Dimetrodon Head Study II

This drawing took less time and I liked the results a lot better...although I have to admit every time I look at it I get a hankering for Doritos...Hopefully now I can get on with the larger version...

Sometimes You Just Have to Call a Terd a Terd

While preparing to do a large scene I thought I would do a head study of dimetrodon and use colored paper...things seemed to be going along okay but at points I would stop and say to myself, "This sucks..." There are times I've weathered the storm and things would turn out okay...but this is one of a couple of drawings that when I look at it I just get mad because of the massive way in which it sucks...I could point out all the ways in which it sucks if you want...or you can just roll with it...Like one of my college professors said...sometimes you just have to be brave enough to tear it apart and start over...so after I cut out the eye...the one part I actually like...I believe this is going to be a campfire starter...hopefully it burns better than it turned out...so I started another head study to help get back into the flow of actually beginning the big picture...

IF: Worn Out

My first year teaching when summer came I was chomping at the bit to get started again and the time couldn't go by fast enough...one of my coworkers said, "Give it a year or two and you'll get over that..." The past few years immediately after graduation I've tended to disappear a month or so before getting back into the participation saddle. Teaching, if done correctly (as opposed to smiling behind a desk and just drawing a paycheck), can be one of the toughest jobs on the planet...so by the end a lot of teachers are pretty worn out...and it takes the summer to recharge your batteries for another year...I would have never guessed all the work involved until I became involved...but the pain is worth it when you see students that really care about their future...or at some point get it and start caring...and then go on to great things...

So between the end and school and now I've been busy and out of circulation (kids, fishing trip, cow bird pest control, sleeping, family reunions, moving to a new apartment, painting (not the fun kind...walls)...So here's to being back and catching up on everyone's work!!!

IF: More Great Proctologist Humor....

"So...have you 'cracked' the code yet?"

Dimetrodon Head Study and Maquettes

While working on my efforts for a large scale dimetrodon drawing I decided to try working on toned paper for the first time. I'm doing a headshot and was surprised to see that the toned paper seems to eat up colored pencils pretty quick because of the paper tooth but it isn't leaving the particles all over the place that seems to happen when I work with illustration board. I usually have to brush every few minutes but at this juncture I haven't brushed a single time and have seen no ill effects! I also thought this would give me a chance to get the prismacolor bug out of my system because I was wanting to do the scene in graphite...What has happened unfortunately I have now planned on doing a super large version of a head shot of some sort of dinosaur...I say unfortunately because I know it is going to destroy a lot of pencils in the process...plus I'll be working on the graphite scene at the same time...but perhaps doing two really big projects at once will keep me motivated...





I made some maquettes and had some trial and error issues...I started with foil to just get the mass of the body. I was really concentrating on the pose...I used to have a couple of different monitors (a savannah monitor and an asian water monitor) and I remembered vividly different ways they would posture themselves depending on the situation...


Then I overlaid the foil with sculpey...Mistake number one...I should have started with wire in the foil and set the arm screws first. It didn't make that big of a difference because I knew the maquettes were rough...if I wanted to make a detailed model there would've been lots of cracks I would've had to dealt with. I then got toothpicks and cut them in a manner that would give a good sail...sails seemed to vary depending on which skeleton I looked at with regards to shape and how they laid.I was smart enough to pre-press holes for the toothpicks...an even better solution would've been to use wire attached to a wire frame...a couple of former students showed up and one of them had some leftover wire which she donated to me...Thanks J-PO!!!




I wasn't happy with how the back laid out because it seemed too straight at this point so with the second one I made a bit of correction and then went back and adjusted the arch on this one with some additional sculpey...the other problem I ran into...the fingers were fragile and while I could use foil to protect parts from over-baking eventually the items started cracking slightly...instead of doing all for legs at once and baking I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stand the item...so I did one leg then baked x's 4...

IF:Meanwhile...Back at the Nudist Colony...(Parade)

"There she goes parading around the house with her clothes on again for all the world to see...I wonder if she's ever heard of curtains..."

Dimetrodon Prep I

After finishing Dr.Minceworm and seeing Detlef's latest efforts I started figuring out what my next item was going to be. Since that and my IF post gives me two official items completed I guess I can do another Dino without accusations that all I ever do is draw dinosaurs (although I know there are some purists out there that will argue dimetrodon isn't a dino)...plus I would like to point out I draw lots of mimes and skunks.



