Another Pin-up Babe

Yes, I never give up. I will continue to draw pin-up babes and fantasy women till I get it right. I have lots of "fotomodella" books full of pictures of models from times past, when boobs were real and lingerie was tacky and women were not fitness-freaky, muscular and wire-thin. I like working in ordinary pencil a lot more than digital with the Wacom tablet. Many digital artists start with a real pencil drawing, and they scan it in just as I have here and then color it in. I will try that soon.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 4" x 7", October 14, 2012.

Hot Chocolate Kitten and Angel

At Paco's Tacos, kittens and angels serve you hot chocolate. Would you like it any other way? What is more comforting than kittens, angels, and hot chocolate? I wish I had some right now. 

Markers on posterboard, about 12" x 10", winter 1979-80. Lots of work in Photoshop.

Winter Hours

I did more than menu boards for Paco's Tacos. If there was something that needed explanation or information, I would make a sign to convey that message. You can see here that I was interested in cloudscapes even back then. Note my signature monogram star to the lower right. I still sign my art with that graphic. Well, the winter hours are coming next month, Sunday brunch and all. Some things don't change.

Markers on posterboard, about 12" x 10", winter 1980.

Roof Lines Autumn

Here's another iPad work break drawing, this time of the roof lines of houses behind my workplace building. You can see a bit of orange autumn color on some of the trees, though we don't have much seasonal color yet. The clouds were especially lovely that day, in early evening. 

iPad Art Studio app with some touching up in Photoshop, October 10, 2012.

Mexican Menu Quetzalcoatl

I took another image from my collection of Mesoamerican art for this late-series Mexican menu. Quetzalcoatl, the "Feathered Serpent," was also supposed (in now-discredited sources) to be a white, bearded divinity who would be the Savior of the Aztecs. I depicted this figure, therefore, with pink arms and legs and a monstrous pink and white face. If I were doing this series of commercial illustrations nowadays, I'd have to be much more careful where I got my cultural material from. 

Anyway, Tristan, here's another of my Mesoamerican-inspired images that you like so much. Maybe, if I have the time, I'll do a "modern" one and bring it to Darkovercon. I'm still deciding what art I will bring to the annual show there. 

Markers on posterboard, 21" x 13", spring 1980.

Spiced Cider

Autumn is an imaginary season, created by humans eager to stave off the horrors of winter with images of abundant harvests, feasts, singing and drinking and celebrating the equinox. Any sign I make about fall foods will support this illusion. Red apples, orange and yellow leaves, and the aroma of spices in the cider are there for your comfort. But I know the darkness and the ice are coming, ushered in by the ghosts of Halloween. 

Trader Joe's endcap sign, acrylic markers on black-painted Masonite, 30" x 20", October 8, 2012.

Work Break Figure Study

The weather was cold and rainy so I didn't take my iPad outside on my work break. Instead I worked on this figure study using a printout from the Art Models 6 collection as my model. I wanted to work on light, shadow, and color. My work break is a half an hour so this is as much as I can do in that time. I also transferred the image from the iPad to my main system and did some work on it on Photoshop when I got home. Ideally I would be able to work this figure up into a highly "realistic" rendering, similar to academic realism, but I would need more than half an hour. 

This model is a fine arts model. She is not a pin-up. But once I have a realistic, solid-looking technique, I will import those skills into the more exaggerated pin-up style. I am not giving up my quest to digitally paint people, especially beautiful girls and fantasy ladies. I'll just keep charging up my iPad. The  nice thing about digital painting is that you do not clutter up your studio with dusty drawings and sticky painted panels.

"Art Studio" app on iPad, 1/2 hour, some work done later in Photoshop.