Been playin with the watercolors lately. Some nights I have it under better control than others, but for the first time I feel like I can learn to get fluent with it. I am getting worse with my oil paintings but, I am starting to understand how to mix the colors and what effects take place when you lay them down next to each other. All in good time I suppose. At any rate…here you go.

Enjoy,
-Craig

Here are a couple more ideas for book covers, and then some painting studies I’ve been doing at home to get better with this stuff.

-Craig

Well it has been a while since my last post and I just wanted to share some of what I have been getting into these days. A year ago, I picked up a ton of old sci-fi movies and some Robert Mitchum noirs. I always loved those posters and that sort of artwork, and recently I have come to be re-inspired by the Vampirella and Creepy covers, as well as the Robert McGinnis paperpack covers. Old art was just too good. Anyways….here are a few comps and sketches I am having fun with.

I will add some more to this bunch later.

-Craig

Been a while so here is a quick post of where I am trying to go these days. I am enthralled with painting and drawing in a more finished and realistic fashion as of late. Hopefully this will strengthen every other aspect of art that I do as well.

Will post more real soon,
-Craig

Still goin. I am really enjoying inking these drawings. I’m horrible at it, but I am so excited about getting good at it that I will just keep truckin. I’ve always enjoyed comic books, and I would really like to make my own someday. Anywho…here’s a Supergirl inspired by Bob Oskner from his Adventure Comics run with her.

Enjoy!
-Craig

I like Vampirella and wanted to take a crack at drawing and inking something. Anywho…here she is.

-Craig

If I keep this up for a year I think I will start to get used to it. But wow, kudos to anyone who inks well, it is a difficult thing to do well. I am trying to get use to going over my pencils. It is super hard to keep the drawing loose. Anywho…more to come with these for sure.

-Craig

It’s surely been a minute. Work has been crazy and there has been no time to post. I will have another class drawing up real soon. Until then, here are a few from a few late nights last week.

-Craig

It’s been a bit since I posted something from class. Here are the latest.

Enjoy
-Craig

Got together with the sketchclubbers today at Travel Town by Griffith Park. Great place to draw and relax. Good times!!

-Craig

Alright, If all goes well I am going to have a booth at comic con in San Diego this summer, on that note, I am learning to ink and going through all my anatomy books and learning it to a T. I have always been lowsy at finishing my work. So this year I am dedicating to finishing what I start and finishing it well. I have to start somewhere so here are some of my first attempts that I am willing to share publicly. They have their problems but I think with practice those problems will be worked out soon enought.

Til pronto,
-Craig

Just trying to have some more fun. Whenever I get studying real hard to get better, I need to take a break and have some fun to remember what I am trying to get better for. This was a lot of fun. I was thinking the little girl could use the pipe like a mallet and wack enemies (hole side down) and when the pipe recoils the enemies would be on fire and run around causing damage to the other enemies on screen. Yes…I give away ideas freely, you know why? Because companies are too scared to do something cool like this. They would say, “We can’t have a little girl with a pipe.” And it would end there. I was thinking too, she could make a word in the book turn into whatever it is. If the word was “Bear” a bear would appear and maybe she could ride the bear around and eat the enemies…yuuuummmm. This is where the company would say, “We can’t make a little girl ride a bear, that’s dangerous.” or “A bear would eat the little girl wouldn’t it.” Then they would proceed to make the most violent and realistic game anyone has ever seen. I would suggest to anyone who works in the industry and has a company that pays them to do less that they could, to make great art at home. Maybe down the road some executive’s father can be an animator or concept guy, and he will know what is cool, and make something fun again. Anyways…I had fun with this and it was done at home on my own time and my own dime. This is what I enjoy!!! I hope you too will enjoy.

Have a great weekend!!!
-Craig

I’ve been studying a lot of anatomy stuff, so I thought I would take a break and have some fun.

Also, if you don’t know who Carlos Meglia is, click his link in the sidebar. You can tell when someone really has fun drawing and the man must be having a blast when he puts the pencil to paper.

