Quick Note: Warhol Coloring Templates

If you would like to access directly the past blog posts featuring the blank coloring templates used during the art activities after the Warhol Screen Prints Portfolios Exhibition, just click on link 1, link 2, link 3, or the Art Center label below.

A couple of pigment ink doodles

Doodling some random faces with the Staedtler Mars Professional 0.35 mm pen for practice.
A fantasy knights coloring page.
Inspired by the Shonen-Manga (manga for boys) Naruto doodled this couple of jonin (senior level ninja) that might fit within that universe.
Developing a character sheet and tools for a ninja of my own with the same 0.35 mm pigmented pen. Quick observation about the disposable cartridge of this technical pen: if you stop drawing for a period of time without capping the pen, the nib tends to dry up a tad and requires bit of coaxing to resume normal ink flow. Thus either draw non-stop or cap pen immediately for best results with the replaceable cartridges of the Staedtler Mars Professional pens.

Manga Sketching Workshop follow-up

Just wanted to thank all CCPL Anime Club members that attended and actively participated earlier today in the Manga Sketching workshop at the Collier County library headquarters. Glad to know the material covered met your expectations and that you had fun while picking up a few drawing tips. Just to review some passing comments: wooden manikins, PVC figurines (like the Darkstalker's Bishamon and Tenchu's Ayame), and action figures (like the Final Fantasy Tifa) can make fairly nice reference models for drawing human figures (of course you can also draw friends and relatives or even yourself with the use of a mirror). When beginning to draw do not worry too much about any list of suggested art materials. It is best to start practicing with whatever you already got readily available at home or school like printer paper and regular pens and pencils. What is really important to improve your drawing skills is that you practice doodling and sketching often to develop your manual dexterity and control making different marks on the paper. If you feel ready to start experimenting with some shading and coloring in your Manga art, you might want to try brush markers like the Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens that work quite nicely on Canson Fanboy Manga 150 lb drawing paper and are a far more affordable initial investment than a set of the professional grade Copic Markers. For more info on selecting art materials you can check this blog entry and this step-by-step marker coloring demo.
After reading your thoughtful comments and suggestions in the workshop's feedback survey, just wanted to highlight or add the following books to my list of recommended Manga drawing reference books.
For those interested in a book focused on drawing Manga girls you might want to check out How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 5: Bishoujo Game Characters by Tadashi Ozawa.Which is getting a tad hard to find on Amazon, but can still be found in-stock in some Anime online retailers.This book by Yuki Kirishima and Ran Mutsuki KAOPPE, Let's Draw! Illustrating with Copic, is an ok reference for the use of Copic Markers, the choice of many professional Manga artists in Japan. Quick side note: If you decide to get your Copic Sketch markers or any other recommended art materials online through Blick Art Materials, I would really appreciate it if you were to order them after clicking on one of displayed Dick Blick Art Materials banners (scattered throughhout the right column or at the bottom of this blog) since I am one of their affiliates.
I would recommend checking out this book by David Chelsea, Perspective for Comic Book Artists, to improve your drawing skills and render more realistic cityscapes.
Fantasy Cartooning by Ben Caldwell is a personal favorite fun reference book on drawing Fantasy warriors, swords, and monsters in a cartoon style that was already included in the suggested reading list.
Thanks again for attending the workshop, and keep on practicing and drawing everyday!

Couple of quick reminders for local readers in Naples

* The Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life and Legends exhibit will conclude this May 3rd, so you better hurry in planning a visit to The von Liebig Art Center if you haven't check out this Bank of America collection of screen prints which includes several complete series like Endangered Species and Myths. For further details check this website.
* Free Manga Sketching workshop for the CCPL Anime Club at the Solarium of the Collier County Library Headquarters on Saturday April 25th between 2 and 4 pm.

Birthday Party Cartoon drawings

Doing some cartoon drawings for the birthday guests. For these events, it is best to keep the sketching gear simple and unobtrusive: a reliable pigment pen like the 06 Sakura Pigma Sensei, a few sheets of card stock, and a A4 clipboard make a pretty efficient party kit. Of course I keep my loaded sketching backpack close by should I need to switch to sketching with a pencil or add color for a special request.
Matt was quite a helpful model, for his distinct hairstyle made capturing a likeness a tad easier.
Took lots of photo references to try to get the closest likeness for the birthday boy.
Mateo Dragon Ranger.

Sample Beginner's Sketching Kit

This small collection of analog drawing sets would provide a beginner student with a comprehensive range of graphite pencils, erasers, and blending tools that allows a wide range for sketching and experimentation.
While it is true, that more art nowadays is getting made with digital means like a drawing tablet and graphics software. Learning to use traditional drafting tools and paper still have some advantages for anyone keen on improving their drawing skills. For one, you are not limited in your efforts by battery life and technological quirks (like heavy slow down of your computer when using Photoshop too heavily, not to mention the larger initial investment). Second, these analog tools can often be found on sale at many office supplies and arts & crafts stores all over the country. For example, the starter graphite sketching set pictured was put together for about ten bucks. It features German -made Staedtler Mars Ergosoft (HB, B, & 2B) pencils and 2 mm leadholder long known for their precision engineering, quality, and performance. I have noticed with some trepidation, that the newer product on the shelves no longer seems to be "Made in Germany" and tends to be of inferior quality and cheaper feel (softer discolored plastic in leadholder barrels and rather scratchy graphite leads). Thus if given the choice, I would recommend seeking out the older stock and checking the country of origin on the packaging or the tools themselves to get the most bang for your buck.

