February Sketch Challenge: Day Nine

by on February 9, 2015 at 9:24 am
Posted In: Art

I think one of the reasons that this sketch challenge has been a bit of a… well you know…challenge,  is because I have been over thinking things and trying to come up with an image that covers the whole of the movie as opposed to just one good image from the movies even if this is not actually in my list of rules.

I almost let this get the better of me for todays sketch for  2001: A Space Odyssey,. For the principle image I was inspired by the fact we know a lot more about Australopithecus than Kubrick and Clarke did so I was trying to do the scene as the bipedal hominid we know of today as opposed to a man in an ape suit.

I tried to work out a transitional image to the scenes in space which led to a huge mess that I couldn’t clean up in the allotted thirty minutes and putting Jupiter on the top of the picture just made it look like the scene was taking place on one of it’s moons.

So I just went with the final scene of 2001’s first act with the ape, the femur and the monolith and just remember this is better appreciated listening to Also sprach Zarasthustra while viewing

2001ape

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Eight

by on February 8, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Posted In: Art

I was busy today so this was a real rush job… I’m afraid that it shows.

Today’s sketch is from one of my favorite swashbuckler films Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn.

It was tempting to  go for the “Welcome to Sherwood” scene where Robin of Locksley is publicly announce as Robin Hood but for me the key scene is him bursting into the palace with a deer poached from the king’s forrest over his shoulder. For me this was Robin’s official statement of rebellion.

Maid Marion: You speak treason!

Robin Hood: Fluently.

Adventures-of-Robin-Hood

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Mushroom Paradise

by on February 8, 2015 at 8:54 am
Posted In: Test

Well I decided to give that Mushroom Pastry recipe from Food Through The Pages. I wanted to try it again for several reasons.

Reason # 1 I had one sheet of puff pastry left over  in the freezer.

Reason # 2 I thought it might be better in smaller portions… and finally

Reason # 3 I couldn’t help wondering what it would taste like adding sausage to the mix.

Any way this batch came out really good. I don’t think the sausage made that much of a difference… In fact I think most of the improvements were due to a longer cooking time for the filling… or possibly from mixing shitake mushrooms with the usual criminis.

I also made a Mushroom Rissoto which came out equally well. I usually have very bad luck with risottos. No matter how long I cook them and how much liquid I add they come out kind of chewy. Happily this was an exception. Wit any luck I’ll be able to figure out what I did right.

mushroompastrey2015-02-07-22.47

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Seven

by on February 7, 2015 at 11:38 am
Posted In: Art

Today’s film draw from the hat was one of my favorite Akira Kurosawa films Seven Samurai.

Based on the you’re only allowed to use your memory rule I was almost tempted to try to merge my vision of this with my vision of Magnificent Seven but that would have defeated the purpose of the exercise.

Anyway, the thing with Seven Samurai is like Citizen Kane in it is so wonderfully complete it’s difficult to find any scene that really says Seven Samurai (without copying the original poster) until I finally thought the best scene would be when the samurai arrive in the village to discover while they are desperately needed they are so, so, so not wanted. And it takes the clownish Kikuchiyo to spell this out to them.

Anyway I’m mostly pleased with this though in hindsight I would have done this as a vertical composition so that I would have had room to show the village and the terrified villagers. Also because faces were done from memory I don’t think I drew Katsushir? bishi enough. Finally before anyone points this out, I know there are only six samurai in this picture… Just pretend Gor?bei is standing in the back of the group.

SevenSamurai

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Friday Museum Sketch

by on February 6, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Posted In: Art

Thunderbird2015020501
Well yesterday was the Seattle Art Museum’s first thursday free day so I went and did an hour sketching there and then went and then and went and did the Pioneers Square art walk. It was raining and yellow rain gear isn’t very practical when you are trying to mingle with the Seattle hipster art crowd.

But back to the museum they had rotated all of the exhibits bringing out quite few new material from storage and because of this I spent much more time looking than drawing and came out with only two sketches. So today’s sketch is of Calvin Hunt’s Thunderbird mask and Regailia. This is the third time I’ve drawn this piece but the first time I’ve drawn in it’s entirety. I’m not sure what I think of it so far. The other two are more accurate but I think this one has more vitality. Anyway here’s the original  from the angle I was looking at it from. See what you think. Thunderbird2015-02-05-18.31

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Six

by on February 6, 2015 at 9:06 am
Posted In: Art

This is one of the times I do not like the random factor of this exercise because if I’d been making my own daily choices on this thing I would not have chosen two Orson Welles films in the same week! The great thing about Citizen Kane is that it’s one of the great character studies in film. The bad thing about Citizen Kane (from this humble illustrator’s perspective) is that’s pretty much all it is.

Sure I can go on for hours about the mes en scene, the amazing cinematography and chiaroscuro but I couldn’t think of an image that said Citizen Kane (at least not in five minutes) sure there’s the Kane for Governor poster and Kane and his partners standing on the newspaper… but everyone does that.

So I’m afraid I phoned it in with a very quick and rough sketch of the Xanadu estate sale.

Kane

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