240 replies to this topic

[Arjan Dirkse]

Michael, you're insanely talented dude. Keep it up.

[Michael Stranger]

Cor, thanks guys.

It looks like drawing tonally may be the way forward for a while. Sanjay: when I finished it, it reminded me of your alien-robot guy sketch, with the tonal shading! I'll try to remember to give you the original some time, glad you like it.

I got the idea when I came across an old Adi Granov tutorial - have a long long way before getting near his level, but it's a great technique and one I think I'll play with for a bit. Here's the tutorial for those interested (it's not the one I've got, but this is a newer, possibly better tutorial):

Click

Kaan - thanks, am getting to it! Got an idea for a Clint submission which I plan to draw soon. I do like the idea of being a cover artist though, that would be just lovely.

Arjan: Thanks so much, man. That's kind of you to say.

[Michael Stranger]

Hey all,

Haven't done much in the way of comic art for a while, but here is a painting I did for a bit of fun - acrylic on canvas, my first 'proper' painting!



And the front and back covers of a CD I'm doing the artwork for:





Hope you all like 'em.

[Michael Stranger]

Dinosaur!

[Sanjay]

Love that picture in the woods, your painting has gotten better by leaps and bounds (and it was great initially) nice to see those bits of blue and pink in there too, that worked well, as does holding back detail on the horse - one of the things that pros know to do over amateurs.

Digging that graphic illustration of the second clown pic, the heavier, expressive lines and the tone work well.

[Michael Stranger]

Love that picture in the woods, your painting has gotten better by leaps and bounds (and it was great initially) nice to see those bits of blue and pink in there too, that worked well, as does holding back detail on the horse - one of the things that pros know to do over amateurs.

Digging that graphic illustration of the second clown pic, the heavier, expressive lines and the tone work well.

Thanks mate. My favourite paintings by the impressionists always had little 'surprise colours' which shouldn't work but did - Cammille Pissarro was a favourite as a kid:



Brown. In. The. Sky!

The horse pic was a weird one - started out as an 8-layer stencil, which I totally ballsed up (silly idea to try to do a stencil of a leafy scene!) but gave me flat areas of colour, leaving the horse outline in a pristine white. Then I chucked on hundreds of leaves and it all seemed to work alright. Acrylic is fun stuff though, so much more fixable than watercolour!

The guy from the band asked me to do a 'sad clown'. After wiping the puke off myself I had to work really hard to not make a cheesy image. Not sure I've 100% succeeded, but I'm satisfied that I've at least got myself a little further along the path of loosening up some more. I can't remember if I posted it in this thread but this sketch video has been really inspirational in just holding the pencil in different ways and playing more:

The 4:21 mark... the single greatest youtube sketch video ever.


Pint soon? I'd love to have you lot over some Saturday evening to sample the ales down our way.

[Michael Stranger]

More dinosaurs!

[Mike]

That sad clown terrifies me deep down.
(and in an odd coincidence the song playing on my computer just now is The Sad Clown Cast)

I love the character in the T Rex.

How long til your sequential project is done?

[laine lolauc]

your dinosaurs make me happy. trex is awesome.

[Elliot Balson]

You're one of my favourite artists on here, it's always great to see you have new stuff up.

Loving the style of the first Clown images, I feel screen-tone is often underused.

Great work, keep it up! Looking forward to seeing sequential stuff down the line.

[Sanjay]

Loving that T-Rex (nice paper stock too)

I hadn't seen that video before, cheers for putting it up - fascinating stuff.

Pint soon? I'd love to have you lot over some Saturday evening to sample the ales down our way.

Yeah definitely have too, things have been crazy every weekend for me but will definitely organise a school trip down, may have to be when Mike gets into town soon.


Bit gutted that I missed that Dave McKean signing at GOSH he was doing sketches too, ah well, next time.

[kieranbeech]

Hey Michael cracking work, I really like The Horse painting, and I love seeing your work with watercolours too, I've been getting into painting more myself so it's great to see one of the regular posters here kicking out that type of work.

I may be hitting you upon on advice in the coming months once I have more money to get in some more materials.

[Michael Stranger]

[quote name='Mike' timestamp='1313442484' post='2337587']
That sad clown terrifies me deep down.
(and in an odd coincidence the song playing on my computer just now is The Sad Clown Cast)
[/quote]
Yay, I scared Mike!

