Eye Photography

Hey guys, got something kinda different for you today. I took some photos of some of my family member's eyes one day this summer, and some of them turned out pretty sweet.

This last one is actually my eye, shot by my niece Sage.

Love,

-Joseph

Working on Figure Drawing

Hey guys! In case you missed it, I have an Instagram now: https://www.instagram.com/josephsmolin42/. I've been posting way more over there cause it's just a lot easier, but I do still want to keep up this space. Anyhow, I've been working a lot on anatomy lately. Here's a ton of figure drawing I did from references. I was mostly doing this as a technical exercise, but I really started to enjoy it at some point. It kind of has a life and breath of its own.

First decent attempt here.

So this one and all the others were done using the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, which I highly recommend. It takes a bit to get used to, but the textures and lines possible are amazing. Plus it forces you to be super careful with your line work.

Alright hope you guys enjoyed looking at these.

Love,

-Joseph

Sketch Practice # 5 (mechanical)

Hey guys got some more sketch practice for you today. Theme for the week was "mechanical." Some of these actually turned out pretty good.

This one is obviously a little rougher than the others, but I was sort of impressed that I could draw a motorcycle at all.

This one is probably my favorite. It's the most evocative (at least to me).

Love,

-Joseph

Graffiti with Sharpie + Crayons

Hey guys, got something really fun for you today. I did all of these little graffiti inspired drawings at the beach with a king sized sharpie. They were all colored with crayons by the talented Savannah Baker.

This one might be my favorite all in all. I'm a big fan of the multi-colored eye.

The excellent color work on the stoner jacket is worth noting on this one.

Despite the name, I've never heard Jeff land even one decent joke.

This one is great too.

This "blood suckers" font has "90's skating video game" written all over it.

Alright well hope you enjoyed looking at these, cause they were super fun to do. It's really good to loosen up now and again.

Love,

-Joseph

Sketch Practice # 4

Hey guys, got some new sketches for you today. The theme I was working on this week was "Wild West." Unfortunately, I got a bad sinus infection, and didn't get quite as much done as I was hoping to. Here's what I got though:

Here's some character sketches I did. The one to the left is my favorite.

Here's a sketch I did of a pistol, using a reference photo. The perspective is a bit off, but I still like it.

Love,

-Joseph

Sharpie Portraits!

Hey guys, got something fun for you today. I've been getting into the king size sharpie lately. It's just an incredibly fun tool, and the range of line widths possible is awesome. Here are some quick little portraits I did with them.

The Background squiggles are my favorite part of this one.

This one isn't the best in terms of technique but it's prolly my favorite out of the group.

Love,

-Joseph

Sketch Practice # 3 (Undersea)

Hey friends,

Here's some more sketch practice for you guys. My wonderful friends Matthew and Corban have just started doing a weekly sketch challenge with me. The theme for the first week was "Undersea." Most of these were done looking at a reference photo. Enjoy!

This one's prolly my fave. It has a nice visual flow across the page.

This one was generated without using a reference photo. It's more of a rendering study really. Welp, hope you enjoyed them. I should have more up soon!

Love,

-Joseph Smolin

Miscellaneous Drawings

Hey guys, feeling pretty sick at the moment. Just stopped by to share a few random drawings that have been floating around.

Here's a happy little cigarette, lit up and everything. I don't know why, but I have a hard time looking at this doodle without cracking up. Maybe I have a dark sense of humor...

Just a quick little drawing of a face. I like something about the expression.

This one's a drawing of a rock concert with some sort of reptilian lead singer. It's also worth a chuckle.

This one's a pretty accurate drawing of me first thing in the morning. Here's a detail shot of the face.

Alright well hopefully I'll feel better soon and get back to drawing more regularly, until then enjoy these.

Love,

-Joseph

Sketch Practice # 2 (Animals)

Hey guys, still practicing my sketching skills. This time I chose to practice on animals, looking at reference photos. Take a look:

These were super fun to do, so I hope you guys enjoy them too.

Love,

-Joseph Smolin

Manic Musical Concept Visualization

Hey guys, got something a little bit different for you today. I've always been interested in channeling music into visual art, so I decided to just listen to an album I liked and see what I could get out of it. The following drawings were all completed while listened to the amazing David Bowie album "Blackstar." Many of them were completed within the bounds of a song or two. The idea was to really shut off my mind and just channel the music onto the page. The whole album clocks in at about 40 mins so the drawings are all pretty loose, unrefined, and visceral.

This last one is my favorite. It's largely inspired by this song:

Love,

-Joseph Smolin