There’s nothing like laughing your life away with a batch of memes that may or may not hit just a little too close to home. So with that being said, here are some memes!
Stock image sites are wild!
By Yanni Davros
By jojoesart
Not quite what you expect with figure drawing
This more accurate than anyone wants to admit
This one is legit my favorite.
Last week I talked a lot about growing as an artist, leveling up, getting more familiar with that growth, and recognizing when you’ve just exceeded your own expectations. None of that was possible without this week’s post which was truly an insightful exercise and the whole purpose of this two part series! When I tell you both last week’s and this week’s post almost didn’t happen, it’s not for dramatic effect. I thought I really had hit my apex and I experienced a level of frustration I couldn’t even comprehend! But we’ll get to all that. First, we need to travel back in time again. Not just to last week, but to 2009.
The iconic Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon’s comic, actress Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II, and the 2009 Zack Snyder film
Watchmen is consistently one of the highest regarded comics of all times, and in 2009, Zack Snyder finally produced a film adaptation that has been recognized as being (in some cases too) faithful to the original source material. I’m not going to waste a lot of time on discussing whether or not it’s a good film as it’s a polarizing movie amongst fans. When I heard the announcement that it was being made however, I set out to read the comic for the first time. I therefore went into the theater with a very fresh understanding of the story and I was very thrilled with the flick. The casting in my opinion was perfect, especially with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, but the redesigned look of Silk Spectre II’s costume starring Malin Akerman was inspired. I had Watchmen fever and over the next couple of years, it served as a great inspiration when it came to drawing.
Of course I drew the Muppets as characters from the Watchmen! Originally featured on ToughPigs, December 2009 and Silk Spectre II, vector illustration 2014
Okay, so just to drive the point home again from last week; I found Silk Spectre II—a strong female comic hero—to be a muse and was also in the process of really honing my abilities with Adobe Illustrator, so in 2010 I had a leveling up moment by “inking” my sketches in Illustrator and then coloring them in Photoshop. This eliminated all digital debris that would be a causal problem from scanning. And hence I created what was at that time, a moment I recognized as a true level up point. I am beyond shocked now just how proud of this new drawing of Laurie Jupiter I was. Ladies and gentlemen, I am embarrassed to present to you the whole basis for this and last week’s post. Behold!
Thank you, BarbbarossaFrigyes for having the courage to say what everyone else was thinking
A second attempt in 2016
Looking back, I’m really struggling to understand exactly why I thought this was so great, but I totally did. I was still a few years away from taking those aforementioned figure drawing classes and I distinctly remember thinking how pleased I was that I didn’t use a model; backwards thinking at the time to compensate for a complete lack of understanding. I don’t need to break down how exceptionally off model she actually is here and the brush I used for the hair doesn’t even attempt to conform to the style I was going for. Still, I flaunted this piece everywhere and even used it in my portfolio! I wasn’t a young kid drawing this either! This is coming after I was thirty so I had no good reason to be so proud other than the line work. I have thought a lot about this piece ever since with an evolving curiosity in regards to everything I just mentioned and I have absolutely no good answer.
I wanted to justify my pride but eventually I couldn’t deny the best way to do that would be to redraw it. I even took a quick stab at it in 2016. This was a lot better but even my adoration of the movie was starting to wear thin. Then I started this blog and the concept immediately went into my ideas folder. “I’m a competent illustrator who’s miles beyond those days. This will be easy!” I thought. God I was so wrong. I ended up redrawing it THREE times and was completely unsatisfied thinking I hadn’t grown and maybe that doe–eyed Silk Spectre really was the best I could do.
First official attempt, 2022
Notice anything different between this first attempt and the original? Yeah, me neither! Initially I was trying to literally recreate the original with more realistic arms and newer color techniques but that was it. This wasn’t an exercise to show growth, this was modern day plagiarism from my initial drawing 12 years ago!
