Figure Drawing Class?

Marcelo,

Are you using ink wash on these? Beautiful!
I just picked up a really inspiring book the other day at the library..."Barns of California by Earl Thollander." Have you ever heard of him- he is an AMAZING illustrator, holy crap. His books are mostly all out of print. He does some amazing ink wash drawings, great compositions, great lighting. Anyways, your drawings here are inspirational as well, I'm going sketching tonight, so maybe I will try a similar technique.

-Jeremy

Hey Marcelo,

I had the same question as Jeremy. I was wondering if it was strictly tonal markers, or if there was some wash? Anyways, lotta character, lotta fun.

-Henry

I'm sorry to disapoint you guys, but it's tonal markers. It would be too difficult to do tonal washes on the spot. I would have to pre-mix some ink washes into different grays, and then put them into small containers...and have a flat surface to work upon.

Since I'm drawing on my lap with only a few fleeting minutes to get it done, I just use markers for the sake of expediency.

I use a 30, 50, and 70% gray marker, a ball point pen, and a brush pen. The 30% marker is drying, so I can get some great gradations with it.

I'm really liking these. Great look!

Publish the book Mo, honest, will ya?
-Marcos

Wow, these are really great.

Wow, great expressions! You can easily tell that the guy is concentrading on his drawing and the girl is studying the model. very nice endeed:)

Hans

wow, nice work! very organic!

Great sketches!Simple nice!:O)

These are nice Marcelo- love the marker shading. Always a pleasure to see your work!

love this stuff as always, would you be into talking about the kinda thought process that goes on in your head while you're drawing? I'm always really curious about that kinda thing.

Thanks for all your comments everyone.

Clown Ninja,

You asked what goes through my head while I'm drawing...that's a very different buy fun question. Actually, there are several aspects from which to approach this question.

My first reaction is calmness. I am a very active, impatient person with a lot of nervous energy. Drawing sedates me, it always has and I use it to pacify myself. That's why I keep a drawing pad by my night stand, one in my car, one at work, one in my book bag, one I take to lunch, and a large Post It pad I hide in my pocket because...you never know.

Figure drawing, drawing in restaurants and drawing in my car have more to do with drawing the world around me. When I do this type of drawing, I feel very sedated. It's like I'm transported to somewhere else, and everything is peaceful.

Visualizing ideas at my drawing table, sketchbook or thumbnails are more about the idea, so I concentrate strictly on the idea and not the visual look. This type of drawing so consumes me, I can't even have the radio on. My head is swimming with different visuals and I try to quickly jot them down, like a short-hand secretary receiving visual notes from the netherworld.

Then there's what I call, "The Gravy." This is after you've worked out the idea, and all you have to do is execute the idea with your visual aesthetics. At this point, I focus on the design of shapes, rhythm, and composition. Music or talk radio work great during this phase. However, nothing too distracting. If I find myself distracted, I turn it all off.

I hope this answers the question.

Mo, beautiful!

truely great layouts and the rendering is what i like especialy do you work alot from thumnails?

Thanks again everyone for your comments.

Madmounty, yes...thumbnails are vital to my work. It's the road map I need before I journey into my drawings.