Memory Landscape of Virginia

I got some new markers for doing sketching. These are water-based pen markers with a wide brush tip and a pen tip on the other end. I already have dozens of them but some of them are dried up or don't fit my color choices. The difficulty in water-based markers is that the colors fade so you have to keep your work covered. The more expensive water-based markers use pigment instead of dye so it might not fade as fast, but it still is not lightfast. This sketch of the Virginia countryside in winter (with leafless vines) was done with some of these new markers especially the grayscale and sepia ones. The most difficult color to find in these markers is light sky blue, which I used on the sky in this drawing. I'm always looking for light and pastel marker colors. I expect to do on-site drawing with these once I have sorted them out and stored them in a nice portable box, which is one of my favorite art things to do.

Markers on sketchbook paper, 7" x 4", February 29, 2016. This may be from memory but I assure you it looks just like the real thing.

4 Creatures

I don't know, maybe I had too much coffee today, but when it came time for blogging these showed up rather than the pin-up girl. You takes what you can get I suppose. These look like a combination of mammalian and shellfish, except for the "Armapillow" plush critter at upper right. He actually has six feet but one of them is hidden behind the others.

Tech pen black ink on sketchbook page, about 3 1/2" x 3 1/2", February 28, 2016.

My Neighbor the Jedi

My neighbors' son wanted me to do his portrait as a Jedi Knight, so I drew him brandishing his light-saber. Back in those days I'd draw my portrait subject in freehand pencil but I admit guiltily that when I do a portrait these days I use photographs. I even enlarge the photograph and trace it so I get just what I want, and I enhance it later. He wanted a sort of spacesuit look for his costume, so I made it up. I think he was pleased with the final results though since my photo of the portrait was really poor I don't have much of a record of it.

He wanted to be a Jedi but for him the closest thing was the military. He became a medical officer and flew countless missions in various war zones saving wounded people from the battlefields and bringing them home. I have no call to be any kind of knight or warrior or rescuer so I am awed by people who sincerely make this their life work. He's been in the military almost 30 years. There are real Jedi I guess.

Pencil on sketchbook page, about 9" x 6", May 12, 1982.

Construction Fail 3

Here we see two bewildered construction workers trying to fit their beam into a hole which is too wide for it. I'll bypass the obvious rude remarks to explain that this is about programming and products which do not fit the client's existing infrastructure. Infrastructure is such an exciting word. I can almost use it without sounding pretentious, but just almost.

Ink on illustration board, about 6" x 9", early 1990s.

City of Light revisited

Back in thrilling 1995 I painted one of my "fantastic cities" paintings for a private client. I filled the scene with wild and fanciful buildings, each one in a different color and style. I called it "City of Light" and based it on the ancient Persian mythology of the bridge from earth to heaven that the soul crosses. You can see it on my website in the "Fantastic Cities" section. 

For this current assignment which is a book cover, there are many fanciful buildings described so I have brought back some of the ideas from "City of Light." The yellow round thing at the right is not a Ferris wheel but a cybernetic halo around the head of an artificial intelligent robot horse. You'll see it all in a few days when I'm done.

Photoshop on Cintiq, about 5" x 5", February 2016. 

Dragon Train

Two long hoots, one short one, then another long hoot: the Dragon Train is crossing through an intersection. Clad in organic metal, burning dragon fire in his steam belly, he faithfully powers cargo and passengers through the rail lines. No need for a human engineer; the Dragon knows where he's going. When it's time to rest, he crawls off his platform and lies down in the coal yard for a well-deserved dragonish slumber.

Ink and markers on sketchbook page, 4 1/2" x 4", February 23-24, 2016.

Construction Fail part 2

I wish I remembered what software-industrial concern ordered these illustrations, but I'm not sure I ever knew. The client is still around so I suppose I could ask her. Here instead of grinding the bolt down to size, the bolt gets stuck in the hole and breaks, dismaying and even endangering the construction workers. Note that I made one of the construction workers female. The personnel in this series of cartoons is a tech office group, not real construction workers. I have never seen a female construction worker in all my life and I wonder why with all the gender-diversity and gender-equality action going on in our world. I guess that construction work needs physical strength which usually women don't have so they can't work on sites. I've seen women helping at house-building for charitable work like "Habitat for Humanity," but not on high-rises or industry or commercial buildings. There are a whole lot of places where a male-only workforce is still required but people, even activist types, don't talk about it much. This article from 2014 does a good job explaining why so few women work in construction.

Ink brushwork on illustration board, 6 1/2" x 8 1/2", early '90s.