I haven't had the opportunity to take a formal art class since high school, so please, bear with me on these images.
Early On • April 2001 • The Newark Museum • The Met • Animals • Egypt • AMNH • The Asia Society • FKO 2002 • Other
Elk - I think I did this one in May of 2000. I'm not really sure, though. For those of you who're European, this is what Americans call an elk, or wapiti. They're more like European red deer than European elk, which are more like what Americans call moose... but that can wait for me to get the deer pages up. This picture is notable because it's one of my few attempts to draw in colour. 41k.
In April of 2001, I was sent on a disaster assignment by my employers, the American Red Cross. The Mississippi River had flooded. A Red Cross disaster assignment lasts three weeks or more, during which time entertainment is often in short supply. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I bought a sketchpad and a set of graphite pencils, and turned out the following.
Dave Grishin - A character of mine from an online RPG. The original model was the photograph of Brendan Fraser on the cover of the CD soundtrack to The Mummy Returns. 26k.
The strega - I had access to the Disney cartoon Gargoyles while on assignment, and did a certain amount of speculating on the existence of other possible Gargoyle clans. This is the strega, or sorceress, of a clan I created that originated in southern Italy. 35k.
Tonno - Another Italian-clan gargoyle. The fact that Tonno shares features with Italian buffalo may or may not indicate kinship to the English gargoyle clan seen on the series, where all the members had animal features. 30k.
Madison Carlisle - A character belonging to a very dear friend of mine - I actually drew this one after getting home from the assignment, late in May. Madison is© Heidi, and I'm not gonna put up her last name unless she wants me to. 43k.
That's Newark, New Jersey. For those of you who were unaware of the fact, Newark has a museum - and a quite nice one at that! - with art and artifacts of all kinds. You might want to visit their web site to get a better idea of the place. Admission is $5 for most people, $2 for seniors, free for members; parking you pay for, but it's in a secured lot. They've got the largest collection of Tibetan artifacts in the United States, and they've also got a really fascinating museum of firefighting history on the grounds.
Anyway. This lot is a group of sketches I did at the Newark Museum.
The Greek Slave - I'm told this is a variation on a theme more normally used to depict Aphrodite in sculpture. The card at the Museum said that this was an 1847 statue by Hiram Powers, called The Greek Slave, and that it depicted a Greek Christian girl about to be sold at the Ottoman slave market. The museum card also noted that Mr. Powers did six different versions of this statue, and that he developed strong abolitionist leanings as he worked; the last version of the statue wore American slave manacles rather than anything of classical design. I've found her to be a marvellous piece to copy in an effort to learn the human figure, and I wind up drawing her pretty much every time I visit.
The Greek Slave - My first
version, done in June or July of 2001. 44k.
Here's another rendition of her, done
sometime in January or February 2002. I didn't finish the picture, let alone
the chains; I was seated on the floor looking up at her, and by the time I
got that far, various things were starting to fall asleep.14k.
This one was done from behind on 17 March
2002. I took the precaution of bringing a small folding stool this time. 25k.
The Kagyupa Lama's Hat - The Newark Museum has the largest collection of Tibetan artifacts I've ever seen. Most of 'em came out of the country in the 1920's, thanks to a missionary couple worried about war. I can't even begin to describe the temple room adequately, or even most of the Tibetan displays, but this is one of my few attempts to draw in colour, because you just can't get a proper feel for what some of the Tibetan stuff looks like without colour. Silk brocade and gilt, this hat was made in the early part of the 20th century for the Kagyupa Lama. 28k.
The Pinch - The Japanese painter Suio (1717 - 1789) did the original of this painting of the Zen master Ma-tsu pinching the nose of his pupil Pai-chang. Apparently the two had been awakened by a flock of geese, and Ma-tsu asked 'what was that'; on being told it was a goose, and that it had flown away, Ma-tsu pinched Pai-chang's nose and asked 'has anything flown away?', and Pai-chang was enlightened. Any religion or philosophical system that makes icons of their revered figures doing stuff like that to make a point is innately cool. This is my pencil sketch of that painting. 33k.
