In Progress

One of my assignments this past week has been to paint the cover for the Contra Costa Times' upcoming election special. Good fun. Kinda.

I don't have a lot of confidence in my caricature and/or portraiture abilities. It's not an aspect of picture-making that I've practiced enough to allow me to smile and say, "Oh yeah! Phil Angelides and the Governator! Let me at 'em!" It's always a real struggle for me, but having these two guys as the subjects for the painting is a help.

Arnold is such a well-known character that all you really have to do is come close to getting it to look like him and the audience will fill in the blanks. Angelides is a very distinctive looking man with his large ears, prominent nose, and I've noticed in the pictures I've found that his hair never seems to change. He has a great face and a great overall look that editorial cartoonists would love to get ahold of.

The first picture is the original rough. As I progressed I flipped their positions, having them stand back to back and in this case I think it makes for a better composition.

The second picture is a screen capture of how they look as I near the finish. I'm almost happy with the Angelides portrait, and Arnold is "close enough." At the beginning I thought that it might stray further into caricature, but I'm glad I stayed a bit straighter than I thought I could.

I'll post the final after it runs.

The End.

50!

Post # 50, that is. My goal was to reach 100 this year, but that's looking like it might be a little out of range. Still, who'd'a thunk I'd make it to 50? Not I.

I've started a new job. I now work in the News Graphics department of the Contra Costa Times, and I'm still slightly dazzled by all the new routines I have to learn. Although it's technically the same type of job I had before, it requires a broader knowledge of more programs and operating systems, and the server set-up is more complicated than I'm used to. I know it's simply a matter of time until it becomes routine but I'm in "new-guy" mode, so my brain is slightly panicky.

The old job worked me extra hard right up until the end and the new one is really occupying my days and my thoughts here at the beginning, so I haven't had much time for personal work. And the commute! I'm losing one-and-a-half to two-hours to travel time, so far. That pretty much crushes what used to be my personal drawing time. I'll find a way to get it back eventually-- drawing on breaks, getting up an hour or so earlier, whatever.

Onward and upward, right? Onward, at least!

Today's post: Some quick doodles done late at night before I started the new job-- the only drawing I've done outside of work this past month. Pencil and pen on plain old paper. Colored in P-shop.

The End.

Couple of Quick Studies

A long time ago I bought that Dover book of Dore's illustrations for Don Quixote-- great book. I've given a rest for a couple of years but I picked it up again this week and went through it, page by page, not skipping a thing. And then I made a cup of tea and went through it again.

One morning, just before work, I did these figure studies from a couple of Dore's drawings. Pitt brush pen on paper, vandalized in photoshop to make them look fancier than they really are.

The End.