Life Drawing - June 4th 2010

I've been neglecting this blog for quite some time now, but it's time for me to start posting here again every now and then. And what better way to start of then by posting some rough sketches.

I haven't done this in a long time but am really planning to pick this up again, life drawing. I didn't have an opportunity to use a live model so I used resources on the web for pictures. Soon I'll intend to go out and draw more from life, living right across the road of the city zoo should prove to be very usefull now! Anyway, a collection of renderings in pencil of figures, both male and female done in different time limits ranging from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, a couple of sketches of hands and one slightly more detailed drawing of a female I did in 15 minutes. More to follow soon.

Illustrator stuff (I)

Untill now I usually only used photoshop and flash to do my artwork, and of course handdrawn artwork. But recently I've been trying my hand at Illustrator, drawing directly in illustrator or tracing stuff from photographs or going about it from scratch and see what I can come up with. Here are some examples of some of the stuff I created recently. More to come soon...

First up is an illsutation based on artwork you might remember from a few pages back. First I scanned the artwork from my sketchbook, then traced it in illustrator, after which I quickly colored it in photoshop.




Some random photograph that I traced, simple in blue clean lines and shapes.

A cartoonized portrait of a collegue from work. Directly drawn in illustrator, with hard coloring in shapes.

Rapunzel Artwork ( IV )

The last batch of Rapunzel artwork for now, before I move on to some other work I did...

Rapunzel Artwork ( III )

And some more Rapunzel artwork which you'll hopefully enjoy.

Rapunzel Artwork ( II )

Here is some more recent Rapunzel Artwork for you all to (hopefully) enjoy. More in the next few days.

Rapunzel Artwork ( I )

I know Disney is working on their own take for a new animated feature based on the fairytale "Rapunzel", but long before my idol Glen Keane started directing his version of the movie I had plans for MY own version. I've always been attracted to the story and had my own vision, basically mixing the dynamics between the evil witch and Rapunzel, combined by the reasoning as to why the witch became so cruel and locked Rapunzel up in the tower. From 1998 on I've worked on and off on the project, doing sketches, using it as a starting point to make animation tests during my time at the academy of arts. In the next few posts I'll show you some of the older artwork but also some new stuff, for my own personal version of the movie.

First, here's some of the old artwork I did around the late 90's. The Rapunzel I was looking for was a bit modelled after Reese Witherspoon at the time. Who I thought had the right feisty yet friendly face for the role.

Madonna Artwork ( II )

Here's an old cartoon. It's based on a little row when Elton John called out Madonna after winning an award himself and saying that all live performers who do not sing live during their concerts should be shot. Having been to a lot of Madonna concerts myself I can only say I was amused by Elton's little tantrum. Since Madonna is literally dancing, jumping and clawing her way all over the stage and isn't stuck on a stool behind a piano the entire show she should be excused of using a backing tape for a few songs that are high on acrobatics and choreography. This entire story inspired the following cartoon. First a sketch, followed by a colored rendering.



After I posted the cartoon on my own Madonna forum it quickly spread over the internet. First to other Madonna websites, then showbizz blogs and it eventually even got printed in UK newspaper The Sun and a mexican newspaper. A fellow Madonna admirer who had been to Elton's show in Las Vegas said he asked Elton to sign the cartoon that he had printed out and he told me the man replied to seeing the cartoon with a little chuckle. Glad to see he hasn't completely lost his sense of humour yet.

Maoam Commercials

A few years ago I worked on a series of three tv commercials for well known candy company Haribo. The commercials were aired on dutch tv. I was responsible for storyboarding, animating and coloring the animation. The starting point for the commercial was a character that was already designed and used in german promo artwork. I made the design appropriate for animation and we then did the first commercial using that design of the main character snowboarding his way to his desired candy.



The second commercial required the character to ride a BMX bike in a park in springtime. The original design had the character wearing think clothes, a hat and goggles, so for the second commercial we could refine the design some more. We also had to design a female character which he could try and woo with his BMX riding skills and by offering her some candy. This commercial was an big step forward as we tried to incorporate 2D animation matching 3D rendered moving backgrounds and a 3D BMX bike.


The third and final commercial had the character battling a 3D robot who comes to life from a graphitti painting. The character uses his breakdancing skills to avoid and outdance the robot to get back his candy. All of the commercials were drawn directly into macromedia flash, cleaned in flash and colored in flash with post production done by the company that hired me to do the animation.

In the future I'll post the commercials and some rough animation from the project.

Madonna Artwork ( I )

Here are a few drawings based on Madonna. I'm a huge admirer of her as an artist and musician. I really admire the way she is able to transform and always manages to surprise people with what she does. I'm an equally big fan of the people she collaborates with. Great photographers like Herb Ritts, Steven Klein, Jean Baptiste Mondino and video directors like David Fincher, Mark Romanek and Jonas Akerlund.

The pieces below are based on the drawing style of Alessandro Barbucci, of Sky Doll fame. He makes these amazing drawings with very strong poses of females. The fist three drawings were drawn by hand and then colored in photoshop. The last drawing was drawn in flash using a tablet. Then I used flash to fill the main areas and did lightning effects in photoshop.

These pieces were downloadable for members of a Madonna fan community site I run ( www.madonnamad.com ). They could use the illustrations as wallpapers or print them on t-shirts to wear them at concerts.

Sketchbook Scans ( I )

Here are some scans from one of my sketchbooks. At art school my teachers drilled me to always have a sketchbook with me and draw whenever there was time, so during my daily trainride I tend to do so vigourously.

The first sketch is for another comic/movie idea I have about a young girl living in the middle ages or some fantastical epic era who survives a massacre which leaves her entire town murdered including her own family. She sets out to find the person responsible for this and get her revenge. I wanted to find a mix between a very innocent looking girl and very brutal action. A contrast between visual innocence and inner anger and rage. This drawing is of the moment the girl finds out her entire town has been ravaged and murdered. More to come on this project.


This sketch is just some fashionable kick ass female. I tend to draw women, because they are fun to draw. This started when I was young and used to draw all the female Disney characters like the little mermaid, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas and Jessica Rabbit, or dutch comic hero Franka which is one of my favourite comics ever.