Color & Ink

This next drawing took me a couple of days because of all the space in between that had to be filled in with black ink. I really need to get some more pens, like a brush tip and some with wider tips. Because as you can see, there are some lines seen throughout the darkness. But I kind of like the look that it gives it. The only problem is that since the tip is so thin sometimes the paper sort of peels off and a black mess of pulp gathers on it and can potentially ruin a drawing.

But anyways, this is sort of a test run for something else I'm going to be doing. Maybe not as solid and fine as this drawing though. It's a little too stiff more my taste, but I wanted to try something else.

Old Sketch Book Scans

I recently found an old sketch book I had throughout all of high school. I think I got it sometime around the 9th grade. I never filled it up completely, I think because I used it so much that the pages started to get worn and a little water damaged. And on top of that it was twice as big when I first got it, I guess I ripped too many pages out. I still used it occasionally a few years later. Now I tend to not purchase sketch books with spiral binding anymore. The rest of the drawings I'm not posting because they were mostly rough drafts for other bigger pieces. That, and a lot of them were in pencil and faded really badly over time.

 

This is the first page of the book. I still utilize some of the techniques and if you had seen any of my work from then you could immediately tell it was my style. It was originally just in ink, but then a few years later I added color to it. But I don't know... I think I liked it more without color. But either way, I still like it.

 

This is around the time I started using more ballpoint pens. This is probably my favorite drawing from this sketch book. I've tried many times to recreate this, but have been unsuccessful in the past. I think it's because I didn't sketch it in pencil beforehand. The only problem though sometimes is that the pen can fade a little over the years. But this has held up pretty well.

 

So I went through this faze where all I drew were fish... though, not necessarily accurate fish. And this was my signature fish. Looking at it now after not having seen it in so long, I really like it. I forget how much I was into drawing them. Usually though they weren't in pencil

 I recreated this evolve piece later in a bigger sketch book. At the time it was probably my best (graffiti) piece. This took me a while to finish since there are so many layers involved and hidden arrows throughout.

Another evolve piece. Nothing special about it. Though I did use a lot of arrows. A lot of it has faded.

And the last page is of a few sketches of monkeys. I used a lot of these in graffiti pieces as characters. This was mostly just sketches for future drawings. But looking at these drawings makes me want to explore some old themes again.

Latest Drawings

I've been going back and forth lately in terms of my drawing styles. By that I mean that I'll draw something/someone realistic and then switch it up and drawing something very cartoon-like. I've been experimenting more and more with different styles (crosshatching versus thick bold lines or lines that fade away). I haven't done anything in a long time with ballpoint pen, which I really like. They work almost like a pencil except your bound to your mistakes. I guess I started using them to draw when I was in high school. Since it was really easy to place another sheet of paper underneath my notes or classwork (usually I'd put 2-3 more sheets in between just in case the teacher, or a nosy classmate came by and tried to see what I was doing). And they're cheap. Actually, the cheaper the pen the better it is to draw with. That's because you need to apply more pressure for the ink to come out darker. But anyways, that has nothing to do with the next two drawing I'm posting because none of these next drawings are in ballpoint pen but I think my next one will be.

This first drawing is of a tree in my backyard as 

seen from my window. It's a change for me since I usually draw trees from memory. And also it has more realism than most that I draw. My only regret is that I drew this tree on the other side of my drawing of Bertrand Russell (see post below), and some of the brown bled through the page. Although it isn't really a big deal, but now I probably wont do anything else to it like I had planned since the tree would be ruined.

I've gotten so accustomed to drawing my own hands that I can start a drawing and finish it in a few minutes. But I still have trouble drawing other people's. I don't know why. I think it's mostly because I have my hand right in front of me to reference. A lot of times when I'm drawing someone from a pictures, the proportions can get be off a little. That's why I practice so much drawing my own hands. Here's another drawing of my left hand. This time using two different colors instead of one.

Unfinished Bertrand Russell

One of my favorite graphic novels is Logicomix. It's actually really unconventional, as far as graphic novels are concerned. It deals with the life of mathematician and logician Betrand Russell. I will admit though that I don't know much about either subject but they both deal with philosophy, which was one of my favorite subjects in college. It's a really well written book and was my inspiration for my latest drawing.

I was a little hesitant at first to use this specific picture that I found on the internet because it is such a well known image of him. Usually if I'm going to pick pick someone to draw that is famous, or at least well known, I try to get a random or obscure picture of them. It makes it easier for me because then the audience can't associate that popular image of them and see any flaws. But then I thought, not many people have seen this image let alone know who he is.

I reverted back to my old style of ink drawing, using a lot crosshatching which I was trying to get away from. But I kind of like it. And I know I can obviously still do it since this picture looks really similar to the original. I think I might use the same style in the next couple of portraits.

The drawing of him is finished, but the whole drawing is incomplete. I still need to add something around him in the open space to complete it since I did take up two pages of my sketch book.

