donalfall's SB: 09 DEC 2012 - Sketches from mah brain

[Black Spot]

I like the re-writing of history. Wish I could join you on your pub scrawl.

[donalfall]

Replies make me happy. And look, page 12! Fun times.

Jaunay - my problem is that I don't have a computer. My computer exploded a few years back and I could only afford a little netbook. Maybe sometime soon, my wacom will get a workout again.... I also am a huge fan of red pencil. I'll revisit Catwoman.

Velocity Kendall organise is a strong word. All I did was plant a flag on a monday night and say "here will be pub scrawl". And the word got out, and people came. You should try it, let everyone know all are welcome. I'm going to do more with it this year, hopefully get more art stuff going on. The Dublin Sketchers go out into the world, do field trips to locales around the city.... other groups have found other stuff to put under the banner, a bit of research and you can find something for everyone.

Black Spot That would be so much fun. You'ld always be welcome! There's so much fun going on with the history rewrite that it's going to be killer. I'm laying out & designing the whole thing for the Comic Book Soc, so I'll post some cheeky samples here at CA!

So, I was transferring the Sci-Fi comic panels out of my sketchbook and onto board for the big push to get it done. I'm going to do this one as single panels on pages so I can put in loads of little details, then scan it in & do the page arrangements & speech in Illustrator or similar. I laid out this one - panel one, page one, started planning it out, did my perspective worm's eye view layout, etc. The SECOND I put some ink on it, I realised I should have put it landscape on the board. I did another few bits of black, but I'm going to have to do it again. It needs more stuff around and a landscape format, considering where I'm putting it. Oh well, can always flip the board over I guess....



but that kind of put me out of the drawing mood for the weekend. These are the best of a bad lot:







I'll restart the panel again tomorrow. Once I work through this funk & get going again, I'll get some better sketch work done.

Thanks you guys.

donalfall out.

[Jaunay]

Yay more updates! Ohhh yeaaah I forgot about anthro snakes, i love how they stand on their tails. Sooo cool. :B
Hey and your net book should be able to run some browser based web drawing programs. I'm using a laptop that's 7 years old and it runs photoshop. But not minecraft. It's an odd world when it comes to computers.

[LtPlissken]

I like the last ones buddy.
Keep on spreading your magic.

[donalfall]

Yay! Replies!

Jaunay - my netbook just can't handle CS. Maybe if I could find a pre-CS version... I'm starting to do okay for money though, so I'll probably throw down and buy a desktop soon. My GF is going back to college for her PhD and needs something powerful for AutoCAD and site surveying stuff (she does Archaeology) so there'll be another reason to have a powerful desktop-y thing.

LtPlissken - thanks man. I've been working hard on my comics, so it feels like there's little spare magic to go around right now, but I'll do my best.

Here's a few scribbles from the sketchbook for the weekend.... I've been pushing on on my comic project & doing design work for a group comic as well, so I was too busy for updates this week. I'll probably not be updating much this week either, as there's a lot of work to get through for the 12th. But after the 12th....









And something from the comic - no text yet, it's going to go on in Illustrator when I get in to my friends' Graphic Design studio..



I dunno if you can tell the difference yet, but this is a million times better in landscape than it was in portrait. Mostly because of my plans for the overall work, when it's finito.

Cheers guys!

[timdegro]

Oh wow, awesome sketchbook! Those pencils are sweeeet
Looking forward to mooooooore!

[donalfall]

Had a great night at the Pub Scrawl, which dragged me back to do an update! We were going with a theme of St Patrick, so here he is banishing the Snake from Ireland:



And a girl with a dragon familiar - just starting this sketch...

[Black Spot]

The snake doesn't seem to notice St Patrick very much, he's going to have to whack it a lot harder.

[Ivan_kolor]

Hey man! thanks for visiting my sb! I appreciate your comics! The hatching is great, but I'm envious because of the sketch group at the pub and around Dublin!! You're style is funny, maybe I humbly recommend some anatomy! I'll be watching!!

