I Keep Thinking About It & More

1. I Keep Thinking About It  

2. Preliminary Sketches For I Keep Thinking About It:             

3. Cypress Mountain                                             

1. I was light on the hatching with " I keep Thinking About It ", and my pen nib choices gives a rather faint appearance, to me. I was hesitant to experiment with heavier lines and shadows. It was the first comic strip, I began, after going a long period of time, not creating one. So, I did more prep work, with preliminary sketches and concepts. It is a story about two coworkers goofing around on the job. One decides to moon the other in fun, but, discovers that he arouses his coworker. I enjoyed the idea, and developing the individual panels to make a final, combined effort, that is this comic strip.

2. I made several sketches to prepare for this comic strip. I wanted to do my best, and decide if it was a process that I should continue to do. I even created a preliminary comic strip, before completing the final piece. I began to create and use drawing grids, for several of my drawings, during this period. After I learned how to properly utilize it, according to the various sizes of my sketches and drawings. It became very useful and beneficial to saving a lot of time with starting another drawing from scratch. And there are certain lines and angles in my work, that I am satisfied with, that cannot be repeated, even with a grid. But I come very close, when one is used, versus redrawing a piece exclusively free handed.

3. " Cypress Mountain " is the only landscape drawing, that I completed with colored inks. It began as a quick sketch of some short trees, I would see at work, at a nearby apartment complex and daycare facility. They stood rather separately in their own space, between all of this business and residence activity, on a little slope of land. I decided to do a quick sketch of them on my Bristol board pad, with a ballpoint pen. I left it unfinished for a long period of time, years, I think. One day I decided to use my mixed colored inks, to see how a landscape would turn out in this medium. I added a scene to the few trees, that were initially sketched. And I included more trees to have a full composition. 

 

Manhandled In A Motel & Other Drawings

1. Portrait Adapted From The Red Bikini Drawing

2. Manhandled In A Motel                                     

3. Man Wearing Sweatpants Rolled At The Knee

1." Portrait Adapted From The Red Bikini Drawing ", is one of my best colored pencil efforts yet. I really enjoyed working on this piece, and it inspired me to continue to do more drawings in colored pencil. I have made several works with this medium in the past, but I decided to focus on pen and ink more. This piece was taken from an original pencil version, I created from the figure drawing, that was also drawn in pencil. I then redrew a colored version. I decided to use a terracotta colored pencil, for the man's underwear.  And terracotta, with its brown hue combined with red gives a more subtle tone of red, when used for fabric, worn on brown skin. But, it is why I titled the piece " The Red Bikini ", because of its " unconventional " shade of red. 

2. " Manhandled In A Motel " turned out better than I expected. This was another random drawing, that began with a few lines. I improvised with what to add, next as the man seemed partially suspended in the air ( somewhat). I then realized, it would be interesting to create the other man, between his legs, as he seems to hang on to the bed in a rather surprised manner. My darks and lights blended very well, with the washes. And I took more time to think about the setting of the room. And I realized a motel room has this kind of setup. I was really hoping that the arms of the top man, appeared convincingly, to be holding the thighs of the bottom, as his arms wrap around them. 

3. I felt inspired to create several figure drawings in 2020 and 2021. I did many pocket sized sketches throughout this period, with the intention, to turn them into finished drawings. I thought about the types of physical features that inspired and attracted me enough, to want to draw them. And I also wanted to create more black and white line drawings, that focused on a more basic approach, with essential details that mattered the most to me. " Man Wearing Sweatpants Rolled At The Knee ", was one off the earlier pieces, from the period. I sketched, and prepared more with these drawings, and continue to, currently. And I also began to use a pencil, to draw the final piece, before inking over it, in which gives a more polished rendering.

 

Plugged #1

1. Plugged #1           

1. My most demanding work, so far, has been creating sequential art, in the form of comic strips. " Plugged #1 " is another effort, I drew, regarding ideas in a five panel sequence. This comic strip is about a single man, who is a bottom, managing his desires alone. He longs to have that " special top " meet his needs, but he has not had any luck, in finding him. I was still experimenting with space, and the amount of detail, I thought would be suitable for scenes as these, on such a smaller scale. I took another hiatus, from creating comics, after this particular strip was finished.      

Preliminary Sketches 1-8           

1.                                                  

2.                                           

3.                                            

4.                                           

5.                                             

6.                                            

7.                                           

8.