Fresh Figure Drawings for December 2017 (D)

Catching up on #figuredrawingFriday posts!  I thought I had already posted these.

Ref: Instagram @mrfip, @dtranphysio, @akuchmeister, @frankowskiii, @joel__white and @mic.kul.

Ref:  @diluc's #diegoforce project

More development of the previous because I didn't like how the gestures turned out.

Inspired by a certain movie's release and J's light saber gestures of yore.

No ref (obviously)

The beginning of the obsession

Christmas 2017 Commissions (D)

Here are some of the results of my Christmas commissions sale:

Instagrid!

For Taylor

For Maci

For Katie

For Nick

For Steve

Also for Steve!

For Lisa

Thanks, everyone!  I had a lot of work to do there at the end of the year but it was fun to do a variety of styles and subjects, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever drawn Amy Winehouse or the inside of a 747 cockpit.

Disney Un-Disneyed In Color X (D)

Time to wrap up my year-long Disney Un-Disneyed In Color project.

All the creatures.  Can you name them all?

Are these six a little more recognizable in color? Maybe not.

 Original sketches for those two can be seen here.

And then as a seasonal P.S. I finally gave in to the hankering to do character redesigns from The Nutcracker and The Steadfast Tin Soldier, which I guess are related in a few ways (ballet, winter, military?).

This was a really satisfying project.

Happy Hipster Birthday, Hipster Harry (D)

Revisiting last summer's Hipster Harry for his special day. This expression and attitude actually reflect my feelings toward JKR these days pretty accurately.

And now I realize I never actually posted my last Hipster Harry painting inspired by attending the Yule Ball last Christmas, so here it is:

Family Christmas "Photo" (D)

I was getting ready to blog about Christmas and then I remembered we didn't have a family photo from the day so I took this sketch I did and painted it and voila.  Close enough.

Sketch version for fun:

Fresh Figure Drawings for December 2016 (D)

A pretty varied set for this month.

Ref: figurosity.com

Ref: Instagram @bendahlhausofficial

Sketch version for fun

Inspired by a pending evening at the Yule Ball

Santa-inspired without reference (obvious?) with a touch of While You Were Sleeping

I was a little loose with my definition of figure drawings this time around, which was fun for a change.

Nativity (D)

I don't believe I've ever posted this, so here you go.  This was a Christmas gift for my mom almost a decade ago.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Mister and Missus C (D)

Because who hasn't imagined young and hip Clauses? I drew this almost a decade ago and have been meaning to paint it for years. And now I finally have! Once framed it made a great white elephant gift.

 Original sketch:

Christmas is coming, it's practically here!

Two For Bethlehem (D)

I've been determined to do some new Christmas art this year, so here's this!

Which then of course HAD to be painted:

Less than a weeeeeeeek.

Cozy Cozy Christmas Choir (D)

I'm in a (couple of) community choir(s) this year and tonight was our first concert!  I did the artwork for the program cover, so here it is.  Cozy cozy.

Keep one eye open for a familiar model.

Things I Almost Remember (D)

The other night we watched Anastasia, which I have been wanting to rewatch for quite some time.  I think this movie, along with a few others around the same time, had a significant hand in influencing and developing (read: improving) my art style in my teenage years.  This movie also always makes me think of Christmastime, probably in large part because of this song.

Background texture courtesy of here.

A Fairy and a Princess (D)

I've been meaning to post these for ages!  But there were things like Specks that needed to be addressed first.  These are a couple of Christmas commissions I did for a friend to give to her two daughters.  They had a couple of pretty specific requirements (colors, primarily), but the rest was left up to me, with some guidance and requests from their mom.  I think they turned out fun, and the girls reportedly really liked them too!  It's always fun to draw something unabashedly girly, it gives me a chance to use some fun sparkly brushes and textures.

Kaitlyn

Ashlee

Happy Christmas, girls!  I'm glad you liked your presents.

Jolly Olde England: A Christmas Surpreeze (D)

This isn't exactly a Sunday Sketch, though I did original draw it over a series of Sundays, as I recall.  In any case, here is one of the Christmas surprises I planned for J.  We have such fond memories of our summer in London, and I did the sketch of this back then as a sort of visual record of some of our favorite happenings there.  We have a sort of English decor in the living room, so I thought (kind of at the last moment) that this might be a nice addition, so I colored it up, framed it, and she had no idea!  That's the best kind of surprise.

For fun, here's the original sketch.  As you can see, I added a few elements for the final version.  I'm a little surprised at some of the things I left out, especially since I remember several times kind of racking my brain to think of more of our activities.  Silly me, how could I forget Big Ben?

Cheerio!

Sunday Sketches -- A Smattering of Christmas

It's 2012!  We have big plans and high hopes to post a little more regularly this year.  I'll start by posting something that I meant to post, erm, almost two weeks ago...  Here are some Sunday Sketches!

I love Christmas!  It's already over, alas, but I have a way to make it linger just a little big longer.  Christmastime meant that it was time to do some Christmas drawings!  Christmas even fell right on a Sunday this year.  This belated edition of Sunday Sketches features a mixture of sources of inspiration.  Here you'll see the results of recently seeing a production of The Nutcracker (including some anatomy/ballet studies), a Christmas toy or two, and, unsurprisingly, a little bit of Nativity.

(It should probably be noted that I'm by no means an expert on ballet, so some of the positioning might not be entirely accurate.  I didn't do any extra research, I mostly just tried to make them look pretty, ha ha.)

We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and that you'll keep visiting as the 2012 rolls along to see what Pen and Pencil Arts may appear next.

Hogwarts Kids for Christmas

Occasionally we do commissioned artwork or requests.  A very good friend wanted drawings of her kids as Hogwarts students for last Christmas, and we couldn't possibly refuse, since 1) she's a very good friend, as I said, and 2) we obviously just love Harry Potter.  In this case we traded services rather than moneys (see the photo to the right under "About Pen and Pencil").  I did the sketches and some of the digital coloring, then passed them on to J to finesse the shading and highlights, do some  detail stuff and work on the composition and backgrounds.

Lily first wanted to be Gryffindor but later fancied herself a Ravenclaw.  Easy peasy.

Holden makes a fine Slytherin.  It's all in the gleam in his eyes.

We tried a few different ideas with the backgrounds, but in the end a parchment style was requested, the better to fit the theming and framing.  We haven't seen them fully framed and matted, but we have heard they were a big hit on Christmas morning.