Nandi - The Hindu god Siva is held to ride on the back of a bull named Nandi, and Nandi is often depicted in statutes outside Siva's temples. This particular Nandi dates back to the 10th or 11th century CE, and comes from central Java. 27k.
Laborer at Rest - This guy was cast from bronze by Max Kalish in 1923, when he was living in Cleveland, Ohio. It's supposed to represent a worker in a blast furnace. The original was about a foot and a half tall. I drew him and The Rigger on 3 March 2002. 29k.
The Rigger - Also known as Steel Man, or The Iron Worker, this fellow was cast in bronze by Mahonri M. Young in 1917. He's a skyscraper construction worker. 27k.
Tibetan Saddle, Bridle, and Crupper - The Museum has a special exhibition of Tibetan carpets that began on 16 February and will run until early April. Pictured here is the tack of a Tibetan nomad from that collection. The blankets are from southern Tibet as of the late 19th or early 20th century; the saddle underneath, plus the bridle and crupper (the thing running from the saddle to the horse's tail), are from 19th century eastern Tibet. 34k.
These are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Several had to be photocopied before they could be scanned, since I'd drawn them in a hardcover sketch book and it didn't fit in the scanner.
Darn-dao - This saberlike sword
was the standard weapon of soldiers of China's Qing dynasty, the last Imperial
dynasty to hold power in that country. While the original is really quite
impressive, this sketch is not the best; I think you can see I'm still working
on my sense of proportion here. 13k.
Ceremonial armor - For a better idea
of what the darn-dao I tried to draw looks like, check out this sketch of
a Qing dynasty soldier's regalia. The
only way I could maintain the proportions was to draw the sword in conjunctino
with the mannequin and the clothes that were part of the same display. The
outfit is made from steel, copper, gold, metallic thread, and blue silk. I
drew this in March of 2002, quite some time after the original attempt at
the sword. 32k.
Zen master - Wish I knew who he was, but
the museum's card didn't say. The one in the Museum is carved almost entirely
of very dark wood, but his eyes are inlaid crystal. 27k.
Tang Dynasty horse - I've always had
a fondness for Chinese depictions of horses. This particular horse was done
in pottery and glazed in the orange, white, and green colours you see in a
lot of Tang dynasty art. 32k.
Thin-Faced Man - That's the only description
this poor fellow got. He lived, and died, sometime around the year 150 of
the Common Era; he was one of a group of Greco-Roman mummies unearthed relatively
recently in Egypt. This was drawn from his mummy painting - they painted the
face of the deceased on the outside of the mummy before interning it in a
sarcophagus. The bits in his hair are gold foil, and the area behind his head
was a sheet of painted gold leaf. 56k.
Rafter finial - This is a Korean rafter
finial in the shape of a dragon's head. This one was done several centuries
ago, but I'm told they still use very similar items today. 48k.
Basin detail - This is a quick sketch of
one of the dragons on the side of a whacking big nephrite basin from the Qianlong
emperor's reign. I did this in early August 2002. 24k.
Pond - Also from August 2002. The Met has a
replicated Ming Dynasty scholar's court and one room from such a scholar's
house in their collection of Asian art, and the court includes a pond, and
the pond includes a waterfall and a number of fish. I thought I'd try to capture
the image; I very much liked that waterfall, and the two largest fish had
an appeal of their own. 34k.
Zhanyinbao - Painted around
1760, this fellow was an Imperial bodyguard of the first rank of the Qing
dynasty. His bravery was commemorated by the Qianlong emperor, who commissioned
the original full-length portrait. Apparently he had a very good track record
of attacking the enemy barehanded and coming out of it with live prisoners,
skewering his enemies on his lance, etc. The original has it all in Chinese
and Manchu script. This is my first attempt to copy the picture. 45k.
Aaaand here is my second, done in June of 2002.
Two things you should be aware of: 1. It's in ink. 2. It's a .PNG file. If
that gives you any trouble let me know. Thanks. 16k.
