Well it's been a while but finally something new!

More Marker Sketches

Wow, I can't believe it's a month since I last posted. Bad form! Have been busy for the last few weeks on a completely non drawing related project. I have at last had a chance to read some of Andrew Loomis's, Creative Illustration. What an amazing book, and what a great philosophy he had. In general I try not to spend to much time looking at other artists. Firstly, because I genuinely don't want to be too influenced by other people, and secondly because inevitably you end up coming across some incredible artist who's half your age, and frankly it can be depressing;). It's so easy to look at some great artist and want to draw or paint more like them in some way. I think we have to resist that temptation. I think Loomis said it best, and I quote, "There is no better way than the way you do it best, and that is bound to be your way, with your own taste and ability at work" Andrew Loomis.
Wise words to be sure. Anyhow, when I haven't been holding a shovel over the last month and my aching body has allowed I have tried to sit down and throw out a few doodles. Here's a few, and as I keep promising myself the next post will hopefully be something a little more finished!

More Randomness

Here's a mixed bag, a speed paint and some marker work. I really have to focus on doing some more finished pieces.

The Keeper

Another quick marker sketch.

The Witch

Copic Markers

So up until a couple of weeks ago I was using Prismacolor Markers. While I assumed they were the gold standard of marker I was getting really frustrated with how quickly they would run out, especially the lower percent ones. It was getting to a point that I would barely get more than a couple of evening uses out of them before they would start drying up. This was getting expensive and so I decided to finally do some research into possible alternatives.

And that's when we met, my new friend, the Copic Marker. I'm using the Copic Sketch, with a brush on one end and a medium broad nib on the other these markers are perfect for the kind of work I do.

I love these things, beautifully made, refillable, you can get replacement nibs and although they are initially more expensive, in the long run I'll be saving money.

I find cheap copy paper takes markers far better than premium quality animation paper. So far I am not very impressed with Copic's marker pad. It's expensive and apart from the fact it's bleed proof I see very little reason to spend that kind of money on it. I find cheap copy paper to be far better.

The image above is done with the Copic's Warm Grey, W2 and W4. The rest were done with Toner Grey which so far is my favorite. I'm finding I'm using T2, 3 and 4 the most, so far anyhow.
So while this may be old news to some of you, if your a marker junkie like me and you've never tried Copic's Markers then do yourself a favor and give them a try.

Here's something I've been working on over the last week, done in Photoshop and Painter.

More Thumbnails

So here's a few more for the lineup.

Quick sketch

Been crazy busy at work so haven't been able to post as regularly as I would like. Hopefully things will return to normal soon.

Creature Thumbnails

So here's a few more creature thumbnails done over the last week. These are fun to do, low commitment sitting on the couch. Throw in some copy paper, some markers and a cold one and you've all the makings of a good night!