Portrait study from P & C

Shell Study

While making a lengthy phone call, one often becomes fixated on minute details of the nearby environment. On one such occasion I happened across a romantic pair of snails nestled between the planks of a wooden bench.
Using the photo for a reference, I first made a sketch which was inked to practice contour shading. Although simple forms, getting the angle and twist of these shells just right was tricky.
I attempted a color version of the subject, but unfortunately some of the red/violet hue seeped into the white, so the specular highlights became purple! Thank goodness for photoshop!

Bridgeman Hand Studies

I hope one day to know at least half as much as this gentleman does about how to bust out a good hand drawing. Still, it's a lot of fun to imitate his style!

Hands...

Ink practice

I drew these hearts out of our lecture notes from Anatomy last semester. I've been trying some traditional pen & ink drawings lately, and even though it is very frustrating it has a look that can't be beat. For certain tissues my shaky hand actually helps!

Vertebrae Types

A show of hands...

I have finished scanning my sketchbook from last semester, so here is the first in a series of posts which will commemorate the extracurricular achievements of the Structure-Function era...

Command-i

There is a great, simple command in Photoshop that I found by accident awhile back. If you just hit command-i, you will invert the image and get a photo-negative. This looks especially nice with black and white images, and is how I converted several sketches of mine to be used as graphics on my website.

Valentine Heart

Here is a quick sketch of a heart with exposed chambers. I did this after burning my eyes out working on website layouts for many hours on the computer. Sometimes you just need to feel a real pen on some real paper.

Style Sheet Drafts

So I'm diving right in to web site design. And I have a new-found appreciation for those that do this for a living, it is a true science! Here is my first attempt at trying to organize a color palate (purposeful misspell) for a style sheet. I first went to a great site for color palettes, http://www.colourlovers.com/ , picked a few I liked, then using them as a guide, tried to make up my own.

Using my own color scheme, I tweaked each color in the palette and tried to expand my options. I think it is probably best to stay simple, but right now I am just throwing ideas around.

Abstract 5

The Predator

One of my all-time favorite Sci-fi movies from the 80s was Predator, one of the coolest aliens ever designed. How can a medical artist NOT like a creature who keeps a collection of skulls from various species?

Didactic

A little BMC inside humor.

Abstract 4

Abstract 3

So I have been posting my abstract paintings lately because I feel like that is where my brain is - in the abstract, vague world of formulating ideas and concepts for upcoming projects. This also coincides with the beginning of our Neuroanatomy course. Coincidence? Mmm. I like this particular painting because a friend of mine looked at it and immediately said: "Oh, nice Fudo Myoo." One of my best compliments.

Abstract 2

3/4 Skull

Here is a skull I did over the weekend, drawn from a photograph. I think it is pretty sweet. For the pencil drawings I do these days, I start with a 4H lead in a drafting mechanical pencil to get the general geometric shape and proportions, then I really try to hone in on the contours with an H lead and do a little rendering too. Once I have some quick hatching to get the direction I want my contours to go in, I use an HB mechanical pencil to add some character to the outlines and render the darker shadows. Finally, I take a trusty old 2B wood pencil and fill in the darkest spots. I could go even darker, say 4B all the way to 8B, but I usually try to be conservative with anything softer than H, because at that point you start to get progressively more smudging. Just my current tastes...

Abstract 1

Oh, deer

Figure Drawings from Chicago

I am a big proponent of figure drawing. I try my best to attend drop-in classes as often as possible. Here in Canada, I go to the Toronto School of Art, while back in Chicago, I would frequent the Palette & Chisel Academy of Art. Here are a few sketches from the last sessions at P&C. I will post images from TSA once I get them scanned!

Watercolor 2

The previous watercolor was done in the lower portion of the state of Michigan, while this one was painted on the shore of a separate lake many miles away in the Upper Peninsula. This was painted over the course of a sunset, so the light was playing all kinds of fun games with me. Unfortunately you can't hear my niece in the background playing with a family of ducks, but I think a little bit of that jovial energy seeped its way into my color palette.

((Haha! Maybe I should rename my blog Color Palate!))

Watercolor 1

I felt like posting something in color today. This was a quick watercolor I did while vacationing in Michigan with some friends this summer. I was painting this on a boat that was in the middle of a lake. It can be quite comical to travel around with all your paint supplies and set up in random places, but essential to the serious painter who wishes to capture natural lighting conditions.

Fruit Study

Sketch for a painting that I still haven't done D:> They keep us very busy in Biomedical Communications!

Studies

As a student in the Biomedical Communications program at the University of Toronto, I am now part of a great lineage of artists. Here are some sketches from a former U of T medical artist (from back when the program was called Art as Applied to Medicine) Louise Gordon, who has published several fantastic books on anatomy for artists.

1st Post

So here it is, my very first blog post. I am starting off with the basics - pure contour drawing. The above piece was sketched during my first week of living in Toronto Canada!!! I've always liked blind contour drawing, without ever looking at the paper until the sketch is done, and when you get one like this that actually looks like there was a plan, it makes you smile, or at least grin...