For this research I will describe the artist briefly, what he puts into his sketchbook, what aspects I admire and what can I take from it in terms of using my sketchbook more effectively.
During this research, my priority went to pick 6 artists (at least) which I admired and at the same time, that primarily had in their sketchbooks works in progress, research that they’ve made in order to make their final product (be it movies, graphic novels or paintings) and “incomplete” drawings with notes that explained their thinking process from which you better get to know the artist rather than just finding sketchbooks with finished drawings.
Having to find more artists sketchbooks to study is something which I consider to be an continuous process and not something to be limited by the timeframes of completing this course task so this research will be continually updated.
I chose these artists based on the direction I wanted to take with this course, which is the comic book/graphic novel route and to make pictures with a cinematographic vibe to it , but I added some other artists based on how good their sketchbooks are in portraying the everyday which is the main theme of this subject.
I picked their pictures from different sources, like books, blogs, Pinterest and Instagram which I’ll leave the links at the bottom of this page.
Here are the artists I decided to research:
-Mike Mignola
-Guillermo del Toro
-Paul Heaston
-Ronald Searle
-Frank Frazetta
-Jared Muralt
Conclusion:
Although I still haven’t created a graphic novel or comic book yet, I will definitely try to apply in my work his methods of thumbnail sketching, the notes or descriptions that he places next to his sketches and his construction of figures using basic shapes to create credibility in my characters.
I discovered Frank Frazetta by recommendation of various artists which I admired, of which is safe to say that he’s the artists’ artist or the masters’ master. After exploring some of his work I can see why he inspired and influenced so many artists particularly comic book artists. He mainly draws from imagination, his mastery of the human figure, the light and shadow, color and composition is like the standard that I would aspire to get.
His illustrations are heavily focused on the human figure, but he also draws animals, dinosaurs, mythical creatures, medieval/sci-fi weapons.
All of his ideas start in a his small sketchbook, where he uses it to make his compositions before committing to the canvas, he also uses his sketchbook to practice different poses.
He does a good job in sketching his “everyday” and it serves as an inspiration to sketch everywhere I go.
In conclusion, the aspects I find useful from this artist sketchbook is his method to organise and conceptualise his thoughts or the way he captures the ideas based on how he interprets a movie script.
I also find it convenient to add some words around a sketch with the intent to record a thought process as it is very easy to forget the why behind a drawing you did.
Even in character design, writing is useful to remember why you added a certain item on a character during later revision.
In conclusion, what I can take from this artist is the way he collects his ideas into his sketchbook, his line quality which is achieved through drawing “mileage”, his bravery in taking risks with his drawings by not limiting himself to just copy what he sees but also expanding his drawings so creatively and also the fact that he’s a self publisher of his own comic books, writing the story and illustrations.
When he adds colour and tone to his sketches by the use of watercolour, it just add more energy and dynamic to his work.
Here’s an interview with Ronald Searle:
https://youtu.be/CAphPpFa-sc
In conclusion, what I loved about Ronald Searle was how expressive and full of life his sketches are. He apparently made most of his sketches on location sitting somewhere and drawing the buildings for example, and then added his cartoony figures to help create a story. Those are the skills that I hope to achieve when doing urban sketching for example, to try and add elements to the sketches that reinforce the story that I’m trying to create in order to add more interest to the picture.
Having to find more artists sketchbooks to study is something which I consider to be an continuous process and not something to be limited by the timeframes of completing this course task so this research will be continually updated.
I chose these artists based on the direction I wanted to take with this course, which is the comic book/graphic novel route and to make pictures with a cinematographic vibe to it , but I added some other artists based on how good their sketchbooks are in portraying the everyday which is the main theme of this subject.
I picked their pictures from different sources, like books, blogs, Pinterest and Instagram which I’ll leave the links at the bottom of this page.
Here are the artists I decided to research:
-Mike Mignola
-Guillermo del Toro
-Paul Heaston
-Ronald Searle
-Frank Frazetta
-Jared Muralt
Mike Mignola
- American Comic-book artist and Writer
- Medium: Ink and pencils
- Creator of Hellboy universe
- His stories are based on the supernatural and paranormal
- @artofmm
- One of his many character sketches/thumbnails that he made for “Hellboy - Seeds of destruction”, I like how he sketches every variation for the same character, with different helmets, how he, apart from the main subject, draws every rudiment and sometimes has some descriptions together with his sketches.
On this panel, it shows the alien which he created on the above sketch.
