Title Page, One More Time

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Title page nearing completion…

Today I got may attitude straight and decided to just go for fun. The foreshortened hands I’ve been fretting over are good enough. THe next time, I’ll draw them a little better. My greatest concern is getting the book published by Sep 30 — that’s only nine days away. I still have to draw the cover image and tweak the back matter, then put everything into InDesign, get the ISBN number installed (I still have eight numbers remaining from my set of ten), and push the publish button. One inch at a time works, sometimes slowly, but it always works.

Al Fresco Art Club: Sep 20, 2020 --Anime Day Featuring Rumiko Takahashi's Ryoga Hibiki

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Season 1, Ep. 9: Ryoga appears as a plglet for the first time

Today was anime day at the Al Fresco Art Club. Our challenge was to duplicate a cell from our favorite anime (mine is currently Ranma 1/2) . I chose Rumiko Takahashi’s character Ryoga. In this picture he’s making his first appearance as a piglet. Because of a magic spell that was cast on him, he turns into a piglet whenever he gets wet. When he’s in his piglet state, his only article of clothing is his leopard scarf.

I love the artwork in Ranma 1/2, especially the delicately painted watercolor backgrounds.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge: Paint an Album Cover

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My watercolor version of the album art for Vince Guaraldi’s Essential Standards, 2009

Toay’s art club challenge was to look for inspiration in album cover art. I happened to see an impressive black and white photograph on the cover of Vince Guarldi’s Essential Standards (2009). I was impressed with the upward-looking perspective that make his hand and sleeve look gigantic. Guarldi’s marvelous mustache is always charming.

For paint I used Holbein Irodori watercolors. These paints are all semi-opaque, but they don’t hide the ink lines, except for the black, which is almost like India ink.

Digitally colored with Clip Studio Paint

Al Fresco Art Club, Aug 9, 2020: The New Media Challenge

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Today my challenge was to use a new medium. I chose Holbein Irodori Antique watercolors, which I happened to have in my art supply pantry. I’ve had these watercolors for years but never tried them. I was under the impression that they lacked transparency, but I was wrong. When used as a light wash they’re just fine.

In this picture you can see my Pomeranian confronting one of the bucks that roam the streets of Ashland. Look at that guy: big antlers, camoflage pants, wifebeater undershirt, open container, and a really big knife. But Chico was a fearless 8-pound gladiator. Check out that crazy look in his eye.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge: Whatever Your Heart Desires

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For today’s art club one-hour challenge I made a watercolor interpretation of a Princess Mononoke background painting. Watercolor is my personal nemesis. It looks so easy when other people do it on Youtube, but it’s so hard when I do it. I tried to simplify by going for a small 4-inch by 6-inch painting.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge: Grab Bag

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This week we drew a challenge from the Mystery Bag. I picked the “Paint A Movie Character” card. The Mystery Bag didn’t specify whether the movie was live action or animation, so I went with drawing Princess Mononoke from Hayao Miyazaki’s concept sketch of the fierce princess wielding a dangerous-looking weapon. She’s about to rush into battle to defend the beloved forest against its enemies. After Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke is my favorite Ghibli film. BTW, both movies are currently available on HBOMAX.

Miyazaki’s original concept are for Princess Mononoke is catalogued in The Art of Princess Mononoke. You’ll find the dagger-wielding princess on page 53.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, July 12, 2020 -- Ink and Watercolor à la Miyazaki

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Today’s Al Fresco Art Club Challenge took place in the kitchen rather than outdoors. Besides being a little lazy, we had another good reason for staying inside: it’s too hot and windy to expose our carbon-based bodies to direct sunlight

Today’s challenge was the same as last week’s: paint an ink drawing and using watercolors. I looked into my copy of The Art of Kiki’s Deliver Service, A Film by Hayao Miyazaki and found a great drawing of Kiki lying in the grass daydreaming about her future. Rather than draw Kiki, I drew my own character, Jimmy Jay. Tonight I’m going to watch the movie again, in Japanese, of course.

Al Fresco Art Club Day, July 5, 2020: Ink and Watercolor

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Today was the fifty-eighth consecutive Sunday meeting of our Al Fresco Art Club. We’ve been meeting every week, through thick and then, through good times and hard times. Each week one of us will pose a challenge that will give a nudge to our comfort zone. I chose the challenge this week: make some ink drawings and color them. I sketched and inked four small self-portraits and used some simple pastel washes.

I started by dividing a sheet of mix media paper into four boxes. I used a reference photo and tried to draw a recognizable likeness in each box. Next I inked the sketch, erased the graphite, and laid in the colors. For the skin tone I used a mix of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson. Alizarin crimson is a fugitive color, but it will live on as a permanent color until the end of digital time.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, June 28, 2020: Be Inspired by a Miyazaki Concept Sketch

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This week the Art Club challenge was to be inspired by an artist that we admire. I admire Hayao Miyazaki. I especially admire his watercolor concept drawings. I chose to be inspired by one of his watercolor paintings in The Art of Kiki’s Deliver Service, specifically by image #7 on page 89. That image is actually the anime cel created from his original concept painting. I’m happy with what I was able to accomplish within the hour time limit.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge -- Pencil and Watercolor

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Winsor and Newton Cotman Water Color paints:: cerulean blue, Antwerp Blue, Compose Green, Raw Sienna, Sepia, Sap Green, etc.

Today’s challenge was to do a one-hour sketch and paint using graphite and watercolor. I sketched and painted the vegan crocodile character from my second children’s picture book. My inspiration, though it may not be apparent, is Hayao Miyazaki’s charming Ghibli Museum’s Watercolor Set, which is based on the actual watercolors that he uses himself. The only way to get the kit is to buy it at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. It just so happens that one of my long term goals is to learn to read and speak enough Japanese to travel to Japan and live there for a while. Of course, I’ll go to the Ghibli Museum to buy my own watercolor kit.

My resources

  • Ghiblicon.com

  • Mateusz Urbanowicz, Youtube: Recreating Hayao Miyazaki’s Watercolor Set Part 1 and Recreating Hayao Miyazaki’s Watercolor Set Part 2

  • A list of the colors in the currently available set:

    1. Crimson Lake (W 010)
    2. Opera (W 013)
    3. Vermillion Hue (W 019)
    4. Yellow Ochre (W 034)
    5. Permanent Yellow Lemon (W 035)
    6. Permanenet Yellow Deep (W 037)
    7. Permanenet Yellow Orange (W 038)
    8. Yellow Grey (W 151)
    9. Viridian Hue (W 061)
    10. Permanent Green No. 1 (W 066)
    11. Cadmium Green Deep (W 070)
    12. Bamboo Green (W 078)
    13. Cobalt Blue Hue (W 091)
    14. Cerulean Blue (W 092)
    15. Ultramarine Deep (W 094)
    16. Compose Blue (W 096)
    17. Prussian Blue (W 097)
    18. Lavender (W 116)
    19. Bright Violet (W 175)
    20. Light Red (W 130)
    21. Burnt Umber (W 133)
    22. Burnt Sienna (W 134)
    23. Davy's Grey (W 155)
    24. Ivory Black (W 138)