A Novel Drawer

Yule blog

2011-12-27T10:59:00.002-06:00

Sketch Scan Saturday!

2011-11-19T01:01:00.003-06:00

Let's Play the Feud!

2011-11-18T23:24:00.004-06:00

OK, here we go. Let's play catch up. This is the full version of the item teased in the last post, the poster for the most recent installment of our annual Famous Fictional art show, held at the Mad Art Gallery in Soulard.

Organized by the dashing Dan Zettwoch, this year's theme was "Family Feuds", as evidenced here by a gripping grappling match between the Clampetts and the Griswolds (the Griswolds showcasing an amalgam of the various versions of each of the age-defying children) while Richard Dawson looks on. (Smooch.)

For my families, I chose the heart-warming Huxtables from TV's The Cosby Show and the frightening "Firefly" family from Rob Zombie's 2005 murder-family road movie, The Devil's Rejects. (Which is a more obscure reference than I imagined, apparently.)

Sadly, I was so exhausted that night, I never took any good pictures of my pieces. But here is a sketch for part of what would turn out to be the more popular of the two:

Survey Says...

2011-10-12T03:09:00.006-05:00

Not going to get into the fact that it has been nearly a year since I last posted. I'll just say that there has been a lot going on lately, much of which I hope to get into on here soon. For now, here is a small peak at something I just finished up for my pal Dan Z., which is itself just an announcement for some other upcoming goodness. More to come...

The Good, the Bad, and the "Bug"ly

2010-11-18T01:08:00.006-06:00

A while back I posted the start of a series of drawings called "Bad Drawings of Good People" wherein I was attempting to do quick likeness drawings of friends of mine, mostly based on pictures from Facebook. An unexpected result of this was that my friend Dave, feeling noticeably absent from the set, remarked that it must mean that he was not, in my opinion, a good person.

The truth was that I had attempted drawings of Dave, but they all seemed to stretch the boundaries of how bad a drawing could be and still be considered a likeness at all. I decided to make it a point to produce a suitable drawing of Dave before moving on to other subjects. That mission alone is half of the reason that the series nearly ground to a halt. It turns out that Dave, while unquestionably a good person, is nearly impossible to draw, badly or otherwise. But in the interest of moving along, I'd like to present a little set of drawings I like to call:

Bad Bad Dave #1

Bad Bad Dave #2

Bad Bad Dave #3

Bad Bad Dave #4

Bad Bad Dave #5

Bad Bad Dave #6

Bad Bad Dave #7 (with pink worm)

Still not Ready

2010-08-06T02:36:00.001-05:00

But working on it!

That last thing I posted...

2010-08-01T23:16:00.002-05:00

...this is more of that.

Not Ready...

2010-07-26T01:00:00.002-05:00

...yet, but I can't wait to read this comic someday.

Streets of Fighters

2010-07-17T12:04:00.005-05:00

There really aren't enough sledge hammer fights in movies these days. Not nearly enough...

Captain Hi-Top

2010-07-10T10:53:00.008-05:00

In honor of the new 90s styled goth-rocker Wonder Woman redesign, I was joking around with my drawing gang the other night about taking on Captain America's uniform in a similarly 90s based style, namely, "grunge". (The 90s and grunge in particular have been on my mind a lot lately, due to the imminent departure of some of our best friends from St. Louis to Seattle.)

I can only hope that Grunge Cap is more well received than Goth Wondy has been. Let me know what you think.

I See a DARKNESS

2010-06-04T08:15:00.006-05:00

About a month ago, my girlfriend, Claire, and I went back to my hometown of Nashville to attend my younger sister's graduation from nursing school. While there, I learned that my 11-year-old nephew wants to be a pro wrestler when he grows up. He has already come up with a persona: DARKNESS. He has a mask to go with it and has been drawing barbed-wire on his t-shirts. He also has devised two "finishers" that I have illustrated for him (and you!)

The first, pictured above, is called "Darkness's Gate". It is essentially a pile-driver-like pick, but instead of dropping down to drive the opponent into the mat, Darkness simply releases and lets gravity take care of the rest.

The second, pictured below, is called "Darkness Down Below", which pretty much explains itself.

Just a good old-fashioned kick in the pants.

Also thought I would include the B&W inks and original sketches:

Wyld Thyngs

2010-03-03T10:24:00.001-06:00

l-r: Dan Zettwoch, me, Brian Hurtt; Halloween 2009

Back to work

2010-01-31T21:32:00.003-06:00

So, I've got no good excuse really for the length of time between posts. Holidays and long hours at the day job are all I can claim. I have had some time to work on a few things, and soon I might finish up and post some of that, if I'm not just off and on to the new things I'm planning.

The one thing I have managed to consistently, if very slowly, work on has been a new image for another performance by my friends in the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. It was a poster for their performance for the film Nosferatu that was featured in the first post here. This time I have just completed the cover for their soon-to-be-released CD for the recording of their original score to accompany

Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film,СТАЧКА,which translates to "STRIKE".