Random sketching during a 2 hours flight

Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your drawing skills by always having a portable sketching kit and adequate supply of paper when you travel. These are some of the doodles I managed to crank out during the 2-hour flight between Raleigh and Miami.
Struggling a tad finding the right angle to sketch within the tight confines of the airplane cabin. A letter size clipboard is quite useful for holding the 8.5"X11" card stock sheets, providing adequate support, and helping to find the optimal drawing position when use of the stowaway tables is not practical or allowed.
Sketching tools have to be carefully chosen for a mess-free successful productive session when traveling by air: most gel pens and some felt-tip pigmented pens work well within the pressurized cabin environment, but some liquid ink pens like the Koh-I-Noor Nexus pens tend to leak when the cabin pressure changes. For practical reasons, I tend to go with mechanical pencils or 2 mm leadholders for my graphite sketching tools. Sharpening traditional wooden pencils in tight spaces without a convenient waste basket is too much of a hassle.


Few random fantasy characters drawn with a mechanical pencil.
A couple of monster designs inspired by the Meifumado demons from the seinen manga "Lone Wolf & Cub" (Samurai-style Manga made for adult male readers).
Pen sketch loosely inspired by Greek myths. Always seem to drift towards Ray Harryhausen's visual effects style in "Clash o the Titans" when tackling this type of subjects.
Egyptian designs are quite popular sources of inspiration for fantasy sketches.
Mochica inspired scene sketched with a gel pen.
This dragon sketch was drawn last as the plane approached the Miami airport.

Never too early to introduce kids to quality Art materials

I am strong believer that artistic development can be encouraged and nurtured by allowing children to explore their innate artistic talents with artist grade supplies that typically outperform children's art supplies with more saturated pigment-rich colors and smoother feel on the drawing paper support. Naturally close supervision and guidance are required, and it would probably be best to stick to non-toxic choices.
Introducing Mateo to some of the best crayons in the market: Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons.
Checking out some of my doodle pages and quick test of a couple of Maxon Comic screen tone symbols.
At one year old Mateo can hold the Sakura Pigma Sensei drawing pen, but probably needs to develop his motor skills a tad further for a few more months before tackling actual drawing activities.
Nicole and Camila enjoying some coloring activities with a set of Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils.
Doodling some favorite subjects with a Sakura Pigma Sensei pen.
I might be biased, but I do not think my own sketching symbols for princess and flowers at 5 years old were as recognizable as the current work of Nicole.

Kawaii Ballpoint Pens Alert

Coloring page inspired by the sighting of some pretty cute character pens at JetPens: series of ballpoint pens topped with Kewpie doll figurines dressed up as Retro Manga Characters like Mazinger, Ultraman, and Science Ninja Team Gatchaman among others.

Further sample sketch pages

Filling pages with random faces is one of my favorite drawing warm up exercises. By constantly generating Manga face doodles, you can increase your personal source file of potential character faces to use in future projects, refine them, and increase the speed with which you can draw your face symbols during crunch times.
Another example of Mecha Design inspired by Pre-Columbian iconography and testing the Staedtler Mars Techincal Drawing 0.7 mm pen for freehand drawing applications.

Finding inspiration in vessels from Pre-Columbian cultures

These neat shadow boxes showcasing miniature replicas of Pre-Columbian artifacts reminded me of how some Anime shows (like RahXephon's Dolems) can successfully draw inspiration for some mecha designs and story ideas straight from the archaeological sites (particularly Aztec and Mayan in the case of RahXephon) and relics. The sample above focuses on the striking multicolor Nazca pottery and some reproductions of the famous dessert geoglyphs: the Nazca Lines.
Chancay Culture shadow box featuring miniature replicas of typical pottery figurine vessels. According to some lore, similar figurines called Cuchimilcos were hung at home entrances to ward off evil spirits.
Using some photo references of Nazca pottery vessels to give an original twist to a Manga robot sketch conceived as a shell-form transforming robot.
Mecha early concept based on the Nazca "Killer Whale" motif and colored with some Faber Castell Pitt Artist brush pens.

Reminder: Manga Sketching Workshop on April 25th at Library Headquarters

When I went to return a couple of books at Library, I spotted a couple of the Manga sketching workshop signs I drew but had forgotten to post on this blog.
First hand-drawn sign in the CCPL Anime Club window case at the Library lobby.
Workshop sign and flyers at the Young Readers section in the back of the Library.
Close up of one of the hand-drawn signs featuring fantasy characters inspired by Japanese Mythology.

Nicole's creativity nurtured with "Doodle All Year" coloring book by Taro Gomi

We spotted this whimsical coloring book, "Doodle All Year" by Taro Gomi during a trip to Toronto. While it features a few straight traditional coloring pages, its strength lies in the non-threatening easy to approach doodling instructions that effectively encourage the imagination and creativity of children and the young at heart. Regardless of innate artistic skills, this cleverly designed massive coloring book (376 pages long) partnered with a nice box of crayons can help children of all ages grow creatively and find their inner artist one doodle at a time. The sample pages below were done by a 5 years old budding artist.