 'Turned out to be the first one for '09. It took me 2 days of on and off work on this.