Perspective Sketch

One thing that I really never liked drawing was backgrounds or landscapes. I love to draw everything else, but whenever it came down to creating a scene I dreaded making the backgrounds. What I realized was the reason I never liked them was because I never considered them as important as the characters. Just the other day I decided to put real effort in learning how to draw backgrounds and what better way than to learn perspective. There are so many great tutorials on how to draw 1, 2 and 3 point perspectives but one that really stuck out was a series of videos by Mark Crilley (see below). I even used his 2 point perspective video as reference for my first attempt.

As I worked my way through the process of thinking only about the landscape I realized that the background plays an larger role than I gave it credit for. I began to enjoy the meticulous process of building the objects in the landscape line after line. It turned out to be very therapeutic in a way I hadn't realized. So now I like backgrounds! Which is good because it probably would have been my downfall later on.

The landscape below was just an exercise in building structures in perspective so I just used a green (snot green!) hew to depicted shadows. Nothing fancy. So for those that are in a similar place about backgrounds, go out and draw draw draw!

http://www.youtube.com/user/markcrilley

Loop F-Art

I know the title is a bit pedestrian, but I can never pass up an opportunity to make a fart joke. Anyway, I've recently been picking up the ol' pen and wacom to do some fan art. This is always a great way to kill three birds with one stone (you read that right, three). On the one hand you get to show your appreciation for the what someone else has put into their work (in this case a webcomic). On the other it allows me to change up my normal rhythm and learn how to draw something I normally wouldn't have drawn. On the last mutated hand, you get to network with other artists. Whether they know you or not, you start building a trust with them. Eventually it may lead to joint projects, guest strips or just another artist to bounce concept ideas off (that last one is an invaluable tool).

I'm happy to say that Sean McLean, of Loop and Underwhelmed, was and is a good friend to me. Back when I did the strip "My HMP" he was always one to give an encouraging word about my strip. I even gave one of his characters a brief cameo in  the strip, which he colored and sent back to me. That little gesture of another artist taking the time to do that meant so much more than he probably realized.

I was fortunate to get the opportunity to draw a guest strip for Sean and had a blast doing it. Since then, he has started a new webcomic, Loop. I'd been wanting to do a piece of fan art show my support for awhile and only until recently had I found the time. So check it out below and head on over to both of his strips and take a look at the great work he's putting out. Enjoy.