Quick ten minute sketch using Faestock stock imagery from Deviantart. 

Another quick 10min sketch, this time drawn from stock by Jaymasee on DeviantArt

Broken Tech, Pencil Sketch

Unfortunately my printer has decided to break and as such I can no longer scan anything to enlarge it and ink it. I was planning of finishing this sketch today, inking and colouring it, however now I can't until the printer is fixed. So here's the pencil sketch any how.

New Saints

Sketching in Progress- Mid sketch. 

I've recently joined a voluntary youth empowerment project in Langport called New Saints, the project's aim is to create a community resource through the use and future development of All Saints Church. 

I've offered to help in design the project presentation board to be displayed in the church. So the other day I decided to visit the church and take some photographs and do a couple of sketches. 

In the end I managed to do one sketch, spending ages trying to get the perspective right, it started coming out really well, but then it began to rain, so I'm having to leave finishing it until better weather comes along. 

The photographs came out really nicely though, so I can make a start with the presentation boards, although I'd love to take some photos of the inside of the building next time it's open. 

I managed to find some great photos of the beautiful stained glass windows at All Saints church on flickr through Gordon Plumb's Photostream. Go check them out. 

First Commission!

I got my first commission since leaving University the other week and I've been working on it recently.

The commission is for a front cover for a book called 'Taking Chances' by Inez Meerema.

I started off with some quick sketchy thumbnails based on a short blurb she sent me about the book (I believe it's on wattpad).

I emailed these thumbs back to Inez, giving her some detailed descriptions of what I was going to do with each cover idea. She came back to me with her opinion, deciding upon number 4 as both her favourite and most appropriate for the story.

With the cover she chose, I took a lot of influence from classic comicbook poses/covers - which you may be able to tell.

The last two days I been working and reworking the two main characters designs and poses, trying to find the right combination and balance. Thankfully I bought a new light box recently, I found it made redrawing a hell of a lot easier, don't know what |I would have done without it.

Also, even within those few days my anatomical drawing skills have improved quite a bit (With help from the ComicTools blog- Thank you!) Starting to get pretty chuffed with my improvement- I need to learn to draw everyday, even if I don't feel like it.

I've ended up with the below as the final draft sketch for the two main characters on the cover. Now just to wait for my new paintbrushes to get here and I can start inking this up, and then onto my favourite part - the colours!

Start.

Captive. Pencil. Click here to view image larger.

I started my final year at UWE with the intention of exploring the art of tattoos. However I found I quickly digressed after my research led me to the tattoos of prisoners of war during the Holocaust; this led me to looking at the treatment of prisoners at Buchenwald by Ilse Koch. I then progressed into reading about the Angel of Death at Auschwitz and then onto Unit 731.

All of these events both horrified and fascinated me; I found I was interested in repulsion, in the edges of morality; how people declare and enforce their control and power over others through acts of violence, both sexual and not.

I began my visual exploration of this intrigue which a detailed pencil drawing of a naked bound women. However, I discovered that the image was seen as more sexual than captive. Naked rather than nude, not vulnerable looking enough.

I discovered during a seminar that I had too many random thoughts and ideas; I needed to connect them all and pick one. I found it wasn't necessarily the idea of control that I was interested in but the stories and narratives behind the acts of mutilation etc.

I decided to pick a serial killer and his/her 'story' and go with it. Doing several quick sketches illustrating a narrative. I settled on Andrei Chikatilo....for now.

Wikipedia: Andrei Chikatilo

Portrait of Chikatilo. Pencil.