[Naidy]

Keep seeing you drawing comics and it makes me want to. xD
Anyways, nice cross-hatching going on in your recent pieces, I've probably already said but generally you have a nice linework going on.

Work more on proportions/antomy I'd say. That's all really- keep up the good work as usual.

[Black Spot]

I forgot to ask - how much ram does your notebook have? If you have 2Gb it would run Serif Photoplus okay, although it doesn't like anything over 5000 pixels each way.

[donalfall]

Sorry peoples, I was being a bigger nerd this weekend than usual, was at a gaming convention right here in my home town. I was even playing roleplaying games, although I did do some dj'ing on the saturday night to up my cool quotient. Although I was DJ'ing for fellow nerds, so maybe it didn't help. I didn't get my sample comic done in time either, so didn't even manage to self promote.

Ivan_kolor Thanks! I'm actually further west than Dublin, I live in Galway. There is a group in Dublin too. In fact, more than one. Anatomy is always needed! I hear you there.

Thanks Naidy. You should just dive in and make some comics! Join the next POW!

Black Spot Serif Photoplus starts but then it just hangs. I'm going to buy a desktop soon (he continues to say for years and years and years)

Some pictures! More from my Sci-Fi comic:



And somethings from the Sketchbook:







Thanks guys! Night night.

[LtPlissken]

Hey, what are you doing? Improving
without my knowledge? That is not
ok, you are going too fast for me.
I like the way you are working, the
only thing that I would suggest is to study
some more anatomy.
Cheers

[That fat kid]

Heya Donalfall,

You're really blasting away at these sketches and it's paying dividends.

What's the furthest you've taken a sketch? It seems like a fair number of your recent drawings have a sort of 'half finished' quality, as if you got near the idea you were heading for then decided it was too far away. Any chance you could push yourself and keep on a single drawing for twice as long at least?

~Andrew

[donalfall]

Sorry for no replies in ages - I've been busy out & about and trying to shift my real world life into gear, not to mention I had to do a week of night shifts which messed my body clock up for a good fortnight.

I'll be posting more shortly, and I have some good replies for you guys. Meanwhile, if anyone has heard anything from Ilaekae recently, I for one would be relieved. Cheers!

[JesseM]

I like your use of large black areas! Keep playing with space, it looks good. :)
However, I have to second that fat kid's comment--I'd like to see more finished work, too.

[donalfall]

Hello all,

I've had a hectic month-or-so for the last while (those who follow me on twitter can tell you about me bitching about night shifts - there have been a lot of those. My brains are scrambled) or so, and I've been trying to get several projects off the ground as well as completing a few commissions I got in. Whew! Maybe a little too busy, but that was mostly because of having to do the dumb night shifts.

I was going to do a big post last night following on from being down at the Pub Scrawl, but our weather was so hideous that my bag actually soaked through and water got into my moleskine. Good top up on a bad month.

JesseM & That fat kid - Yeah I hear you guys. I should post more of my finished work, but there's ongoing stuff with my crappy scanner. I should photograph them and stuff I guess. My favourite work is when I get to spend 6 - 10 hours on something. Shorter is just a sketch like these and longer I feel like I've overworked the piece.

LtPlissken - I'm not improving that fast, don't worry dude.

I stuck some people in my sig whose SB's I've enjoyed recently. It's not to get them to add me to theirs, but I do think you should go check their work out.

There's a fun new podcast from 2 artists that I really enjoyed - The Makebelievers. And that's it for another day. Hopefully back shortly.

[donalfall]

I don't know why those images stopped posting. I'm going to go away, hopefully they'll fix themselves.

[donalfall]

A round up of some sketch work from the last few weeks. I have some more stuff to upload! Hang on a sec.

[Black Spot]

Why haven't I been here for a month? Maybe you tweet too much. This comic looks like it's going to kick ass, but whose? You always have fun sketches to show everyone like the ark one. What were these commissions, and can we see them?

[LtPlissken]

You are still rocking my man!
Nice stuff!

[donalfall]

Sorry guys, I got distracted by some other junk, like going to weddings and so forth.