Second official attempt
I realized I was being too literal with my reinterpretation. I just needed to relax and approach it from a figure drawing perspective. After sleeping on it, I had my wife pose and I quickly roughed out a sketch. I wanted to keep the hair big but not like a large bob as I had done previously. The second result isn’t a bad drawing but it ain’t a good one either. What was I getting so wrong?
Third attempt
This time I took a whole week off from trying and got out of my head. I went full body on the pose and went to town hard on the coloring. I finally had an illustration that I liked but with zero soul. I was devastated. I purposely wanted to prove to myself and anyone else who read this blog that I could redraw this stupid old illustration that nobody asked for but had been living rent free in my head for 12 years. I packed up everything related to this post and moved it to the sad “Abandoned Ideas” folder on my hard drive and walked away.
Often when you work on any project—especially one you take a close personal interest in and for an extended amount of time—you get tunnel vision. You can’t see your own mistakes and you lock yourself up in a windowless room of self doubt. The reality was I was trying to not just redraw an old idea, but specifically an old idea that I felt very differently about back in 2010. The Watchmen may have remained relevant with new comics and the HBO series, but Silk Spectre II—specifically as played by Malin Akerman—was a fanboy muse from a time before everything in my current life: the pandemic, political polarization, where I lived, who I worked for, what I watched, who I associated with, what interested me, how I draw, and my daughter! Of course, I’ve talked about my daughter a lot in the past, and she proved to be an even better muse than Laurie Jupiter ever was.
A Luisa doll, a doodle I left in my daughter’s lunchbox one day, and the cool kid herself
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly before, I can draw Luisa from Disney’s Encanto from memory. Why? Because that’s all my five–year–old ever asks me to do. She’s a huge fangirl and I love how excited she gets with anything Luisa related. Plus I really like Encanto and Luisa too, but when you draw a character so often, you really want to branch out and try something different every once in a while. So when my daughter got an actual Luisa figure, I could now use it for reference. One of my favorite artists is Charles Dana Gibson, and prints of his famous Gibson Girls adorn my home and work offices, and I (as seen in the previous attempts at Silk Spectre II) love drawing people in profile. And that is when it finally hit me. I wasn’t just missing the challenge of redrawing my old illustration, I was missing the whole point.
Now it may seem like I’m asking you (and myself) to make a huge leap here to quantify drawing a Disney character in place of a Zack Snyder re–imagined Dave Gibbons character from a very adult comic. The focal point of the subject though is fundamentally the same: a strong female super hero, specifically one with great design, well thought out character traits, and a wonderful arc that helps define and evolve their world view. Then take into consideration that part of my pride in the original drawing was also surrounded by honing a new technique. In the case of Silk Spectre, it was comfortably merging Adobe creative suite products to achieve a look I had only dreamed of up until that point. With my new inspiration focused on Luisa, it’s marrying the fundamentals I learned from figure drawing and fully embracing Procreate & the Apple Pencil. To cap off the epiphany, I was determined to take the fun and cartoonish design of an animated character and change the style to pay homage to the style of Charles Dana Gibson. In short, I was going to take all that I learned and loved and play with it in a new playground with the intentions of achieving something I had never tried before.
Luisa Madrigal (voiced by Jessica Darrow), some of Gibson’s famous Gibson Girls in profile, and my sketch of my newly inspired redraw challenge subject. If you are wondering, I sketched her nude to properly achieve weight displacement and to make sure her muscle structure and limbs were accurate in length and size.
As soon as I finished my sketch (which oddly enough I did in Photoshop), I knew I was finally on the right track. I was excited, I was pleased, and I was in it for the long haul. I wasn’t going to bust this out in a day or two, I was going to immerse myself in it and take all the time in the world to achieve my goal. I’ve been amazed with Procreate and the Apple Pencil’s intuitiveness, but I also wanted to limit myself with brushes so I stayed almost exclusively with it’s ink technical pen (a halftone brush on her skirt was the only exception). Each strand of hair would be drawn as opposed to using a hair brush (not a hair brush in the traditional sense but a digital brush used to simulate human hair). I shaded using the same technical pen brush as well, painstakingly keeping all my line art clean and crisp. I also wanted to avoid my own personal bad habit of spending lots of time on the subjects face and then rushing through the rest. This meant shading and properly recognizing folds in the clothing as well. I wanted to honor Gibson’s style and that meant a lot of time staying zoomed in tight and making sure it all worked up close as well as from a distance.
