Tuesday, July 31, 2012

R.Crider: Freddie Nova @ Dr. Sketchy

5 Min

15 minutes

15 Minutes

Just about every month you'll find the RBMC at Dr. Sketchy Cleveland, drawing fantastic models under the influence. This is from last month's model Freddie Nova where I tried a looser marker style that I plan on using a lot more of. 

Few more pieces from the night at my own art blog.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Erin Week 26: A Victorian Haunting



I know, not a traditional alien, but what can I say? I'm a little obsessed with this monsters and children theme right now, so this is what you get.

Drawn using Faber-Casetll Pitt pens and colored digitally in Photoshop. ...BOO!

Progression


My cousin has a little boy that's been drawing superheroes for a couple years now (particularly Superman).  On my last visit, I noticed a leap in improvement.  Where he'd first drawn sticks for arms and legs, he was now building out shapes and posing.  His characters had expressions: their mouths sneered with anger and their eyebrows arched.  He even started putting in lines for muscles.  I'm not sure any of them were in the right place, but he was clearly thinking about the importance of having them.  

It got me to thinking about gauging your own personal growth as an artist.  I could tell he was getting better because his Superman from a year ago was drastically different from his Superman now.  Last winter I was asked to participate in a winter art show.  Itching to draw something with a Science Fiction twist, I revisited a drawing from almost 6 years earlier.  

Looking back at the 2 pieces, I can see my own personal growth.  I'm much more aware of light and form,  my staging is stronger, and (when necessary) I can work purely digital.  Now, the drawing to the right is over 6 months old now.  So already I can see things that I would do different.  Maybe I'll revisit it in another 5 years.

Included are Work In Progress pics with a short description.

Visit my personal blog for a Full Resolution version of the final work: NeedYourDisease

I started by diligently taking notes and figuring out my stage.  At this point, I have a rough idea what pose I want for the characters.

I modeled a simple version of the set in Cinema 4D for drawing my perspective.

I placed my modeled set as a background layer in Sketchbook Pro and began sketching the characters.  I probably drew the girl's pose a dozen times before settling on this.  There never seems to be any reference of women sitting down.  Weird

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Week 26: Little Johnny's Best Friend


There really is no better companion than a blood sucking being from another planet.  And when you think about it, isn't that who you want playing with your child.

Photoshop painting over ball point pen on copy paper.  That's right.  I used the entire spectrum of technology.  Go to my personal blog to see a WIP along with the original concept.  Might revisit it in the future, may not.

Personal Blog: NeedYourDisease

Friday, July 27, 2012

Wk 26: ahhh nice pooch

People have snakes, spiders and scorpions as pets why not a Xenomorph?  Just as cuddly, in some ways more so!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Drink and Draw Issue #2

Hey Cool Cats,
We'll be kicking it at Tremont's Lava Lounge TONIGHT, July 28th for the 2nd monthly meeting of Cleveland's very own chapter of Drink and Draw.




 Why would you ever want to drink and NOT draw?!

The Rules are simple.

-Drink.
-Draw.
-No working on pre existing work.
-Dry Media only.



 7 to 11 pm, July 26th 2012. We've got the whole upstairs to ourselves!

1307 Auburn Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113

It's a free event, but support the folks putting it on. You're probably going to want some frites with that booze from The Lava Lounge, you know you want comic books from Carol And John's Comic Shop (www.cnjcomics.com), and you're a fool to not follow The Rust Belt Monster Collective
( www.rustbeltmonster.com).

See you there!

Join the facebook group@ http://www.facebook.com/groups/253335271364746/

And follow the blog@www.clevelanddrinkanddraw.blogspot.com

Monday, July 23, 2012

Week 25: Lovecraft Love


Lovecraft is a big deal in my house. My boyfriend is a smart, nerdy, multi-sided-die wielding super fan and that sort of devotion can convince even the most girly of girls that Lovecraft is important. ...I never stood a chance.

Cthulhu is one of my favorite monsters to draw and is super recoginizable so I thought he would work well as an RMBC promo piece. Would you like an adorable Lovecraft Rust Belt bookmark in your future? Cause I sure do. And please don't blame me if you go crazy after seeing this post... its not my fault they're so damn cute!

 "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" ... I mean, "Awwwww!!"

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Week 24: Heroes in a Half Shell!

Sadly, I was a little too young for TMNT, though I remember playing with the action figures a bit (Michelangelo's my favorite). Cowabunga, dudes!

Friday, July 20, 2012

WEEK 24: Leonard and those damn ninjas!!

I've chosen a little different version of the TMNT for this go around. Back in the mid to late 80's....maybe early 90's, artist Micheal Zulli portrayed a much different version of the beloved reptiles. Large, hulking creatures, more turtle than ninja. Still fast and adept at wielding ancient Japanese weapons, just more of representation of their namesake. Coupled with that is...I love drawing snow scenes....and ninjas. And what better than a sword fight....a showdown in the snow. Taking from numerous samurai films, and more notably KILL BILL ( The fight between B and Orin on the rooftop is perhaps one of my favorite scenes in the film ) and my love for black and white, I opted for the pic above. When I went to do this, I suddenly realized I'd moved all my boards to my new studio. So...I had this piece of white cardboard laying around....and well...here you have it. Pen and ink, a bit of marker for greytones and some acrylic white for snow, measuring 12"x 12"

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tim W24: Leonardo leads



I can't remember the last time I drew a Ninja Turtle, and I defiantly can't remember the last time I drew Leonardo. He was always my sister's favorite, and she likes to give me crap for not drawing the characters that she likes, so I did.  


