10 Tons of Greek Myth

This weeks ten ton sketch challenge is Greek Mythology.
I had a quick go at ARES, and a less convincing Medusa.
Ares looks a little stumpy in this pic, but I like the overall look...

I'm going to add a splash of blood, and will then play about colouring in Photoshop.... although the entry for ten ton has to be hand drawn...

"Sketches can be pencil, ink, black & white, or color.You CANNOT use your computer to render, color or enhance your drawing --the posted version that people vote on has to be exactly what you can physically send to the winner if he/she wants your piece as a prize.NO copying or tracing.  Your image has to be original. NO SWIPING! NO OLD ARTWORK, your entry has to be a new piece of art specifically for the Sketch Challenge."

Thing

No lie in this morning, so I had enough time to do a quick sketch for the 10 ton studio sketch challenge.
I've also got to get Monday's strip done, and some other stuff.... so no time to add any polish...
I might try and colourise it later though.

Ten Ton Champions

Roho over at ten ton has made a tumblr blog of all the sketch challenge winners... it is pretty impressive. There's some fantastic work in there. I am proud to even be allowed to post sketches with these guys.
http://tenton.tumblr.com/

Inking in the name of...

Well my Kirby Inking failed dismally, I can't help inking in the style of me.
Never mind, the fun thing about the 10T sketch challenge is that you never know what you are going to draw, and I think I'd like another crack at something Kirbyish. I looked at a couple of books for reference, and I'm staggered by the tight lines.
Sure I could clean this up in photoshop, but that's against the rules, and it really does help focus the mind. The strange thing is for much of the inking I feel it looks a mess, and then suddenly bits start to look RIGHT. Galactus's chin works for me, as does the jaw line of Terrax (The guy with the Ax).. though some bits never seem to get there.. like Terrax's axe, which feels like some badly drawn kite, or flag.
Anyway. Time for bed, busy day at BSI tomorrow.

Triumph Heralds of Galactus

I managed to get Monday's Wychwolf drafted last night, whilst watching the truly awful Star Trek film, and then as I had time on my hands, I thought I'd have a bash at this week's Ten Ton Studio Sketch Challenge
The Heralds of Galactus, are the Silver Surfer and other chaps, zooming around the cosmos looking for trouble. In line with some of the recent comments, I've made sure to draw at lest 4 Heralds, making sure the plural is noted... and also that it's a sketch challenge, so this was a quickish sketch whilst watching telly, and drinking Crabbie's Ginger Beer.
Sadly it's rubbish, no detail on any of the teensy figures, but Galactus looks okey dokey..
I may have a bash at inking up in a Jack Kirby mad black ink circles fashion.
I was tempted to have a bash at the Herald from the Ultimates Galactus series... a stripped down half cyborg thing buried under Tunguska.. maybe if I have time.

Dalek

So I get to pick the Ten ton studio sketch challenge, and I go for Daleks, got to love daleks...
I pack my laptop bag for my trip to York, add a sketchbook, some good paper, my favourite pencils, pens etc.. and then i leave it at home.
The result is, I have NOTHING to draw with except a biro, and even more tricky I have my Mum's macbook to scan and crop the picture.
The result is the sort of thing I used to sketch on my college notebooks, or what I doodle these days when I'm in a conference.
Behold, the biro Dalek..

I've won!

Gosh, very suprised to have won this weeks ten ton studio forum sketch challenge.
http://www.tentonstudios.com/forum/index.php?topic=7800.0

Drypoint

Being made redundant has given me a strange opportunity to think about the avenues open to me for future work. I briefly dallied with the idea of setting up an artistic prints studio, but realised quickly the investment in time and money doesn't have a direct link to sales... sales as always is the stumbling point. It was when i worked as an illustrator, and I'm certain it would be in any other artistic venture.

Anyway as part of the process of investigating various printing methods I thought I'd try my hand at drypoint. I am rather fond of the velvetty look the prints have, reminiscent of old dyelines builders blueprints.

I found a cracking supplier very close to London Bridge, and bought some materials, I also dug out some old lino print materials my wife had for making Christmas cards.

Here's the first result, my entry for this weeks Ten Ton Studio challenge.

Irony, which as Ted says is like Goldery, or Silvery...

The red oxide colour scheme seems to have "pinked" up a bit in scanning, but never mind.. It's  a Sketch challenge, NOT a long winded arty challenge.
All done, ready for Ten Ton Studio Sketch Challenge tomorrow.