In the spirit of Charles Dana Gibson (and because of all the intricate line work), I originally intended to keep it black and white, but my daughter insisted it needed color. I digitally painted it with the understanding I would pull the colors way back and the final piece made me feel even more accomplished than Silk Spectre II did so long ago. My faith in myself and this entire blog entry was thus restored. The final illustration took just over 9 hours to complete (not including all the other nonsense I wasted trying to draw Ms. Jupiter).
I am super excited about today and next week’s post because it is all about progress and rediscovery! If you’re truly passionate about anything, you’ll notice growth in your endeavors. Experience and patience develops all skills, hence the old axiom, “Practice makes perfect” or more to the point in today’s post, “Practice makes progress.” I can very clearly remember many specific moments all throughout my life where I would draw something that made me feel like I just leveled up. I don’t just mean I drew something a certain way and was proud; I remember where I was, what I was drawing, and very clearly understanding I had just crossed a new threshold. It’s always exciting but more than anything, it’s rewarding.
Now every time I’ve experienced leveling up (can you tell I’m also a gamer?!)—particularly when I was younger—I believed I had just hit the apex of my ability. In my mind, I had reached my full potential and I was elated. As time passed, I began to understand I was comprehending things I hadn’t fully previously and in looking back, those breakthrough drawings I felt were the best of the best I had ever done and would ever do, in reality kind of sucked… like a lot. What’s also become a revelation is how those specific illustrations—however good or bad they actually were or still are—only now mark any level progression to me. Those moments are very important because they push you to do better, even when you believe that’s your best. They don’t end an era of creating a certain way, they mark the start of learning new techniques and styles. And the absolute best part? They don’t stop when you’re young! You keep leveling up well into adulthood! There are few things in this world that can bring that kind of joy as you age, but furthering your talents is totally one of them! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, an old dog really can learn new tricks!
Now reevaluating those pinnacle moments is nothing new; redrawing old artworks can be seen all over social media and other artistic platforms, so I’m not doing anything groundbreaking here. However, today I’d like to look at a few instances where I hit some personal milestones only to go back and figure out what made them so special. This is part one of my Redraw Challenge!
Okay… let’s make this super awkward and embarrassing. As a cisgender male, I have been intrigued with drawing the female form since I was a child. One of my earliest leveling up experiences was drawing ladies as inspired by comics artist Mark Badger, specifically his work on Marvel Comics Excalibur. Even more specifically the mutant Meggan Puceanu. I got really into comics starting with Excalibur Volume 1, #37 and would redraw the panels from it. I stuck tight with Excalibur and gravitated towards Alan Davis’ work on it as well. My versions were much cartoon–ier but they helped me understand some basic structure and lead to an aforementioned level up. Side note: I am actively hoping for an Excalibur movie or Disney + series in the MCU. Come on Mr. Feige! Make it happen!
Excalibur #37: the first comic book I ever bought, Meggan (and other art) by Alan Davis. Meggan & Kurt Wagner (AKA Nightcrawler from the X–Men) had a very flirtatious relationship and I wanted them together more than her main squeeze Brian Braddock (AKA Captain Britain)
One of my biggest moments came when I started taking figure drawing (or life drawing) classes. Even at my first class, I began to understand what I needed to do, and a few months later it all clicked. I had one of the best sessions ever and I noted it was a level up experience and I was thrilled, even though I popped a tire on the drive home from the studio, I was still on cloud nine.
