Photographers

Yesterday at the wedding I was entertaining at, I met two photographers who I have never met before. They are two really great guys, Steve and Mark and are currently making a transition as professional photographers in the army, to full time professional freelance photographers!

You can see their blog by clicking here

It was really nice to work alongside them both and I wish them the best of luck with their business!

Please do take a look at their blog!

SketchClub 1.4

This week we have one of my grandfathers tools to draw! Look for the rectangle shapes! Have fun and good luck!

Illustration project

A fun project that is now completed for my client and it was interesting working this as well as fitting a trip to Spain in the middle of it all!

The project involved me visiting the guys on site at their building sites in East London and it was nice to take the trip out of the shed!

Sketch Club 1.3 Skull

Here are the submissions for the sketch club:

Kenny Durkin:

An excellent drawing from Kenny! One that I really like!

Karl Simpson:

Great sketching from Karl, another good job!

Chris Reinhart:

Good observation from Chris and the colour work is very nice here! Well done Chris!

Again, take time to look at all three sketches and observe why you prefer any over the others.

Sketch club resumes this Friday after last weeks delay due to my trip to Spain.

Look forward to seeing you then!

Gadaffi caricature

Libya continues to be a problem and it seems that the allied forces are trying to kill Gadaffi. Now we have Syria killing it's own people. What next?

Project illustration

Here is one of the two pieces I am currently working for my client, today as you read this, I shall be busy working the second illustration!

Click on the image to view larger

The group of people here are a mix of sales and site management for a house builder. This image will be used for printing on promotional materials for the customers who have purchased homes from them!

I hope it will work out well for them and I will try to get a copy of the printed materials that they will produce, so I can show you here how it will look!

Girona Spain!

Last week my wife and I had a few days in Spain, attending the ISCA Minicon in my capacity as President of ISCA. It was a great trip and here are just a few pictures for you to enjoy, I will post more later this week when I get time to sort them out!

Drawing problem?

Something not often talked about is when you find yourself having trouble drawing. It is like being off your game so to speak.

Well this weekend I am in that situation but I know why.

I was in Spain this week at the European minicon and had a fantastic time but something I ate has upset my stomach.

That has given me some trouble and an uncomfortable feeling for the past 3 days and I am finding it difficult to concentrate when I am drawing.

I have continued with weddings I have been booked out for and all has gone well, but for me I know I am off my game somewhat and I feel frustrated by that!

I hope soon to be feeling back to normal so I can enjoy drawing live for people again!

I guess for anyone no matter what line of work they are in, feeling poorly will effect your ability to carry out your tasks!

Easter

A reflective weekend as it's Easter, the Romans played a large part in the formation of the events that led up to the crucifixion of Y'shua, which translated into Greek and then western English is Jesus.

Back Home..

Back after a great 3 days in Girona, Spain.

The ISCA Minicon is going VERY well and we left them all having lots of fantastic fun and really enjoying it all.

Above is the convention room in the hotel during the likeness competition!

I will post more about the minicon but for now I have a stack of stuff to catch up on!

Caricature example

Above is the reference picture I was given for this caricature....

Above is my first loose sketch....

Above the finished line work but I also really like my first rough sketch!

Minicon...

You may well ask what happens at a Minicon!

Well to put is simply, a bunch of caricature artists hang out and draw each other while they compete with each other for the elusive titles of winner of the competition categories!

Such titles as best colour caricature or best black and white or best 3D caricature! There are many different competitions that go to make up a minicon but there is also included one or two seminars from a guest speaker.

Drawing to compete and learning coupled with an atmosphere of deep friendship, means that a minicon is vital to the life of any artist!

I cannot put into words how important attending these conventions are! You have to be there to understand what I mean!

Up up and away!

Today we fly to Girona in Spain to attend the first few days of the ISCA European Minicon!

It will be a fantastic minicon with artists from all over the world joining together to draw and have fun!

I will be posting photo's and info from the event soon, once we are back and I have some time. Easter is on our doorstep and I have a busy period with more weddings and party's to draw at over the Easter period!

Sketching help

I thought I better show you that I can draw as well, so here is my skull sketch that I put together in Photoshop, drawing freehand with my Wacom tablet and pen from the Skull reference picture I shared with you all.

I have also added a tutorial help to show the shapes that are there.

It is these shapes that I first look for when I approach a drawing or sketch just as this. Once you have the shapes in your mind or lightly drawn on the paper, you can see and understand how the connections to these shapes, the lines, go to make up the overall drawing and then you have the tools to create a very cool sketch!

Please click on the image to view full size.

I hope you find this helpful and inspiring to tackle the sketch of the skull.

So enjoy, have fun and remember to look for the shapes!

iPad sketch

Young boy sketch drawn on layers in the ArtStudio app on my iPad this week. I work with a top layer for the line work and then, on a layer underneath, I add the colour to finish the sketch.

Sketch Club 1.3

Sketch Club this week is pushing the boundary some more with this weeks subject, a skull!

I am away most of next week, so you have an extra week to get your sketches done, as I will be posting your sketches of this subject on Sunday April 24th, instead of the Wednesday. This is due to my trip to Spain for the ISCA European Minicon!

So here is the skull, its rubber, not a real one, look for those circles and oval shapes again...... have fun and email your sketches to me as usual: (Click on image to view larger)

Project

This week I have been working on a special project for a client, here are the two illustrations I have been drawing ready for colour once they are approved:

It has been an interesting project and I hope they like them!

Sketch Club 1.2 Drawings

Here are the drawings form our Sketch Club members and another great set of sketches!

