FROM THE SKETCHBOOKS: Titanic sketches

From one from my sketchbooks circa 1997/98. Almost 30 years since I did this portrait drawing of Leo from Titanic. I was blown away by the film at the time and just started sketching one day for fun/practice. Once it started to come together, I just stayed with it till I was done. This type of work got better, and shortly after, it would get me regular freelance work at The Franklin Mint, and in mid/late 1998, I was invited into the art department where I had a little cubicle. My own little open office amongst the creative folk. Good memories! 

I used to use a bunch of soft pencil leads (HB, 2B, 3B, 4B) at that time but I've changed my process a LOT since then. I use mostly HB and harder (lighter) pencil leads due to working in licensing art. Keeping it clean and easy to erase is key.

I still have this drawing, although I did cut it out of the sketchbook it was in. Sketchbooks can build up fast and take up space, so I scanned the drawings I liked and then cut and saved the physical pages I really wanted to keep. This made the cut. I still like it. It really pops off the page holding the original in my hands.

It also set my preference as to why I don't like to draw in bound sketchbooks anymore. You do something better than average and it sets the bar higher where I felt I was competing with this when I did every other sketch. Since 2000, all my sketches have all been done on separate pieces of paper and I just kept the ones I liked in a box. I can go through a LOT of paper trying to work something out, and since I work mostly on cheap copy paper, the waste basket next to my drawing table is usually always filled.

Below is another Titanic sketch I did that I cut out of a sketchbook. Drawn around the same time and all done in pencil. It's another one I hooked into and stayed with till I thought it was done.

 

TITANIC - Pencil Sketches From My Old Sketchbook!

Been going through the archives here in my spare time and I got some cool old stuff I've done that I'll share in the coming weeks...Most of it is B.S. as opposed to A.S. Meaning that a certain Great Dane has had such an influence on my life and almost taking up 10 years of it professionally, that I'm now referring to my work as B.S. (Before Scooby) and A.S. (After Scooby)! Actually, wouldn't it be D.S.? (During Scooby, since I'm still drawing him?)

Anyway, here's two scans from one of my sketchbooks that were done around 1997 or so. I had seen Titanic and loved what James Cameron had done with the film. Once again, Cameron had pushed the boundaries of digital filmmaking to it's fullest and this film is right up there with Terminator 2, which also holds up brilliantly in today's world as it did in 1992! Here are scans of two sketches I did during my Titanic phase. I know I have more somewhere. I had a thing for Kate....darn...what's her last name? Winslet! Kate Winslet. Well, obviously time has taken it's toll my memory but I shall fend off the cobwebs. I can guess they were play sketches and I started them and kept at them till they got pretty finished! Still pretty happy with them as sketches. There are some cringe worthy moments in one's sketchbooks but these I still like a lot.