Portrait of David Bowie as Tesla in 'The Prestige'

I was invited to contribute to a David Bowie themed art show in Dallas, and admitting a cursory knowledge of his catalogue (highlighted by I'm Afraid of Americans with NIN mastermind Trent Reznor), I felt most compelled to pay homage to his portrayal of Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.  Having seen and loved most everything by director Christopher Nolan, I felt this was a concept I could run with and keep within my typical aesthetic.  Drawing electrocuted cat = fun!

Challenging myself to work a little larger, and with less comfortable tools, I worked on a sheet of 11x14 bristol board using a Pentel pocket brush pen.  I'm enjoying the line quality you can get with a brush vs a fixed width technical pen, and working a little larger seems to be helping as well.  Hatching with a brush is a little awkward at first, but it's starting to make sense to me.

Posters are available here, and for those of you in Dallas, check out the show page!

Jim Moriarty Portrait Illustration

I love the BBC's modern day version of 'Sherlock'... largely due to their brilliant and hilariously menacing version of evil mastermind Jim Moriarty as played by Andrew Scott.  

I thought I'd try my brush-pen hand at a quick caricature, so I looked at dozens of reference photographs and drew my own (it's always better to form your own version of a subject than slave yourself to or infringe on the copyright of a particular photograph).  

I put the original drawing up on Etsy for kicks as well.

Pocket Brush Fun

My Pentel Pocket Brush continues to be fun to work with on quick whimsical sketches.  I'm starting to get a feel for what it's capable of and how to control it better.  I'll look forward to coming back to these to compare after I've gotten another 10 or 20 hours under my belt.  Most notably, getting those instant fat outlines that would otherwise have taken me 10 times longer to get with a fine-tip pen... those are really fun.

Mammoth Drawings with Brush Pen

This small set of mammoth drawings had me using a brush pen, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes each.  It's certainly a lot faster than working with technical pen!

 

I've owned a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for well over a year, but never spent much serious time with it.  Thanks to a nudge from an illustrator friend, I decided it was time I started making a more concerted effort to get comfortable and confident with a brush.  

 

I've been very focused on pencils, technical pens and ballpoints and tend to think of myself as a pen guy deep down.  But with my commitment to black and white illustrations, it's important to be flexible and well-versed with a brush as well.  In the interest of a loose and lively line quality with some really beautiful line weights, these brush pens really are an awesome tool!