Sketch Diary: Joi inspired portrait

This was inspired by Joi from Bladerunner 2049. There's so much going on in that movie that inspires me as an artist. I could probably do the equivalent of an art thesis all about that film. This sketch started out as me just trying to loosen up my subconcious and clearly, I had Joi on my mind some where in there. It's so cool to have those little chats with your self via drawing.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Portrait quick studies

I used quickposes.com for these but didn't use the timer function (or used a very long timer). I wanted to focus on flushing out the lines a bit more and I like how they turned out. Doing fast, 60 sec portraits seems way harder to me than normal  figure gesture sketches.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Big eyes and ears character - inked

I love exaggerated features sometimes.

Watch me ink her on youtube-
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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Orange hair portrait in color

Ugh I gotta figure out how to properly scan/ get marker drawings digital without mucking up my hard work with all the blending! And the colors get all weird. Anyway, she was fun to color! Had to split it into 2 sessions though cuz it took so long - one for skin and one for the rest of her. I immediately regretted using such a dark red at the top of her hair at the time but now I've made my peace with it. She can stay.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Relaxed mohawk portrait - in color

This was my first adventure back into Copic markers in a good long while so there was alot of just playing around going on. Mainly, I just wanted to focus on skin blending and shading. I just wish I had put more color variations into the highlights and shadows of the hair. Had to do the skin in one session and the hair in another cuz it was taking so long. I forgot how long it can take to lay down color and blend everything over and over again. I definitely overworked some areas of the page. Just don't look too closely lol. Also, why can't I get my scanner to not be weird about scanning marker?? You can see in the second photo how much smoother and richer the colors are but the scanner... I guess I need to mess with the settings more. Or else marker pieces will just have to be photographed only, no scanning.

Watch me draw this here:

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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Speedy face studies

Usually, when I sit down to do realistic faces (usually using a reference), it takes a while. Like I sit down and don't get up again for at least 45 mins even if it's just a sketch. Mainly I think that's because I don't lay down solid gesture lines for the face. But every face has those important features, those few lines that really make it. So practicing this quick faces (usually 30-60 seconds) forces me to really focus on what's most important. Cuz otherwise I just get lost in the details way too early on in the drawing process.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Soft and smooth lines - Ink portrait

I enjoyed the original sketch of this but the ink process was more tedious. Not sure why. I think it was... too simple? So it was actually challenging to keep the lines smooth and uncomplicated. I like the result well enough. Again... should have waited so I could ink this for Inktober!!! What a fool I am.

Watch me draw this portrait-----
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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Pretty boy portrait - Ink

Here is my handsome boy. You're welcome.

Watch me draw this here--------------
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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Lilac haired digital portrait

I'm late to the Clip Studio party... but man is it sweet. The drawing above was a quick sketch that turned into playing with a bunch of settings and such. It's far from perfect hah but it was really fast and fun. I'm excited to spend less time rendering and more time just drawing and painting digitally. But if you want to see something wild... See the image below! A similar colored drawing that I scanned and then colored probably using the original Photoshop back in 2002. 

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Brush pen inking of a poofy haired portrait (plus video)

Mmm brushpens! My favorite kind of pen to struggle with when I'm tired. So I do most of my drawing late at night, that's just when I'm able to make time right now. And the later it gets, the shakier my hands (and resolve) tend to get. But I was determined! By thunder, I was gonna brush ink the hell out of this drawing. I think it's... ok. Maybe I'll like it more after I color it.

Wanna watch me battle with sleep before your very eyes?! Help yourself:

5x speed

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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Black Sails - Charles Vane (plus video!)

--Click here to check out what I've been up to on youtube--

Who doesn't love a good pirate portrait?! This one was more challenging than the Captain Flint drawing I did. Maybe I'll just do everyone in the series. Well... everyone but Eleanor. She doesn't get anything. Yeah I'm bitter.

Black Sails - Charles Vane

5x speed

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with love - M

Sketch Diary: Captain Flint portrait

This was a ton of fun to draw. I don't draw from life or from reference much. Trying to change that. And this particular drawing I did in honor of  my fav dude's birthday. Hope you like it at least 10% as much as he did hehe.

Black Sails - Captain Flint

with love - M

New drawing video up! Floofy hair portrait

--Click here to check out what I've been up to on youtube--

Don't ask me how but I managed to make time to sit down and do another one of these. I must really like doing it. The act of recording makes me get out of my head a bit more and look at my drawing with a bigger lens instead of getting stuck on little details and neglecting the rest of the page. The video editing part is fun, too, because I'm learning new things and playing with a new medium.

The one tough part is lighting and getting the webcam setup properly. But I think I have a system in place now that works for me. It takes less time to set up each time I do it. Trying to get good lighting for a pencil sketch is tough though. I tried setting my light to full brightness and I end up getting blinded by the white of the page and my eyes ache afterwards.

4x speed

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with love - M

First drawing video! Portrait in profile

YAS! First drawing video I've ever done is up! I've always been super nervous about that sort of thing but I did it and I'm excited to do another... hopefully with better lighting next time. I decided to edit two versions since I need the practice with editing anyway. I'm working with really basic equipment to start because I don't want to invest $1000's right out the gate on something that I might grow out of in a couple months? So let's see where this goes. I love watching YouTube art related videos but we'll have to wait and see if I'm up for the whole recording, editing, uploading process long term.

Speed version - 4x speed

Full version - 1x speed

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Portrait - a study of pointy-ness

Ya know when you start drawing and feel pretty good about where it's going and then it slowly creeps up on you... that you've seen this before? Happens to me all the time. Like this sketch, for example, is an accidental fanart of Allen from Escaflowne (the movie version). I could never handle the tv series versions of those characters... the noses just bothered me when I was a kid. But I really appreciate the series and I feel like the movie REALLY holds up well. I still love watching it. So beautiful and it really has a lot to say (metaphorically usually, I mean come on, it's Japanese and from the 90's/early 2000's).

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Masculine profile studies x9

Started this in June... finished the last row this week (July). I'm just glad I got back to it all. I still love middle row, first column. That nose just melts me. But I'm having some feels for bottom row, third column. These iterative drawing practice pages always produce interesting results, either on the current page, or on whatever the next drawing ends up being. It helps me focus on those minute details so I don't feel like I'm falling into 'same-face' traps.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Chillin' at Zenkaikon portrait of a girl

I sketched this while hanging out at the voice actors panel at Zenkaikon 2018. It was good times. Lots of good chats with other artists and other convention directors.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Relaxed mohawk portrait

I might have been sleepy when I sketched this hah.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Hey boi - portrait practice

A quicky from my mini sketch pad that I usually keep by my desk. I think he's cuh-uute.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) study

A quick study using real pencils for once. 2H, HB, and 2B thought you never can see the 2H in a scanned image. In case I missed some key details, this is supposed to be a study of Charlie Hunnam as the character Raleigh from Pacific Rim.

with love - M