Old art from Roma 1971

In 1971 I lived with my parents at the American Academy in Rome, a venerable institution founded in the 1890s as a haven for American artists in the Eternal City. My father was Composer in Residence and presided over many concerts, playing the piano. I was on a "gap year" between high school and college and had lots of self-directed educational work to do, such as reading Roman epic poet Vergil in Latin. I also had not only colored pencils, but a set of colored inks and metal pen points. I had been doing illustrations using these inks for a while, since the late 60s. Instead of precise watercolor brushwork I did a pen-hatching style dipping my carefully cleaned pen into colored inks. 

The image above was done with the colored inks sometime during my stay in Rome in 1971. I favored the surrealistic style which was in vogue in the late 60s early 70s. I can still identify some of the figures I used. To the left is a female action figure who is either Marvel's "Black Widow" (who already existed at that time) or an Italian imitation of her with blonde hair. The panel to the right has a portrait of actor John Gielgud, all done in ink scratching. This was for practice doing faces. I had a photo to work from which is now long-lost. Around Gielgud's face are the Sumerian gods "Ea" (green scales) and "Anu" (at top, red and yellow with black beard). There are costumed heads and a large hand holding a box of cigarettes marked "Reality" out of which pops a headless female torso with winglets. If you go to a Roman antiquities museum you will see dozens of these headless statues. Rome was prime territory for imaginative "pagans" and surrealistic teenagers.

I did several of these colored ink drawings including one of a monastery garden next door, and stopped doing them when I realized that the inks were very fade-able and I wouldn't be able to save the colors. I "graduated" to watercolor which I continue to use to the present day.

Black and colored inks on thick paper, about 12" x 9", 1971. It's a poor photograph, worked in Photoshop as much as I could. The original of this is long gone though the monastery garden drawing has survived.

Geometrika Tropical Fantasy

Wish I were there, right? In the virtual world of art, you can be anywhere, as long as you've got the pencil and the colors. My new sketchbook journal will have not only superheroes and sequentials, but also geometrika. These little abstractions should liven things up so I don't have to draw millipedes or Volkswagens all of the time. I also love doing them. I do the drawing in pen on paper and then color it in, sometimes digitally, sometimes not. Another nice thing about geometrika and superheroes is that I can make them up and not have to go park in a dismal parking lot and sit on my car's tailgate to draw Reality. Don't worry, you'll get reality drawings if you want them and I get the opportunity, if you want Reality at this point in our lives. This Geometrika evokes a tropical beach on a moonlit evening, complete with pink and yellow party decorations, ferns, and a pink glowing fire pit. I didn't know when I started this that it would be a tropical scene, but there you are.

Digitally colored ink drawing on virtual sketchbook page, 8" x 3 1/2", January 6, 2017.

Darkover Fan Art: There's More

Robert Raymon Kadarin was a character from the "Re-colonization" era of Darkover. A striking figure as tall as a basketball player, at least six feet nine or ten, he was a relentless agent and power broker between the old colonists and the new Terrans. He also had an active romantic life involving women, men, and probably aliens as well. That was his great secret: he was genetically mostly alien, a member of the "Chieri" folk who were not only very tall but were endowed with psychic powers.

Kadarin was a recurring figure in a lot of Darkover fan fiction so I got to illustrate him in various adventures and even his childhood. He's usually dressed in a black Terran uniform and he has the same silvery hair as his alien ancestors. I have portrayed him here looking over the new city and spaceport that the Terrans are building on his old residence.

Original is black ink on illustration board, about 8" x 6 1/2", spring 1982.

Herald of the New Year

I've been drawing superheroes and costumes for superheroes ever since my early childhood, using crayon and colored pencil. Nothing much has changed, except that I've switched from crayons to the Cintiq. This costumed figure is "Lightningball," as I knew him when I designed him. To spare the modest slightly, I've re-named him "Lightning Rod," which isn't much better. The Legion of Superheroes had "Lightning Lad," "Lightning Lass," and "Lightning Lord," but I can't use them. My "Lightning Ball" had a velvety black bodysuit with gold trim and gold cape. He had three "rings" on his gloves and boots which concentrated the lightning force. His weapon, the lightning rod here used as a banner pole, could not only shoot bolts but collapse to a shorter staff weapon or fighting stick. The helmet is based on Renaissance parade armor. I don't have any "backstory" for Lightning Rod, at least at the moment. 

Having seen this so far, you can guess what my sketchbook journal theme is for 2017. I will be drawing and painting and coloring superheroes, their costumes, and other fantasy characters in comic book style. Most of them will be my own inventions but I might sneak some already existing characters in there too. I will use frames which is good practice. This one is colored in Photoshop but I will also offer up more "traditional" drawings in colored pencil and markers. There will also be geometrix accents on the pages. 

"Lightning Rod" is brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5 1/2" x 8",colored in Photoshop,
January 4, 2017.

First Nude of 2017

It's a new year and time for figure drawing. This model is from one of my innumerable photographic nude model books. I'm trying to keep the drawing as simple as possible. I remember drawing nude art models in winter, in my younger days, when we had a heating fan on the platform to keep our model from freezing. This one doesn't need a heating fan because she is only a photograph. This sketch finishes off the larger empty spaces in my 2016  sketchbook journal and I will proceed now to this year's sketchbook journal which I hope you will read about later this week.

Black tech pen ink and a bit of white-out and photoshoppage, 6" x 5", January 3, 2017.

Valley of the Red Sun

Darkover again! The Red Sun shines on this spectacularly situated Darkovan (actually Swiss) village. I hope to be showing more color work this year, since my new sketchbook format is in color. A Darkover-veteran friend of mine once suggested that I make a collector's item book of my best Darkovan art and it seemed like a nice idea but I am not sure there is enough "audience" for it, not to mention the time it would take for me to do custom work for it and also negotiating copyright with the Marion Zimmer Bradley estate. I am kind of amazed how much work I did in the Darkover mythos including both professional and fan art.

Watercolor and ink on illustration board, 7" x 10", June 1988.

A Digital New Year's

You've seen this design before, or something within its series of my Holiday/New Year greeting cards. Is it paint, or is it...that awful digital art that shows no human touch? It's machine made, of course. I don't know about the machine makers but the only hands that labored, if "labor" is the right word, on this piece were my own. The amount of time spent making the design is more or less the same as if it were real paint. The only thing that takes longer is that the painted design has to dry before you can put another layer on it.

I have things I want to do this year but at the moment I don't want to talk about them. I will not post twaddle anywhere. I'm grateful for a number of things which I also don't want to talk about, except this one: No more "House of Mildew." It is being re-built by the developers who bought it and its site, so it's No Longer My Problem. 

Is art work? I am working on art but is that the same thing? I start a new sketchbook diary today. The format is different as you shall see shortly. Wine art continues though it is slower during the winter. If I have enough, I may attempt to publish Book 2 of the winery series. 
The blog continues. Is anyone reading or viewing it? I hope so. This is one of the most moronic posts I've done in a long while. I'll try to be more interesting as the year goes on. Happy New Year Blog readers!

Photoshop, about 5" x 7", January 1, 2017.