I love how his characters look deceivingly simple, it might look very basic drawing but there is a great amount of perspective knowledge in his drawings in the way that he uses primitive shapes (cubes, cylinders and spheres) to build up his characters, making them look believable and, at the same time, cartoony, a balance which in my opinion, requires a great amount of practice.
Another aspect which amazes me about his work is his mastery of light and shadow, how he manages to simplify and stylise the use of shadows in his illustrations. It looks simple yet accurate.
This series of sketches were made for one of his book cover illustrations, I particularly like these series of sketches/thumbnails because it perfectly illustrates why a sketchbook is a must if you want to develop a successful final picture, it is where all the “blood, sweat and tears” is spilled so that when you face that scary big blank piece of paper (or canvas), you already feel confident because all the hard word and research has been done in the sketchbook, what you do afterward is just “icing on the cake”.
In these sketches, we can see that there is a series of compositional experiments until he found one which he was happy with.
Although I still haven’t created a graphic novel or comic book yet, I will definitely try to apply in my work his methods of thumbnail sketching, the notes or descriptions that he places next to his sketches and his construction of figures using basic shapes to create credibility in my characters.
Frank Frazetta
American Illustrator
Focuses on Fantasy and Science Fiction Illustration
Mediums used: Oil, watercolour, pencil and ink
Focuses on Fantasy and Science Fiction Illustration
Mediums used: Oil, watercolour, pencil and ink
I discovered Frank Frazetta by recommendation of various artists which I admired, of which is safe to say that he’s the artists’ artist or the masters’ master. After exploring some of his work I can see why he inspired and influenced so many artists particularly comic book artists. He mainly draws from imagination, his mastery of the human figure, the light and shadow, color and composition is like the standard that I would aspire to get.
His illustrations are heavily focused on the human figure, but he also draws animals, dinosaurs, mythical creatures, medieval/sci-fi weapons.
All of his ideas start in a his small sketchbook, where he uses it to make his compositions before committing to the canvas, he also uses his sketchbook to practice different poses.
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| Here are is a fine example of using a sketchbook to practice a certain part of your illustration before commiting any final marks in your canvas |
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| Image credit |
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| Some of his preliminary ink sketches for is Tarzan series |
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| Image |
In conclusion, owing to the fact that I’m dedicating most of my drawing time in studying anatomy and it’s different components, studying Frazetta’s drawing process, particularly his sketches, would allow me to accelerate this learning process by not only understanding how the human body moves and how to illustrate it, but also to study the way he does the gesture and how dynamic they look.
I have filled 2 sketchbooks with studies of the human body (arms, legs, torso, heads, etc) before I started this course, but then when I made a full figure, I struggled to assemble all its components accurately, not looking stiff and with correct proportions, it would take me a lot of effort and this artist in particular is a master in this area hence my choice to study him.
Paul Heaston
- American Illustrator
- Does urban sketching and what he calls "domestic sketching"
- Medium: Pen and Fountain pen, does some pencil occasionally
- @paulheaston
I stumbled across this artist on pinterest, and what caught my attention on his sketches was the use of fish eye view perpective on some of his sketches and how accurate they are. Bearing in mind that he does no preliminary sketching, his has the ability to capture his surrounding environment in such a neat and aesthetically pleasing way. A set of qualities which inspire me when doing urban/indoor sketching, and to capture in-the-moment experiences which I eventually will come across in the future successfully.
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| A sketch he did whilst in the car (maybe waiting for someone?) |
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| He has an interesting way of rendering his sketches to create the different light/shadow values |
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| Fish-eye view of a sketch in Starbucks |
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| Sketching his living room |
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| Fish eye view attempt |
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| I attempted to emulate his fish eye view perspective technique in some of my sketches , I like the result but it can bc improved. Need to research on how to do it more effectively. |
Guillermo del Toro
- Mexican Film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, novelist;
- Best known for directing "Pan's Labyrinth", "The Hobbit" film series and many more;
- Focused in Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction genres;
As I was looking for artists' sketchbooks from different fields, I took one of the OCA suggestions to research this artist and I really admire his Da Vinci style of sketchbook making by using words and images simultaneously as a way to record his ideas.
He uses it to draw and write down his concepts and character designs for movies, plan scenes and background stories.
I like the "unrefinedness" of his sketches which helps it to better understand his thought process, how he conceptualises in words his ideas and then puts these paragraphs around a few images makes the pages look in themselves a work of art.
He uses it to draw and write down his concepts and character designs for movies, plan scenes and background stories.
