Tuesday, July 26, 2011

WIP - Lab Portrait


Here is the chocolate lab portrait I'm working on. I had to make a few changes from the reference photo (namely moving the right ear into place), but it's coming along nicely.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Morning Call


Here are the siamangs all finished. I have an idea for a bear scene I'm tossing about in my head, but first I have a commission to do of a beautiful chocolate lab.

Siamang prints are available.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

WIP - Siamangs Part II


After some more work on the siamang gibbons the past few days, this is what I have so far. The second one is nearly finished. I want to add a few more foreground leaves, then finish off the gibbon's hands, then I will add in some background. I'm working on editing a new video of me drawing the second siamang, taken over my left shoulder this time. If I can figure out how to condense it, I'll get that up soon.

I'm going to make an effort to finish this drawing as soon as possible (without rushing, of course), as I have a new commission to work on. Because of my small work area, it is hard to work on two projects simultaneously. But I may have to put it away for a week or two because the commission is more important.

Monday, July 11, 2011

WIP - Siamangs


I finally started a new drawing this past weekend after returning home from my evacuation. This will be a pair of siamangs in a tree. Siamangs are a type of gibbon, the largest gibbon in fact, and live in pairs mainly in the rainforests of Sumatra and Malaysia. Every mid-morning, they do a series of calls from the treetops to see (or, rather, hear) where other siamangs are and to announce their territory.

In response to many inquiries, I decided to try to make a video of myself drawing. After making this, I know I will make some changes to future videos, namely to add more light and to shoot from the opposite side so my hand doesn't get in the way. I am still trying to figure out how to do a time-lapse video on Linux, so this is just a few minutes of me scribbling away in real-time.



The tools I used in this video are: stick charcoal, 6B charcoal pencil (yes, it squeaks sometimes), blending stump, and an empty mechanical pencil for indentations.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Heading Home

After being evacuated for seven days, I'll be heading home tomorrow. The fire is only 19% contained at this point, but it has moved far enough from the town that there is very little chance of it coming back. The light rain we have have had the last two days has certainly helped the 2000+ people working on putting out the fire. However, because the fire is still burning actively, the air is still thick with smoke. Many people have reported it unbearable. We'll be heading back tomorrow to see how it is, but there is a chance we'll have to stay out of town for one more night.