Sunday, Benita and I had a lovely day. After eating breakfast, we spent a few hours at the Indianapolis Art Center. Benita brought her spinning wheel, and I brought my watercolors, and we enjoyed the beautiful light and moderate temperature in the formal gardens out back. The feelings of peace and wellbeing were wonderful, I must say!

I didn’t get to finish my watercolor, but I included the “in-progress” piece with a photo of the structure I was painting. Clearly I have many more hours of practice ahead of me, but that’s OK: I simply enjoy the act of painting in watercolors, so a long learning period is just fine with me.

This last piece, which is not representative of my normal style, is something I drew in open studio later that afternoon. I kind of like it, to be honest. It’s a bit surreal, but that’s a nice departure for me.

Benita (she’s the best!) got me the Iron Man DVD, so I’m going to watch that tonight. I’ll fill you in on all the extras included on the DVD later. 

Here’s a watercolor I did Sunday morning in the formal garden at the Indianopolis Art Center. It took about two hours, and it brought me great relaxation:

I’ve got another busy day coloring Johnny Saturn lined up, plus work for one of my favorite customers, so today’s blog will be short.  In fact, I’m going to resort to the “lists of stuff” approach!  Lazy, lazy, lazy!

What webcomics do I follow most of all?  The list, presented in no particular order:

• Girl Genius
• SideChics
• PvP
• Evil Inc.
• Sheldon
• Frazz
• 9 Chickweed Lane
• Dilbert

What podcasts do I follow?

• Webcomics Weekly
• The Webcomic Beacon
• Comic Related
• Sequential Artists’ Pub
• Art & Story
• Plus, a rotating list of others

What websites do I visit a lot?

• Digital Webbing
• Art Unleashed
• Comixtalk
• Myspace

What magazines do I read?

• Sketch Magazine
• Draw
• Imagine FX
• Watercolor (2 Magazine, I forget the exact titles)

Well, there you go!  Useless information about me!  Out of curiosity, do any of you read, watch, or listen to same material I do?  Do you see something omitted from my lists that I should really check into? 

Scott.

Hi, Folks:

As many of you know, I’m a big supporter of life drawing as a way to improve your drawing ability. Drawing from anatomy books and photos has its place, but nothing is as good as having a live model holding a pose for you while you draw or paint. Maybe it’s so much better because that’s a real person in front of you, one who is making an effort to hold a pose. Maybe it’s because the person exists in 3D space, and is not flattened into a 2D graphic. Whatever the reason, life drawing is the way to go.

After a few years at this, usually every Sunday at the Indianapolis Art Center, I know there are a few ways to make the most out of life drawing.

1) Most sessions open up with gesture drawings, yet many students fail to understand what is expected. The model does warm-up poses, often for about two-minutes or less each. This is your chance to loosen up your arm, draw in big sweeping motions, and get the primary action line and rough placement of anatomy. It is not time for you to start a large, finished drawing that fills up a whole sheet of paper and gets truncated after two minutes.

2) If you start to get bored, or it becomes ho-hum, change mediums. I have used graphite, pen & ink, watercolor, colored pencils, ink washes, and even (ugh!) pastels. As soon as I feel things are getting stale, I try a new medium. Today, I started using chalk pencils on toned paper.
3) Go into each session with a goal. For example, focus on proportion, or musculature, or dynamics, or skin tones, or whatever you feel you need to work on. You need to develop a critical eye for your own work, and always be striving to improve on your artistic weak points.
4) If the class monitor says it’s OK, rearrange the spot lights for interesting lighting. This is not always encouraged, but it’s cool when you can do it. Try multiple light sources. Try colored lamps. Get some contrast going.
5) Props may enliven the session. Sure, the model is probably going to use chairs, stools, pillows, and the like. But, how about a walking stick? A cane? A Grecian urn? The possibilities are endless here.
6) Study proportion. Also, use your pencil held out in front of you to divide the model into equidistant areas. Familiarize yourself with human proportion based on the head’s dimensions. Find parallel landmarks on the model to better line elements up.
7) Fill your paper. Don’t be timid and draw on the corner of a piece of paper.
Remember, the model’s exterior outline is more important than his/her interior details.

