Draw with Brian #8 – Magician Sneaking Away 2: Roughs
Draw with Brian #8 Magician Sneaking Away 2 — Roughs In this episode of Draw with Brian , we continue work on Magician Sneaking Away 2 , moving into the rough drawing stage . This is where composition becomes structure — refining character placement, perspective, and proportions before inking. Transcript Hey everyone, welcome back to Draw with Brian. I’m Brian. Let’s get into today’s drawing. We’re continuing work on the next illustration for Derrick and Max’s Beach Adventure . Last time, we blocked out the composition. I…
Draw with Brian #7 – Magician Sneaking Away 2: Blocking
Draw with Brian #7 Magician Sneaking Away 2 — Blocking In this episode of Draw with Brian , we begin a new illustration for Derrick and Max . This video focuses on the blocking stage — establishing composition, perspective, and character placement before refining details. Sometimes the process is the most interesting part. Transcript Hello everyone, welcome to Draw with Brian. I’m Brian. Welcome to the channel — or welcome back to the channel. Today we’re starting something new. Up to this point, I’ve mostly been worki…
Happy Halloween!
👻 Happy Halloween! I’ve got a special jack-o’-lantern drawing going live today — quick, fun, and festive for the season. Check it out and share your favorite Halloween art or costume in the comments! 🎃🖤 👉 Draw with Brian #4 – Happy Jack-o’-Lantern (Halloween Special)
New YouTube Channel
I started a new YouTube channel over at https://www.youtube.com/@BDCrowell . I figured I'm working on illustrations anyway, and some people might like watching that progress. I know I enjoy behind the scenes videos , and I like watching other artists draw . So, if I like it, there's bound to be others. The first video is up. Give it a watch, and if you want to see others in the future, be sure to subscribe. Update: there's No YouTube No More .
ArtRage 5 Review
As any reader of the blog knows, I’ve been an ArtRage user for years . I started off with 3.x and moved onto 4.x when it came out. It’s not the only tool in my tool belt (I also have Manga Studio , Illustrator , Photoshop , and Paint.NET), but it’s the one that I use almost exclusively for illustration work. I noticed a few weeks ago that it had been awhile since I’d gotten an update to my 4.5 install, and I thought that perhaps the next version was out or would be soon. So, I went over to the ArtRage site and found my suspicions confirmed…
New Year’s Resolutions 2017
Well, another year is drawing to a close. So, it's time to look back at the year nearly passed, as well as my resolutions from last year . English: New Year's Resolutions postcard (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In 2016, I was still dealing with turnover at work, which robbed me of a lot of illustration and writing time, but I managed to improve my habits this year. I more consistently got up early to invest the time in the craft. And it paid off. As of the start of this blog post (which I began on 12/16/2016), I had logged 74.98…
New Year’s Resolutions
2015 is almost in the bag. This year has flown by for me. However, most of the reason it flew by was because of the day job. While there was a welcome promotion in January, my old position wasn't backfilled, so many of those duties followed me. Then, one of my direct reports left, and I was back to doing my old job, plus his, plus the new job. Eventually, the direct's position got filled. I spent a couple of months training him, and then it was right into a big Office 365 migration. All that has meant much unpaid overtime and li…
Is it art?
I was on deviantART this morning, perusing the What's Hot section of the front page. It's a nice mix of photography, digital art, photo manipulations , sculpture, etc. I like to keep up with what my peers are doing. Zentangle trio by Kyla Reese . Used with permission of artist. I clicked on http://www.deviantart.com/art/Magic-Dress-01-462682323 and was reading the comments. Within the comments, the photographer got into a heated …
My First Collaboration
My youngest son asked me to draw a haunted mansion for him the other night. So, while the would-be chefs on TV tried to live up to Chef Ramsay’s expectations, I made him a quick sketch (in pen, no less). Then, he took it and ran with it, adding his own details. I think there’s some potential there. I may have to hire him to start doing the illustration work for my children’s books. What do you think? Can you pick out his additions?
The Compromise of Art
I’ve been hard at work finishing up the illustration work for Derrick the Dog and so haven’t posted in a bit. However, I read a forum topic yesterday about traditional versus digital art . I guess it bothered me more than I thought, hence the reason I’m awake at 2:30 AM, writing a blog post instead of sawing logs. Comparison of Leonardo's self portrait and the Mona Lisa based on Schwartz's Mona Leo (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) You’ve probably heard the argument: digital art isn’t real art. Those digital guys cheat, letting…
One Year In: What I’ve Learned
On Illustrating In my last post , I talked about what I’d learned in my first year of writing for publication. I learned a lot in that first year. I’ve also learned a few things along the way in regards to illustrating. It’s been an exciting time, and I’d like to share my top 6 tips for aspiring artists. I hope they help. Digital art is freaking awesome! As long as you have the right tools, that is. Have you ever tried to draw with a mouse? That’s an exercise in frustration. With a good drawing tablet, it’s sublime. My fabulou…
When do you find the time to write?
Writing’s a marathon, not a sprint. English: Chris Derrick at the 2009 United States Cross Country Championships (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Work, commutes, after-school activities , family time, TV , meals, exercise , shopping… what am I forgetting? Oh, yeah, sleep and writing . Doesn’t it seem like there’s never enough time for everything, especially that last? In fact, to get the writing time in, it seems like sleep is often the only place to carve away a little time. Finding the time for the writing job has been tough latel…
What’s this site about?
Hello, Brian here. That struck me as a good question to answer (in fact, I probably should have answered it earlier). So, I thought I’d lay it out here, so you can decide if it is worth your time to stick around… or come back. Me First off, let me tell you a little about myself. Poke around the site or one of my social media locales, and you’ll see that I’m an aspiring author and artist. I say aspiring as I am not yet published, because I don’t yet have anything ready to be published. But I’m working on it, and hope to have something …
