A LITTLE NOSTALGIA

It is no real secret........... I love doing pencil drawings, to me the pencil is the KING of all traditional art tools. I have just recently ( today ) finished a drawing that brings back a lot of memories and nostalgia as it were to my brain.

In college, I had a studio class where we were not allowed to use a pencil sharpener. We had to use a knife to sharpen our pencils, and nearly thirty years later, I tried it again..........it is pretty cool, and am not sure why I ever stopped doing this.

What got me to do it again was sort of a silly little thing I saw on Facebook and was honestly quite happy to obtain as well ( thanks Brian ). It was an old Tarzan pocket knife. More so than just an old Tarzan pocket knife, it is exactly like my art hero Frank Frazetta  used to sharpen his pencils...

Franks knife
photo Doc Dave

Once I got the knife ( actually two of them ) a little drawing thing came up in which I got the opportunity to do a drawing of Vampirella......something I always wanted to do, but never really had the time nor inclination to do, but now seemed to be a good time to do so, AND what better way to do her than to do a pencil drawing and to try something I hadn't done in years as well as a sort of homage to tradition and to do her in the way that her creator did.......... I got out my Tarzan pocket knife and sharpened my pencil. I did use a 2B for this and not a 3B .

Here is what I learned along the way: 

when sharpening a pencil with a knife, you retain more lead if you leave it with a more or less blunt tip. 

the blunt tip gives you a softer ore organic line and as you use the pencil, you tend to make sharp spots on it for more finer detaily parts

the softer more organic line is easier to erase and smudge........which works well with the way I draw

the only real thing I didn't like was that if I wanted a really REALLY sharp point I would have to work a bit harder at getting it by scraping the lead down and I am a bit too lazy to do that a lot, so I went back to my brass bullet and another pencil and sharpened it for a fine point.

Will I do this again.........not really sure, but maybe, but it was fun to go back to something I hadn't done in years, and to sort of pay tribute to a Master.

the tools of the trade

the final piece

A LITTLE ROUGH

well it has been a little rough the last few months, a few issues on the personal level, but also working on David List's book illustrations as well.

I do have to say this book was an incredibly fun read and made me want more. I personally cannot wait to see the finished product in print and hopefully see David write the next phase of his world.

Now for a little fun and a sneak peek at what we have coming up for this project.........

a few roughs...

....this is just a taste of what will come, the book will contain 23 images, basically one for each chapter, and the narrowing down of choices will be difficult ....... there are 56 roughs to choose from, so i do not envy the author this task.

GNEW YEARS GNOME 2013

Every year for the past several years I have been doing a little gnome painting, generally in watercolours, the tradition started out as a seasonal image to put in a frame that hung in our entry room. For the Gnew Year I would do a Gnome, Valentines day would get a little cupid or cheruby thing, St Pats would get a leprechaun and so on.

I still do the Leprechauns, but they are for a charity auction for the local St patty' Party, that started about 10 years ago, but will blog on that come closer to March 17th.......

Back to the Gnew Years Gnome...... usually the image is sparked by something that has gone on in the past year and I will some how incorporate it into the them of the image. This year was honestly no different. 

A friend of mine, Heidi, had made a comment about her pre-lit tree only being half lit, and with that it sparked the memory of my dad ( he passed 3 years ago in December,very close to the date she posted )   and Christmas. When we would be putting the lights on the tree, it was his job, and mine as helper, to string them, we would stretch themout along the living room floor and he would go thru bulb by bulb and check the connections making sure there were no shorts or bad wires. Some younger folks might not realize that the wiring on older lights was not as efficient as it is now.....

Anyway, Heidi, thank you for the friendship over the past few years and the memory.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

 

SCROOGED

MERRY CHRISTMAS

In the days before the cell phone there was the polaroid, and this is where the inspiration for this image came from.

A SAWMILLS HOPE, kickstarter book project

This is the project I have been mentioning lately, and a good one it is. When the author David List, contacted me about doing the illustrations for this, and asked if I would be interested reading the book to see what we could do, I was totally floored and amazed that I started sketching off the first page, that usually doesn't happen. It is normally several pages into the story before I honestly get an image, last time it happened, I believe I was reading Michael Moorcocks first Elric novel.

Well we talked and came to an agreement, so with the help of everyone out there.......we can get this book, this WORLD that David has created  off the ground. There are lots of goodies with this kickstarter  project, so please stop by, give a look and join in.

these are just a few of the roughs and pencils for this book, it will be fully illustrated with 23 inked images, and I will post a few of those shortly.

SANTA 2013, the COOKIE SANTA

here is this years Santa, 2013

prints available 8 X 10, $10.00 a piece, just email me at

tracyflynnart@gmail.com