2012
Often on my way to making a finished product, I will make a series of sketches. I also use quick sketches such as these as a way to brainstorm or get a handle on a particular medium. And, of course, I sketch for fun!
This is a detail of an 8”x11” sketch I made using graphite and charcoal. The entire piece can be found at the bottom of this page. Credit goes to Howard Cook. I copied his original to get a feel for the medium.
Sketches
9/19/11
All That’s Solid Melts into Air
As mentioned below, this is a Howard Cook copy. I used the old-fashioned graph system to expand a smaller print I used as the model. I tried to match each pixel to the original both in position and color.
Noir I am a big fan of all things noir. Chris Hart is one of the best noir comic artists out there. He inspired me to create this fellow. Is he a hero or villain? In the world of noir, such distinctions are hard to make.
California Geisha This is India ink and colored-pencil on bristol board. That’s the rough draft in hard pencil.
Animal House Jack Hamm is one of my favorite artists of all time. When it comes to art, all I can ever hope to do is be half as good as him. The elephant and the horse were done as exercises based off his drawings of these animals. They were done with a number 2 pencil on copy paper, which, by the way, is my go-to medium for practice and brainstorming. The Japanese style fish is done in the spirit of a tattoo. I used India ink and Prismacolor on bristol board.
Napoleon I used a small plaster of statue to riff a bit on the theme of portraiture. Statues are great models, they keep a pose and hold it! I used a Crayola crayon to add a dash of color.
Start your Engines! Cars are harder to draw then they look. The sketch at left is a of V8 engine drawn in the cutaway style. The Indy car to the right is done in pencil. I want to learn the marker style of art so popular in the art-car world.
By Air and Sea I’ve always loved to draw ships and planes. Here’s a couple samples. Drawing ships and planes was my thing for many years as a kid.
All That’s Solid Melts into Air I should mention again that this is a copy of a Howard Cook original. An Internet search will reveal that Cook is a master artist. Although I did draw this picture, I did not conceive of the idea. The Penguin edition of the book by the same title features Cook’s original version of this cityscape.
