Another Head Turnaround..

Hello!

Where have I been, right?!.. Sorry, I'm just getting back into some regular drawing, after my cataract surgery. It's taken some time to shake all of the rust off.. But here's something I finally feel comfortable sharing:

This is another Head turnaround, that's designed to act as a kind-of model sheet for a showgirl character. I'm hoping to feature her in a short comic-book story, that I'm working on. I tried something similar a few years ago, and hit a complete dead-end. I'm confident I'll have some better luck, this time 'round..
She still looks like 3 different women here, unfortunately. But it's a first run-thru, and issues will begin to streamline themselves as I continue drawing her..

Hope to be able to show you more on this, as I get the images down on paper.. TTYLater!

Deconstructing the Frazetta Female - Pt. 2

Hello, again!

Today, I thought I'd add one more drawing to the ideas presented in a previous blog posting, re: attempting to "figure out" how Frank Frazetta's comic-book women are put-together? For me, they're easily the most appealing female figures in the history of comic-books.. I can't stop looking at them!

Presented here, are a few more classic poses of some of the women that appeared in Frazetta's 50's-era comic artwork. I set them up on a line, so that I could work towards building a formal Turnaround -type model sheet..
I compared them to my prior attempts.. And the proportions stack up fairly consistently with them. And while I have no knowledge of Frazetta's familiarity with the Andrew Loomis instructional drawing books,-- I was surprised to find that (for the most part) the proportions match-up rather closely to those, as well.

Granted, the Frazetta women tend to be a little fleshier. I think I detected that Frazetta draws the breast-line a tad higher. His women are also a little more "hips-y".. And definitely feature a little more exaggeration in the Derriere department!

Bettie Page!

I was digging thru a few of my older drawings, when I came across this one.. I did it as a commission for a friend, almost a half-dozen years ago. It was a bit rushed. And though it was close to what I'd intended, I was still never completely satisfied with the finished results.. So, I thought I'd revisit it to "fix" the parts I didn't like. And take some time to apply some color to the image, as well..

Bettie Page was perhaps one of the most-famous pinup models of the 1950's era. She died a few short years ago, at the age of 85. Preceding her by less than a year, Dave Stevens (the artist most-responsible for bringing her back into the public eye) would also pass on, succumbing to a rare form of cancer.

Even so, the memory of Ms. Page endures thru (literally) dozens of Internet websites, blogs, and tumblr sites.. And she will undoubtedly reappear in a 'ROCKETEER' comic-book anthology series, scheduled to be published by 'IDW Publishing', sometime in 2011. Can't wait to see what that project will look like!

That's all for now.. TTYLater!

A Few More Frazetta Gems..

Hello Blogosphere!

I've been quite absent, haven't I? Humble apologies, ..again! I'll conveniently blame the Holiday Season hullaballoo, for my inactivity here.
In lieu of a personal Art posting, I'm going to share some of the fine Frazetta trinkets that arrived in my morning mail.. A bunch of color photocopies of some of his Frank's gorgeous comic-book/illustration work, which were shot/scanned directly from the 'Original Art'!
Presented here, are 4 of the 12 illustrations that Frazetta created for the men's magazine, entitled 'GENT'; as published in their August 1966 issue.. Ain't they purty?! The female figures were intended to represent each of the 12 months in a Zodiac Calendar..

Unfortunately, none of the plates seem to be labelled.. So I'll allow you to make your own best "guess", as to which beautiful lady pertains to whichever specific Astrological Sign? Some of these have been reprinted in a number of different venues, over the years.. But these copies are the most detailled, that I've yet seen..

And even more surprising, is.. After checking these images against the ones in my Frazetta files, I discovered that the Brunette undressing in front of the mirror does NOT match the version printed in 'GENT' magazine. A similar (but different) pose was used. And the woman appears as a Blonde, rather than a Brunette.

Hope you'll find them all as enjoyable to look at, as I do!

Deconstructing the Frazetta Female - Pt. 1

Hello again, folks.. Sorry for the long delay, since the last post!

Today, I thought I'd present a couple of drawings that were an attempt to edu-ma-cate myself.. On why exactly I find the women in Frank Frazetta's comic-book work, so durn appealing?
My first guess is,-- that it has everything to do with his take on Proportions..

I'd really like to be able to (eventually) draw women like the ones Frazetta drew in his early comic-book career. So to examine things more closely, I decided to grab a few classic poses of some of the women that appeared in Frazetta's 1952 comic-strip: "JOHNNY COMET".. Set them up, along (and build) a formal Turnaround -type model sheet.. To better see how I can construct them, myself. As well as find out what precisely, makes them tick!

