Title: Untitled
Size: 8½ x 11″
Medium: Prismacolor Marker on Aquabee Manga Artist Paper
Time: 3.0 hours
Status: Work In Progress

I worked on my self-portrait for the show last night. I am extremely pleased with my progress so far.  And I am completely and totally enamoured of using markers for portraits. I think it looks fantastic, but more than that, it makes me fast.  Under normal graphite circumstances, what I did last night would have taken me about five or six hours. Last night? An hour and a half. Woot!

Though, I really need to invest in the rest of the Prismacolor greys methinks. Right now, I am only functioning with (maybe) five different shades of cool greys. It would be nice to have a larger repertoire to choose from.  It would probably allow for less contrast and more subtle shades.

In other news, here are the girls that I drew on Friday.

I added a little colour via pencil crayon yesterday.  I’ve decided that there is definitely a strong Katie Cook influence (probably due to the fact that they are comic related and cute), but I’m feeling a bit more confident that I am developing my own style too and not just blatantly ripping her off.  And let’s just be honest, my skill level is nowhere near hers.  I firmly believe that her influence is part of my style-discovery quest.

As of today, I have learned that the idea of drawing skinny, teeny girls makes me tense.  I like girls with some curves.  It’s just sexier, in my wee opinion.  My girls will always be squishy and curvy, so knowing that helps. It’s the start of figuring out some of my style choices.  A lot of these pinup sketches and the girl portraits I have been playing around with are more about exploring my style than creating anything significant.   Learning what works for me and what doesn’t. Believe me, there have been many, many things that haven’t worked. Just look at my sketchbook sometime.

As for influences, right now, today, Katie Cook is an influence, tomorrow it might be Vargas or Bruce Timm or even HR Giger.  I think having a multitude of influences is extremely important. Each of them teaches me something else and all of them are important to my growth.  Hell, if it wasn’t for Dali, I seriously doubt that I would even be an artist.

The most important thing for me is that influences take me out of my artistic silo. There is a whole big world of art beyond my desk and it’s vital to my growth to know that.