On 6 March 2002, an exhibition began at the Met that ran through 16 June 2002. It was called Treasures from a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art from Sichuan. This stuff is nothing like any Chinese art I have ever seen before in my life. I'm not even sure it's like any art I've seen before in my life - I mean, Whitley Strieber books aside, the closest resemblance to anything I've ever seen is to certain Ashanti pieces, and there's just no comparison. Here, have a look. The bronzes (the first few pieces) are from around 1200 BCE, the lone ceramic piece is from the Han Dynasty.
Bronzes:
Mask with Protruding Pupils - Or, proof that
ancient Sichuan must've had some interesting mushrooms. 21k.
Human-Like Mask - Well, compared to Mr. Boogly
Pupils... 27k.
Bird on a Dome - I don't think I centered this
one right. 12k.
Human Figure in Winged Headdress - Proof
that Galactus
visited ancient Sichuan. And, apparently, originated the obnoxious habit of
drinking tea with your pinky up. 36k. (Note: the 'Galactus' reference is an
in-joke relating to a Marvel Comics character with a very odd hat. Sorry.)
Head - I swear, that's what the Museum called
it. There's something awfully potent about this piece, to me. 32k.
Ceramic:
Horse - The Han dynasty, like
most other Chinese dynasties that had a crack at 'em, was very fond
of horses from the Far West (Turkestan). I liked the look of this one. 23k.
Oh, yes. One other thing, for my American viewers... I spotted
a Western Han vase that made me blink, so I bought a postcard of it. Here's
the vase itself.
Here's the central figure on the vase. The
figure in question is Wolf, a symbolic representation of the wild Xiongnu
(I think) barbarians, chasing after yet being held at bay by the Mounted Archer
(who is, unfortunately, on the other side of the vase).
And here's someone
I think it awfully resembles. Just me?
These were done in July of 2001, from various sources. It was better than sitting around with a head cold.
African White Rhino - The original for this was a photo from a rhinoceros conservation society's web site. 52k.
Baby African Elephant - I don't remember where this one came from, but it was somewhere on the Web. 33k.
Alaskan White Sheep - This one was on the cover of a tourism guide to Alaska. 48k.
I've never been there. These were pictured in the book Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and were also done in July of 2001.
Ptahshepses - This gentleman was a scribe sometime during the Fifth Dynasty, between 2465 and 2323 BCE. 47k.
Supervisor of the Secrets - This is Anpw, or Anubis; the original was a portable shrine in Tutankhamun's tomb. 32k.
All of these were done at the American Museum of Natural History, some in October 2001, the rest in November 2001. I love that museum. I had no intention of letting the then-rampant fear of anthrax keep me out. There's really very little point to bringing a camera to the Museum; all the cool stuff's behind glass, and the flash reflection ruins the photograph. I bring my drawing pad instead.
The Hall of Ocean Life - Known to kids throughout the city as the Blue Whale Room. I was standing in front of the display of stingrays when I drew this - you can see the Latin names in the upper left-hand corner. This was meant to give a sense of the room to my friend Seanan, who had never been to New York before. 58k.
Grant's Caribou - This is one of the two males on display in the Museum's collection of North American mammals. 57k.
Gaur - Bos gaurus is one of the most impressive living cattle in the world. They're endangered, and live in Asia. This male was taller at the shoulder than me. 44k.
Gemsbok - I liked the markings on these African antelope. 58k.
Megaloceros giganteus - There are two renditions of the giant Ice Age deer's skull, one from the right, the other from the left.They were done on two different days.
Asian elephant - Elephas maximus. This female was added to the Museum's collection sometime in the 1920's or 1930's, collected courtesy of the Maharajah of Mysore. I could theoretically get pretty good pictures of her using a camera so long as I used a flash (she's not behind glass), but drawing an elephant is a challenge in and of itself. 35k.
Moose - This fellow's one of the Museum's two Alaskan bull moose. He's right down the hall from the Grant caribou in a display of moose fighting during mating season. 35k.
Steppe bison - Bison priscus was around long before either the wood bison or the North American bison known as the American buffalo. This skull was preserved so well that the one in the Museum still has its horn sheaths. 40k.