Here are some of my results:
It's important to remember, that I'm talking about Frazetta's comic-book work, and not his oil paintings. The women he painted in those, are probably more recognizable to fans.. And I enjoy them, too. But those Female figures, are much more fleshy & exaggerated. And for me (at least), are somewhat too caricatured, to be useful as an effective Female model for telling a story anywhere outside of a Fantasy setting..
As you can see, I kinda copped-out on the pure Profile view. But you get the general idea..

I guess my conclusions were, that despite a few unique nuances in the Legs/Hips/Waist.. The overall approach was similar in many ways to the classic versions that Andrew Loomis presents, in some of his educational drawing books.
I should add that I also referenced my very favorite Frazetta book of all time, to fill in some of the details.. The 1973 oversized Russ Cochran 'UNTAMED LOVE' book, reprinting four of Frazetta's 'Personal Love' romance stories..
It's an absolute classic collection!! And if you can still find a copy on eBay.. I'd definitely advise you to grab it!

"Checkers Girl" redux!

Hello, again!

This is an older Pinup drawing, that I finally got 'round to coloring. I used a similar method to the way that I'd approached my Burby baseball cards. Essentially, colored pencils over top of lightly-toned markers.. In my opinion, this gives an image a slightly warmer, more organic "feel"?
Perhaps ironically, I'm not the biggest fan of pure digital coloring.. Even though I love tweaking my drawings (including the color elements) inside of Photoshop!

I'm pretty pleased with the results, here.. The only thing that sucks, is that occasionally some of the linework gets corrupted (or worn out), after applying repeated layers of colored pencils. You can lose some of the pure black. Eventually, I'd like to get to the point where I can save the linework as a seperate layer in Photoshop. And work out the coloring on a blueline (or something similar) of the drawing..

The woman (and pose) featured, is based on a composite of different photo reference pics. But mostly, on a nice photo I had of 50's-era actress: Barbara Nichols. She never had much of a career in film, unfortunately.. But you may recall the small role she had in the 1957 noir classic: "Sweet Smell Of Success".. Where she appeared, opposite Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster.

Thanks for dropping by.. See ya, later!

Haughty BLONDE Hottie!

Hello!

Not much to report.. But I felt like the Blog deserved a new posting..
Here's something that I've been sketching, over the past couple of evenings:

This is my first run at a Head turnaround, that's designed to act as a kind-of model sheet for a Blonde woman character. I'm hoping to use her in a short comic-book story, I'm working on. I did it mostly, to try and figure out the landscape of her face. And to also try and come up with one consistent version of her hair..
Unfortunately, she looks a little different here, in each of the views! Oh, well..

She's supposed to look a little aloof & snobby, though.. And I'd like to think that I was a little more successful, in that particular regard? Hope so!

The "Queen Of Curves" is gone..

I read with a bit of sadness that Bettie Page died this morning, at the age of 85. She had been quite ill with pneumonia, for a number of weeks.. Before succumbing to a heart attack. I never met or knew this woman.. But enjoyed seeing her images, in many of the vintage Men's magazines I've collected over the years..
It seems (to me, anyways) a rather ironic coincidence, that she should pass away in the same year Dave Stevens has.. And during the very week that also saw the release of the much-anticipated Stevens coffee table book: 'Brush With Passion'.. An artist whose work in the early 1980's, was likely most responsible for her re-emergence as a Pop Culture icon?

While it's true that his 'ROCKETEER' comic-book, had a character modelled after Betty Page.. And re-popularized her, with a wider audience.. It wasn't the 1st time, that Stevens had featured her in his artwork. That distinction, is held by his spoof of Frank Frazetta's 'THUN'DA' comic-book cover. An illustration that Stevens drew on a lark, as a Portfolio piece!
How odd it must've been for him, to later meet & become friends with Ms. Page in real life? And to then use that Portfolio piece as the cover for a comic-book, featuring fictionalized stories of Bettie?! haha
While there were long lines of unscruplous ne'er-do-wells exploiting Bettie's newly-rediscovered popularity, for their own interests.. It was Dave Stevens that made a point of personally trying to "repay" Bettie, for his use of her image in his comic-book. And generally, because it was a decent thing to do!
So, besides the "Bettie Page Comics" project.. Dave also created (or served as Art Director on) a variety of Dark Horse merchandise.. Licensed items, designed to ensure that Bettie made a little bit of money on her own image, as well!
The Jim Silke books, come immediately to mind.. And Dave also designed a really nice Kitchen Magnet Set, featuring Ms. Page.. Which I think was the last "Bettie Page" merchandise he worked on, if memory serves..

