#working sketch

[g0blinkween]

Costume concept for my girl Jean if she was alive and un-phoenixed during the Astonishing X-Men era. I couldn't decide on the colours (either blue or green with gold accents), so I left it as a working sketch. I was mostly inspired by Cyclops and Wolverine's costumes as they echo back to Jim Lee's designs but with a modern edge.

[ekbelsher]

Advice from a successful illustrator whose name I forget: draw what you want to look at. Well, I want to look at this 😬😜

It’s a working sketch. Super proud of myself for getting the stairs right! You can see where I drew the horizon line. I had to tape the paper down to a cutting mat and mark one of the vanishing points off the picture plane. 

Short girls, you know what this picture is about 😂

[ekbelsher]

Queen of Nothing’s coming out in a couple of weeks, so we’re all a bit focused on our anticipation for that; but in the meantime I’m working on a graphic novel rewrite of Beauty and the Beast. Here’s a rough concept sketch of Beauty that I quite like.

The Disney animated version of BatB is one of my guilty pleasures. It was my favourite Disney movie as a kid. Something has always bothered me about it, though: it’s the Beast’s story, not Belle’s. They took an old fairytale that was about a girl and her choices, and they made it into a story about a cruel and selfish young man who redeems himself by earning the love of a beautiful woman. There’s nowhere to really go for Belle, in terms of character development; she’s already awesome. What the the story is really all about is the Beast’s redemption arc. 

In the original fairytale, the Beast is a nice guy. He was transformed into a monster through no fault of his own; the vindictive fairy who cursed him had her own agenda. Throughout the story, the Beast is unfailingly kind to Beauty, even though she’s horrified by him (at first). The story is about Beauty choosing to love the Beast despite his ugliness and apparent lack of wit, because she realizes she’d rather have a kind husband than a handsome or clever one. It’s a metaphor for arranged marriage -- to help prepare 18th-century young ladies to be married off to much older men whom they may find unattractive.

But for a modern re-write, the arranged marriage theme doesn’t really work (at least, not in my culture). So how can I write a version that centres on Beauty? Well, maybe one way is to write a story where it’s Beauty, not the Beast, who’s the selfish screw-up with anger issues. Let’s see a story about her redemption arc! 

[asheredelweiss]

Working on a boy. ... *sigh* what even is my art style anymore?

[dragon21studios]

a working sketch of the infamous Bella from Harry Potter Series. I am drawing again. Well to be more precise, been drawing between my seizure fits. It’s a bit hard having them like 3 or 5 times again and at least its not those grand mal ones. Kami forbid if that happens to me. Actually waiting for ups to drop a package off. I’ll be going to bed soon though. Gonna finish her up then probably hop in bed afterwards.

[anneerhard]

Sketch 01

[jackrabbitsmom]

Coming Soon to a Sidewalk Near Me

Here's the working sketch for the first in the "But is it ART?" series: 

I chose " The Owl & the Pussycat" by Edward Lear as my first piece, because it quickly jumped to mind when I was trying to come up with a connective theme for "But is it ART?". Part of my thinking is to do a series ephemeral sidewalk sketches of nursery rhymes and nonsense poems, and have the connecting element between them all be water. I'd like to do one a week for the month of September, and see how it goes.

Living in a harbour town affords one the opportunity to be near to and observe water on an almost daily basis. It doesn't mean I've gotten any better at capturing it on paper, or anywhere else, for that matter!  I'm hoping this will push me to be better able to capture at least the essence of water in my works. Even if it's washed away within hours.

So, if you happen to be in the Port Stanley area this month, by all means, have a look around for me, chalk in hand, scribbling away madly on the sidewalks...I'm thinking Thursdays, weather dependent, of course. Stop by, say hello—I'd love to hear what you have to say on the subject of what makes it ART!