Geoff Muskett

Geoff has drawn with strong pencil lines that I like and has caught the subject perfectly, well done Geoff!

Karl Simpson

Karl has also drawn a perfect sketch of the subject and I really like his soft lines that combine to make up his sketches, good job!

Debra Buckland

Debra has also drawn two very good sketches and has also added the shading to the subject, good job!

Tony Blythe

Tony has used pencil and watercolour and also was tight for time with his busy schedule, so not only did he do a great job, he also pushed the boat out for us to get this done! Thank you Tony!

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This subject was all about circles and oval shapes and there almost no straight lines required to draw the cup.

This was in contrast to last week and the hand drawings, where the shapes were made from rectangles and included some straight lines.

This is a good exercise to help you understand how shapes make the building blocks to a drawing. Before you put pencil to paper, look at the subject before you and ask yourself what shapes do you see there? Are there circles or rectangles or maybe triangles?

Looking at a subject to draw, break it down in your mind into small shapes and look for the simple shapes that are before you!

This is a great way to begin any drawing, understanding the shapes that go to make up the overall subject.

MANY THANKS to everyone who took part! Look out on Friday for the next challenge for Sketch Club!

Caricature Project

Very busy at the moment working a big project for a client that includes 12 caricatures with bodies and composition.

Here is one of the rough sketches that I scanned in to create a finished caricature of one of the 12 people:

I hope on Thursday to share more about this project but for now, its time I got back to the Wacom tablet and photoshop!

When Cows go Wrong!

The ballet dancing Cow performing Moo Lake!

Caricatures

Caricature

Another example from last night which was a birthday party with a 1940's theme!

Caricature

Last night!

Here are a few pics of my drawings from the gig last night, it was lots of fun!

Cartoon Cows

I have been creating some new ones this week and even have given them their own page here on the blog!

Here are a couple for you to enjoy, well I hope that you will like them? Let me know!

I enjoying creating these and what is even better is knowing that other people enjoy looking at my cartoons and have good laugh because of them!

I shall be producing more as so far the reviews from people have been positive and a lot of people like Cows! So keep an eye out over this year as I hope to do more and may even produce a small book of the 'When Cows go Wrong!' theme with exclusive never seen before cartoons!

Enjoy!

Sketch Club 1.2

Here is this weeks Sketch Club subject, a coffee mug.

Now keep in mind that circles & ovals are the main shape associated with this subject, so have fun and good luck!

P.S. We are not looking for the logo to be sketched but if you want to include it, that is fine!

Remember to email me your sketches and they will be posted up here on Wednesday April 13th!

Thank You for taking part!

Caricature pics..

Here are some pictures of me in action at a wedding last weekend. Shot by a guest, a lady who lived in the same area as me when we were kids no less, so thank you Joe for sharing these with us!

Above is my face caught as I am in deep concentration whilst drawing! I often find that I pull a ridiculous face when I draw but as I am concentrating on try to do my best, I am not aware of what my ugly mug is up too!

Drawing the mother of the bride with a sexy swim wear outfit! I like to make people happy with what they see and this usually works and it is so nice to see people smile and have a positive reaction to the caricature!

I have my picture taken a lot! Drawing at so many weddings means that both the professional photographer, who is there to capture the day and the guests, will take lots of photographs of me and often I like to play up to the camera just to get a few laughs, which always works!

As much as the drawing is important at an event, entertaining is just as important and silly little things like posing for a photograph, like in the one above, can really help people relax and enjoy the whole experience of being drawn and also watching as I draw!

My only problem is that my hair is thinning and my belly stlll refuses to reduce in size! Oh well, never mind!

Sketch Club 1.1

Thank You for a GREAT response! Here are the sketches:

Karl Simpson

I really like Karl's sketches and he has the proportion and scale correct with a nice fine art line work, well done Karl!
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Kenny Durkin

Kenny has done a great job and I like the darker outline around the sketch, good job Kenny!
*****

Chris Reinhart

Chris has the layout of the hands down well and has produced a nice cartoon style that I like! well done Chris!
*****

Tony Blythe

Tony has a unique and beautiful loose style and here you can see it clearly in his sketch that is very good! great job Tony!
******

Geoff Muskett

Geoff has done a good job here and I really like his clean line work and you can see he has the proportion correct as well as his the detail. I like the shot of the iPad that he used to display the references pics! Good job Geoff!
******

Many thanks for taking part, now lets get down to the next stage here.

How to use this post to help you learn to draw better:

Look at all the sketches and one by one as you look as yourself why it works and why it may not work. Remember that there is no right or wrong here as every sketch is more than valid. We are not trying to create a photographic representation but a sketch to help us understand how we can draw better.

You may see one sketch that you really like, why is that, is it the line work style or the accuracy of the sketch? Ask these questions of yourself and try to understand how the sketch works.

Maybe you feel yours is the best but why is that? Maybe you think yours is the worst and again why is that?

Ask these questions and reflect on your thoughts and observations on the sketches.

Then if you want to, sketch again to see if you can draw differently or better than the first time.

Look at the simple shapes of sections of the hand and try to not to draw the big shape straight away. The fingers are made up of three segments. Try to draw them individually first then again as connected to make a finger.

Can you see the large rectangle shape the palm of the hand makes?

Explore these shapes and play around with them over and over, drawing again and again to practice and develop your drawing skill.

Please post a reply and lets keep it constructive and encouraging to help each other!

THANK YOU again and this Friday we will have a new subject to sketch!