Brontops - I can't explain this beast adequately when the Museum's done it for me. Have a look at this page, and then come back here and click on the link to see my rendition of the skull from their collection. All I can say beyond that is: this thing was bigger than most draft horses I have ever seen. 30k.
Okapi - I started drawing this sole living relative of the giraffe thinking I'd be able to fit it all on the page. I was wrong. My apologies, but at least this end of the beast looks good. 32k.
In early March of 2002, I set out for the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Lexington Avenue train station. I crossed over to Park Avenue after Hunter College, and found myself at the Asia Society's museum instead. I've been there a few times now. The collections there have a number of lovely pieces.
Maitreya - The Society had an exhibition on display of pieces selected by contemporary artists from their permanent collection. Included in this exhibit was this statue of the Future Buddha, the Bodhisattva Maitreya. This particular statue was made of a copper alloy and inlaid with silver and black stone sometime around the eighth century CE. The statue hails from Buriram Province in Thailand. 29k.
Western Han woman
- She was made in northern China from earthenware and painted, and she dates
back to the second century BCE. 21k.
Ganesh - The son of Parvati and Siva, this sandstone sculpture is from Uttar Pradesh and dates back to the 8th century CE. Sadly, several of his fingers and one of his hands have been broken off. 34k.
I spent several days this past April at a filk convention in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I do not actually write filk music myself, neither do I perform it; I was mostly visiting friends. I spent a lot of the time that people were singing in doodling, or sketching at the Royal Ontario Museum. Here's a few of the things I did.
Probactrosaurus gobiensis - Look at the size of this dinosaur's eye and tell me it wasn't secretly created by manga artists! Okay, okay, I know, it's just the effect of the lighting. This was from the Royal Ontario Museum, which was hosting a traveling exhibit of Asian dinosaurs fresh from Russian museum vaults. It's a plant eater. I got tired of drawing vertebrae about halfway through and stopped. 36k.
Faces - I wound up practicing facial expressions after a while, just because cartoon faces are relatively easy to draw. Sorry it's so smudgy. 26k.
Ming Dynasty Tomb - Another ROM piece. Or group of pieces, actually. This lot was supposed to be from the tomb of a Ming dynasty official, but it was bought from China in 1919 or 1920 by George Crofts, who didn't exactly do all his research. The museum info indicated that there was a good chance this set of artifacts was from the grave complexes of two or more individuals. I only drew a tiny portion of the replicated tomb setup; this thing makes the Met's Temple of Dendur look like a Fischer-Price Happy Egyptian Family playset. 52k.
Spandex - I got bored and started
sketching Fang, my RPG character. He should NOT be allowed to shop for clothing
at the bicycle store alone. 30k.
Eyes - I needed practice at rendering expressions, and it'd been ages since I'd just sat down and sketched a whole bunch of eyes for no good reason, so - here you go. 21k.
This section contains stuff I've had trouble classifying.
Hsiang Ho - A character of mine from an ongoing Mage game. I've got two pictures of him. This one was done using one of Bon Appetit's chef trading cards as a reference; unfortunately I didn't have a good enough reference for his face, and he looks too Caucasian to be quite right. Oh well. This one, on the other hand, worked out just a little better. Yes, the character's a cook; did you think everyone in the Akashic Brotherhood did nothing but shave heads and kick butt?
Texas Longhorn - The thing about books with titles like The Complete Cow is that they're full of carefully posed photographs that give an artist looking for practice plenty of angles from which to get to know their subject. Here's a headshot of a Texas longhorn from the aforementioned book, although done in a different colour (I was planning it as a possible minotaur morph). 43k.
Polo Horse - 7 March 2002. This sketch is based on a sculpture of a polo pony in the book Ancient China: Chinese Civilization from its Origins to the Tang Dynasty, by Maurizio Scarpari. This is the same book that yielded the mounted archer in the Pens Gallery. I chose not to draw the horse's rider or tack; I was simply impressed by the horse. This particular sculpture dates from the Tang Dynasty. 26k.
Pen Gallery - Pulp
Movie Survival List - Proof That I Am Insane
Chinese History
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