Month: February 2012

Andrea (Sherry Jackson) – Women of Star Trek TOS – Illustration In Progress

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This drawing seems to be coming along. I have added some elements to this drawing that I did not anticipate at the start. So I figure I will share with you my thought process as it developed.

I was originally attracted to this pose for her because it shows off her unique and sexy uniform. But one of the issues I had was her right arm being rather dull just hanging there. So I played with the suspenders on the back and decided to have it detached and free flowing. This allowed me to use one of the suspenders to break up the arm. Then I was able to break it up even more by showing some mechanical parts in her arm. She is an android after-all. Now I think I have all the elements I need to make this one into a decent drawing.

This is a process in drawing that I really enjoy because it is spontaneous. These elements would not have been part of the final drawing had there not been these problems. I find the process of problem solving is what ultimately makes it a better drawing for me. I suppose you can come up with different comps prior to starting. That would work too. For me, I like the spontaneity of it. Once I have an initial idea that I like, I will dive right in, then figure things out as I go. Fun stuff.

Good Hair and Squinting Your Eyes During Shading

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I am back at rendering hair again. I suppose you can’t avoid it if you want to draw a pretty face. As I am drawing Andrea (Sherry Jackson, doesn’t look like her yet) from Star Trek TOS, or any other drawing, I am always squinting my eyes when shading. So I figure this would be a good time to briefly touch on this subject.

The reason for squinting your eyes when shading is to assist you in seeing the values of your shading. In a way, you are ‘zooming out’ of the drawing to get a overall or bird’s eye view of your drawing. I find this extremely important for hair rendering. By squinting, I am able to see the overall flow of the hair, and it is the overall flow that is crucial in rendering good looking hair. Not just for the hair itself, but for the whole drawing.

The hair is very dynamic and you can use the flow to guide the viewer’s eye to wherever you want it. In the drawing, If you look at the curl right under her jaw, that curl helps to stop your eyes from going down further. Then the strand next to it curls toward the face, forcing your eyes to swing back to her face.

In my opinion, most of the time the hair rendering does not need to be overly complicated or hyper realistic. It just needs a good dynamic flow. It does take some planning. Just start with the major strands. Once you like how it flows, keep working in more minor strands to make it believable. Beware of putting in too much details on the hair, as it might attract too much attention and draw the viewer from your main focus. Unless your drawing is all about the hair. So as much as I find it painful to rendering the hair sometimes, a little grunt work really does make the difference. We will see how it turns out when I am done with this Andrea drawing.