“User” Icon

I‘m adding User to the collection of neo-cubist icons on exhibit here. It’s intended to be a new user placeholder image, like the one you replace with your own photo, on a social network.

I’ve been looking at it all week, and I think it works, in a yin-yang Picasso kind of way. Below are the original hand-drawn sketches.

Design sketch

Note: These images are copyright ForthMedia, and used here by permission.

Art ~ Obama ‘Hope’ Artist Sues AP In Copyright Flap
Art ~ Obama Photo Mystery Solved!
Art ~ Obama – Obey Giant

Eyes

Eye

Lips

Album 1

This is a collection of drawings done in one session with a particular model. You can leaf through and see various poses. I liked one of the sketches, and did a little more with it.

Digital+Painting

Layers

You have a wide range of tools available to you as a digital artist. I find that various software applications have their own strengths. The sketches were done with Painter. I drew the black outline using Illustrator, because I like the way the calligraphic brush dynamically cleans up my strokes. When you’re working with layers, Photoshop is a great compositing application. You can do color correction, or add a surface texture, as I’ve done here.

To Do ~ Learn ActionScript interactivity tricks for Flash

Blogs ~ [Video] Twitter Delivers in Real-Time
Blogs ~ Facebook Growth Explodes Globally, Levels Off In The US

Zazzy

I called this one jazzy because it reminded me of Matisse. It started out as a live sketch, that really celebrated the female figure, without being too overtly sexual.

Sketch – Los Gatos, 11-Feb-08

Los Gatos. Six minute pose. 26-Feb-2007

Two approaches on the same subject.

Eye study, digital stylus

Smeared photographic bits

Lips

Digital charcoal.

Digital sketching Fall 2006

This sketch was created using a digital stylus. I had the opportunity to work with this model about a year ago. Her hair style is long on the right, and cropped short (as you see it here) on the left.

The sitting lasted about 20 minutes, and I felt that I didn’t have enough time to finish. Ordinarily, an artist would simply have the model back another time. But, this was done at a drawing class, and you are viewing it on the Internet. Sometimes you are going to see unfinished work in this space. You can take it or leave it. That’s what this blog is about.

Same model sketched previous year

When I sketched the model last year, I had just started drawing with digital pen. At that time, it was all about learning to draw with a plastic pen-tip on a plastic surface. Plus learning how to use the software.

Going forward, this blog has been upgraded to enable online discussions. Please register and sign-in to make a comment. Don’t post anything here that shouldn’t be public. Be nice.

Digital charcoal and watercolor

It is a rare treat to be working with digital stylus in Silicon Valley. At the last sketching class I went to, I met a guy who was working on the beta version of Painter 10. You might think he was working on a computer as well, but no, he was there with sketchpad.

Los Gatos, live sketching, digital stylus.

Digital charcoal & watercolor

Digital charcoal & watercolor