The Human Canvas - A No Frills Dragon!

Okay. 

SOME Frills.

This one's fairly straight forward.

A nice step-by-step representation

on this one.

...And it MAY be amongst 

the best coupla dragons to date 

(on a Human Canvas, that is).

A link to one of

my other recent favorites is HERE,

and a rant about me not being able to draw

them a certain way, HERE.

I just finally stopped 

referring to them all as Smaug. 

Especially with the movie about to

come out and all. 

If you've been living in a cave,

that's The Hobbit, I'm referencing.

If you've been living in ancient Dwarven caverns...

then you already knew.

I actually started
with a couple of yellow lines
for a reference point. I wanted to maintain
this figure-8 shape.

Though in this case, 

I was really thinking of the symbol 

for infinity.

I also have come to

love the fact that little errors,

or imperfections - don't really matter.

They'll be covered up, or worked into the design,

at a later point.

And I've noted - 

This seems to be on its way 

to becoming my own amalgamation of the dragon. 

A bit of the European and the Asian variety...

and whatever else is there.

And I'm wondering - 

wouldn't it be okay in this case to say "Oriental"?

I mean... we're talking about something exoticised 

from some mysterious other place,

or place of the other,

right?

Anyway - 

Done. Except that I had 

forgotten to draw in a garter as well. 

This was the original intention.

Another intention was to show off the boots.

And now both pieces together.

And now a few shots 

of the fading process. I'll have to double check 

my info on this, but I believe these next three shots 

were consecutively on the next days after the session, 

which was on a Sunday.

The shot above - 

wear from clothing and from a short sleep.

Thanks to this canvas, we MAY know now that tighter

clothing will actually protect the piece. Looser

clothing will rub accross it more often.

Even something gently layed,

like a shawl.

We saw this about a month later.

Showers, sleep, AND a change of

clothing  wore these off over the next two days.

And earlier... 

Did I say BOTH pieces together? 

The two shown here were actually only 2 of 3 that

day. The next... A wonderful experiment.

A successful one, I think.

Check back. 

It's on the way.

The Human Canvas - St. George and the Dragon... and Liz!

Liz.

Remember her?

I did a kind of randomesque

piece  on her in the middle of a disco at

a Dr. Who convention a couple

of years ago in LA.

Well, two pieces I guess - if you count both arms.

That's her hubby, Vasilios, standing in the background.

He was the one providing music for the disco.

This was a fun, fun night!

But back to THIS night. Again - a fun one.

I hadn't seen Vasilios OR Liz... or most of the other

folks there that evening in

quite some time.

So... St. George and the Dragon! 

And Liz!

(((I'm having trouble flipping this picture. I have NO idea why!)))

Legend has it that St. George happened

upon a road which went through an area where

people appeased a local dragon with a couple of sheep

per day, serving as a sort of "protection fee".

Much like what hoodlums may demand

of a small store owner.

Except for that part about the sheep.

Anyway, St. George had been asked to

stay OFF this road, but he vowed to remain.

While in conversation with a local princess, the dragon

reared out of the lake, St. George showed the sign of the

cross, wounded the dragon, then fitted it with

the girdle of the princess,  afterwhich the

dragon followed her around

as gently as a pet.

But then later, he killed it anyway because the local
peasants were frightened.

Or something like that.

St George and the Dragon

is ALSO a really cool number on Toto's

second album, Hydra.

They've kept with the sword motiff for many

of their last 30ish years...

...And this may be the REAL reason for me

naming this session as I did. 

Although with swords of this type generally having a

cross-shape, it seemed to fit.

St. George and the Dragon...

...and Liz!

Another shot for contrast...

...And another with a bigger smile.

Thank you Liz.

And thank YOU for stopping by...

and MAYBE... for being the next canvas.

I'm ALWAYS looking.

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The Human Canvas at the After-Party!

Meet Ralphyy.  

And that's NOT a typo.

A koi has become kinda quick by now...

Still though...

I DO like to get the step-by-step shots.

This'n turned out well, and it's a cool process...

Which makes for a cool slideshow, if yer so equipped.

So...

Meet Ralphyy Bardoux, guitarist with 

Dead End Gypsies.

I'd gone to see Cam Loves LLND 

at The Wire in Upland California. When Ralphyy 

walked into the venue, dark as it was, I thought Vinnie 

Vincent was walking up to the stage to sat hi to Cam. 

It was DARK, okay? And out here, you really, truly, DON'T know who's gonna walk into ANY club.

It was a cool night, 

with Cam's band being the best of the evening. Original material (I do believe) throughout their set.