Most colleges and universities have figure drawing sessions open to the public (for a fee, of course). You may have to call around, but chances are that there is a figure drawing open studio near you. If you have to drive a long way, it’s worth it. I knew one avid figure artist who drove almost three hours each way for his open studio. He wanted it, and knew it was imperative to his growth as an artist, so that was that.

Scott

I really like trade-paperbacks.  I do not like single issues, which now cost $2.99 to $3.99.  As far as I’m concerned, the economics are way against collecting the floppies.

Dick Grayson makes a fine Batman.  Is it really important to the franchise that Bruce Wayne returns?  Sure, I know it’s only a matter of time before he’s back, but does that make for a better story?

Norman Osborn is a fascinating character.  I love the way Brian Michael Bendis’ mind works, because the Dark Reign stuff makes for a compelling read.  This is one of those cases where the villain makes a lot more sense than the heroes, after all.  I love villain-centered stories, and I wish I had dreamed this up first.  Alas, I did not.

Digital comic distribution seems to have arrived.  As usual, the way was paved by the pirates and all their file sharing.  ComicsXP is my favorite of the new digital distributers, and you can watch an excellent presentation about it here.

Does comic coloring seem darker and more dingy than it used to appear?  Overall, I’m tempted to say “yes.”  It seems to me that the current technique in widest use, coloring from dark to light with lots of screen effects, is the cause.  Many of these colorists, very talented in their own right, seem to have forgotten the need for clarity and contrast.

In my opinion, Freddie E. William’s book “The DC Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics” is perhaps the most important book on cartooning written this decade.  I like “how to” books, but most of them cover the same time-tested material again and again.  William’s book is something new, a new way to cartoon.

I’ve been reading Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America.  It’s easy to see why he won his Eisner’s.  Because of the rich supporting cast and super writing, the book has continued on for several years with the main character dead.  I haven’t read any of the Rebirth material yet, because it’s not collected into trades, but I have high expectations for that too.

So, the Black Widow is the new Captain America’s (James Buchanan Barnes) girlfriend.  Natasha has been around the bend a few times, also having had relations with Hercules, Daredevil, Hawkeye, and Iron Man.  There are probably others, but I just don’t remember them.  She doesn’t rank as the most sexually active Marvel character, though, because that seems to be a long-running contest between Tony Stark and Matt Murdock.  Those dudes get around!

I’ve got an interview coming up in the new ComicsXP magazine, available free at http://www.comicsxp.com.  This magazine has not been released yet, but the interview is by John Wilson, and some of my answers may surprise you.

After coming to the conclusion that I have no place to sit in and read in our house, I have taken it upon myself to remodel our guest bedroom into a hybrid bedroom/den.  I have idyllic visions of myself, sitting in my grandfather’s easy chair, drinking coffee or perhaps tea, and reading in a pleasant, well-lighted environment.  I’m only about halfway done clearing out the room, however, because I’ve managed to hurt myself several times working on it, and most recently I sprained my drawing hand.  I remain undaunted.

I have taken it upon myself to create a master Photoshop resource file on my computer, one that includes all the brushes, textures, tool presets, custom shapes, custom paths, filters and patterns that I’ve either collected or created myself.  This file also contains my photographic morgue, as well as Sketchup files I use regularly.  I backed this file up a few days ago, and it took two DVDs to hold it, and would have taken 9 CDs.  Yikes.

Lately, when I do watercolor, usually at the Indianapolis Art Center, I’ve foregone drawing the subject matter in pencil and gone straight to watercolor.  I’m so used to using a brush that this is not that difficult for me to sketch in color.  Yay me.

Over at the Webcomic Planet Collective forums, I’ve been given two sub forums to run, one on Photoshop, another on Sketchup.  These will be collections of resources, and advice, and initial reactions to these are positive.

Scott.