asanchez-portfolio-blog

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

1. “Elohim”

(January 2017) My friend had prompted me with the classic question of “where do you see yourself in ten years?” Honestly, I didn’t wanna think about it. The only thing I was sure of was that seven years of Catholic education can lead most anyone down the path of apostasy. So, this was the result of it.

I had a lot of fun playing with the hair and fabric folds here! I was really trying to push how the linework could indicate movement and set a mood.

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2. “Slump” - Observational (9 x 12 in)

(January 2017) I’m extremely lucky to live nearby an art gallery that hosts free figure drawing classes. Over the past year and a half, I’ve been trying to devote myself into better understanding anatomy. It isn’t as painstaking as I originally thought it would be.

Having a grasp of real human anatomy has helped me to pay attention to detail, drawing quickly, and creating more solid stylized art as well!

The bent figure took me about 30 minutes to draw and the one at the top took around 10.

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3. “Outreach” - Observational (11 x 14 in)

(December 2016) This is another figure drawing that I was really happy with! It took me a little over an hour to get the shading just right, and make it seem as soft as the light shining on the model did.

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4. “Up In Space” (17 x 11 in)

(February 2017) There’s no deep meaning behind this; I just really wanted to test out some new markers and ended up having way too much fun with detail! I spent about four hours or so with this, focusing on the helmet.

Clothes and mechanical objects are some of my favorite things to draw, both of which are components to a space suit. Science and engineering is another passion of mine aside from art, and it’s often a good inspiration source.

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5. “Dryad’s Path” - Observational (9 x 12 in)

(September 2016) I was really trying to push how lines can indicate texture in this piece. It’s an illustration of a forest path stemming from my cousin’s back yard.

This was all freehanded with no sketching underneath and I’m still very proud of that fact. I can’t remember how long it took though. Basking in nature made me lose my sense of time completely.

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

6. “Remus” - Observational (9 x 7 in)

This is my friend’s dog, Remus! He’s a shiba inu and husky mix and likes booping people with his nose. I took the chance to sketch him while he was napping even though I drew him with his eyes open.

Drawing animals proves to always be a challenge due to their wildly different anatomy but, having real references helps with that so much. (I doodled wings however, because Remus is a good boy.)

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7. “Corvus” (9 x 12 in)

This is the man of my dreams and he haunts quite a lot of them. He’s a malicious plague doctor who only speaks in poetry. Doctor Corvus also has a perpetual bloody nose, though that blood smells an awful lot like alcohol.

It took me three sketches to be satisfied with this. I needed to get the image of him out of my head so, it was a rather cathartic process.

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

8. “Malcolm Everdread” (5 x 8 in.)

This was a gift I had drawn for a friend. Malcolm is his own character and I fell in love with his design and color scheme so, I just had to make my own interpretation.

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

9. “Courtyard” - Observational (11 x 14 in)

I interned at an art gallery earlier this year and it was an amazing, amazing experience. They also had a very pretty courtyard that I spent a lot of time in. I tried to draw it out of sentimentality, as well as a flower in there with amazing petals.

I tried not to focus too technically here, instead trying to simplify the subjects but indicate their signature shapes and colors. I recall I spent upwards of two hours on this.

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10. Sketchbook Pages - Summer 2016 (5.5 x 8.5 in)

Here are some sketches I’m still pretty proud of. They’re still fairly recent, though it’s interesting seeing progression. I think I’ve really improved on steady lines and anatomy over the past year by a lot.

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

11. Sketchbook Pages - Winter 2016 (8.5 x 10.5 in)

It was around winter of last year when I really started developing a fondness for drawing clothing. Textures are just a fascinating thing to try to replicate. Still pretty satisfied with these sketches.

[asanchez-portfolio-blog]

12. Sketch Pages - Spring/Summer 2017 (5.5 x 8.5 in)

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13. “Kaibigan”

(November 2016) This was a gift I made for a friend which I thought I’d lost along with my old laptop. It’s a sketch of us, because we missed each other and I thought it would cheer her up.

She had saved the image, and though it’s not the best resolution, I wanted to present this anyway since it’s a toe dipper into digital art. The second image is the initial sketch I made, which my friend thankfully had saved as well. You get that progression.

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14. “A Break”

(September 2016) In high school I was part of a game design club and I created concept art for a character we planned to have. Though I now cringe at the clothing design I made, I had way too much fun playing around with the fabric and angled crease lines.

It’s another toe dipper into digital art. All my digital art experience up until now has taught me one thing: back up all your incomplete works. This was graciously saved by one of my teachers, who ran the game design club.

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15. “Florence”

(Digital: Dec. 2016 // Sketch: October 2016)

This is concept art for a character and story that I’m writing. I thought it would be interesting to add a comparison of a digital medium to a traditional one.

I’ve found it hard to translate certain traditional sketching skills into digital art, but I want to keep practicing for a polished look.

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16. “Dance Like Old Times” (11 x 14 in)

(July 2017) This is the most recent and perhaps my favorite piece. I drew this for a story I’m writing in which. To sum it up shortly, a girl gains the ability to see and hear ghosts and discovers that her dead childhood friend had been lingering to protect her from abusive relatives. They grew up together, in a weird way.

I payed special attention to the movement of the characters in this, as well as the lineweight so that the image would not appear too flat despite it being uncolored. I can’t bring myself to color it until I can get access to a good scanner and save the linework digitally before proceeding to experiment. I also hope I captured a certain mood, perhaps of joy, disbelief, and sentimentality.

Though I’m happy with the line quality, I wish I had added more depth to this. There will definitely be many re-dos of this piece and I look forward to experimenting with the scene!