KINGCOYOTE! There Is No Holy Grail. (01-04-09)

[kingcoyote]

Tea DrinkerThanks! I'll keep that in mind. It's an issue that I struggle with, because soooo much of what I do is based on line work that switching to big brushes and shapes is hard to wrap my head around. I did a sp in photoshop last week, and really tried to keep that in mind... had to keep forcing myself to push that brush size larger.

sketchethThanks for the comments man! Yeah, it's been a long hard journey from poses that look like family vacations in front of some monument... I guess I still have some work to do though, huh? I really do appreciate the crit, and will totally work on that.

Okay kids! Sorry I missed last week, and that this is such a pathetic update. My daughter was born last saturday, so as you might imagine, it's been pretty hectic around here.

Mostly just some randomness that I did while waiting for new tires for the car. Up in the corner is a little sketch of the citadel of doom, with a minor, thug type villan, some sort of angry mechanic, and a robot tad pole... doodles are fun.


Like I said... sorry it's such a skimpy update. There's a couple of new portraits in the blog too, if you all want to take a look, but other than that it's been too hectic to get any real work done. Maybe this week will be a little calmer.

I hope all is well with you all, and I'll talk at you soon!
Your friend
KC

[kingcoyote]

Hey kids!

I hope everyone had a good week. It seems like they just fly by, doesn't it?

I have a few new drawings to show this week. The first two are some life sketches out of my lil' pocket moleskin. The boy with the DS was at the Dentist. There's only so many times you can read an issue of Highlights for Children... And it's important to do something more useful with my time anyway. The one next to it is my neighbors house. I'm trying to get a little more into the habit of doing some observational drawings from life. Waiting for things is a good oppourtunity to do that. Ryan got off of work late last night, so I had a little more time than I thought I did.


Next is some chameleon head studies I did the other night while I was watching TV. I'm trying to work out some character design ideas I have for the Doom Crew. It makes sense that you have to learn to draw something for real before you can start cartooning a character of it, doesn't it? Also there are some Abby character doodles. I've been thinking about what Sketcheth said, about more fluid poses... I know these aren't really that, but I'm trying to move more in that direction.


I had told myself that I wasn't going to post any more drawings from work here, but I'm really pretty happy with how this griffon turned out, and wanted to share him with you guys.


So... Until next week then, Take care and be good!
Your friend
KC

[Flaskpost]

That moleskine-house is great. Reminds me a bit of a van gogh drawing. Good stuff!
That gryphon fellow is probably the best thing i´ve seen from you.
Really good line weight!

[Grafguy]

ur life stuff looks really good, ur comics kinda miss their energy. U might wanne work on gestures and expressions

[lambd4]

:o its a shame to post this kind of message in a great sketchbook like this ...

[ChaoticKnight]

Reported the post. That being said, cool sketchbook King! Work on those reference paintings a bit. Try measuring them out a bit, and flipping the picture to check proportions. Keep posting!

[kingcoyote]

Flaskpost Thanks! I keep on pluggin' away at it!

Grafguy Thanks for the comment! I totally agree with you... There's a lot of room for improvement in that area.

ChaoticKnight Thanks for having my back... I totally missed what was said, but that's the second really wierd post I've had in the last week or so. Thanks for the comment, mostly I was just focusing on value, but you are totally right about watching everything else too.

I did some sketches for last weeks CHOW (The Host), but didn't really have time to go anywhere with them... I had this idea of like a fairy cavalry, riding frogs, with armor made out of fish or bird skulls, insect bodies and stuff... It was a cool idea, and I might finish it up if I get the chance.






Ha-ha! Some Sketchbook doodles.


This was a self portrait... Ryan and I were talking about it, and he suggested that I take half of it and mirror it. I gave it a go and made a little gif out of it... I don't know, I think the original (in spite of its inaccuracies) looks the most like me.