The film is one of the earliest examples of Russian montage style of film-making, of which Eisenstein was a leading figure. The concept we decided on for the cover image is based on this method.

Sketch Scans Saturday #2

2009-11-21T18:27:00.002-06:00

Ron's Logan

2009-11-19T01:53:00.020-06:00

I've been a fan for a while now of the folks over at Project Rooftop, where they promote the fashionable redesign of your favorite superheroes. Periodically they run contests for a specific character, and a few months back (perhaps coinciding with the movie release) they targeted Canadia's own favorite son, WOLVERINE.

The idea was to come up with something that would be a new take on his existing uniforms, while relating enough to his established look that it could be used in current continuity.

That's my take above.

There was much discussion on the site regarding color choices ("classic" blue & yellow vs. contemporary (and more "naturalistic") brown & orange), the use of signature elements (pointy mask, pointy boots, tigerish stripes) and how much "X-man" is too much or enough.

My first take survived almost completely intact through the final product. I thought I was on to something with the hybrid "stripes" and "X" symbols, so mostly I just refined the color scheme.

I'll admit that it's possible that this isn't as original as I'd like to think. I really don't know every version of Wolverine that's been out there. It just seems so obvious that it must have been done already. But I've never seen it, so as far as I'm concerned, I invented it. Ditto for the "X" cutouts on the gloves for claw-clearance.

Another important element, for me, was a smaller mask, and how to incorporate the design of that to fit the stripe motif. The profile here was part of trying to work that out. Or at least make sure that it would, since you don't really see it in the final. The only other major change, and one I'm still flip-flopping over, was filling in the open throat/chest area. I still like the v-neck aspect and the chance to show more body hair while working in a nod to the wife-beater look that Logan is so fond of out of uniform. But when colored, it just looked a little too....sexy? Comical? I don't know, but as Wolveriney as it was, it wasn't Wolverine.

Sadly, I have no idea how I would've done in the contest, because I didn't have a chance to finish it for the deadline. So if you get the chance, take a look at the other entries and come back and cast your vote here.

(Although, I don't think anything can top these I did 20+ years ago. See what I mean about the body hair?)

Random Rules

2009-11-16T22:39:00.005-06:00

Probably one of my favorite things to do is to start drawing on a piece of paper while I'm doing something else and move about the page somewhat absent-mindedly until it seems full. It pretty interesting to see what comes out, usually a mix of old-standbys and unfamiliar new "characters". It tends to loosen me up, and keeps me drawing even if I'm stuck on something more concrete that I'm trying to work on. Plus, it often gives spark to a new idea I can use. I have a bunch of these made over the years, and I think I'll be posting them from time to time, maybe for the same reason, just to be posting when I don't have anything new.

(This one is mostly random, except for a couple instances of characters from an established project that I will post about sometime in the future.)

Not Bad, Just Drawn That Way...

2009-11-16T08:24:00.003-06:00

More from the series. I'm feeling better about the Dan than the Leslie, but they insisted I post them. I still reserve the right to give it another shot. (Maybe Leslie needs freckles? Dan always gives her freckles...)

Bad Leslie

Bad Dan

Sketch Scans Saturday

2009-11-14T17:56:00.002-06:00

Chillin' like Villains

2009-11-13T01:50:00.022-06:00

Poster by Dan Zettwoch

This past Friday marked the occasion of the third installment of the annual Famous Fictional Art Show at the Mad Art Gallery here in St. Louis.

Each year, the artists (mostly local illustrators, comic artists, designers, etc.) are asked to choose two different fictional characters from specific types of media and produce "portraits" of each, with specific rules in mind. This year, the show was organized by local illustrating and comic-drawing genius (and fellow STL Drawing Club-ber) Dan Zettwoch. The parameters he set for the show were:

(via Dan's blog)

1) Each artist makes two pieces the same size and shape.

2) One piece must feature a character from pre-20th century literature. This includes everything from ancient mythology and religious texts through 1899.

3) The second piece must feature a character from film.

4)Both characters must- to a reasonable degree - be recognizable to casual viewers.

5) Both characters must be VILLAINS!

With these in mind, I eventually settled on my 2 choices. For the first, the one from pre-20th century lit, I went with a childhood favorite, NAGAINA,

the female cobra from Rikki-tikki-tavi, one of the Jungle Book (1894) stories by Rudyard Kipling. (Though, admittedly, I was originally enthralled by the character from the Chuck Jones animated version of the story.)

In keeping with the cobra theme, I chose for my film villain the platinum-haired leader of the Cobra Kai, Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid (1984).

In an attempt to approach the characters from a fresh angle, I decided to reconsider each as the misunderstood hero of his or her story. In each case, the character is on the verge of what might be potentially the best chapter in his or her life when a cocky outsider shows up and ruins everything.

