Character Construction and 4 Step Process, "How to Draw Disney's Rabbit"

Awhile back I wrote an article "Sketching: The 4 Step Process."  In the article I covered the 4 basic step of creating a drawing using classic Disney characters as examples.

One thing that I would add to that process today is breaking down character's structure…reverse engineering the character.  What I am referring to is, simplifying the character's form using primitives, it's dimensions, and skeletal or armature.  Deconstructing the character in this way helps visualize the character's design, aiding in adjusting the pose, or duplicating the character in various scenes.

In the following examples, I will only focus on a single character and pose, and use my version of Rabbit from the original article, adding in the preliminary construction steps…or in this case, Deconstruction.

How To Use a Lightbox, "Transferring a Design Sketch to Watercolor Paper"

This is a quick demonstration in using a lightbox to transfer a design sketch to watercolor paper. The video can be found HERE. https://youtu.be/fBzHaWfRxNE

Please remember to subscribe to my blog for all of my articles and videos.

-Steve

Composition: Fantasy Landscape "The Toxic Fisherman"

I use The Toxic Fisherman sketch to discuss the aspects of composition and the thought process using one's imagination to expand from a simple design.  The big thing to remember is "Don't Be Afraid To Fail"...put it down and erase what you don't like...experiment with the design and have fun.

LINK -  https://youtu.be/iUL2umnYlZY

Tinker Bell in Watercolor.

This is a simple sketch with a black Polychomo that I colored with watercolor.  I am a big fan of Disney and my youngest son loved the new Tinkerbell series of movies. This was a good example to combine a ink and wash feel using water proof pencils instead. The dimensions of this sketch is 7" x 7" on Strathmore 300 Bristol Smooth 100lbs.

Sketching Trees in Charcoal

This video demonstrates my approach to sketching trees in charcoal.  Starting with thumbnails approximately 1x2 inches and progressing into large studies. I am using basic tools for this with recommendations listed below.

I know that it has been sometime since I posted a video and this one is a bit longer than I normally post, but at least it isn't the longest I've posted.  Hope you enjoy it.

-Steve

LINK:
https://youtu.be/xr8BWFMES5E

Passing Time

 "Passing Time"
(Medium - Graphite on 60lb Paper)

Over the last year I moved my life from Connecticut to Texas and my artwork was relegated to my travel sketchbooks.  The main one was the very inexpensive ProArt 4x6 60lbs book that I almost exclusively used with a Pentel .5mil mechanical pencil.  Even though it was not finished art with numerous design attempts that fell flat, I came out with quite a few character and scenic designs that I liked.This is one that stands out for me. 

In Transition

Here is a leftover from Halloween.  This was done on toned Strathmore in charcoal. This started months ago in my sketchbook and I had fun scultping this character.  Not someone I would want to meet in the dark.

-Steve

The Mummy

Happy Halloween!

In the spirit of Halloween (with no pun intended) I created Uncle Ned rising from the grave, in charcoal on toned Strathmore.

Cleaning a Sketch with Corel Painter

I thought it would be beneficial to show how I clean up sketches before posting to my Blog.  Here I used my Caveman sketch [from my 5x7 sketchbook] as an example in Corel Painter. One can also use Photoshop or a free painting suites such as Krita to accomplish the same.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/VY66Tm_GclY

Sketchbooks...Which ones I use and why.

Just my thoughts on sketchbooks and which ones I like and use for travel / ideas, design and finials.  I believe sketching is fundamental to art. It is a good practice to sketch everyday even if it is just doodles.  I design better and my imagination flows easier when I draw regularly.  With practice one becomes better.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/NAzjFgyTZA4

Working with Vine Charcoal ...Value Sketching

Here I demonstrate how I use vine charcoal to do a value sketch which helps me to visualize a new character. It is a great approach to opening up one's imagination.

 I had to do a voice-over since the original audio contained too much noise.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/gSZdFenNlC8

"Alien Buggy" - The Making Of

This is an overview of my workflow of a design sketch that I did recently.  I cover the design stages and the pitfalls of not having a sold composition planned out at the beginning.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/17Ah5XWPAlw

Alien Buggy

"Alien Buggy"

Alien Buggy was started as a design sketch, then later I added an environment.  I used mostly graphite pencils, sticks with blenders, Verithin for sharp edges.  Then I cropped and added the border in Photoshop.  I truly enjoy doing fantasy designs with unusal characters.

Fantasy Crow

"Fantasy Crow"

This sketch was done in graphite with the dark tones add with Prismacolor Verithin and Premier pencils on a 60lb smooth sketch pad.

Copying Is Good Practice

There are a lot of ways to learn how to perform a task.  In art one of the fundamental ways is to copy other artists work that you admire taking away skills and approaches that you may not otherwise learn. 

Tree Study

  

Here are a few drawings of trees I did for fun recently.  They are done with a mix of graphite and charcoal on smooth Bristol paper.

-Steve

How To Sketch: Sketching The 4 Step Method

Overview: 
Sketching is a vital skill that enables one to quickly capture a vision or idea. Sketching is normally the first place that artists start out and is also the basis for most projects. Even movies start out with storyboards that are a sequence of sketches. Most often, but not always very rudimentary ones at best. Sketching is very important for digital artists for that reason. It is utilized in all media. Sketching is art in it's simplest form but can be taken to a very high degree of detail. Their is a difference between sketching and drawing where drawing is more detailed. These terms are quite often used interchangeably.

WIP: Creature Eyes

These three sketches below are for concept art project involving a close up of an intense stare that invokes an emotion.

The Post

This sketch was done with graphite and charcoal on smooth Bristol paper. I haven't done any real sketches in charcoal though I have always liked the smooth gradients and rich dark tones that I have seen others achieve. 

WIP "Alien In a Hostile Land"

"Alien in a Hostile Land"
At least that is the working title so I can easily find it at a later date.  This WIP (Work In Progress)  is a personal project that didn't really start with a brief.  I normally try to make a point to create a brief for all projects in a simple text format .  Then I add progress notes of what to work on next.  This way I have a to do list of items to proceed with when I work on it again.  Instead of using Bridge with Photoshop to track or browse files, I use IrfanView Thumbnail Viewer (that installs with IrfanView) because it is a very light weight app.  It will allow me to also open the files in any external editor.


In this case, the parts just started to come together. It started with me doodling in Photoshop with a simple soft brush, opacity controlled by pressure, working on a value sketch (gray scale only) to see what I could find within the scribble.  The technique is similar to looking at a cloud and finding a shape within it. In a short time I had created a little alien in perspective.  I cleaned up the silhouette a bit, added texture, rim lighting and a very simple "throw-away" background shown below.

"Alien Invader"