A flat tire right after one of the best classes I ever had. February 19, 2014
Before all that though, in 2006, I was hired to illustrate my first book. Man, what a thrill to be able to say you’re a published illustrator! I had just settled in on a technique to marry my traditional line art drawings with digital coloring and effects that eliminated most residual imperfections/digital debris after scanning. I was ready and I was excited. I worked very close with the author and editors and even the printer to make sure everything I did was exactly how we all envisioned it. I was very proud when it came out, but it didn’t take long at all before I leveled up further, and soon my pride of being associated with an ISBN number felt embarrassing.
Just a couple years later and my techniques had changed again. The figure drawing classes pushed my abilities further along, so my book now felt dated and subpar at best. Eight years and even more classes later, I decided to at least take a second shot at the cover. The cover was something I wasn’t happy with originally anyway, so it felt like a good exercise. Applying what I had learned as well as using new tools like Daz 3D to create a virtual model for reference, I upgraded my original art. Although only a brief yet serendipitous moment, at that time the author had been contemplating a second printing of the book, and my art director excitedly showed him my new and unsolicited art which he liked. The new cover never got the full green light and the book stayed out of print. I would imagine the idea to re–do all the interior illustrations came up as well and possibly added to the decision not to do a separate printing. Regardless, here we are another 8 years later and I’m still not only proud of my redrawn cover, but content with it as well.
A 3D poser model was my reference for the new pose
The original 2006 cover and my 2014 redesign
Not all redrawing is a calculated exercise. Many artists will sketch a rough draft with the intentions of completely redrawing it some other time. The sketch merely acts as a note or reminder to draw it properly later. Anyway, I had seen a picture of an Instagram model posing and taking a mirror selfie and really liked the pose. I did a quick sketch and saved the photo for reference so I could do a better render some other day which I totally did and—as I already mentioned the process—the second illustration came out much better. What I didn’t do however was finalize the drawing immediately after I did the second sketch. I left it alone for awhile and then picked it up again several weeks later. The problem was I used the original sketch! Even as I was inking and coloring, I was wondering why I thought this illustration was worth completing. It wasn’t until I finished it that I found my second attempt. I basically redrew this twice and for no good reason.
The original photo that inspired plus the first quick sketch, and the better second sketch, 2020
Finals up close. Even the phone is done better!
None of these particular creative forays were the inspiration for this post though. The real deal and nightmare that made me want to write and try this exercise will post next week and man was it a journey! Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and please, please, please tune in next week for a real redraw challenge in part 2!
There are two moments in my adult life that changed how I draw and made me a better artist. The first was listening to an interview with comic book legend Jim Lee on Kevin Smith’s podcast Fatman on Batman. Mr. Lee talked about finishing school then drawing every single day like he had a job in comics (before he actually did) with tight deadlines. The purpose was to develop muscle memory so that even if he was having an “off day,” it wouldn’t impede his work. I had never thought of drawing in that context before and set out to do the same.
The Kubert School in Dover, NJ
The next thing was a progressive journey that ultimately lead to figure drawing. Long story short, I wanted to enroll in the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. At the time, my dad felt a smarter decision was to apply my talents to graphic design—a decision that ultimately proved to be the right one—but one that I continued to question for years after I graduated. Eventually, I stopped internally blaming my parents for not letting me attend a comic book school and just decided to go on my own. The punchline to this quick aside is that the school I went to catastrophically crashed and burned and shut down while the newly renamed Kubert School still stands proudly.
It was here that I met the accomplished Mike Barreiro, an extraordinary artist and my instructor for Life Drawing 101. Mike is a student from both the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the aforementioned Kubert School where he would eventually end up teaching for five years. Mike has worked for DC, DC Vertigo, Marvel, Dark Horse, Defiant, and TecknoComix as well as an extensive freelance career in the Pittsburgh area. However, before I get to him in more detail, I want to sing my own personal praises about the lessons he taught me.
Some of Mike’s tremendous work including Sophia Loren, Tom Horn & Geronimo, and Endelyn Moongrave.