Thanks for looking guys, and for being so supportive.
Your friend
KC

[Badger]

Zounds, improvements in bounds KC, Your inks are getting really nice. I like your method of compositing for LMS, i think that's a really nice way of getting the level of detail your work in without losing the bigger picture.
I think you are getting some great work when you are working from a nice idea. Not just trying to draw pretty pictures.
Awesome work.
-B-

[Zebz]

If your face was skinnier in the second one you'd be all win.

[kingcoyote]

Badger Hey thanks man! It's really not the fastest way to work, and it isn't very forgiving when unexpected things come up. Hopefully one day I'll get to a point where it can be a little more spontaneous.

ZebsHa-ha! You're probably right! Maybe I'll go back and do some more photoshoperry to it.

Okay! I hope everyone had a great week! I have a couple of new things to show you here.

First off is some stuff I started at sketch group last week. I was thinking about the deep activity, and doodled the jelly fish, and the ocean floor stuff out of my head, and the fish head... Ha-ha! Just doodles, but I kind of think that my knowledge of what things look like is getting better. There is a lesson here... draw as much, and as many different things as you can. Like I have said before, I could do more than I do, but I try to keep these things in mind when I'm working in my sketchbook. Also on this page are some cartoon guys that I'm kind of ashamed of, some real quickies from Pose Maniacs (Thanks Sketcheth!) which I recently started doing as a daily, when my internet "provider" is cooperating. Then there's the little "Boxed Doodles" here where I was thinking about work... Big issues with speed and quality. More environmental elements, and a reaction to my feelings about striving for an artistic goal that I can't really see, and feels just out of reach. (I twisted the guys arm backwards... It was late, I was crabby, and I was tired. Give me a break.)


Some figures from Posemaniacs. I had it set on one minute poses. After five or seven of them I start to get distracted... It's a really good warmup though. Then I had an idea for a little illustration while I was in the shower. Looking at my thumbnail now, I'm not really sure where I thought I was going with it. Ha-ha!


More Pose sketches. I was thinking about it, and it seems like the way to get the most out of the studies is to do the set, and then go back and translate some of them into a figure illustration. Sort of a from Ref/From Imagination synergy thing. Then there is a quick sketch for this weeks Illustration Friday topic, "Worry" that I made into a SP in my Blog.


Finally, here's a drawing of my wifes Grandma that I did in my Moleskin at dinner last night. Drawing people from life is always very difficult, because I'm not fast (I guess confident) and they keep moving. The only thing that helped here was that she was holding Abby, so she stayed a little more still.


I hope everything's going well for all of you, and I'll talk at you again soon!
Your friend
KC

[Zebz]

Way to go on drawing some figures, Jeff! It's good to see you doin' some studies. Keep those up. I kind of off and on do those sort of things myself. Try working those poses into an environment next time. Makes things much tougher. I cry every time I do it.

The toony bits are great too. I like what you're starting to do with the Abbynator there with the wide stance. The shadow helps give it a sense of depth altho your textured treatment of the background isn't helping. Perhaps you should have directed in the lines in such a way that they pulled our vision back like the rest of the drawing. Just a thought.

Nana looks hot. We should really do more life drawing. It's not as difficult as we make it out to be. It's just about basic shapes. Teaching our hands and brains that can be frustrating tho, I'll admit. Lookin' forward to more hot updates!

[kingcoyote]

Zebz Thanks for the props, brother! The figures are starting to become part of my routine... I think it's a good thing. You're totally right about the background on the Abby pic. I think I was feeling like it needed something but didn't know what... Kind of stabbing in the dark.

So, it's been three weeks now. Sorry for the delay. I picked up a freelance job that took a lot of time, and Squirtle's been sick (eg. cranky as heck) So that's rough trying to help out with her. But hopefully I'm back on track a little bit now. Tomorrow's fathers day, so I'm kind of hoping to leverage that into some solid drawing time. The Illustration Friday topic this week is "Punch Line" Which I have I think a pretty solid idea for.

Okay! On to some Drawings! First up is some 1 minute studies from Pose Maniacs. And then a try at using one of those to do a quick drawing of Joel... That drawing has sooo many things wrong with it, but mainly I think that I tried to use a pose that I didn't understand in the firstplace, and the original study was bad... It's hard to get anything other than crap from crap.


