Hot Tree Candy

Ready to be picked. I don’t know who he is, but he was a lot of fun to draw and, after several false starts recently, this happened very quickly.

Thanks to Fearsome Beard for selecting the photato as Beard of the Day and bringing the subsequent inspiration. Do check out his site if you, like me, are fans of charming men with charming beards.

Also, wow. So this is the new WordPress editor that I’ve seen various bloggers struggle with and complain about for months. Argh! I can see why. It does seem rather daunting. Hopefully this post comes through without catastrophe.

Bad Boy

Well, it is the blog’s second birthday, I suppose – and, with any celebration, one should look both back and forward, old and new. That’s actor Dominic Thorburn, whom we have apparently sat in the corner to think about whatever it is he’s done. Hmm! I feel as though I should be doing the same, but, in my defence, I can say that I don’t currently have any more naked men left to share.

Currently.

He was actually quite a challenge, the angles of his legs and feet proving particularly tough; I can’t remember the last time I attempted to sketch someone sitting down and was rather caught out! It’s probably not my best facial likeness either – I keep getting a vibe of somebody else whose name I can’t place! – and some parts still look a bit off, but I thought it best to stop here lest I go the other way. A very fun subject, regardless!

Keyon, Content (in Corel!)

This chap might look familiar to long-time readers. What seems a very long time ago now, the beginning of November, I made a Time-Tested with he as the commanding subject. It seemed to go down very well, and as I’d had such fun working with him, I took the (most uncharacteristically) bullish step of getting in touch and asking if he’d be intersted in taking a couple more.

To my surprise, Keyon was not horrified, in fact he was very much up for it! After some pleasantly brief direction and discussion, I was practically inundated with photographs… well, twenty or so. They are all portraits taken in a similar vein to the Reddit exercise, showing a range of emotions and feelings. Here are the first two, which fell under the umbrella of ‘content’ – attempting to show happiness and serenity without smiling. With that sense of satisfaction and happiness in oneself and one’s situation, it seemed correct that I could get away with my traditional drawing style. Some others might demand something different, though, so watch this space!

The above is another foray into the wonderful world of Corel Painter, this time trying to use its pencil tools. This was, again, a very pleasant visual experience while also posing much more of a traditional challenge. I’m still dizzy by the amount of things you can alter in it – pencil type, softness, paper stock, they’ve thought of everything! In a subliminal honour of the work’s Time-Tested heritage, I did this relatively quickly – circa seventy minutes. I quite like the result, but I’m left wondering whether it actually says ‘content’, and whether I should have gone more delicately on it.

Below, we have a piece I made shortly after receiving the photographs, back in the realm of Photoshop, and taking far greater liberties with regards time limits, as I would hope is clear to you. For some reason I used Photoshop’s default brush instead of my own concoctions, giving it perhaps a less graceful finish and making some shading a bit choppy, but other than that it turned out quite well.

My sincere thanks to Mr. Taravati for being so tremendously generous in his assistance. And indeed, with lots more photographs to get through, we will likely be seeing a lot more of Keyon here in the near future!

Time-Tested: 70

It’s a dreary, dreary January day, but hey, Time-Tested is BACK! (hears lone, distant woop) And on a Monday too, just to surprise you even more. I need to get back into these, and there’s no time like the present!

After a quick dusting and a new coat of glitter, the wheel commanded a time limit of 70 MINUTES for a drawing from the trusty Reddit Gets Drawn.

I admit I picked this handsome chap purely for his body. I’ve not done a figure study in a long, long time, and so this was a great opportunity to try one against the clock. With that objective in mind, I actually spent a relatively short amount of time on the face compared to my usual plan of attack, which might show a little, as it’s not terribly accurate. I’m happy to have made that compromise, though; working on the torso was refreshing, and of course a lot of fun. I continued my love/hate relationship with hands and feet; indeed, the left paw and flipper were cut from the photograph, and I half-heartedly tried to improvise them in the last few minutes, as it looked plain odd without them.

I coloured this one a little differently, as I began on a grey canvas instead of black or white as I normally do. With that, I drew both shade and highlight, rather than one or the other, which is something I’ve not done often in my time here. It’s given a pleasing softness to the contrasting tones and I think this works well for this job, ie rendering skin under intense time pressure and having to sacrifice extreme detail. It’s useful to have been reminded of that.