At multiple points in an artists life, they will create something that marks a step up in their personal journey into the craft. They may even feel that point hits their apex of ability (and years later they will often marvel at their ignorance towards that moment). Figure drawing (or Life Drawing as it’s also sometimes called) brought my own artistic abilities to a level I didn’t think was possible. It forces a creative person to be practical and a pragmatist to be open to a literal different perspective. To some, the idea of drawing a nude model for hours sounds taboo. I love teasing my mother all the time about this too.
Me and my mom, my biggest cheerleader.
But as I’ve done in the past, I wanted to be a lot more diplomatic about this and get some other artists perspectives on this as well. The main voice of course being an actual instructor, and my former teacher, Mike. I asked Mike what most modern day people might wonder, “Why take a figure drawing class when I can just Google ‘models posing’?” Mike responded;
Photos have a tendency to flatten an image. When you're drawing people it's important to emphasize the curvature of a figure. The second thing is you’re at the mercy of the photographer. If it's lighted poorly or out of focus you have to compensate for that in the drawing. Having a live model that you can pose and light the way you want to makes a huge difference in the quality of the finished drawing.
Thirsty Thursday, Cat Woman, and A Day at the Beach by Mike Barreiro
My own personal taste for a model over a photo is also the ability to move my easel and draw from a completely different angle. Few artists like having to do foreshortening, but it’s a great skill to learn. With figure drawing, you also want to draw different models and different poses. Sure, a beach–bodied super model seems ideal, but beauty doesn’t make a perfect model. So what does? Mike explains;
A good professional model will be able to hold a difficult pose for a short amount of time, can be very helpful by suggesting poses, and will let you know when they need to take a break. Dynamic posing is a very difficult job. Being in good condition is important.
Anca, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Attitude by Mike Barreiro
Holding still is a super power in my opinion when it comes to having a good model. Again though, a “good” model doesn’t necessarily mean a chiselled god or goddess. As I continued to take classes, I began to crave variety. Not every model is going to appear in a high–end advertisement, but is there a benefit to drawing those different body types? Mike goes on to say;
Sure, it really depends on what you're using the drawing for. I'm usually looking for the unusual, something that's difficult to do out of your head, but all drawing is beneficial. Many illustrations have attractive people in them. If you're doing a slice of life illo (illustration) then different body shapes are important.
Pink Floyd, Marie Devereaux, and Yaphet Kotto by Mike Barreiro
Now here’s where art verses artist can really get combative. In a very condensed nutshell, my first artistic influence was Garfield by Jim Davis, and so all of my portraits resembled the bastard offspring of Jon Arbuckle and then in 2013, I was confronted with drawing actual human beings as they appeared directly in front of me. Drawing what you see as opposed to how your personal style interprets the subject. I initially found that daunting. That got me thinking about artists with very unique styles and their approach to figure drawing. That’s when I turned to C.W. Roederer—an exceptionally talented illustrator and designer—who also found figure drawing to bring a whole new level of ability to his craft. I asked him if it’s a struggle to move beyond his stylistic ways to draw more realistically? He replies,
I still struggle a lot with “this just looks like Muppets” or “this is just what every illustrator does” (specifically the whole “normally-drawn human but they have Peanuts eyes” thing). One of the best pieces of advice I got from my figure drawing instructor was NOT to just copy exactly what I see, but rather, take what I learned in that class, and mesh it with the more caricature/cartoon background I come from. I’d say good illustrative style comes from just looking at life and reshaping it with your own mental geometry.
