Pics for Art by Committee

James Gurney, the guy who did Dinotopia, has a blog. And on that blog, he hosts "Art by committee" where once a month he posts a quote from a sci-fi or fantasy story and people send in pictures drawn from the quote. This month the quote is "He is shorter than I remember, and thin. His fur is grayed to white in a fringe around his head, just below his ears. His coat is dull, thinning, and coarse. His eyes, so bright I…" It was due on the 12th and I just got it in last night. This first one is the pencil I sent him. I think he liked it, which is so awesome. Made my day.

The pencil was really fun. Google is a nice help for reference pics. I had to scan it and such to do that and it was amazingly difficult. I think it shut the power down three times and we had to flip the breakers. Then it freaked out the scanner to be shut down like that so it took a good 20 minutes to get the scan done. I think the "power drain" from changing the size of the image in Photoshop killed the power again.

So then after I had that scanned and sent, I decided to try inking it. This first one I used a few different size technical pens from Faber-Castell. I only have three sizes: S, F, and M. I got them as a set for less than $15 from Fred Meyer's. Not quite sure what the equivalents are, but I think it is like 3, 5, and 8 or 10. I did the outline of the character in F, the inside lines with S, and the shading with M. It was fun. I wish I hadn't colored in his eyes with the hatching, but whatever.

This next one I did with a (slightly blunt) brush pen that came in the same little kit as the three technical pens. I really like the set. They are easy to use and a nice solid black color. I don't know which of the two I like better. I think parts of each. So I will probably use the brush for skin outlines and the technical pens for everything else. I had trouble with the shoes. Also had help from Google.

This was really fun. My favorite of the three is the pencil drawing. But I can't wait to find out the next quote on the 15th. This also inspired another image that I will draw. It is a more sarcastic version because the character is still quite rotund even though the quote is about the character being thinner than remembered. Maybe I will do that tonight.

Also, in the mail I have a drawing board with a translucent center on the way from DickBlick.com. So now I will have a better (and more ergonomic) place to draw. That will be nice. My current place is curled up on the couch, but I am having some problems with my right shoulder because of my posture (I think). I actually started physical therapy for it a few weeks ago and I was right, my right shoulder is...was...really tight. It is already a lot better. Speaking of, I better go do my exercises. Hooray. They are actually really easy and take probably 20 minutes.