In her most recent interviews, Bettie always referred to Dave as "my best friend.." And if you've seen any of the many Bettie images that Dave has created over his career.. Then you're probably already aware that he must've thought she was pretty special, too!
Here's one of my favorite images of Bettie.. A signed print that Dave gave me, many years ago..
That's all for now.. TTYLater!

3 Years Ago, Today..

I see on my calendar that it was 3 years ago today, that (Bryan) Rodney Dunn passed on from this Earthly plane.. He was definitely a one-of-a-kind character, a genius artist & quite a good friend of mine. An odd guy in many ways, to be sure. But that's not uncommon amongst schizophrenics, I'm told.
He suffered from bouts of depression & paranoia, towards the end. And despite heavy medication,-- I think it's why he ultimately chose to take his own life? It still saddens me.
To read more about him & view examples of his artwork, you can follow THIS link!

Every once in a while, I'll be digging thru an envelope filled with old artwork of mine.. And I'll be reminded how Rod had reacted to it, and/or what he'd said. Sometimes he absolutely LOVED it.. At other times, he had no shortage of advice on how it could've been improved. Oh well,-- I guess I probably offered the same service to him, come to think of it..

The other day, I found this old photocopy that Rod gave me.. To my knowledge, it was our sole collaboration together!
This "CatGirl" illo was something I'd done for Lisa Petrucci.. A West Coast artist, that managed a vintage collectibles catalog, called: 'The Pussycat Catalog'. It specialized (then) in back-issue Men's magazines & weird 50's/60's videos, etc.
I'd worked out a trade for some stuff with her.. In exchange, I agreed to create for her some artwork, that she could use inside her catalog.. Dave Stevens had worked out a similar arrangement with Mike Vraney & his "Something Weird" catalog. And if memory serves, Lisa Petrucci was married to Vraney? I'm not sure..

Anyways, as is usual with me.. Despite getting a good jump on the pencils, I unduly procrastinated on the inks.. When I mentioned to Rod that I was hoping to eventually re-use the illo in a Sketchbook I planned to publish.. He immediately offered to do the inks, himself. And within a week, it was complete!
I think I disappointed him a bit, with my cool reaction. Though I admired parts of it, it just wasn't what I'd had in mind. So I eventually finished my OWN inking on it.

In retrospect, I thought it'd be fun to post Rod's version here.. As a way of commemorating him, I guess? Hope you likey...

Mushroom Girl WIP

Yeah, I'm still here.. Though I'll forgive those of you, that figured I must've flown the Chicken Coop! WOW,-- I didn't really want to believe that my last Blog Post, was more than a month ago.. But I guess it's True?!
Truth is,-- I've been exceedingly busy with Work, lately.. And that's left me with virtually ZERO time, to update things on here.

I'm still freelancing for the "Two Presidents" animation studio. Working as a BG Layout/Location Design guy, for their "Will & Dewitt" children's cartoon series.. From what I'm told, the show has already aired here in Canada. And if it hasn't already,-- it'll be airing on the WB Network pretty (I'd imagine) soon, in the U.S.A.


So what to Post?
Well, I've got about a half-dozen Pics that're in various stages of completion.. The idea was, that as I got them finished, I'd post them up.. But I just haven't found time, to give them the attention they deserve.. So, I thought I'd just post one of the better ones, as another WIP..
That's fancy Artist Talk for "Work In Progress".. Which really means: "Please excuse this half-assed rough drawing that I didn't honestly have the time or inclination (or bravura) to complete.."

I've been calling this Pic: "Mushroom Girl".. I'm not a Fantasy Art nerd, per se. But I suppose she's a kind of Forest Nymph -type girl. Influenced (obviously) by the kind of work Frazetta does, from time-to-time. Maybe like his "Pillow Book" artwork, if you're familiar with that stuff? Hopefully, there's a bit of a Dave Stevens feel to it, too.. As that too, was my intent..

I tried to clean it up as best I could, using Photoshop.. But it still looks a little rough, in spots. There's a bit of inking done on it. But you can see where I've left myself some Revision notes, too. Overall though, I'm happy with the way it turned out..

Hope to have something more substantial posted again, soon.. Thanks, for all of your kind patronage & patience!