this is only a test...

just uploading the atomic pussycat so i have online access to her ;p

all i need now is the girl

finally found a place with live models to draw from...one would think that a city like phoenix would be flush with such things, but the only open drawing studio that i found was out in hoity-toity scottsdale. on the night we went they were only doing one long pose, which is fine, but there wasn't even a gesture warm-up(!) and the pose was not very dynamic, to say the least, just a clothed model sitting in a chair. so i just sketched a few head shots and that was that.

 the title of this post is completely unrelated to anything other than 1) this drawing is of a girl and 2) the song popped into my head. it's another "gypsy" musical number, i'm afraid, and it's actually quite a pop standard, though many may not be familiar with it...here's a rather sexist but wonderful rendition:

 

oh, Tesla...

     here's a quick study of Tesla that i did for an upcoming project. he won't be a main character, but he'll probably be an important contributer to the advancement of the story. i'm also thinking of having Edison do a cameo as a dastardly villain...

lavender green

another nude study. i used a different type of pencil because i felt that i was getting too comfy relying on my ol' red n' blue animation pencils...this one had a much softer lead, which caused me to take a more painterly approach, i think. 

p.s. - for anyone unfamiliar with the reference in the blog title: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYrdEBLecZg&feature=related

blue bayou

another nude study. the advantage to using photo reference from the fifties is that the models all have real bodies and rather varied looks. a disadvantage, however, may be the tendency toward the weird sucked-in stomach thing that was popular in posing...

this pose was challenging; the position of the sholder, the lack of a visable neck, capturing the appropriate negative space around her limbs. it is also interesting to take a pose out of context. without the background, she looks a bit as if she's doing an interpretive dance in homage of the flamingo. she was actually stand-leaning against an enormous knarled tree, which i did not draw because, well, i hate doing backgrounds.

gold, girls, gambling dens

here's a great cover from a 1947 paperback. it looks pretty pulp-y for a self-proclaimed "history" book. i'm not sure if i'll ever get around to reading it...mostly i bought it for those adorable dancing girls in pink and black, not to mention the great old-paper-smell. though a quick skimming of the book reveals delectable language that begs to be read, with phrases such as "king of the hoodlams," a saloon called "the cobweb palace," and a chapter titled "hounds and harlots."

might as well dance

another nude study, focusing on a dynamic pose that conveys motion.

"we're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." -japanese proverb

when pigs fly

ahhh...spring cleaning. nothing like going through miles of files and deciding what to keep and what to toss out. i found this photo amid several (hundred) that i had taken at a county fair, and something about it appeals to me. so i decided to shine it up and trot it out.