Gilead's Fantasy Art Sketchbook

[Gilead]

Well they appear to have fixed it.
I don't like this one much, but here we go anyways.
#229

[Gilead]

Well look at that we're up to page 7.
Just for fun here's some ideas just out of my head, no refference. As usual these were done over breakfast at Carl's Jr.
#230


#231


#232

[darkchild]

No ref's? Thats really good. Your big cats are cool. Really well done for no refs. I like the angle of the tank but there's something about the forward cannon that bothers me.... maybe its the way the eliptical opening is placed. Possibly rotate it a bit more? I don't know. This probably doesn't make any sense to anyone but me Great work

[Gilead]

darkchild, Right as usual, I changed the barrel of that gun, but it's not worth a re-scan so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I like big cats. Last week I got to sketch a mountain lion from about eight feet distance.
We have a membership at the zoo so we get in free anytime we can go. The nice thing about this is that you don't have to run around trying to get your money's worth by seeing everything. Sometimes we just go hang around one exhibit for a long time until the animal becomes comfortable with us so we get to see it a bit closer than most people do. The Phoenix zoo has very naturalistic enclosures and most of the animals could hide from view if they wanted, so noisy impatient people often don't see much of anything. They should stay home and play video games.
Here's a couple zoo sketches. Bear in mind that the models don't hold still so much.






Today's babe. Not sure if she's an assasin on a mission or a harem girl trying to escape, but I hope that you get some kind of story in your head when you look at these.
#233

[Jaster]

Very nice babes ! Your pencildrawings look a bit pale. When you have access to photoshop you can easily strenghten the contrast by duplicating the layer with the drawing and set it on "multiply". if necessary do it a few times. It should work with other image editing programs too, but Photoshop is the one I use

[Gilead]

Jaster, Thank you. The only graphics software I own is what came with my scanner, which I barely know how to operate.
I generally don't like to alter my images on the computer, because I like to sell my originals and I don't want to misrepresent what they actually look like.
However everyone says that they're too pale so it must be true. So when I know I'm just showing a sketch that nobody would want to buy, like the following, perhaps I'll tweak it a bit with the scanner so that it shows up a little better.

Here's a couple more from my head, no refference and no special purpose.
#234


#235

[van]

Gilead, that top one in your last update is awesome. It would make a wonderful painting! Thanks for sharing!

[Skethin "D"]

I really like your stuff. I have come back to this page many times since i have poked around these sites. And, I only have one crittic of your work. It is obvious that you have an excelent feel for the proportions of women, but the only thing it lacks is depth. All the shading on a given peice seems to be all one tone. I think if you were to add morre contrst from the lights and darks of your figures, your work would have a greater sense of realism.

great stuff, and you know i'll be back!

[Gilead]

Urggg no sleep for ...37 hours. I'm about to pass out where I sit.

These are a couple designs for some new Halloween art for next year. Obviously from my imagination, no refference.
The idea is that they'd be cut out of wood and stand about 7 feet tall. That's why all the shapes are connected so there'd be no long skinny pieces, like fingers, that could break off.
You can see some of this year's Halloween yard art in my thread in the "Finally Finished" section.

#236


#237

[Gilead]

van, Thanks, painting that one would be fun. There's potential to have a lot more stuff going on in the background.

Skethin "D", Thanks, you're right that's something I'm working on. Come back often and tell me how I'm doing.

No refference. Don't know why I'm just doing sketches from my head lately, just a phase I guess.
#238


I was tired yesterday because I worked at this huge, posh, Halloween party
at the Wrigley Mansion Friday night until 1:00 a.m. and then had to finish a painting when I got home so it would be ready by 7:00 a.m.
At the party, I was in "Frankenstein's lab" which was in a library where people would walk through on there way from the bar to the ballroom. I would crouch behind the table and then when people walked up and looked at the monster, I'd pop up and scream "It's Alive!!! Ha Ha Ha ha ha !!!".....Scared the livin' hell out of a whole bunch of people. It was a blast, but my voice was about gone the next day.
Here's a pic.

Now, everybody told me I looked really creepy, so can somebody explain to me why I got hit on by more women that night than In the past 10 years put together? That creeps ME out. Even if I was single I don't think I'd go home with someone who was attracted to me because I looked dead. But that's just me.

[darkchild]

Great work with the no ref pics. Keep them coming. You've drawn enough ref'd pics to get the anatomy down without any help I really like the use of backgrounds now to bring out your pics. And about the women hittin on you... If you weren't married, just go with the flow Yeah you scared me too. I scrolled down expecting another fine ass babe sketch and......holy sh**!!

[Gilead]

darkchild, Ha Ha ha ha ha!!! Got another one! Hee hee hee.

Well I don't think I'm really good enough to fake it without refference, but I can do an ok drawing just to get my idea down, and then if I really want to do a finished piece later I can try getting someone to pose for me.

That could be challenging especially on pics like this. Refference for the foreground figure, no reff on the devil woman.
#239

[Gilead]

No refference again.
#240

[Skethin "D"]

suggestion, I know i already said that you oughta try and add more contrast to your work. and i know you said you are working on it, but,... I was visiting your page again, and I thought, you should force yourself to use softer lead pencils. along with the harder ones of course. just a crit. liking the new stuff man.

[Gilead]

Yeah carrying something better than a #2 pencil around could help. I'm a creature of convenience.

Well guys, for those of us who are in the Window Painting business the Christmas season has started. That means no spare time at all for about a month and a half so I doubt that I'll post much if anything in that time.
Hope you don't forget me entirely, I'll post occasionally if I get a chance to sneak something in.
See you all in a while.