Wk 25: Gi-Hoveg



Gi-Hoveg (The Aether Anemone) is a cosmic entity manifesting as a gigantic spongy and fleshy mass covered in myriads of eyes and spines. It is said to be the archenemy of the Outer God Uvhash, usually summoned to contrast this deity.
Sadly, I know next to nothing about Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.  So I jumped into wikipedia, read the short descriptions on each (pasted above) and picked one I liked.  In an effort to catch up on Rust Belt projects, I wanted to do a simple drawing in ink and marker.  While I enjoyed the inking process, I constantly forget about the unwieldy nature of the Copic marker.  The way each little dab soaks up the paper and spreads 3 times farther than you intended requires a level of anticipation that I don't have yet.  Its just really hard for me to get any fine detail, but it might not be designed for that.  Maybe next time I'll just work bigger.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Week 26: Alien House Pets!!!


First off, I had no idea what picture to put here.  Second, that only leaves more room for the Rust Belt Monsters to let their imaginations run wild!  So come up with what you think an alien pet would look like.  The sky's the limit...or should I say "space".

*Fun fact: That very sad little doggie was the first attempt at the creature in Alien 3.  Weird.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Wk 25: Lavinny's Boy

I had known about H.P. Lovecraft's work since around High School which I would imagine when most of us first heard the yoohoo of Cthulhu.  It wasn't really until I was well out of college, one fateful night, that I read some of his work.  We had been talking about ghosts and monsters all day at the office and the thought that I should grab a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories from the bookstore on the way back to the apartment.  Keep the creepy vibe going, take advantage of the feeling to heighten the reading of stories I had heard were legendarily horrific.  I was met at the elevator of my apartment building by the Building Supervisor looking like he had a horrible day.   "You live on the seventh floor right?" Right off I was wary. "Seems as though your neighbor from down the hall had passed away some weeks ago, we just found him today.  You might want to make it to your apartment as quick as possible and open some windows."

SO at the peak of creeped out I read "The Dunwich Horror."  A nice little family story about the Wathley's.  This is young Wilbur Wathley, without giving too much of the story away let's just say, in a way, he's kind of Lovecraft's version of Hercules.  To say much more may ruin the story, all I can say is, go out and read it!

The piece itself comes from a rather inspiring talk I had with Jim Giar.  So inspired was I that I did this piece without a preliminary sketch, just jumped in and went at it.  Not entirely happy with the composition as I am the technique.  This is graphite, watercolor, ink, colored pencil, oil pastel, acrylic all on clay board.  I even scratched out the highlights like you might do scratchboard.  I learned some stuff from doing this little piece, hope you enjoy!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Week 23: Cleopatra Jones



Pretty damn fun to draw.

Crider WK24: TMNT


The ninja turtles are the first things I drew when I quit playing little league and starting focusing on art.  They're near and dear to my heart. 

So maybe someone should let me draw a ninja turtles comic book.  

Week 22: Lifes Blood


Yes...I know. I'm way behind...waaaaay behind. SO I'm playing ketchup...errr catch up, starting with "Tools" week. But for now...an Oprah Winfrey moment.
 My parents divorced when I was young and for his own reasons I didn't see Pops for a few years. Pops was a pressman at our local paper, years later becoming the press room foreman. But at 11 years old, in order to see him...every Saturday I'd hop on my bike and make the trek to downtown and hang with him for the day around the huge presses. The smell of ink, solvents and the noise of the presses as they ran...are some of the most deeply felt and clearest childhood memories I have. Those scents..the sounds..still feels like yesterday.
 But what I remember most is the ink. Buckets of it that they'd scoop out and put into the bins below the huge cylinders of the press that fed it. Pops had permanently stained fingers from the ink. And when I work with it and that dark liquid stains my fingers and splatters my cloths...I can't help but grin and remember him and those moments we spent together Years later as I began venturing into art and comics it's always been the ink that is my most expressive tool. I'm constantly trying different brands...alwasy looking for the darkest and blackest. I fully realize it's considered a medium more than a tool in our art world. But for me...it has always been and always will be my tool of expression. It truly does run in my veins

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

(drawing by Tim Switalski)

We here in the Rust Belt love tentacles just as much as we love our monsters.  So much so we've decided to devote a week to the master of both tentacled monsters and monsters with tentacles, H.P. Lovecraft!  Of course I over simplify but in a world of humanoid monsters, Frankenstein and Dracula, Lovecraft injected some much needed, tentacles, crab claws, fish parts and indescribable bits to horrify his readers. So without any further adieu we shall dive into Lovecraft's Old Gods, Outer Gods, horrors and legends and see what we might turn up. 

Monday, July 9, 2012

wk 24: Sailor Don

Don't really know why this turned into a tattoo but after a certain point it made sense.  I've always been a Donatello fan, first TMNT action figure and first one I chose to play in the arcade game. I suppose he would be the first turtle I would get as a tattoo if I were so inclined.  
This one is watercolor and graphite, enjoy! 

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Wk 23: Mamma Mia!

While thinking about the exploitation movie poster it would seem that it requires a few things, a bad guy, a lady and a promise of extreme action.  Donkey Kong seemed the all too obvious a choice, right?  We got a ape with destructive intentions a damsel in distress and a working class hero, how this was never a movie in the seventies I'll never know!
This one, like the most of the others, pencil on vellum colored in Photoshop.  To be honest there are a few things I am not entirely done with in this piece but I like it well enough to jump back in at some point in the future to finish it up.  Until then I hope you enjoy.