For Johnny, I made several sketches of scenes from the movie re-imagined from this perspective.

The intention was that these would be worked together with a final image of Johnny's imagined moment of triumph:

Before getting past even the initial stage of this process with Nagaina, I realized that not only was the scope of this idea too ambitious for the time I had to complete it, but that also it may have risked diluting the impact of the images with too much information. I decided instead to distill the ideas into one simple, graphic, if cartoonishly gruesome, final triumphant image for each.

Johnny, acrylic and ink on wood panel, 14" x 15".

Nagaina, acrylic and ink on wood panel, 14" x 15".

I'm really rather pleased with the way my pieces and the show as a whole turned out. Dan did a fantastic job of getting it all together and there was a huge turnout, allegedly the largest ever at the gallery for an art opening. In the very near future I will post some pics of the other artists' work from the show. In the meantime, here are a few of the opening night party.

Going 90 I ain't scary

2009-11-07T11:52:00.004-06:00

For Joe.

Something fun to do...

2009-11-06T18:20:00.003-06:00

If you are not/did not attending/attended the Famous Fictional 3:VILLAINS! art show at Mad Art Gallery tonight/Friday night you will be/are very sorry.

A Good Man is Hard to Draw

2009-11-05T21:27:00.005-06:00

I have sort of started a little "series" of drawings in my sketchbook called "Bad Drawings of Good People". It's basically that, quick, sketchy drawings of friends, mostly done from Facebook pics, that hope to capture a sort of likeness of the subjects without being to fussy.
Results have been mixed. Some people seem particularly difficult to capture, though I can't exactly figure out why.

Here are a few of the better "bad" drawings.

Bad Mikey

Bad Adam

Bad Amanda

Bad Barbara

Bad Brad

Bad Eleanor

Bad John

Movie Monsters

2009-11-05T02:59:00.015-06:00

Klaatu and Gort, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1955)

Wolfman, The Wolf Man (1941)/Edward Hyde (and friend), Dr.Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

The Creature (at rest), The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Count Orlok, Nosferatu (1922)

Count Orlok

The Monster, Frankenstein (1931)

Robby the Robot, Forbidden Planet (1956)/Exeter, This Island Earth (1955)

All of these drawings were done from an Italian book on the subject of classic movie monsters. I have repeatedly had discussions with other artists about some amazing compendium of movie monsters that each of us had as a kid; though when I see the other person's book, it's never the same as mine. And sadly, I haven't seen mine in 20 years.
The conversation usually comes up because this legendary book is responsible for my undying love and obsession for a particular movie monster that is relatively unknown to many people. He does not actually appear in this post, but as time goes on I should more than make up for that (in fact, he does already appear in the title illustration for the blog). I am speaking, of course, of your favorite Jewish Frankenstein--The Golem.

The Golem (and child), Der Golem: wie er in die Welt kam (1920)

Nosferatu Final

2009-11-05T01:11:00.012-06:00

As promised, here is the final version of the Nosferatu poster image. Unfortunately, I don't believe that the theater in Nashville ended up using it, as they already had their own marketing campaign for the event. Fair enough, I guess. The good news is that the Rats & People will be performing the same score at the Off Broadway here in St. Louis on November 28th, and they seem pretty happy to use the image in their ads. Thanks, Off Broadway. Yet another reason that you are one of my favorite venues in town that I seem to almost never go to. But I'll definitely be there that night.

Here are a few of the earlier sketches for the poster:

First, just a lot of sketches of Count Orlok himself.

While watching them perform for a different film, I had the image in my head of Orlok on a movie screen, arms up in some menacing pose that could also be construed as some sort of conductor's pose, with a small "orchestra" of rats (and maybe people) off to the left side, much like the set-up in the theater. You can see this mostly in the small image at the upper left here. The larger image takes a similar idea, but from a different perspective and more integrated than the other sketch.

That same idea lead to this guy here (note the small conductor's baton), which I really liked very much, but couldn't really resolve it with the overall design and format. But I really like the look on his face here.

Somehow, in the midst of struggling with the conducting idea, this little fella caught my eye, and I liked the idea of Orlok popping up out of a hole. By combining this with the earlier sketch with the low angle view, and some reference from the film, I came to the sketch that became the final image. I kept the rats, as they were fitting for so many reasons, but dropped the idea of the "orchestra" as being to cheesy, or at least not at all creepy.

Nosferatu

2009-10-05T22:12:00.007-05:00

This might seem like a strange first post, but you gotta start somewhere.

This is a sketch for a poster for some friends of mine, the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra.

They do original music for silent movies, and this was for a Halloween night showing of Nosferatu (1922) in my hometown of Nashville TN at Vanderbilt. (Not their music with the link.)

I'll post the finished poster soon.