Enjoy!!
-Craig

Time to get it started here. Hope you all or as we say from my neck of the woods y’all enjoy.

-Craig

Happy New Yea!!! Yup….that’s right folks its time to start a new year of drawing. Here is my first post for this year with my last drawings of 2007.

-Craig

Well…I have been taking these figure drawing and painting classes with Glenn Orbik and Ryan Wurmser for a year now. I am at the conclusion that if I did this full time I could become fairly decent at it. Having been in LA for nearly 10 years now, there has been this kind of subtle and sometimes not so subtle view of the teaching methods talked about in town. There are two very distinct methods. There is the Glenn Vilppu/Karl Gnass method, and then there is the Frank Reilly method practiced at Cal Arts Institute and L.A. Academy of Figurative Art. Students go back and forth about which is better, some even go so far to say that a few of the teachers are at odds because they don’t agree with each other. Well, here is my take after taking for a year with Vilppu (It was a long time ago, but I picked up a lot from the guy), and a year with Glenn Orbik. They are both great, it just depends on your aim.

The great thing with Vilppu’s teaching, is that it really gets a student thinking dimensionally right off the bat. It teaches you to break down the forms of the figure into simple three dimensional shapes and get the rhythm, solidity, and weight in there. It also gets you familiar with the proportions and anatomy. The problem that I found with learning that is that you start relying on a formula. You see a figure and you adjust your formula to make it look somewhat representational of the model. But if you really try to draw what someone looks like and try to make it look real even after using that method for years, well, the method doesn’t cater to that. I’m sure there are some successes with it, but many of the people I have seen come out of a Vilppu class draw a lot like Vilppu. It’s not bad, but when you think you are drawing what you see you probably aren’t. You are going to rely on that formula and because you have watched him correct your drawings so much, you are more likely to make strokes the way he does. The thing is though, if you are brave enough to realize that you are not drawing what you are seeing, if it is a goal of yours to do so, you will be able to get there using this method because the strong foundation is there.

The Reilly method isn’t as concerned right off the bat with anatomy and structure as it is getting the spacial relationships, tone, edges, and design working. Guess what helps that!! Yep…anatomy, structure, and three dimensional drawing. But without it, the desire to get those spatial relationships in the right places leads you to study the structure and anatomy anyways. But it is a great method for teaching how to draw what you see. Spatial relationships make individuals who they are after all.

I’m still not great with either method, but I am getting better and will be great at something one of these days if I keep at it. I guess the best way to sum it up is by a comment made by a kung fu master to a karate master, “You know the further you go with each style of fighting, the more they look like each other.” In other words, find where you want to go and choose your path to get there. If you want it bad enough you will make it.

Thats my two cents and here are my last two drawings from Glenn Orbik’s winter class.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!

-Craig

Went to the coffee shop this weekend. Tried a new one looking for a good atmosphere. It was alright but a bit tight on space. Had fun drawing though.  Trying to take my time a little more and get my lines clean while keeping the feeling of the drawing loose.  As far as the color, am just doing my best to pick colors that are not solid primaries and not colors that I see used a lot.  Anyways, enjoy.

-Craig

Alright, I am back from my honeymoon. I am now a happily married guy to a great woman. We were on St. John for the honeymoon and I drew this on the ferry as we were waiting to leave for home.  I just slapped some color on for fun at work one day.  Hope you enjoy.  If you ever have a chance, it is a beautiful island to check out.

-Craig

Well…most people would want to go party on their birthday. My buddy said “Craig man its your birthday you can do whatever you want really.” So, my choice was a night out with a few friends drawing whatever the heck we felt like at the good old Volcano Tea House. Thanks for coming out guys.

Til Pronto!!
-Craig

Ok, so now I am doing what Glen has suggested and just trying my best to finish drawings. Render them as far as I can go…at least until I fall asleep. Here are a few.

-Craig