Went to a great drawing session the other day in an amazing studio. The smell of oil and turpentine, dusty wooden floor and objet d'art littered among a chaotic, bohemian house. It's good to know such people and places still exist, and on my own doorstep too.

But what goes around comes around and my mind must be back in my earlier days as without thinking I gave this quick sketch dreadlocks - something I've not done for years. Pity I've lost most of my hair as I might even have thought about growing them :) 

zbrush...

Been struggling with ZBrush these last few weeks. Finally though things are coming together. There seems to be a strange dichotomy when learning software - you can spend days trying to work out how to solve the simplest problem, but something you dread is going to be über complex is nailed on a few clicks!

A case in point is the hair in this shot - not exactly Sassoon, but it does the trick and was a snap to implement.

Digital clay and non-plastic people

I've been using zbrush for a final year uni project and it's actually beginning to feel pretty promising now I'm over the first hurdles of learning the basics and the groundwork of actually building the human figure. Hopefully the fun part of giving it some character can begin!!

I am slightly avoiding the eyes and ears though...

getting to grips with anatomy

been hacking though the body this week. not literally of course, but using visiblebody.com - a really execellent resource for artists, medical students and hypochondriacs!

I've also bought Elliot Goldfinger's "Human Anatomy for Artists" which is exhaustive in it's approach, very clear, and a great help. But being able to rotate a virtual figure in space, turn off and on individual muscles, bones, ligaments etc. has given me a real foundation in visualising how the human form is built.

I'd highly recommend both to anyone interested in character design, concept art, painting or sculpture.

the monster of nix

found a cool looking animated short this morning -- 'the monster of nix' featuring a voiceover by Tom Waits! =]

monsterofnix.com

More life drawing

 more from recent sessions...

Figure...

Life drawing from Sundays session at the barracks..