Brush and Ink

Some of the homework I have in the Famous Artist Course is to do a bunch of "fashion drawings" from magazines. I've been doing some in pencil, gouache, wash, ink etc. This is the first time i tried brush and ink, and I really liked it. Something about using a brush to draw with is satisfying. 

So here's a brush and ink drawing of Nina Dobrev. I know who she is because my wife used to watch Vampire Diaries... 

I may or may not have also seen a few episodes as well.

Gas Pump in Gouache

I entered a contest on James Gurney's blog a few days ago, basically you have to paint a gas station or gas pump or something to do with a gas station. It had to be painted on location and it had to be in black and white gouache. 

I procrastinated until almost the last day (so I kind of deserved it) but It was about 95 degrees outside, raining, extremely humid, and my car A/C decided to break that day too. I pulled into an abandoned little gas station that I found (I was very worried the cops would show up and kick me out) and painted the whole thing in the driver's seat. I kept rolling my windows up and down whenever it started or stopped raining. I also flipped on my wipers frequently when the windshield would get too covered in raindrops to see through. Halfway through the painting a huge swarm of flies got trapped in my car.  In was an uncomfortable experience but it was pretty fun anyways.

halfway through

Here's a very short video of the trip. The tripod i was using stopped holding the phone correctly halfway through the painting so all the later footage is just of the steering wheel and dashboard.

Payless in Gouache

After watching Gouache in the Wild I was really excited to try out some gouache. I've mostly only mixed a little gouache with watercolor and never really done an entire painting in it. So this was my very small black and white attempt at that (it's like 3 x 5 in.). 

   I did this while waiting for my wife to get off work a few weeks ago, but she got out when I was about halfway through so I never finished it. That unfinished page in my sketchbook was getting really annoying so I went back last night and finished it.

And If you want to learn more about gouache...

Dumpster Monster

Another watercolor from a short break at work... 

I ended up parking behind the mall and sketching a dumpster. An old lady looked into the dumpster  and then kept walking. There was a guy on a bike with a striped shirt who kept staring at me, and a few middle aged women who were really angry at someone, but I couldn't figure out why. It started thundering and lightning and pouring down rain so I went back to work.

a Dumpster Monster behind the mall

A Bored Guy and a Squirrel and a Bus Stop

I painted this at the bus stop on a 15 minute break from work a few months ago. The only person there was a bored guy on his phone who had no clue about the squirrel that was slowly inching closer and closer to him. 

He got up and took the bus, the squirrel ran away, and I went back to work... I don't think the three of us will ever meet again.

Gas Station Watercolor

I had a short break from work so I parked at a gas station and did a little watercolor about the size of a normal iphone. Cars kept parking in the way and I kept running out of time. I gave up when a Uhaul parked right in front of me and the driver started reading a book. 

Gas Station Pump