Studies for Muse

After tearing into one of Rob Liberace's DVDs on drawing the figure in motion, I took a crack at some in depth studies of my own.  Following Liberace's method pretty closely on these, black prismacolor verithin pencils on paper that has been toned with shelac.  I really liked the process, the hard surface of the shelac eats away the pencils pretty quickly, especially when I really dug into some of the dark areas, but it really let me move the black around like it was charcoal.

So these are studies for a larger piece that I have had kicking around in my head for a while now, and I really like how the far right figure turned out.  These also represent a bit of a new direction for me. 

For the past several years, I have had a fairly concentrated focus on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy illustration genre, but I think that's starting to change.   Maybe some of it's because as a teacher, I don't have to conform to some of the requirements/constraints that publishing puts on illustration.  Maybe it's because for the first time, I feel like I am comfortable with what I do, where I am, and what I think I want to do.

Now I certainly haven't lost my interest in the genre, it's just that I'm finding myself more and more drawn to the figure and the dynamism, emotion, and subtlety that it can convey on it's own. I'm not completely sure yet how this is going to translate into new pieces, but I'm feeling more directed now than I have in a while - so I'm excited to follow this track and share the journey along the way.