Von Herling Page 2

And now, for another page of my graphic novel (currently being worked on) entitled Von Herling, Vampire Hunter.

Squirrel on Tree

Time for another sample drawing from the Moleskine sketchbook I brought to Texas – this was also drawn at the Texas State Capital grounds.

 

 

The grounds of the Texas State Capital were so beautiful.  There were plenty of commemorative statues and plaques as well as many trees.  Those trees were full of squirrels.  Using my pencils, I quickly fired off a sketch of a squirrel clinging to one of the trees.  The diluted grey ink was added later.

Texas Capital Tree

And now, some more samples from the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook that I took to Texas a few months ago!

I wandered around the grounds of the Texas State Capital in Austin for quite some time.  If you have never seen the actual capital grounds of the Lone Star State…by all means, go and see it.  It’s a sight to behold.  I spent quite a lot of time filling up my pages of the sketchbook there doing drawings of trees.

I can’t remember if this is diluted watercolor or diluted ink.  

Bridge from South Congress Avenue

The very first sketch I did when I went to Austin, Texas.

 

 

 

This quick sketch was done with a Uniball pen from the bridge on South Congress Avenue.  Watercolors (the colors you see here) were added in soon after.

Moleskine Red Pocket Sketchbook

On a trip to Strand Bookstore, I bought a book about American Pop Artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and a Moleskine brand sketchbook.

This is a Moleskine pocket sketchbook.  

Landscape and pyramids

I have  a few more drawings this week.  This first one is a simple landscape done with nib pens and brush.

Landscape 5, Pen and ink on 7x10 paper

Very nice use of repoussoir here.

Abstract Landscapes

Hello, friends.  Today, I have some more landscapes here but they’re more abstract than my usual stylized and Expressionist type landscapes.  One of my favorite bookstores in New York City (and in fact, the world) has got to be Strand Books.  Located at the corner of 12th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, this store boasts 18 miles worth of books!  They carry new, used, and even rare, hard-to-find, and one of a kind titles!  I’m a frequent visitor there as they have a great selection of art books.  It was there that I bought an art book about the American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956).  He is considered the quintessential artist of the Abstract Expressionist movement and is famous for his drip paintings.  I found Pollock’s work really inspiring so I decided to take a stab at some interesting landscapes.

Underbrush

This was drawn with pen-and-ink on paper.  This scribbled landscape was pure abstraction and can be clearly seen as being of Pollock’s influence.  Basically, I drew upon my subconscious and let my mind guide my pen.  I used quite  a few different pens for this rendering of underbrush you might see out in the wild.

I used a Pigma Micron .45 pen, a Uni-Ball, a Pigma Micron Brush pen, a Pilot V-Razor Point, and even a Sharpie marker for good measure.  I feel impressed with my effort.  Honestly, this is quite different from my usual stylized and Expressionist landscapes. 

Landscape with repoussoir

 

This landscape that you see here, I honestly feel, is one of my stronger ones even though it’s the first real effort at landscapes.

This was done in pen-and-ink on 7×10 paper.  To be honest, what I like about it is the strong use of values here.  In the foreground, we have a very dark value employing the popular technique of repoussoir.  That’s a French term which loosely means “to push back”.  It was quite popular with Baroque era artists as well as more contemporary ones like the landscape painter Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) and James Gurney, fantasy painter and creator of Dinotopia.  I’ve used it in my comics too.  Anyway, the technique is handy for establishing spatial depth in a painting.  No matter what, you’ll definitely know what’s in front.

The stippling was done with markers, namely a Pigma Micron pen and a Pilot V-Razor Point.

I’m quite proud of this solid effort.

Watercolor and graphite landscape

I just thought I’d share another one of my early landscapes here.  This one is a simple landscape, done with watercolor paints and a graphite stick.

I’ve since abandoned watercolor paints.  My most used media is pen-and-ink and when it comes to water-soluble paints, I use either gouache or acrylic.

Do any of you out there draw or paint landscapes?  What do you use to create your work?

Another landscape drawing

Hello, friends.  I thought I’d post up another one of my landscape drawings, this one drawn in pen-and-ink.