[quote name='Elliot Balson' timestamp='1313448848' post='2337634']
You're one of my favourite artists on here, it's always great to see you have new stuff up.[/quote]

Ah, thanks mate, that's very kind of you to say. I feel like I've not done much lately but I think it's just that I've been working on stuff that takes a long time (paintings are kind of slow).

[quote]Loving the style of the first Clown images, I feel screen-tone is often underused. [/quote]
Oh yeah, agreed. Don't know how much you're into Photoshop but check out the free screentones given out here. On a new layer, draw a lasso where you want the dots to go, then using the fill tool, click 'pattern' at the top instead of 'foreground'. If you've dropped the patterns (.pat files) into Applications > Photoshop > Presets > Patterns, then they should appear there and should fill the area nicely. Then everyone can rip off Ashley Wood's style like me!

[quote name='Mike' timestamp='1313442484' post='2337587']
How long til your sequential project is done?
[/quote]
[quote name='Elliot Balson' timestamp='1313448848' post='2337634']
Looking forward to seeing sequential stuff down the line.
[/quote]

I'm not too sure where that's at right now - I'm expecting a list of some changes that need making from Patrick. I know he sent it off for Mark to take a look at and make any suggestions if he gets the chance, but I reckon he might've been quite busy. So yeah - at this point if anything I guess it needs editing. I've stared at the issue for so long that all I can see now are errors though. Ah well, will get to it some day. Lots of illustrations to do in the meantime, and I have to say that single images are a lot more fulfilling and fun than sequentials. I'm umming and aahhing about comic drawing at the mo, but that changes daily.

[quote name='Sanjay' timestamp='1313487603' post='2337745']
I hadn't seen that video before, cheers for putting it up - fascinating stuff.[/quote]

Definitely. When he picks up a black pencil, I was like 'so THAT's how he does noses!' and then using a mask for her hair... Ah, love it.

Kieran, definitely pop me a note if you want any tips. I'm a bit of a beginner in watercolours but I've done a couple of courses, so have picked up some tips here and there from teachers. Materials-wise I just use a really basic set ... and to be honest a decent red, yellow and blue are all you need to mix the colours you'll need.

[quote]I love the character in the T Rex.

Loving that T-Rex (nice paper stock too)

your dinosaurs make me happy. trex is awesome.[/quote]

Thanks everyone!!
But people, people ... it was a Eustreptospondylus, not a T-rex! Argh, I suck. THIS is a t-rex...

[Mike]

Seven year old Lil' Mike just died of Dinosaur Fail Shame.

[Sanjay]

Me too

...not to be dinosaurist but they all look alike to me.



(I can say this as my best friend is a triceratops)

[Michael Stranger]

A triceratops ... or a torosaurus?

[laine lolauc]

i demand a tshirt


pls make available to purchase

[Kavanagh]

Weird mixture of subjects, but they all look awesome. If I got that Spider-Man pic for my birthday, I wouldn't ask for a receipt like I do with most birthday gifts.

[Michael Stranger]

i demand a tshirt


pls make available to purchase

Because of this post, I've started looking into Cafepress and a few other outlets for selling stuff. If I ever make money out of this, I'll have you to thank, Laine! Will let you know if and when the dinosaur shirts are ready to go...

Weird mixture of subjects, but they all look awesome. If I got that Spider-Man pic for my birthday, I wouldn't ask for a receipt like I do with most birthday gifts.

Ahaha, thanks!

Here are more dinosaurs.


TOROSAURUS


ANKYLOSAURUS

[Michael Stranger]

I recently came to the realisation that I should practice drawing without reference a whole lot more, as my knowledge of anatomy is woefully lacking.

It's been ages, I've not drawn out of my head for a long time, and the first couple of sketches were a total embarrassment. I want every shot to be an interesting angle but then I discover halfway through that I've never seen an elbow from that angle in my life, so the drawing falls apart. I've got a lot to learn regarding anatomy, but I know my weak points so plan to get cracking as soon as possible.

But anyway, here are some drawings from today. I did these on trains, so please forgive any wobbly ink lines.

It's weird - drawing without reference makes me revert back to a very neat and tidy style ... I think it might be my default setting...


Devil


Daredevil


Flower Power Man


Rocketeer Kid