Sweet Dreams

If you're ever wondering what happens when you've been reading nothing but American Vampire and Locke and Key comics all week, this is it. This atrocity that my tablet's sketch app helped to create. It's some sort of eerie take on the Cheshire cat watching a child sleep, apparently. All I knew when starting this sketch was that I knew I wanted to create a picture with some of the tension that I enjoyed so much from these two comic series. 

Nap, anyone?

Gabriel Rodriguez, the artist behind the Locke and Key series has this tension perfected in his work, and when I asked him on Twitter what advice he had for someone who wants to learn to draw he replied with, "The only possible advice: draw a lot, all the time, as many different things as possible. And try to have as much fun as you can."

See, I told you.

If you're into comics, and especially horror, you'll want to check these two comic series out. One focuses on a vampire in the Wild West (with a back-story from Stephen King!) and one focuses on a mansion hiding dark secrets and reality-shattering keys. I'll let you guess which is which.

This sketch really brought Gabriel's advice home for me, as it most definitely isn't the best thing I've ever drawn, but it's something I had the most fun with. I can't be the only one that loves creatures lurking in the shadows and nightmares being more than figments of our imagination, can I?

If you share my love of horror, let me know! Are there any films, books, games, comic series or more that I might be missing out on?

Getting Hands-y

Since this week's exercise (Drawing Blind) focused on drawing the contours of my hand - blind, may I add - it made sense to me that my Random Sketch should also feature a hand. That's just how my mind works. An eye for an eye, a hand for a hand, or something.

A few months ago, when I went to London's MCM Expo - a glorious convention full of games, films, comics and everything else that a geek like myself could enjoy - my friend bought a Japanese entertainment magazine. I had a flick through to see if there were any interesting anime films or games coming out, and stumbled across a section devoted to drawing anime. Naturally, I slowed down to read this section to see if I could pick up any tips for an aspiring 'artist'.

Here's what I found:

How to Draw Hands

"Drawing hands is tricky. They're one of the most complex parts of the human skeleton, and our expectations for hands to look accurate is second nature. Hands exhibit a wide range of poses, and some of the limitations of how they move and bend aren't always immediately apparent. If drawn correctly, however, hands can be just as impressive and impactful as the character's face!"

"The hand is made of 17 parts; 15 for the fingers, and two for the palm. The palm can be represented in two parts; the main area, and the section at the top connecting the four fingers. Each of the digits (including the thumb) has three sections. The lowest part of the thumb encroaches on a large part of the palm, and can cause the whole palm to curve. Always all of these parts when drawing the hand, even when some parts have been obscured."

 My attempt, using my tablet.

I was quite happy with how it turned out - happy enough to put it on Twitter, actually, where I may have received a tweet saying that it was good... I don't like to brag or anything though.

 Why not try drawing a hand yourself using the handy tips above? That was awful, and I'm truly sorry, but you should still give it a shot. 

Face My Shame

I've always thought that tablets seemed pretty useless. Why would I want something similar to a computer/laptop when I already have a computer/laptop?

Long story short, I now have a Google Nexus 7, and this is the first thing I drew on a sketch app.

I actually don't think it's that bad, although hair was out of the question, apparently. Unfortunately I have a couple more sketches to upload and they go downhill from here. Enjoy.

Random Eye Sketches

There will also be a section crammed full of any random sketches that I happen to draw alongside learning to draw, and will hopefully show my progress with things that I actually want to draw. For now though, they're pretty awful so you may want to avert your eyes...

Speaking of eyes, what did I tell you? I draw them all the damn time. Again, apologies for the picture quality. Until I can find my camera they will all be painfully blurry.

Pretty creepy, right?

Look at them.

LOOK AT THEM.

Ahem - sorry. If you want to see why I draw so many eyes, check out the Why I Draw Eyes post!

I have a few more sketches to upload, and believe it or not, they're not actually all eyes!