I've been trying to figure out what the composition and scale is going to be...at first I wanted to do a closeup with a head in the forefront and then another dimetrodon in the background. But for some reason I feel like someone is going to accuse me of not being able to draw bodies and limbs...I think that insecurity comes from all the times in my younger days when I always focused on what I felt was the most interesting part instead of thinking of the item as a whole...kind of like how sometimes people always hide hands in pockets or feet in tall grass...I still like to do just detail shots (and I've got some colored paper to do a detailed head shot in prisma color just for exploration...strangely enough I can't ever recall drawing on colored paper and I see so many great examples from people I know makes me want to give it a shot.)





I planned on doing a larger drawing again so I can try to wiggle in some detail work, even though I thought I'd sworn off big items...this one I am planning for is 20x30...



I actually really like the simplicity of this one and may do a smaller drawing of it or test painting as I try to get back into oils.







After doing another thumbnail that hit close I sketched out the setup on a large piece of white-board to see how the size vs. detail workout was going to be as well as placement. The general idea is okay but it still seems a bit stiff.While I liked the dimetro 'sitting' higher I'm not sure that their skeletal structure would allow them to get into that pose, so I kept them lower to the ground. Which led me to try something else a bit new to me...I typically use a lot of traditional reference materials but I've never actually made my own...

Next post: I made maquettes!!!

IF:Hierarchy...Low Man on National Forestry Service Ladder

Census taker for skunk gender and population identification...

Moley Moley Moley

Just a chronicle of the process of the mole. I think actual work time on the finished item was maybe 25-30 hours...part of the problem being I am slow (and you can apply that in a number of ways as my friends would readily point out for you) and work kept getting in the way...(I don't know I couldn't have just been born rich like everybody else). But I do continue to learn the importance of 'chunking' detail work. Too often as people start out in the art world they tend to procrastinate a lot and then try to cram large amounts of work into a short time span and the results aren't too stellar.


My one and only reference pic I took as I tried to figure out how the head, back, and belly would line up. And in case you were wondering, no...I'm not nearly this good looking in person...and yes, I do have ducks on my pillow, I'm just not happy to see you.


I did make some changes from the original drawing as I went...part of that whole 'letting the work dictate some of what occurs' thing. While I tend to do a lot of planning I try not to be too rigid. I didn't change the composition but just the detail work. In the upper left hole there was originally going to be a bottle and a mutant centipede. But I had moved the centipede closer to the one mole's ear because it just seemed visually creepier to me. Who just doesn't love a bug about ready to latch on to your ear...or better yet, crawling inside and laying eggs. Then I wanted a bottle still so I put a vase on the outskirts. Talisman was the word for IF so I put a lizard and talisman where the bottle and centipede were going to be at.

In the upper right hand corner I was going to plant another mushroom but changed it to a caged rat...I did this because I just didn't want to draw another mushroom.


The only other real change I made was adding a chair and bookshelf to the back. Originally I was just going to have a wall...but I wanted the picture to feel a bit claustrophobic...since Doc Minceworm is a fraud I figured part of pushing his image of competency would be to have a lot of stuff...plus it would serve as a distraction for sick moles looking for someone to heal them...adding to the ambiance of someone wanting to 'buy into the game.' Having a smaller room (him being a rather large fellow himself) cluttered would give him perhaps an illusion of being more powerful than what he is and continue to help sell him for more than what he is...Remembering old westerns with snake oil salesmen...they seemed to be large (usually tall not so much fat) characters with small 'trailers' filled with junk. As they stood in front of their moving structure it would make them seem larger than life.

On the back right shelf is actually a mole skeleton...the head and front hidden...but a mole skull rests in front of the jar on the upper left.

IF:Drive-In Theater

Parenting tips #47 from the 1970's: I remember in my youth the family loading up in our station wagon and going to the drive-in. We saw such classics as Tentacle about a giant octupus...I remember in one of the first scenes a baby stroller being there one second and then the next it gone with a woman screaming...the movie ended with some guy releasing his trained killer whales and they eventually killed the giant octopus. The second feature was (not sure of the name...Squirms perhaps) about radioactive worms that were eating people. I remember a scene where a guy turned on a shower and worms poured out of the shower head and started eating through the guy's cheeks. You don't get high quality entertainment like that these days....Strangely enough I only remember making it through that one double feature. Well years later I found out the reason...a favorite secret of overworked parents was to put cough medicine (which in them days I'm guessing was pretty much straight alcohol) in the sippy cups mixed with juice...the result was a pretty quick trip to la la land for all of us kids. It is amazing that any of us made it out alive but I have to admit, kids were a lot tougher and easier to handle than the modern variety...so it all couldn't have been that bad.

