Vampire the Masquerade Portraits - Davin

"Davin", 2'x3', Ink and Wash on Paper, 08/10/13. 

So I have been taking to drawing at the local Vampire the Masquerade game that I regularly attend. The player above is Caldon "Riki" and is playing a scared/burned Nosferatu.

There are a lot of things about this drawing that I like. I like the way I started to play with the ink lines, creating the 'drippy' edges in places. I also like the line quality, especially in his over-shirt.

I started having fun in his undershirt and making the gasping maws across it. The pattern looks ravenous like they are burrowing out of him. If I continue to do drawings at the game in pen, I will have to do similar things.

"Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult." 

— Anne Rice

Personal Best: My Favorite Drawings of 2012

So I started drawing at the local vampire game and was very happy with the results. Above is of Heath, portraying the Prince in the city. I have one in the works of his wife Shannon and myself.

I for some reason really liked the idea of doing large scale drawings with a G2 pen.  Thinking back on it seems really confusing to me. I think I wanted to work with pen and had not yet bought my new fountain pens, I also did smaller drawings with the G2 pens and like how they came out.

I was planning on the drawings to be reminiscent of Piero Della Francesca's  Duke and Duchess of Urbino. So when I finish Shannon's picture they can face each other.

There are a lot of neat things going on in this drawing. I really like the details of the hat especially how it looks at it's going into the shadowed section.

Above is a drawing of one the students I work with. It came out so good. It's hard to not talk about him.

There is a lot to like about this drawing. I think the line quality and the variation of the lines are very dynamic. The composition on the page is interesting and seems very complete.

I really hope his father, a University of Hawaii at Manoa printmaking graduate, uses the drawing for a screen print. Then there will be T-shirts of this image. 

Above is a drawing of Marianne Cope I did as part of a ongoing Saint Icon series.

I really like this drawing and accomplished  a lot of things I thought. I wanted an image of her older then the images I saw being used. She did most of her note worthy work when she was older and it seemed to me disingenuous to depict her as a young fresh faced nun. So I used a lot of images to piece this image together. 

Above is another drawing from the vampire game. This is of Lauren.

There is a great mood to this drawing. She reminds me of Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. I like the blue shadow under her chin. I also like the violet in her face and forehead. There is a melancholy to the portrait that is really a treat to look at.

So it seems drawing at the Masquerade Games was really productive. I may have to roll another character that draws simply to get good sketches of people in costume.     

I really like this sketch. It may just be random lady I drew at a work meeting but I really like how this drawing came out.

I like how I rendered her blouse. The crosshatching is really illustrating the curves well. I also like the different quality lines  throughout the sketch. The line variation is doing a lot to define her form.

"Every mark matters." 

~ Jo Petty

Vampire Portait 9/29/12 - Chasity Black

So last week Saturday was Vampire Masquerade and again I played my Toreador and did portraits of the local players. I did two portraits that night and the first I am posting is the Honolulu Brujah Primogen Chasity Black.

The player's hair is not blue in real life. The player dug the blue so much that she honestly debated dyeing her hair.

This is a good portrait with a great likeness. I'm actually very happy with it.

Vampire 08/24/12 - Eimhear

This was the second of the portraits from last night.

This is Eimhear the Malkavian Primogen of Honolulu

I really like how this came out. I have been recently really focused on realism in coloration that I forgot not only how good some expressive coloration looked, but how much fun it was.

I normally am against full frontal portraits. However, in this case I really thought it would add to the creepiness of the character. I really had fun with the blues and purples in the shadows.

Overall I am really happy with this drawing.  

"The task of the artist at any time
is uncompromisingly simple--
to discover what has not yet been done,
and to do it."
~ Craig Raine

Vampire 08/24/12 - Emily

Last night my group of vampires got together and I did two good portraits.

The first of them has a story to it. Here is Emily. This is the second sitting for this player. The first time I drew her I was unhappy with how it came out; however that character also died the next game. I should also point out it was the player's choice to retire the character. 

She then created a Nosferatu. So I worked on top the previous drawing. I really like some of this drawing. I have to give Amelia props for her great makeup. It was a blast to draw her character.

 "I can't believe it!
Reading and writing actually paid off."

~ Homer J. Simpson  

Heath Withrow

So working on a series of drawings of my friends rocking their costumes for "Vampire the Masquerade." This one is my friend, Heath.
These are rather large pen drawings; loving how the cross hatching looks on it.