[dCepT]

Good stuff! I agree about what has been said baout the depth/contrast issues, but as you said, its something you're working on.. just keep it up!

I like this one a lot

Keep us posted!

peace

d-C

[Gilead]

Hey folks been a few days.

dCepT, thanks I will keep it up, but not too much right now. Gotta go paint every store window in town with Santas and snowmen. Kind of a different mode from warrior babes.

#241

[Gilead]

No refference for the background which is why it's so lame.
#242

[darkchild]

Actually I like the last post. The pose is great and dynamic. The only improvement that I could possibly think of is a more action oriented expression...... welll now that I look at it again the hands are a bit awkward. It seems like to me they both face different directions giving the impression that the handle is curved. If it is then just ignore that last comment Possibley move the hands a bit closer together and choose just one angle for the hands.
I love the angle of the legs and the position of the shoulders. The hair looks great as well. The background is nice you could add some more details to the doorway but it will make the piece too busy. Ok enough of my ramblin', great work with your updated pieces. Later!:

[johnnyhotrod]

LOve the poses. Ever try airbrushing? Alot of your chracters would look good as murals on custom cars.No insult to your pencils. I've seen these type of chracters on the hoods and trunks of many custom show cars.

[Gilead]

Thank you. Hmmm..name's Johnnyhotrod and he's asking about custom cars...what's he into eh?
I've done lots of airbrushing, but not the kind of thing you're talking about. I love some of the paintjobs I've seen on cars and motorcycles, but have no real desire to do it. It seems that in order to be truely marketable with that you have to know how to do auto body work as well. People expect to pull in on some scratched, dented dirty old Harley and say "Make it beautiful." I don't want anything to do with that, but it's a great way to make some cash if you can do it.

You might be interested in this link
http://www.autoartmagazine.com/
also the bullitin board on this site. I'ts a signpainters forum, but they have lots of muralists and pinstripers, custom car guys etc. I've never met a group of people more ready to help each other out than these guys.
http://www.letterhead.com/

[Gilead]

Darkchild, thanks, I like the figure ok, but I still think the background's lame. The photo reff is really tiny so I can't really makeout the details of the hands. I'll have to pose my own hands like that and take a closeup shot and print it up, but the printer's broken right now...sigh. If it's not one thing it's another.
Still I cant complain, I got a car now after being without one since July. But now I'm so far behind on work that I really shouldn't be sitting here playing on this site. What is it with this place? It's like an addiction. I could quit anytime I wanted really I could.

#243

[johnnyhotrod]

Thanks for the info Gilead. I have a sub to the autoart mag (funny eh?).

Keep up the sketches looks great.

[Gilead]

Auto Art is a great little mag. SignCraft magazine is great too, there's quite a lot of car stuff in there as well.

Well you know I'm in the Southwest so I have to include a couple cowgirl kinda' babes.
#244

[Gilead]

Well I'm not quite dead.

Jungle Girl, just a quickie with a cheap pen.
#245

[Gilead]

Of all the crazy things to have happen: would you believe that this sketch blog actually helped me get a re-finance on my house? Yup true story. Since I am a sole proprietor there is very little actual record of my being in business or what my business is. So they took my material on this website as independant confirmation of my employment as an artist. Wierd huh?

Thanks guys.

Anyways I got my loan and I finally got a car after being without one for over four months! (As a sign painter who works on location that kinda' puts a crimp in yer style.) So I'm back in business and not dead or homeless like I'd kinda' feared I'd be. So here's some babes to celebrate the occasion.

#246 which is #225 revised


#247 which is #241 revised


#248 a new one.


#249 which is #229 revised. No refference for the changes or the little hobbit dude.


Could have sworn I'd posted an earlier version of this, but I don't appear to have done. No refference on the alterations or the hobbit.
#250


#251 which is #243 revised.

[darkchild]

Hey, great stuff as usual. Good deal on the re financing of your home. Those sketches of with the hobbits crack me up. Especially #249. It's the way she's looking down at the hobbit along with the way he's posed. Just priceless Great revisions.

[Gilead]

Darkchild, dont ever go away man your my only fan.
Her eyes were already like that before I ever thought to draw the guy, but once I noticed the way it looked I thought "yeah I'm keepin' that".

#252 which is #157 transferred to a sheet of bristol board and done in a range of graphites from 6H to 9B.

[spudstudios]

Gilead,
It has been very interesting to watch your progression over this sketchbook. Really good improvemnets in tone and composition.

However, I feel that you still are struggling with anatomy and form.This is typical for artists that use reference for drawings. I thought your Life drawing classes would improve your depth and shape more. One way I overcame this was to concentrate on my weak area. I can tell Hands scare you. I drew 10 pages of each part I struggled with. ie 10 pages of hands, 10 of lips, 10 of eyes ( pairs to help the scale relationship). After doing this y old strong points became my new weaker areas. So you begin again..after all we never stop learning. Try to spend no more than 1 minute per drawing ( the 5 minute life class poses are great for this kind of exercise).
Still, great stuff really enjoying the thread.
Cheers

[Gilead]

spudstudios, many thanks. It's always interesting to find out about some lurker who's been quietly watching the thread for a while.

I know you're all out there, show yerselves! Sneaky little varmints all a' ya.

You're right on all counts and I'm already taking your advice after a fashion. I'm doing lots of hand studies and eye studies etc, but for the most part I don't feel like it's the focus of this particular sketchbook so I don't post them.
Come again and bring a friend.