Heterometrus Spinifer (completed)

,... here is the finalized predatory arthropod also known as a Scorpion.


Not sure what prompted me to draw this, but it was fun (and truly creepy).

Dragonfly (update with more stages)

A few months back my wife asked me if I could possibly draw a Dragonfly for a friends birthday. I was honored and proud that she asked me and intruiged that I had not thought of drawing an insect. I started and realized most of the drawing until I reached a point where I thought I was done but was not very happy with the realism. So I turned to the extremely helpful experience of a few folks at Artpapa.com - (thanks again guys). Below you will find my process/progress,...

I started with a freehand outline which bares being mentioned since until then I had always used a grid matrix to transfer an image.


Once the eyes, thorax and front nodes of the wings were established the shape started showing itself.


The wings followed but I got a little carried away with the minor nodes in the wings and they turned out to be darker than intended so I had to lift/erase some of the graphite.


I completed the wings and then the abdomen but it seemed a little thick. However I continued with the wood fence boards as background since to be honest I really did not know yet what to do with the 'think' abdoment other than erase and redo.


Finally I turned to Artpapa for help and as is evidently shown their help was invaluable. Darkening in the right places (to thin out the abdomen), applying shadows (to add realism) and making the wings semi-transparent (which they are), just makes this Flame Skimmer Dragonfly simply pop off the paper (at least I think so).


Finally it was presented to my wifes friend (on 7/22/09) and here it is in the frame. Unfortunately the glass is reflecting the light and myself as I photograph this but I have to admit I am proud of this piece.


Happy Birthday Marsha!

Heterometrus Spinifer (wip)

Been busy with life and what-not as well as a short mini-vacation with the misses.

Well for some unexplainable reason I thought drawing an arachnida family member more precisely a Heterometrus Spinifer would be fun. The dark shiny sectioned exoskeleton, the trichobothria (fine dermis hairs for detecting vibrations), and the almost mechanically hindged joints are wonderful subjects to try and duplicate.











On the latest image above you can see where I started working the darker graphite into the abdomen and tail. So far I have only used an HB and 6B pencils and very little erasing.

More to come,..

Churches (phase 1)

I've been on vacation, well to be accurate my spouse has been on vacation since I myself am on perpetual vacation being a stay-at-home-what-ever-I-am (presently employment challenged).

I have not worked any major new projects or attacked some pending ones, but I did do these sketches of local churches. They are all free hand, as my usual process is to grid a photo and transfer it to the drawing medium. The grid method does feel like a slightly cheating method to me but it does allow me to change the size of the original photo. Also, being freehand, my angles are a little off in some places and I took some minor liberties which will be hopefully indistinguishable.

Cornerstone Community Church


First Presbyterian Church


First United Methodist Church


They were all done with a simple HB and hard eraser on 9"x12" medium weight paper.

You might have noticed I entitled this post as "phase 1" since I will be posting more drawing/sketches of buildings in my home town. I chose these 3 to start with because they were so different in their architecture. There are many interesting buildings in and around Brewton,.. I will enjoy this long term project.