More Figures and a rhino. I'm starting to work on Zebs' character for the "Doom Crew" comic.


More figures, and More rhinos. I rediscovered some markers, and am really enjoying using them to add thes bold graphic shapes to my SB pages. Maybe it's silly, but I think it's fun.


Some band equiptment I drew at a bar during the set break last week. Kind of bleh, but I'm trying to balance out some things, and drawing things, I think should help build my visual vocabulary. Plus it's better to sit and draw, than sit and not.


More figures, and some beach houses I found on Flickr leech which is a pretty awesome collection of a (fairly) random set of photographs that were uploaded to Flickr that day. It was timed (I think I only gave myself 10 minutes to do it... Plus Inking0 so some things worked, and some didn't. I feel like I'm getting carried away with my markers a little bit.


More Figures.


Some drawings from the castl sketchgroup last night... Started out with some life drawing while waiting for everyone else to show up... That's (Adam?) and Ryan(Zebs) talking about robot drawings... and then another rhino...


Next is the first challenge of the night. We took turns describing a feature of a character with out looking at what anybody eles was drawing. When we'd finished, it was pretty amazing (and hilarious) the different outcomes that people came up with....


Then we were to draw an ugly person. I started it in good faith, but then ended up drawing a cartoon fat man. I got started on this challenge waay late, because I decided to throw some ink down on my goblin. Then we drew the person sitting next to us as a super hero. I got to draw Sketcheth (eric) and gave him the power of being made of, and able to manipulate water. Good times!


Well, that's it for today! I hope everything is going well for you all, and I'll talk at you again soon!
Your friend
KC

[sketcheth]

Hey man, looking good! You've been into the rhinos lately, I see... they're looking awesome. I'm amazed by what you do with just a little bit of marker in some of these ink drawings...like the one of the band set...that looks fantastic...it's good to see that posemaniacs has a positive influence on your life. Keep it up, man. I hope to see you at the next castl!

[kingcoyote]

sketcheth Yeah, I'm working on a Doom Crew character based on a rhino... there's a little more solid concept work in this update. I don't think I'm really there with him yet, but my ideas are getting closer. Thanks for the props on the life drawing set... I found my markers, and it's really fun to add just a splash of color on a page. We missed you at Sketch group this week.

So, it's time for another update... I went to my brothers wedding last week, and that took up a lot of time, so I wasn't able to get much done, much less get an update posted. Sorry! It seems like summer is just kind of like that.

First up is some logo work I'm doing for the Doom Crew comic. I'm really not happy with where it is right now, but am kind of stuck on the direction I want to go with it. I'm thinking that maybe it's too flat or something. I don't know... Any suggestions?


Some more Pose Maniacs, and a photo reffed enviro drawing... which scanned dissapointingly badly. Part of my "training" regime is to start doing these small images that I pull from Flickr Leech so I can start doing more backgrounds. There's so much work to be done, and I can feel time slipping away from me. Sometimes I worry that I waited too long, and that maybe this isn't the right path for me anymore.


More Pose Maniacs. What can I really say about them? It's just studies. I think they're getting stronger bit by bit, but in the end they're just studies.


Full bodied rhino. Ryan gave me crap for neglecting his right arm. I ran out of paper. I thought it looked fine until he called me out on it. It does make the drawing look awkward tho... On the plus side this drawing was a lot of fun while I was working on it. It's really nice when drawing is a joy instead of a chore of working, erasing, and struggling...


A little plains drawing out of my head while I was waiting for people to show up at sketchgroup on friday. The tree was inspired by the way Bill Watterson handles his trees and backgrounds. It's a good starting point for further development, I think. Here's another rhino too. I'm starting to make some decisions about what he's wearing, and what type of character he is. This is also a first stab at a playing card design project with the Sketch Group. He's going to be the king of clubs.


More design ideas for the playing card... and some doodles. I have what I think is a pretty good idea of where I want to go with it, but I'm still working out some of the particulars.