Mike and C.W. both provide great insights into their respective approaches, but what about someone who’s never taken a traditional figure drawing class? That’s when I turned to my friend Maria Chamra. Maria is an incredible self–trained artist who teaches “Paint & Sip” classes, has had her work featured in several galleries including the Pollak Theater at Monmouth University, and has done tons of unique freelance around Jersey. I had done an alternative drawing event with Maria in the form of Dr. Sketchy’s in Asbury Park back in 2019. It was an unconventional approach to gesture drawing, but it was a total blast. I had been bugging Maria to take a figure drawing class with me ever since and finally convinced her just last week to come along to the duCret School of Art. She talks about her experience;
I loved how different it was from my previous figure drawing classes. Professional and almost relaxing. Everyone was in their own little world. It was wonderful to put some time aside to refine my skills, focus on shapes, and becoming quicker and sharper at laying down the subject. I struggle with getting caught up in details. I made a point to use the quick one minute poses as an exercise to throw all the shapes down first and then go back in and refine the details. I felt more comfortable as the session went on.
So there you have it, high praise and an all around consensus that figure drawing is a game changer when it comes to “upping your game.” Nothing more needs to be said about… oh, right; the elephant in the room.
Some of my own charcoal drawings from various figure drawing classes over the years.
Figure Drawing studio at duCret
Okay, so let’s talk about being in a room with other artists all keenly studying a naked person. I admit, while the first time had a brief moment of surprise, that all goes out the window practically instantly. You take on the perspective of how I assume doctors examine their patients. You become aware of structure, lighting, weight displacement, and—from a religious standpoint—the beauty of the human body. I don’t mean in a fit or attractive way, but just the extraordinary appearance of all humans, how we’re put together and how those bodies interact with the space around them. Of course, if you’ve never taken a figure drawing course, it’s the most asked question you get. Maria puts it this way;
I have done Dr. Sketchy and figure drawing in the past but never with a nude model. I felt I was going to be a bit shy and apprehensive when it came to it, but it was more of a focus on how muscles work and the anatomy of the human body. I found it challenging in a positive way!
Maria and I at Dr. Sketchy’s in Asbury Park, 2019
C.W. speaks to the warm–up exercises of quick poses that forces an artist to push past any unfamiliarity.
The first model I ever drew was a girl, and that was the first time I ever saw a topless girl in the same space as me, so I definitely felt a little flush at the start of it. But figure drawing, if you’re serious about it, really doesn’t leave a lot of room for that outside of first impressions like that. With the mix of artistic math zooming through your head and the adrenaline of just two minutes for a presentable drawing, you don’t really pay attention to the person anymore.
Mike, who’s done and seen it all when it comes to nude models, puts it succinctly;
To each their own. It's not for everyone. Artists throughout time appreciate the human form. It's a stroke of creative genius. What better way to appreciate the divine on Earth?
If you are an artist/illustrator of any kind; regardless of ability, style, or experience and you haven’t taken a figure drawing class, do it! When I was a kid, someone in my family who was eager to encourage my artistic inclinations bought me a copy of Jack Hamm’s Drawing The Head & Figure of which I still have today. This book was very helpful when it came to learning how to draw anatomy even if it was in the crude form of a Garfield comic strip. Looking through it though, I never believed even for a second that I could draw like Mr. Hamm (and most might argue I still can’t). It took an actual figure drawing class to break that stigma and push me in ways I never even thought possible! In the words of Mike Barreiro himself,
Get up and move around. A new perspective can be helpful.
A huge thank you to my former teacher Mike Barreiro for taking the time to answer all my questions. This post not only gave me a chance to talk about something I love, but gave me an excuse to chat him up again outside of constantly fawning over his work in the comments. Speaking of which, you should totally do the same and follow him on Instagram and Facebook and check out his website: mikebarreiroart.com
“To the best student, Dave.” my signed copy of Kamandi Mike inked that he signed for me!
Special thanks to C.W. Roederer for his time and thoughts, you have not heard from him for the last time on this blog, I can assure you! Follow him on Instagram and check out more of his work on his website: cwroederer.com
Thank you SO much to Maria Chamra for not only contributing to this post but for letting me drag her all the way up to Plainfield, New Jersey to be my accountable art buddy yet again. Absolutely go follow her on Instagram and Facebook and check out her work at her website: mariachamra.com
Junk Drawer Comics by Jay Fosgitt who will be talking about writing comics here next week!
