When Rapunzel takes a shower, she often has... technical difficulties.
This drawing of Tarzan is far more cartoony than my usual cartoon work. It's fun to push the limits of the art form. I enjoyed mixing the bulbous body with limbs that have resemblance to human structure. I used that odd cartooning cheat where the arm is not seen behind the open mouth, but the drawing works like that.
Can you spot the mistake? The answer is below.
The mistake:
Tarzan has two right feet. I originally drew the extended leg as his right leg. When I redrew the connection to his left hip, I forgot to go back and fix the foot. Because this is just a drawing for fun, not publication, I'll leave it as is. Do you think he'll stumble upon landing?
Yesterday's daily topic on @Sketch_Dailies was "Monkey King", a warrior monkey from Chinese folklore. Warriors aren't my thing so I thought of another monkey king that I do like: King Louie from the Jungle Book. I sketched this based on two different original animation drawings by Frank Thomas, therefore it's not a pose directly out of the film.
Boulder's famous landmark is its Flatirons rock formations. Their geography rises above the town inspiring locals and visitors with their beauty.
Being that I live here, it's the most common thing I get commissioned to illustrate. I've drawn them so many times, I no longer require photo reference. Below are all of the Flatirons I've created professionally over the years. These can be found on travel posters, murals, websites, event posters, comics, food packaging, and t-shirts. Most are in my common poster style but I've also experimented with different aesthetics.
40 Flatirons:
Many of these Flatirons can be found in my Boulder travel posters.
Since launching the redesign and rebranding of my site last month, I've seen an increase in mobile browsing.
The template for my new site is so mobile friendly that my artwork shines on the little screen in your hand. Every aspect of the site has been optimized for mobile browsing, from the galleries to the poster shop.
Go ahead, load up SteveLowtwait.com on your phone and tap around.
@Sketch_Dailies is a Twitter account that posts a new topic every weekday. Thousands of artists of all skill levels participate by drawing the subject and sharing it on Twitter. Sketch Dailies retweets their favorites.
I've drawn most of the subjects over the last two weeks. Sometimes I did a quick drawing, and other times I've created a more polished illustration. Since these are for fun and practice, I've experimented with a variety of visual styles. See more of my daily sketches on Twitter here: @Lowtwait
Click to enlarge:
Bonnie and Clyde, Jessica Rabbit, Ursula, Robin Hood, Billy the Kid, Blackbeard, Big Bad Wolf, Centaur, Jackalope with a jackknife in his jacket jackhammering jacks from a Jacksonville jack-in-the-box.
This cemetery piece is my first full digital illustration created in 1990 using Photoshop 2.1 and drawn with a mouse.
After decades of using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as my primary creative tools, I'm ditching them.
I first discovered digital art in high school using Photoshop 1.0. From there, I kept experimenting and learning more. Through art school, I used Adobe's apps as they grew, and I grew with them. In the years I worked in animation, I used Photoshop and Illustrator less frequently. However, when I later became a professional freelance illustrator, I embraced them and became heavily steeped in Adobe's Creative Suite. It was my means to creating art.
Recently, Adobe switched their business model to a subscription service now called Creative Cloud. You subscribe to monthly access to the apps instead of purchasing them. The pros and cons of this move can be found in debates across the web.
For me, I agree with some of the arguments against it. I believe Adobe overprices themselves. The apps are bloated with features and can be slow. I've faced some serious technical issues. But mainly, I want to own the tools I use to do my most important work, not rent them. It's as simple as that.
Pixelmator is my replacement for Photoshop.
Pixelmator 3
Sketch is my replacement for Illustrator.
Sketch 2
It took research and experimentation with free trials of many apps before I settled on these two. Neither is as feature rich as Photoshop or Illustrator, but I didn't use most of what Adobe offered. In some places, Pixelmator and Sketch lack tools or shortcuts I'm used to having. However, they are not just capable apps, but in several areas offer much more efficient ways of working.
It's also a good feeling to support the underdog software developers going up against the big Adobe. I don't dislike Adobe, rather I found solutions that nowadays work better for me. Sketch in particular is such a vast departure from Illustrator, that it really shows where they've improved upon usability.
I'm just starting out but I look forward to becoming more fluent with these powerful tools. I will create great artwork with them!