Thanks for stopping in, and I'll talk at you again soon!
Your friend
KC

[kingcoyote]

Hey Kids!

It's been another week, and while I don't have MUCH to show for it (Been kind of hectic around here) I do have a little bit.

First of is another page of studies and doodles... Not much to look at, really, but I was thinking about some things while waiting for my wife to pick me up from work the other day. Ha-ha! Man I wish I had a nice relaxing bus ride home sometimes...


I talked to my friend Mario about the logo from last week... did a little refining on it. On the one hand, it's almost where I want it, and on the other, I think I might just start over.


Some work on the Rhino king. Master of the Mountain element, and king of clubs. Working on him, I've come up with a lot of ideas about where I want to go with his story arc. There's a lot of exciting stuff coming our way, I think!


I hope all is well with you all. Take care and be good!
Your friend
KC

[sketcheth]

I really like how you're exploring the Rhino king designs, and how it's not just fabric, but it has texture and weave and everything...it makes a stronger design that way, I think. You've also gotten better at rhino facial anatomy, as well. :3

The Bill Watterson-esque trees are cool...he's a tremendous role model to have for landscape drawing... I can't wait for the next sketchgroup to see what's happened with the cards and just hang out again.

The posemaniacs studies are coming out nice, but I think they're a little vague, structure wise. For instance, legs seem to be inconsistent in shape with their partners and stuff. Try checking yourself on that and doing the whole basic shape thing, making sure that the shapes make sense in the context of the viewing angle of the figure. I hope that makes sense.

Keep it up! Nice job with the consistent updates!

[Zebz]

Jeff... just wanted to post some quick comments since I haven't seen you in a while. Things are looking good. I've seen most of this stuff but I will say that the Rhino's are looking very cool and I'm glad you're spending a lot of time developing the coolest character in the Doom Crew... ME! lol It's too sad that I'll be dead most of the rest of the story. lol

I really wanna see more life drawing because that's what I'm hungry for myself, I guess. I hope your comic is coming along for your friends book too. The logo isn't doing it for me. I was looking at the earlier concepts and was thinking how it needed to be pushed together more so the last one got that but it just doesn't gel very well for me. You may have to pen and ink this baby to get it exactly how you want it. So... I'm out for now! Hopefully we'll get to hang out soon as it's been a long while. Busy, busy, busy! Love ya, brotha'! Talk to ya soon.

[kingcoyote]

Sketcheth and Zebs Thanks for the comments, guys! It was super awesome hanging out the other night and drawing. We need to do it again in the next week or two.

It's been awhile since I posted anything, and I just finished up this prologue set for the Abigail and the Doom Crew comic, so I figured I'd share some of what I've been up to. The technique varies dramatically from the beginning to the end. That's partly because I'm still learning some stuff, and partly because I'm trying to get a handle on what I'm wanting this project to look like visually.

Thanks for looking!

[Tea Drinker]

That Abigail comic looks pretty cool. I really love that sketch of her towards the top

[Tea Drinker]

That Abigail comic looks pretty cool. I really love that sketch of her towards the top

[sketcheth]

So this is the comic! Very, very nice! I can understand why you've been working on it for a while! Have you gotten a hard copy printed yet? I really like Abigail's design, haha...the cover is awesome. Keep it going!

[IronFistGoon]

Jeff way to go man... Especially since you had a little one come into your world. Your stuff is looking good. I would really keep working loosely. I love what I see when I see your under drawings (especially on your Rhino Warrior Guy) It looks very loose and has a life to him. The Griffon kicks some serious ass there. I like what I see with all of your anatomy stuff. Good Stuff. Keep it up man, and I'll do the same. I love what you are doing with the Comic BTW

[Marth]

I adore, that rhino character.

[IronFistGoon]

Jeff, I am truly impressed with you man. Your stuff is really looking great. You are making leaps and bounds. It's really cool to see you so motivated and working hard. I know you are working your ass, being a dad, and full time slub, and a hubby. I really like how your style is coming along. Your life drawings really caught my eye the most. Great stuff jeff. Keep it up