I figured I’d mix it up with a different post today. These are the tools I use most often:
Sketching:
My current favorite pencil is the Ohto Promecha SP-507P. I pretty much use mechanical pencils only. I don’t remember the last time I actually used a traditional wooden pencil. I don’t leave home without this pencil, seriously. Loaded with 0.7mm, 2B hardness lead, this has been my primary sketching tool for the last 5 months or so. It’s a good quality, all metal (aluminum I think), balanced pencil. Surprisingly light compared to a lot of other aluminum mechanical pencils Ive tried. This one was acquired at the cost of ~580 yen from the Tokyu Hands store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, but I’ve also seen it carried at Kinokuniya Bookstores and other japanese stores that sell stationary for around seven dollars. The Big brother to this pencil is the super customizable Ohto Super Promecha PM-1500. This is the only pencil I’ve seen that comes with an instruction manual. It’s too much pencil for me.
When I decide to sketch in pen I use fine Pentel R.S.V.P. pens. They work great for me because they are cheap, easy to find in stores and come in a few different colors. Losing your favorite drawing tool is the worst thing ever. If you use stuff that’s cheap and easy to find, it’s not so bad.
For erasing I use the two erasers that pretty much everyone else uses: the Design Kneaded Eraser and the Staedlter Mars Plastic Eraser. Both of these are easy to find at most art/craft stores like Michaels, Aaron Bros, ect. If you don’t have these, you need to get them…now.
Inking:
When it comes to inking I think most people are a brush person or a nib person. I’m the later. Nibs are cheap and low maintenance. Right now I’m using Tachikawa G-pen and Maru nibs bought from Tokyu Hands, and Deleter G-pen/Maru nibs from Kinokuniya. Also for loose marker sketches and filling in large areas I have a Copic Sketch Marker. It’s really nice alcohol based marker with a brush tip on one end and a chisel tip on the other. At about $6 each they seem a bit expensive but they are refillable and the marker tips are replaceable, which puts them above other comparable markers I’ve used like Prismacolors.
A quick flyer design for the next Kindred Fall show. I think Mint’s become my favorite character to draw recently. I need to draw some of my other character since they’ve been neglected.
edit: my blog template kinda cropped the picture in an interesting way. Click on it to see the full size version.
This month/last month has been pretty busy for me, so i’ve been slacking off on my blogging unfortunately. But, on the plus side I have been doing a lot of drawing for some new jobs I’ve gotten. Once I finish I’ll be sure to post them. When I don’t feel like blogging, sometimes I throw sketches up on my website under ‘recent stuff‘ so check there if you care to see the most recent junk.
In addition to reading the latest Bleach and Bakuman(my current two favorite mangas) I’ve been reading Claymore. It’s only published monthly, which kinda sucks. Claymore’s a crazy, violent, sci-fi/fantasy, battle manga. Someone, something, somewhere is always battling in this comic. There’s almost a battle in ever chapter and someones always losing an arm, leg, finger, toe, eyebrow, appendage. It’s crazy and epic at the sametime. The most badass Claymore, aka the best that ever did, is a character called “Teresa of the faint smile.” This is a sketch I did of her:
Also, I found another band that I really like called Spangle call Lilli line. They have a really cool mellow,indie, jazzy, pop, japanese sound. I’m lovin it.
….everything. I’ve got a lot of different projects that seem to be coming together right now, keeping me busy. Here’s a work in progress. It’s another fashion inspired illustration. Enjoy.
I’ve been drawing as always but unfortunately I don’t have any finished illustration work to post this week. I’ve been keeping myself busy with some graphic design work, along with promoting my illustrations and Graystone Design. This is part of a cover I’m working on for a booklet. Also I got some Graystone shirts made, just waiting on them to come back from the screen printer. There will be pics as soon as I get them.
I’ve been working on doing more illustrations with animals lately, to put a little variety in my portfolio. I’ve drawn quite a few octopi in my sketchbooks but I never got around to doing a finished illustration with one. Now I can mark that off my list. This is another example of my experiments in color and technique. I chose to draw the lines with pencil instead of ink, because of the greater control it gives my over my line quality. It hard to get pencils to scan as bold and crisp as inked lines but I’m a control freak when it comes down to my lines. I need every single line to go exactly where I want it to be satisfied. The coloring is a combo of flat colors, gradients, textures and layer blending modes.
I’ve been working on adding content to my new site lately (http://coreyleedraws.com) and other ways to promote my work. Today I added a short progression on how I made my forest illustration. It’s really short but you can see how I go from rough sketch to final. You can view it here: http://coreyleedraws.com/index.php?/ongoing/forest/
…is the title to the final chapter of the End of Evangelion movie. This doesn’t really have anything to do with this illustration other than the fact that I’m a huge fan of the Evangelion series and this is also the final version of the ‘Futuristic Imagination’ girl illustration. I had ideas for a fully drawn out background, but in the end I just wanted to concentrate on the girl herself so I chose a simpler background to finish it off.
…is a song by the band School Food Punishment. This picture has no connection at all to the song, sometimes I just like titling things according to what I’m listening to at the moment. This was originally a really small pencil sketch. I liked the expression on her face so I enlarged the sketch in Photoshop and redrew the lines in pen before coloring it. I hardly ever wear plaid, but when it comes to my characters I like to use it every chance that I get. This is currently on the first page of my website: http://coreyleedraws.com/
The website is still a work in progress, but I’m constantly adding content, so check back often. Click the image for a full size version as usual.
![Futuristic Imagination [Final]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/3970602001_b8911fdda0.jpg)