Anyways, LtPlissken - thanks dude! I'm going to keep pushing them out as much as possible.

Black Spot - you will see the commissions soonish. One is for a tattoo, so the person in question wants it hidden til it's on that person. The other is for a brochure, so it has to wait til the client uses it. Another was for a student comic book anthology.... that technically exists, but they haven't given them out publicly though... I might show that one. And another I accidentally destroyed with a dilute ink spillage.

Some fanart from the SB -





We're going on a sketchcrawl for the Pub Scrawl next saturday, so I'll have some nice graphite &/or watercolour landscapes of our town shortly.

Nice!

[Black Spot]

Ink spillages are par for the course.

You're better with your eye placement except in that last one, or the rest of her face migrated.

[donalfall]

Black Spot - yeah, they're exactly level but something about the lines I added under her left eye makes her right eye look weird. Eyes are tricky gets. I'll get it together better next time.



They should have called it Coldth, amiright?

[donalfall]

Hallo!

Quick update while I'm busy updating various blogs.

A concept for an Art Challenge -


Some quick sketches as a plan for some charcoal portraits I'm doing.


And Judge Death!


Gotta run CA'er's. Talk to you later.

[Black Spot]

I think if someone pointed a skeleton gun at me, I might have to give up.

[That fat kid]

Heya Donalfall,

Your ideas need more attention! Slow down and bring that shit to fruition. All your drawings look so rushed like your mind is exploding with ideas and you can't wait to get them on to the paper. Like I said before, give one idea a ton of attention and push it like Link pushing a block in Zelda.

~Andrew

[donalfall]

Black Spot - that was the plan. I'ld be done myself. Skeleton Gun? No more fighting. It's for our Artistic Challenge group on facebook. The topic was "A Harnessed Death", so I think this works.

That fat kid - my brain is like a boiling stew. Sometimes big bits float to the top, but it's mostly just noise and energy. But yes, I know what you mean. I also just don't have the facilities to scan and photograph my bigger stuff properly. This is a photo of the A3 version of the skeleton gun sketch -



I hope it shows that I do revisit these damn things. My sketchbook is fast, fast, fast. Then I revisit some stuff and do big versions. I have tons of comic stuff to scan as well.

Anyhoo, in and out. I'll be back shortly. I haven't had time to visit all your sketchbooks, my apologies. I've been taking on as much day job work as possible recently, need to start planning against the future (setbacks have turned up, aaaaaargh).

[Black Spot]

That gun is mega cool. I'd love to see the damage it could do.

[donalfall]

Black Spot me too! I think it's one of the most fun ideas to boil up out of my brain in recent times.

So I was moderating the POW! a little while Ilaekae was without t'Internet, and then the power supply on our *slightly* more powerful laptop blew out. Tis the curse of the POW!, I tells ya.

So even though I was determined to be strict on times etc, I ended up posting *my own* panels a week late! Huge kudos to everyone who posted stuff for my POW! 50 - Anniversary thread, there's some mega talent this time around. Everyone should pop into the forum and have a look-see.

Here's my two pages -





It's a long story. I also picked topic for POW! 51, Slight of Hand and I'ld be super chuffed if everyone popped in there too, and competed, if you have the time & inclination. My entry on #51 is going to be twice my entry for 50, in pages & quality! The gauntlet is down, people.

What else, what else.... I know I said we were going sketchcrawling here in Galway, but as often happens around these parts, it rained all day. You can find the story in that link.

That Eowyn vs. The Witch King challenge on Art Order made us want to do the same somewhat for the Galway Pub Scrawl, so we did. Here's mine - just a photo:



anything else? I have a pile of SB pages to scan, but I'm at odds with my scanner. It's past the point of it being *just* crap. Now it's actively malevolent. I still have an a3 scanner on my impossible dream list.

Oh, and after years of thinking that there's no "magic" tool, only a succession of increasingly *handy* tools, I have discovered I'm wrong. There is a magic tool (or it's equivalents from other companies). Love it. I had a few of them sitting around for ages but never used them. More fool me, it turns out.