Moleskine Sketch Book

All of the new artwork that I've been working on in the past 2 months is from my Moleskine sketch book. I started using it after I notice a lot of other artist had success with one. And there's just something about the size and feel of it that makes it so easy to draw in. I don't know though, it's probably all in my head.

The only problem I've been having is finding something, or someone, to draw. I think I just take it so seriously that I don't want to mess it up. But I guess it really isn't a “sketch” book because the drawing aren't exactly sketches. They're complete pieces of art. They're small pieces, but still, they are complete.

The first three drawings are of my hands, since I didn't have any other hands at my disposal. Though they do look a little grimy, which I like.

This is an unfinished drawing that I'm not really confident is going to come out as I had originally planned. I don't like the color, actually you can't see what I did to it after because I didn't scan the changes I made. I just don't like it to tell you the truth.

 

Another backpack picture. I don't know why I like drawing it so much. Well, I got a new bag, so I can try drawing that one for a change. I drew and colored some random clothing because I like the way the colors looked against the gray and dull bag.

  

This last one I just finished last night. It's drawing of some guy, don't remember who exactly, from an old issue of Wired I had lying around. I liked the way the lines around his mouth looked. It came out alright though. But I think I'm too critical of my drawings sometimes, so it's hard to tell.

My Experience with Copic Markers so far

I haven't had enough experience using Copic Markers and have actually been trying to attend one of the Copic certification classes that are held throughout the country regularly. But whenever I've seen any classes happening in Southern California, they always seem to be somewhere too far north like Valencia or Santa Barbara. Or too far south like San Diego. And then from what I've read in the criteria for even having your application accepted, you have to be an art professional. But honestly, I have yet to even contact anyone when there has been a class nearby. I guess I should get on it sometime, since I have started to amass a decent collection.

However, recently I had to part with my collection of markers and was just recently reunited with them. I'll spare you the circumstances, but most of the people actually reading this blog might know what I'm talking about. I was fortunate enough to get them back, along with my Moleskine sketch book that has quickly become my favorite and have been using exclusively. There really isn't one drawing that I don't like in it. But I'm sure there's room for improvement.

The drawing below is the first self portrait that I've done since taking art class in high school, or rather when I was taking after school classes at the dA art gallery in downtown Pomona. Which actually, I was never able to get back. Along with other artwork that I did while attending the program (my fault completely, not theirs). I guess it kind of looks like me, though the hair is a little off. And the second one is just something I did trying to experiment with Copic Marker. I could take it or leave it.

The Evolution of evolve, sort of...

So sometime in high school I really got into graffiti art and murals. I started copying styles that I would see around and in graffiti videos and through black books that would sometimes be passed around every now and then in art class. Also, from guys who were going out there and actually doing things in the street. Though I was never really one to go and write myself, at least not in the conventional manner. The influence is seen a lot in my art from high school, and can still be seen in some of the characters and colors I use.

Anyways, I got really into it in high school and somehow started writing evolve, which later became evolvemikl (the mikl short for Michael). I never really got into, and wasn't really out there putting stuff up, it was more of a hobby and a way to hone my drawing skills. I just liked the way the letters looked and it really didn't have much to do with any political or religious implications (evolution versus creationism).  Although now that I really think about it, I was going through a faze of drawing gorilla faces, monkey faces and hybrids of the two. And other tribal-like figures.

The first 4 of the following drawing were done probably about 5-10 years ago. And I think I've managed to retain the same style more or less. The first evolve piece below is an older one and you can see evidence of some of the primate figures that are recurring in some of my older sketches.

The next one is alot cleaner and I think I used a ruler, which I actually don't use much anymore because I like the way a natural line looks in that it feel more organic than when using a ruler. Also, without the ruler there's a lot more room for mistakes.

This one I like a lot because I'm not really that good at block lettering but I think I was able to pull it off pretty good on this piece. Mostly though because it's all filled in black. Plus, the stereo I also used for a while drawing and pieces and did different interpretations of it (the painting in the last post).

And this one is one of my favorite, if not my favorite evolve piece that I've done to date. This I would have to say is my signature style. It even has an early example of the arrows I used for a while. Everything more or less connects and it has a looseness to it and is probably why I think it is my favorite. I'm actually thinking about redoing it on better quality paper and making it bigger than the 5-6 inches that this is. It was cropped from a bigger piece from an old sketch book that contained the three previous drawing above.

And the final evolve piece is a more recent one, maybe 6 months old. Around that time I really started working with copic markers, so it isn't really that good, but I still kind of like it. It was cut out using an exacto knife. Although, I really don't know why I even cut it out, I think I just didn't like the shape the rest of the paper was in.

More Updates

Some more old sketchbook drawings, kind of blurry though.

And also the only painting I ever finished completely.

First Post

Since this is my first post, I've decided to post a bunch of old sketchbook pictures before I started posted more current ones that I'm working on.

More stuff to come since these are old pictures before I got a scanner. I'm going to have to rescan some of them at a later time. There's also more pictures to look at in my picasa web album if anyone is interested. Most of which I will be posting.