I did start to experiment with colours, which is why there is a curious glow and a slightly orange tinge to areas of our subject’s skin. Sadly, that was where the alarms started going off, signalling the end of the exercise. Oh well! Probably one of the more enriching TTs I’ve done for a long time (though I’m aware I probably say that every edition).

Until next time. Monday, Saturday, or whenever the heck it is! Wheel see you then!!!

Time-Tested: 55

Just when you thought it was safe, here we go again! Another whirl of wittering as I hop over to Reddit Gets Drawn and insult the handsome volunteers of the site with time-tested (and sometimes patience-testing) drawings. This week, I was granted 55 minutes for such a pleasure.

With a powerful expression, striking facial features and wicked goatee, this photograph was hard to pass over. Mindful of trying to capture said features, I found myself spending longer on the outlines than I would normally have with a time limit so relatively short as this; the eyes took a particularly long time to get to the level you see. Consequently, these blunders impacted the time I had available for shading (I got to the shirt with about a minute left, so didn’t have time to complete it) so it didn’t turn out perhaps as well as I’d have liked – I think the dip in confidence is visible, compared to some of my other similar efforts. I think it’s a similar story to my 60 minute piece, which would make sense given the mere five-minute difference; happy likeness, not so ecstatic shading… but it was a fun exercise.

Be sure to give the comment thread a gander, as there are some particular beauties in there, far superior to this.

It’s getting close to Christmas, so I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do one of these next week. We’ll have to see! There’s suspenders for you.

Time-Tested: 100

Yes, here we are again – time for another lionhearted spin of the wheel, and this week it brought me 100 minutes in which to create a drawing from the ever expansive selection of Reddit Gets Drawn volunteers. After last week’s terror with thirty and sixty second rushes, it was a relief to be gifted one hundred leisurely minutes for this week’s exercise. A good job, too, because this guy deserved every second.

I’ve continued my streak of making the subject look twenty years older than the photograph submitted suggests – the side in shade I think is largely responsible for that, and this chiaroscuro style of portrait is a concept I need to practice more – but I’m happy with how that rather sumptuous beard came out, well within the time limit too, actually, though I decided against any Photoshop fiddling. I also like how in trying extra hard to create the texture of his jumper, I actually ended up giving him what looks to be either a leather jacket or raincoat, I can’t decide which. It’s okay, though, we know how badass both of those garments are.

I’m not sure what to do with this series as we head toward the point where I’ve cracked virtually every space on the wheel. I feel I’ve sped up quite a bit with the aid of these challenges, and that was the only real aim, so perhaps I’ll just redress the wheel with more specific spaces, or maybe I’ll just tackle them at whatever speed I want, so that I can try some completely different approaches without having to rush. Who knows? Either way, I’m sure the Reddit images will continue. The site is a goldmine for those out for practice – do check it out if you haven’t already.

You may also wish to have a peek at the comment thread, in which many others have uploaded their interpretations of this photo.

See you next time – you be sure of it!

Time-Tested: 90

Here we go again, around and around the wheel goes and the people of Reddit Gets Drawn cower in the thought that I might have to draw them – perhaps in seconds. Well, thankfully that wasn’t the case this week – the wheel actually landed on 20 minutes again, but for now I’m not doing repeats, so I spun again and was given 90 MINUTES to work with a volunteer. Hmm, the wheel seems to have something against picking any of the sub-60 second spaces, which I think are going to be the most fun/terrifying… but alas, we must never question its motive.

There were a few credible candidates this time around, but ultimately my attention fell to this. It’s quite an eye-catcher of a photograph – interesting lighting, a handsome pose, and the inclusion of the collar and shoulder, parts of the body that I find quite tricky, as I probably demonstrated in my rush with André the Giant last week, so the prospect of practice here in so many different areas wasn’t to be sniffed at.

With a (mostly) ginormous soft brush, this actually came together rather quickly, and I was largely happy with it with ten or twelve minutes still to go. Never one to waste precious time in an exam, though, I began playing around with colours and created a Gradient Map that would warm the tones up with a heavy orange, but also have that offset by a deep blue in darker areas. The result is as you see – quite nice, though I’m not entirely sure if I should have tampered with it. I shall let you be judge! Even if he does look a touch older around the eyes than the photograph suggests – sorry about that! – I’m pleased with the general finish, and the main thing, I had a lot of fun.