And the Mole is finished!!!


(click to enlarge)
This is Doc Minceworm...a fraud. The idea here is that as he 'treats' patients he and his critters rob them blind...and they are none the wiser. I posted some of the development earlier but plan on throwing it all in to one post sooner or later...I scanned and paneled the item together which is about 15x20 in size. Some of the subtle shading was lost a bit but trying the photography route made it too dark and I couldn't adjust the levels out.

IF:Impossibility

The mime didn't mind so much going to the electric chair for a crime he didn't commit...but he sure wished that smart-butt guard would stop asking him if he had any last words...

Mole-man update...the mole-man is done for all intents and purposes...just had to bring it in different lighting to touch up the values...will be posting it next week! The good news is that I pulled out one of my old drawing that I intentionally set aside 'completed' in the same manner so I could come back to it with fresh eyes and see what sort of value adjustments needed on it...and man does it need it...

IF:Talisman

After a rough few weeks I promised myself that regardless of what was going on I was posting this week. I thought I had some pretty funny ideas for some of the past few week's words but you'll just have to take my word for it...but you know any picture that includes a disgruntled housewife trying to throw out a man's threadbare 20 year old underwear has to be good for a chuckle...

Unfortunately I couldn't make this weeks word funny even if I hung a clown nose and mime outfit on it...being about 70% finished with my moleman pic I did have a hole that needed filled and a talisman would work perfectly...so I sketched it in last night...that is one benefit to working slower than pete...you can properly grow a picture with all the minerals and fertilizers needed. I am at this exact second 95% finished with the item and I'm going to finish it tonight...right after I finish drinking a large sweet tea and the rest of my tuna sub.

IF: Instinct

"You see son, by trusting my keen instinct I've always managed to avoid danger in the great outdoors..."

Moleman update...slowly but surely...at this point I've got all of the major items plugged in and just need to work on the background and accents...if someone would figure out a way to stop or slow time it would sure help...


(click to enlarge)

IF: 'Cell'ebrate

What prisoners do when the ingredients sealed in a plastic bag (and hidden in the toilet) ferment into alcohol...

I actually learned about this while visiting a prison (and by visit I don't mean I was actually in prison nor was it a 'scared straight' program for artists heading down the path of a life of crime). After several of the inmates were found to be drunk (one of which broke three pairs of handcuffs...gee let's give inmates access to weights)they did cell checks...and found about 10 gallons of booze hidden in various areas, including the toilets so it would be chilled...they would shove apples, kool-aid, bread, and sugar in a bag of water (sometimes juice) and let it ferment...

And the moleman continues!



(click to enlarge)

IF: Hard (Time) for Seahorses

"These women don't have a clue...I'd like to see them be able to get pregnant and have to feel what it's like to carry all of this weight around in THEIR belly..."

On a side note...several months(?) ago on Drawn.ca (a great site if you've never visited)gave a shout to a project that is going on called 700 Mole-Men...on this site is a listing of names and brief descriptions of characters and it seemed like such an awesome idea that I decided to throw my hat in the ring as it were...most people have tended to do fairly quick drawings but there are a lot of great images...I'm too stupid to do small so I'm working on a 15x20 piece of illustration board...plus I haven't done anything serious with graphite since my wiener dog pic...Check out the site and give it a shot!!! The list alone is worth reading for grins.

I chose "Doc Minceworm...a fraud"...I figured he is a bit of a snake-oil salesman and envisioned him as someone that would literally rob his patients blind...so that is the direction I am going. I also am trying to incorporate all of the elements and principles of design into the drawing (except color of course) as a test run for a possible project idea.


I did a quick character sketch and a couple of very loose pics for placement of items...Then roughed out the real pic on the illustration board and I've started doing all of the shading a bit at a time...I have all of Dr. Minceworm's helpers robbing the guy as he gets his 100% guaranteed healing therapy...


The only bad part is going to be once I've shaded it all I am going to have to go back and adjust all of the values to help make sure the form and texture really pop...I've been careful to have a sheet of paper under my hand to keep from smudging but as areas get completed it is fairly obvious that spots are too light to really work at this point.

IF:(Flawed) Dinner Service

"Waiter...there's a fly in my poop."

The influence for this true life scenario...Brought to you by the letters P and O...remember Sesame Street before it was hijacked by Elmo...and there was the blue bald guy with the mustache eating in the fine dining establishment that would say,"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup."...then the waiter would do things like throw out the soup on the floor and then put the fly back in the bowl...I think that is where things started getting off track for me...