Rounding out the group - Tommy Lopez on drums, and brothers Adam and Ryan V, on lead guitar and bass, respectively. 

I met Cam through another 

friend out here, and I have to say... 

His story got my attention.

Cam introduced himself to me by 

saying that due to some unfortunate circumstances 

(which I don't know if I should go into here), 

he had died - then been brought 

back to life. 

He did some musical reorganization, 

has been cranking out new material, and recently 

appeared onstage with Carlos Cavazo 

(you know...the guy who 

replaced Randy Rhodes in Quiot Riot? 

Now in Ratt? Yeah, him).

Cam told me all this, and my first thought was, 

"Jesus! He got to play with Carlos Cavazo? 

At THAT age?"

It wasn't until WAYYYYyyyyy... 

later that I thought to myself, "Wait a minute. 

Did he say he died, and was 

brought back?"

But that's another story.

It was great to catch this band, 

though Cam told me later that the size of the 

venue severely prohibited some choreography which 

would normally be included. 

I'd totally go see these guys again though. 

And I truly appreciate being invited to the after-party. 

This is where the Human Canvas session 

with Ralphyy took place. 

Besides Ralphyy, 

I did another canvas that night. 

Unfortunately, this is the only photo from that one. 

I think I kinda petered out on the mid-section, toward 

the tail. I DO however like the color blend on the 

TIP of the tail. I also quite like the head, 

and the little burst of fire.

Oh well. Ever learning. 

I DID crank out a REALLY nice dragon 

on a friend a few weeks later. 

We'll get to that.

Having to work rather early 

in LA the next day, Ryan was amongst 

the the first to leave. While I WAS able to get 

right next to the stage for some photos earlier in the 

evening, Ryan was always on the other side. 

So - he DID oblige me with a photo 

on his way out the door. 

But given his look, the photo didn't seem quite right... 

Until we struck a fitting pose.

Thanks again to everyone, 

canvas or not, involved in making this night a success! 

It was a great night of great music. Also, some new friends, 

and the continuing adventures of the Human Canvas... 

In all SORTS of surroundings!

Thanks again, Cam.

And thank YOU.

For stopping by, for spreading the word, 

And MAYBE even for being the next canvas! 

I'm ALWAYS looking!

I CAN'T Seem To Draw Dragons Facing Toward The Right!

Well...Except for this one, maybe.

Don't mean to sound defeatist. I guess it's not so much that I CAN'T...I just tend NOT to. 

Maybe it's a right-handed thing.

I've done two Human Canvas sessions with dragons. The first was in Riverside, California.

The next was a couple months later...in Istanbul. 

This one was the third of THREE done one night at Arsah. THE place to go, if you find yourself in Istanbul. 

Seriously.

 I was, of course, happy to have done these sessions...

...but I think my best dragons, so far, have been on paper.

Not this one. This next one was an experiment in a much more loose style than I tend to use. 

Truly - holding la pluma very loosely... and see what happens. 

So, going back to something more in the style of how I tend to work...but staying with the whole Bilbo and Smaug thing that came out of the first one...

Beyond the whole Hobbit thing, I've been toying around with an idea for a future Human Canvas session.

...One which will incorporate a dragon, a castle...PROBABLY some subtle theatre masks thrown in...and DEFINITELY Marvin the Martian. 


I'm not so proud of this first one, but I'm trying to include some of the IDEA sketches - no matter how rough.

Oh yeah. Finally. One with Marvin.

I JUSsssssst gave this to the person who inspired it.

What really struck me, besides noticing that they ALL faced left...

 ...is how SIMILAR some of them turned out.

Drawn several days apart...without referencing the other(s). These next two are the most glaring examples.

Hell, even when I departed from dragons (for like - a day)... 

...Even THIS guy ended up looking' left.

Though, truth be told, 

this wasn't my concern at the time of this drawing. 

I remember simply wanting to incorporate more of the page.

So...

...Closing then with the same pic we opened with. 

The ONE dragon facing t'other way. 

Some day...SOME day...

...which way the dragon faces might actually matter. Meantime...just me noticing a few tendencies, once I realized there were enough of one certain type of drawing to warrant its own category.

And I'm SURE that whoever made this rug (again, from Arsah, in Istanbul...

...I'm sure they intended for SO much more than to have dragons sand fish strewn all over.

But at least I vacuumed.

But HEY!

Here's that all important message!

I think I'm JUST about to draw a dragon 

facing t'OTHER way!

Get ready Shaelyn.

This along with another celebrating 

you being the canvas getting the 100th drawing!

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