Inked iron

Sat down with a bottle of lovely Sam Smith's brown Ale (thankyou Lisa and Stephen) and inked up the Iron man pic.. I was going to try for an etched look, but blew it half way through, and unfortunately this means lots of spidery hatching lines, using the 0.3mm Staedtler pigment liner.
and nowhere near enough shadow for my liking.
I will make amends with a little colour perhaps, having not learnt my lesson about colouring stuff.

Flashback, to the days when the nights were young...

Ten ton Forum sketch challenge this week is "flashback", a superhero in another era...
I had a go at IronMan as a World War One fighter ace, but there are issues, like his arm getting lopped off the the prop...
anyways, I'll ink it up, but have another idea on the boiler, might get a chance to draw it up before I blast off to Nottingham on Wednesday.

Famous Five

The Ten Ton Studio forum Sketch challenge this week is the "Fatal Five", whom I've never heard of, which is to my credit to be honest looking at the reference materials.
Still, I thought I'd have a scribble, FAIL.
Never mind, next week, next week, that'll be the one.. positive thinking...

Elecktra

I've discussed here before how i find it tricky to draw Gurls, there is a delicateness of line, and precision needed that can be dodged and avoided in drawing men..
So this weeks ten ton studio challenge is Elecktra... who has always seemed like the worlds most badly dressed assassin. She's going to catch a chill.
I've had a go and this the pencil sketch.. I post it here because I feel it's not as bad as I anticipated, yet I fear the finality of the inks.

I've just noticed she's almost in the same stance as the Azrael I did last week..and the foots at a wonky angle... and the hair has no boundary.. bah
hmmmm
I need to add some background too, I'm after raked building perspective...

Old technology

One of the things that I've found really useful about the Ten Ton Studio Sketch Challenge, is that it's sketches only.. NO computer jiggery pokery..
 Which is quite a challenge as I'm now very used to CMD Z undo. So when i coloured the Azrael pic, and it went wrong I was trying to think how I could retrieve it.. and I looked through my drawer, and found a wad of Letratone that I've not touched in maybe 20 Years.
for those too young to know, Letratone is a thin sheet of tacky plastic with a tone pattern, you lay it over your artwork, and cut off the areas that are to be in the light. I'd forgotten how fiddly it is, and what an unwieldy shape the scalpel cuts.
Still the job is done, and the toner covers up the sins quite nicely..

Azrael

the latest Ten Ton Studio Forum Sketch Challenge  is Azrael. I remember when I first heard the Azrael story, as part of a dramatising comic books thing the BBC did maybe 15 years ago? Knightfall... Bane rocks up and makes a mess of Batman, and Azrael has to take over whilst he recovers. Unfortunately Azrael is a bit mad, having been brought up by fruit loops.
Anyway, cracking stuff. Here's the B/W... I'm adding more darkness, and dirt to the picture as I type.
I think he looks a little too nimble, Azrael is more Knight in dangerous armour, than spry ninja... but never mind..

Coloured Bogeys

Coloured bogeyman for the TEN TON STUDIO FORUM

Bogeyman

I did a quick sketch of the bogeyman from "Stuff of Legend", and then inked it in last night.
It's a million miles from the beautifully crafted work of C.P Wilson, but quite true to my own style.
I'm going to add a few touches of colour.. not much as It's on plain cheapo copier paper, so liable to cockle.

Stuff of Legend

I'm enjoying the Sketch Challenges that happen every week over on the ten ton studio forum, it's a great way to spend an evening, the criticism is  insightful, and helpful, and because the guys dishing it can really draw, it's very worth listening to.
This week's challenge is "The stuff of Legend", which I've seen floating around but been put off of by twee teddy bears, but look, look at that bad guy!, he's on fire. and surrounded by SKULLS. Stuff of Legend is another of the th3rdworld.com comics.
So now I have to read ANOTHER comic.... and get out the ink again.
Can't wait.

Mr Freeze

http://www.tentonstudios.com/forum/index.php?topic=7621.0
Ten Ton Studio Sketch Challenge for the Weekend is Mr Freeze... Sure I should be doing some decorating, and planting stuff at the allotment, or even working on my own strip wychwolf, which is running perilously close to having no buffer... but Mr Freeze...

TEN Tons

Dom was bored the other night so I suggested we both do a sketch for the Ten Ton Studio Sketch challenge.
The challenge runs like this... a subject is picked (by the winner of the previous contest), and on Tuesday the Thread is opened to submit sketches, Thursday a POLL goes up, and the winner is picked. The winner picks the next subject, and picks one of the sketches entered as their prize.
Trouble is the Guys over there are VERY VERY good, so there's no hope of winning, BUT it's a very useful place to pick up some useful criticism.. my advice was to work on body proportions, which I fully plan to.