People on the Go IV - Green Portrait

I've seen this sort of illustration done a few times before, and in an art blog I saw recently. I figured I'd give it a try. I'm happy with the results. What I'm not happy with is the amount of time it took me to do this. I had a couple of false starts (using the wrong tools) and had to re-do the highlight and the shading to get it right. Still though, I feel it took me too long to complete this.

I'm still having a hard time with backgrounds. I tried a couple of 'canned' backgrounds, or just flat brown, it didn't look right.

Can anyone give me a hand with the backgrounds, I need a few ideas there.

Again, comments are always appreciated.

People on the Go III

Here's another one from my "People on the GO" series. I think I bungled her nose in this one. Not bad overall though.

People on the Go II

I was into sketching people on the train for a little while. I have one that I posted up earlier.

Here's another one. I'm pretty happy with this one. I have a couple more ready just in case for the future. If anyone is really interested I'll post them up quicker.

Unfortunately, most of my drawings are of people sleeping. Seems like that's the top activity on the train in the morning or the afternoon. The only other pose seems to be a sour, or just a straight face. Hard to find some real emotion.

I think I'm going to start drawing on the train again. This time I'll try taking a different train car. Being a typical commuter, I'm a creature of habit and sit in the same car, most of the time in the same seat.

At any rate, let me know what you think!

Which way is up?

I'm trying to figure out which way this goes better. I had originally thought the drawing should be oriented with the buildings/boxes going up. I didn't think it looked right so I rotated the image. Let me know what you think?

Arizona

Here's another conte sketch. Like most of my drawings this started out as nothing. As I progressed it started forming these cactus like shapes. I've been to Scottsdale Arizona, it's a nice place to visit. Not sure if I want to live there. At any rate, the drawing started to remind me of my time there. Very dry, brown and hot.

People on the Go

Here's one that's actually brand spankin' new. I read online about sketching on the train. As weird and creepy as it sounds, it's actually kinda fun. Hopefully I won't get popped in the eye or anything else.

So here's a dude that's on my morning commute into *insert major metro area here* . He's actually quite older than what he looks like in my drawing. His nose isn't quite the same.

Old sketch

I was going through my old sketchbooks and I found some that aren't half bad. This one is at least 10 years old maybe 15? If only I would have been working on this earlier, maybe I would have been a famous art-tiest! Well maybe not.

Another cheap post.

Here's another cheap post. Actually they are so cheap, I'll give you two! Trust me they do get better. At least I think they do!?

Cheapie Post

Can't say I'm too nuts about this one.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy

I've got a confession to make, these aren't so much as 'daily' as I have a stockpile of sketches I've been doing since March-ish. I think I may have peaked on the abstract art with my charcoal lines. I still don't mind doing them, they are really just a form of relaxation for me. Most of these drawings are done before I go to bed at night. I don't think they are works of art per-say, but they are the result of my thoughts at the end of the day.

I guess I could get pretty artsy and make up something along the lines of, "These sketches are the culmination of my daily feelings and activities put to paper. It is my visual diary of my emotions of the day. I try to capture what I've felt through the day and immortalize it on paper." That sounds pretty good actually, it does sound a little like BS, but there is some truth to it. I love talking to artist at outdoor arts shows and whatnot, they have such great stories about the pictures. Some are interesting and you can get to peek inside their head. Others sound like total bollocks and feels like they are making it up on the spot.

Can't really remember how this started but it ended up looking like a pig to me. The shape of the head can also be a torso as well. I may have started out like that, but oh well. At any rate here's my picture for today, hope you enjoy it.

Eye Eat Rabbit

I really like this one. Whats neat about it is that it works both as shown and upside down. I think I was playing a little to much Rayman Raving Rabbit on my Wii at the time.

Matchstick

Started off just laying down tones and values, started looking like a burnt forest. I added some stick figures. Makes me think of some sort of pagan ritual.

City People

I've been busy lately and haven't been able to post. Guess this isn't as "Daily" as I'd hoped. At any rate, here's one that I like. It started off as pretty much nothing, but it turned out ok.

Another abstract charcoal

Here's another one. These first few are in chronological order. I'm thinking they do get better with time. So is ANYONE seeing this?

She 1

Well almost daily. Didn't quite get this one in. If anyone is actually seeing this blog, I wouldn't mind hearing from you.

Frog and Robot

Whoops missed a day. Here's another two, Frog and Robot. I like both of them. The robot although simple, reminds me of my toys as a kid.

Charcoal Abstract 2

Here's another abstract that came out of my head. Like I said, just trying to get the images out.

Charcoal Abstract 1

An abstract image that popped into my head. No real plan, just lines and smudges.

Hide and Seek

Here's the first charcoal sketch. I quite like this one.