The 15-30-45 Challenge: Round One

Today I got a huge burst of energy for Archbrook, which I knew I had to pursue or risk the sweaty hands of regret pinching the backs of my ears and generally making me uncomfortable. So instead of finishing the Clive 30 and 45 minutes drawings, I wrote my first ever horror chase scene. Good fun, though it's ironic that writing a scene which will play out the quickest seems to be taking up the most paper and time.

All that being said, I did polish off the Devon page.The fifteen minute Devon was drawn entirely as the previous drawings have been done, using a mechanical pencil and naught but my own brain for reference. Well, almost. I did up a rough proportion guide for myself by using a ruler and eyeballing it. I'm one of those jackasses who likes to skip reading the manual and just figure out computer programs, furniture assembly and women all by himself. This is an instinct I've been able to get away with for the most part, but with drawing I am going to have to fight it every step of the way.




Knowing I had double the time for 30 minute Devon, I tried to be more ambitious and use a picture of a model for reference. This resulted in a less cartoony width to Devon which undercut the tall and thin build I want to use with her - I want her to be one of those women that remind you of gazelles, though that comes down as much to body language as dimensions. I also tried to make the pin stripe pants work a bit better by using more widely spaced lines, but in the end I abandoned the pattern.





By 45 minute Devon I not only gave up on the pinstripe pants, I decided I should try drawing her in her work clothes (remembering one cynical remark a former co-worker of mine made about the reason most superheroes are drawn wearing tights - it's easier to draw "naked" people). I didn't use model this time, but I did crib a little from the art of Pia Guerra for clothing and hair details. I figured that I could do worse than to have a look at the style of a woman who draws a world-spanning series with less than four male characters.

Meanwhile, I tried my experiment with overlaying a sketch on a photo and was generally disgusted. This is due entirely to trying to use a photo of a sketch instead of a high quality scan. So I checked with Professor Barnard Q. Budget and he said I could get a decent scanner/printer next weekend. Thanks Professor Budget, you're such a nice guy! Man, now I totally feel bad about hitting on your wife last week.