Drawing from the Mind

I have not posted anything in a long time. The reason: I've been hard at work, drawing and constructing countless figure drawings and characters from my mind each day. I will start to post a few each week.

For those that don't know, I'm currently attending the University of Hartford for my masters degree in illustration.

Upon entering the program I promised myself that I would learn human anatomy again. Now I've taken that to the next level. I've memorized everything from bones, muscles and ligaments, and understand their attachments to specific places. Everything posted below is drawn and labeled from memory.

This past July, I had an opportunity to study under C.F. Payne and Gary Kelly. They are a tremendous influence and I'm blessed to have learned from them. Chris encouraged me go back to drawing with a pencil to define my style, while Gary emphasized learning from my influences and old masters. Upon coming home I decided to stop painting on the wacom tablet and go back to my first love, drawing with a pencil. I also gathered a ton of books and images by Frank Frazetta, Mead Schaeffer, Norman Rockwell, and the American Orientalists. When studying Frazetta I realized that he used no ref. for his figures in his illustrations. He constructed everything from memory. I was so inspired by this. As a concept artist you rarely have time to light and shoot a model. After memorizing everything, I realized how fun, fluid and easy drawing is.

I must thank my wife, Dr. Tsui for helping me, as she has a deeper understanding of anatomy. She also taught me to make sense of the Latin names of muscles etc. and ways to memorize all those complicated words.

I hope this blog inspires you to draw!

-Alton