Wm.B.Hand • SHARPIE CREATURES!! -- (Apr.16th)

[NickyBeats]

holy crap man!!! these are sooo awesome!! the design of each page is sweeet! the sketches themselves are awesome, but how each page fits together is just cool as hell!!!

[William b. Hand]

Everyone - Wow! Thanks guys.

Texahol - "More zest back then"??! "Must be getting old"??! Ooooh, that steams my dumplings -- Just for that, I'm gonna start a new Moleskine to prove you wrong, sir. [ *seething ] I'll post the results in a few years.

Actually, I've just been focused on honing certain aspects of rendering that've always troubled me -- a lot of which is more illustrative and maybe less interesting. That'll change -- I haven't lost any of the creative energies you see represented by this old sb, I hope.

AustenFM - I use whatever adhesive is handy at the time.

My earlier sb's were often disabled or completely derailed by crappy pages that ruined their flow and also my ability to sustain their quality. Many sb's would become thinner and thinner as I used them because of all the pages that got cut or torn out. This sb was the first book where it finally occurred to me that I could be additive to a sketchbook... That it's okay to take something you don't like and simply glue something you DO like right over it. This also had the secondary effect of creating a sanctuary for all those loose doodles that would spring up over time, and that otherwise had no home. It's so much more fun to see a sb physically thickening as you feed it with work... it brings life to it. To anyone who has had similar rough times with their sb's, I cannot recommend more highly shifting to this additive approach!

I think I pretty much hit the high points of the 'o2-'o4 sb in that last post, but -- since you guys seemed so hip to it -- I've scanned in some more from that one.

MORE DUMP From Me Old 2oo2-2oo4 MOLESKINE:

[Carnifex]

holy balls dude.

[monotony]

every page in that moleskin is just pure gold!
every.single.one.
awesome!

[Bourin]

sweet jesus

[LM.]

Your moleskine pages are awesome, relay inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

[Yor]

very differse sketches, a moleskine that would be worth alot!

[Texahol]

nah man...you're getting old

I'm sure of it.


*cough*

[Dope Fiend]

what pen were you using at that time period? those lines look fantastic, incredibly clean, especially the piece with the scarf. i can only imagine you with a magnifying glass situated on your desk-light..you crazy bastard!

haha, inspiring and amazing as always.


and it seems like you're dumping everything into that SB, how are things not showing through behind those pages, it almost seems like everything would get muddy with all of that. sorry for the 20 questions, i'm just fascinated!!

[.empyrean.]

Holy moly, that's insane...such visual power can't be learned, someone has it or not. I don't have it for sure...
Your moleskine pages just let drip all this creative style like a piece of bread with too much honey on it.
Truly inspiring.

[Icey]

you have one absolutely amazing sketchbook!! Went through all your pages... thank you for the burst of inspiration ( and adrenaline rush )
i know you already have 5 stars, but here are 5 more
cheers!

[Dana_T]

you are just all kinds of inspiring

[William b. Hand]

Huh. For some reason, even though I edited the thread title and "update" date, it's not showing up as changed. Bah, glitchy poot.

Carnifex, monotony, Bourin, LM., and Dana_T - Thank You!

Texahol - Well, ya know what I think -- I think the struggles you're having with art are due to the fact that your face smells just like a cereal fart. Of course it's true what you say and my pieces are starting to fall off, but thanks for the extra reminders you bad, bad person.

Dope Fiend - I think I was using a Micron for that be-mitten'd girl, but it looks like there's also a bit of PaperMate ballpoint pen in there. I'd say those are the two kinds of pen I used most in that book, plus the brownish ink would be croquill pen & fw ink. As far as images bleeding through the pages goes, that certainly happened here and there, but the Moleskine drawing books have a thicker (and creamier coloured) paper than the blank writing books and it takes a lot more for anything to bleed through. ...Plus, when you're additive to a book, those glued-in bits of paper can cover up all sorts of things you're not happy with, including bleed-thru. Haha -- No magnifying glasses needed as I'm pretty near-sighted.

.emyrean. - Wow, what a poetically articulated compliment -- Thank you!

Icey - Danke for the stars -- I'm stunned that you went through this whole sb, that's such a nice thing to hear and I'm glad it helped get your creative juices flowing!

Well, I haven't done a whole mess lately and most of it has been study stuff (I'm finally giving Jack Hamm's Landscape & Seascape book proper priority) that doesn't merit posting, but here are a few random pencil sketches you might like, plus several stages of a military Tech suit I did in Photoshop® for the most recent DSG. It's got its wonkiness (room to grow), but I'm happy with how this basic rendering approach is going, I think the colours work pretty well in that final (tried to get that skylighting in there), it's pretty crisp overall, and even though the joints and proportions are rather off for that to (realistically) be a human in a suit, at least it's supposed to be a human and that still feels like a novelty for me.

Anyways, see whatchya think:

[NickyBeats]

these suits look awesome man! really slick work. and i love all the traditional sketches. you have a truly unique style man.

[MonkeYoakum]

been a long time since i came around. Some great stuff to catch up on. Thanks for taking the time to dump all that goodness! What kind of pen are you using in those Moleskies?

[Liam Harvey]

those armoured figures are well designed, they have a visual flair thats making each of them seem varied enough, and seem form fittingly funtional (as much as fictional stuff can as evidenced by the Iron Man armour etc.)

I think what really blows me away is the variation of what is on show in this your sketches.

[Texahol]

studies are lookin' good man.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

sick style!

[raminafshari]

strange way of using color its nice and smooth .

[surus]

speechless. grabbing the tongue back from the led-screendisplay (it tried to lick on the sketchbook)

Thank you so much for posting these moleskine pages. My brain got inspired, inspired, inspired, insane inspired!

[witcrack]

Wow. I really wish me to be that messy. With all those ideas and more. Heheh. Liking all the pages, William. You are the man

Keep sharing

[MaFeng]

Wow,incredible imagination.Your work is so fantasy.
Your pencil work gave me many tips.

[William b. Hand]

Thanks guys!

Here's some more tech practice, I guess... A 6-Limbed vehicle thing.

[ EDIT: Added second image messing around with that vehicle thing ]

[Bourin]

you may have already answered this, but in post #1153, is the bird done with watercolor pencils? never seen an effect like that.

[Jessibelle]

damn, this sketchbook is pretty damn interesting to flip through. so much variety! i'm sure i've said this before, but your pencil work has such a gorgeous, organic feel to it - even the studies. in fact, especially the studies when it comes to those muscless.
I love looking at your old sketchbook pages as well, it's actually really interesting to see the differences/ similarities between your work then and now.

gotta always love coming back to your sketchbook, man.

[ThomasM]

you know the feeling when you are obsessed with art yourself and you suddenly stumble across a source, or resource which blows you away? Yeah.. thats this sb for me.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and works with us, I will definitely be doing some studies and looking at your ideation in your moleskine.

Thanks again!

[~KJK~]

do you ever sleep? the amount you sketch each day must be staggering!

I haven't been around your sketchbook in ages and i am amazed at the amount of work i missed and the improvements. Your rendering is sublime. 5 stars, except i already gave you 5 stars ages ago.

[Big Orange]

Interesting stuff, Hand. What are those potato/fungui type shapes in the lower left corner of your last painting?

[Evergrey]

Wow, man... This is just insane. I mean, increadible!

So amazed...