Here’s the thread, which contains several other fun interpretations of this engaging gentleman.

See you here next week!

David Pevsner III

It’s been verging on a month since I indulged in drawing David Pevsner. What am I playing at…?

David recently uploaded this stunning photograph to his (NSFW!) blog, and I had to have a go at it, for it might be my favourite one. It’s effortless, adorable and alluring. My drawing is slightly less so, however, as I don’t think I captured the smile and inviting eyes as much as I would have liked – he looks a little stern here compared to the photo. That said, I’m still quite pleased with the outcome – it looks like him, I think! I was tempted to forego the extra elements until some point mid-way through, where I decided that it’d be fun to try and capture the folds in the pillow, and also to try and make it actually look as if David is laying against it. I was wrong in assuming that would be fun – jolly frustrating it was, and incredibly time-consuming. I still can’t decide if the shading works or if it just looks as if he’s standing in front of an elaborate backdrop.

I did a colour version too for you lucky people, thanks to Photoshop magic. It does add something I can’t quite put my finger on, but, as is usual, I prefer the black-and-white; more of that sparkle to it.

I do these now as much out of gratitude as pleasure, for David shared both of my previous efforts on his site and they seem to have gone down quite well on the Tumblr-verse, as well as bringing a tremendous number of viewers over to this very secluded corner of the interweb. Thank you, David, it’s so very much appreciated!

That’s it, then… until I succumb to the temptation once more, I suppose.

Time-Tested: 120

Another Saturday, and another voyage into the unknown as I get a little further acquainted with the brave new world, Reddit, moreover Reddit Gets Drawn. I like the idea of fashioning it to become the basis of a weekly challenge of sorts, although knowing me now I’ve said that I’ll probably never go there again… I’ll try me best!

I’ve always been slightly curious of just how long it seems to take me to make a half-decent portrait, even though I know that ultimately matters very little. But seeing others knock superior stuff out in sometimes under ninety minutes, I just like the idea of someday being that efficient. On that vein, I’ve begun using these images to pit my wits against the clock – this was done under a firm two-hour limit. It probably shows, considering most of my other portraits unless otherwise mentioned generally consume more than double that, if not even longer. Our voluntary subject looks a good few years older than I’d estimate he is going by the photograph, thanks to the shading being very, um, shady in places – such smooth skin, and yet so apparently hard to render! I think it was a combination of going a little quicker than I needed with the time limit in mind, and generally having a touch of the ‘off day’ – I wouldn’t say I’m pleased with it, but I got more done than I thought I would. I realise now just how much of that work time is spent fiddling, tidying up and generally losing the will to live!

Tick tock. The presence of the time limit was a bit of a perk as it encouraged me to not to get distracted, as I always do. Encroaching deadlines often have that effect, don’t they, much as fear them. If I’m feeling brave, maybe I’ll try 60 minutes next Saturday and see how I get on. The countdown starts now!

Well, look who it is…

I grumbled in only my previous post on the haunting prospect of the self-portrait. Well, this one’s actually been floating around for a couple of weeks and I haven’t had the balls to post it… until now, when it’s quiet!

It has a pair of reasons behind its creation, actually, neither of which vanity: to test out a new custom pastel-esque brush I’d made in Photoshop, and second, to mourn the passing of my beard, which I removed shortly after the source picture was taken, for reasons I don’t really know. It had been there so long that I felt quite guilty and bereaved after the deed. Fear not! I am growing it back, for I quickly grew tired of looking like a haggard fifteen-year old.

OK, maybe one of the motivations was vanity… but still, there we are. Indeed, there I am. Another mildly curious point of interest is the fact that I actually have neglected my glasses – with the angle, they (or rather, their reflections) were almost completely obscuring my left eye, and besides, they just weren’t working very well. Must try harder!

I’ve kept the colour version predominant due to its luminous qualities, though as a whole I think I prefer it black-and-white, in truth:

There we are. There I.. oh, I’ve already said that. I DID A SELFIE and posted it. More of a gold star moment than you will ever be aware.

(pats back)