I like the "unrefinedness" of his sketches which helps it to better understand his thought process, how he conceptualises in words his ideas and then puts these paragraphs around a few images makes the pages look in themselves a work of art.
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| Pacific Rim Sketches |
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| Sketches for Pan's Labyrinth |
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| A conceptual sketch from 2010 film "Don't be afraid of the dark". |
I also find it convenient to add some words around a sketch with the intent to record a thought process as it is very easy to forget the why behind a drawing you did.
Even in character design, writing is useful to remember why you added a certain item on a character during later revision.
Jared Muralt
Jared Muralt is a Swiss Illustrator who carries a sketchbook with him at all times and uses it focusing on the everyday, whilst sketching outdoors he then tends to let his imagination roam free and add interesting nuances to his quotiodian sketches. He also likes to sketch people on the street which he then uses these references to help him create characters for his own comic or he adds them to create an almost surreal illustration.
I discovered this artist through his instagram page and I what caught my attention initially was his use of a pocket sketchbook and had a style similar to what I am trying to achieve. I also like how he creates short stories in a small page along . It just broadens my horizons looking at his sketches and puts me aware of the potential of a sketchbook.
Ronald Searle
Ronald Searle (1920-2011) was a British illustrator , cartoonist who specialised in doing satirical cartoons and watercolours in such an expressive fashion.
I was unaware of his work until I started this course, where he was one of the recommended artists to research and the more of his work I’ve got to know, the more mesmerised I became. My initial impression was lukewarm as I haven’t really looked into detail but once I got into studying his mark making ,that’s where my opinion changed. Let’s have a look at the image below for example:
In these sketches, Ronald Searle manages to tell a story about the location based on his mark making. If he drew these locations in a more realistic manner, by making his lines true to his reference, the picture probably wouldn’t have the same impact.
The picture above, was one of the pictures that caught my attention to his work. I love the amount of detail he adds to the architecture and the cartoonishly looking characters that he makes, helping to show more of their personalities opposed to drawing them more realistically.I was unaware of his work until I started this course, where he was one of the recommended artists to research and the more of his work I’ve got to know, the more mesmerised I became. My initial impression was lukewarm as I haven’t really looked into detail but once I got into studying his mark making ,that’s where my opinion changed. Let’s have a look at the image below for example:
For every character that he drew on the picture above, each one had a different mark making based on their character traits, the wealthy man sitting on the table has smoother lines and a round shapes, the “homeless” man has dirtier/scruffier lines and the maid has a mixture of smooth and rounded lines with more “scribbly” ones to reflect her intentions.
By just drawing a three characters a table and a piece of chicken, Searle manages to convey the essential information that the viewer needs to get the message across.
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| Ronald Searle U K store |
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| “The English Club” Adam 1962 |
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| Extract from “Ronald Searle’s Paris Sketchbooks” |
Here’s an interview with Ronald Searle:
In conclusion, what I loved about Ronald Searle was how expressive and full of life his sketches are. He apparently made most of his sketches on location sitting somewhere and drawing the buildings for example, and then added his cartoony figures to help create a story. Those are the skills that I hope to achieve when doing urban sketching for example, to try and add elements to the sketches that reinforce the story that I’m trying to create in order to add more interest to the picture.
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| Although doesn’t look very sketchy, I attempted to add some of his cartoony portrayal of people to this more refined sketch rather than trying to make it realistic. |
Reflection about the research:
This page will be continually updated as I keep finding new and interesting artist’s sketchbooks.
To this date I still haven’t managed to put in practice all of the research made on this exercise. As new tasks arise, there will be suitable opportunities to put the research in practice.
Some of the techniques learned, like Paul Heston’s fish eye technique or Ronald Searle’s cartoony figures, I already almost automatically, added to my technique repertoire, while other techniques are still awaiting for the right opportunity.
Bibliography:
Books:
Del Toro, G., Zicree, M. (2013) Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions. London: Titan Books
Spurlock, J.D. (2013) Frazetta Sketchbook. vol 1/vol 2. New York, Vanguard Press
Searle, R. (1958) Paris Sketchbook. George Brasiller Inc.
Websites:
Muralt, Jared. (2014) 'Sketches' and 'Illustrations' [online]. available at http://jaredillustrations.ch (Accessed on 20-January-2020)
Heaston, P. 2021. Multiple pictures from @PaulHeaston [Accessed 21-January-2020]. Available from: https://www.instagram.com/paulheaston/
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