March 31, 2010

Coast Salish Totem Pole

This Totem Pole was sketched from a 1.5 inch photo I discovered in "Hand built Houses of the Pacific North West". I drew it in a moving vehicle crammed in the back piled high with camping gear.  It was drawn with Copic marker and colored with Prismacolor.  Note: Those two markers could work well together if the Prismacolor didn't cause the Copic marker to bleed and blur. My advice is to stick to one type of alcohol based marker at a time otherwise your line work will get wrecked.


I really like the tear tubes!

March 30, 2010

Small Anous

I sketched this quickly while watching Gentlemen Bronco's a hilarious movie from the director of Napoleon Dynamite.  I picked up some Sharpies, but noticed I was unhappy with the misrepresentation I feel their caps give their colors. The caps are bright the colors.... not so much!  At least they were on sale.


I used solid blacks and no cross hatching or shading because the character in question is a sci-fi writer. I left the top of his pompous head empty maybe one day aliens will return his brain.
The fruit loop glasses were done with the sharpies and the rest was done with a fine liner and my current favorite COPIC marker. 

 ~Brianous Batistanous~

March 26, 2010

Who wants this sticker?

I made this hand made sticker, for a contest I'll be launching next week, where I will be sending awesome art to lucky people through the mail....... YES!!! the mail;) If you are interested stay tuned for contest details. You could be the next lucky winner of an original work of art.

Here is a prismacolored mushroom guy sticker for some lucky contestant!

March 25, 2010

Rocketship takes off

Drawn entirely with my first COPIC marker. It is inspired by a piece from a friend Mariko that I have hanging in my house.

I whipped this off before Stevie and Leigh came to pick me up for the mid-week camping trip we took to Southern Alberta's Writing on Stone. It was a BLAST, like this rocket ship taking off;)

DIETY

I did this sketch while looking at a sculpture I have.  Totally free hand in inks, no erasing. I added some color. It is similar to my current body of painting work, but less textural because it is not done in paint.


March 22, 2010

Dog eat dog days

Just when you think I'm falling behind.........

I have been drawing everyday but haven't had a chance to scan and post my latest sketches. I have been hard at work on animation which includes hundred of drawings on top of my regular drawing practice.  My student's at the Aboriginal Youth Animation Project, showed their work at the Plaza on Saturday. I've been lacking in sleep the past two weeks. It was quite the haul to get their stuff ready to screen.

Needless to say this work load didn't stop me from picking up my pencil.
Here is a dog I sketched in a pencil I had laying around. I think the charm is with his goggles and the penile like drippy tongue.

March 12, 2010

Twisted Snake

Much like a Tibetan twisted knot or the devil's triangle I drew this impossibly knotted snake. It was done entirely with COPIC markers from brush to micro 0.05.

March 11, 2010

MORE TOOLS: COPIC MULTILINERS

Here is an example of how fantastic these new pens work. I am addicted to COPIC!!!

This is from my SP set. Look at the variation possible. Exciting!!!

They may seem expensive at first.
However keep this in mind:

You will never need to buy more pens! 
And aren't they so pretty;)
They are refillable, come in a wide array of colors and sizes, you can replace the nibs, the pen feels good to handle, it has an aluminum body, the inks are alcohol (ethanol) based so you can blend them or rely on their waterproof nature.

Mushroom Man

This blog certainly has me working hard drawing everyday just for you, I just hope the pressure increases as more and more people discover my "Opposite Machine".
Tell your friends that there is a rad drawing of a mushroom man today! I saw a mushroom man photo somewhere and before trashing it relegated it to my sketchbook for all of eternity.



It was sketched quickly to get the major shapes in HB and bravely drawn with my Faber-Castell pens. Once again I have foregone coloring with Prismacolor  markers for the time being. Just in case anybody is interested in purchasing the work on spec and dictating the colors they want. Anybody interested in a mushroom man shirt or CD design for their band?

March 10, 2010

Bird Brained (part 2)

I spent a little time working on this one, when I had a few free moments. Locked my door to avoid roomie interruptions (though he did need advice on whether or not he cleaned a borrowed paint brush enough).

I began using my Faber-Castell pens and I began to notice was that they were not as fine tipped as I had once thought. I began dreaming of the Copic fine point set I saw for 100 bucks at Inglewood Art Supply. Fully replaceable parts and refillable inks;)
Why is it that $100 for pens all of a sudden sounds like a great investment?
Because it is............. pens are part of my tool kit.



Here is the bird drawing. I wont say it's finished because I'm thinking about adding color, but am not yet brave enough to commit it to paper.

All images on the Opposite Machine Blog © Brian Batista

March 9, 2010

Bird Brained

It's late. I have people over, I'm still drawing........

Jim challenged me later that night (somewhere around 4 am) to continue drawing into the wee hours.
I was tired and wanted to go to bed because I had to work in the morning.  
However, I am not one to pass up a challenge!!!
He handed me a photocopy with a bird on it as source inspiration. I came up with this, though I need to put a little more cross hatching time into it. You can tell it has some Alice in Wonderland influence in it, must have been the late night movie.

done with my favorite Faber-Castell pens. I am still undecided about a long tale, barely visible in HB pencil below the body. It has the feeling of a coat of arms and the shape on the head adds a regal element.

March 8, 2010

What pumps through my heart?

Here is a drawing I completed while standing in line waiting for the opening of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I added the drips of blood and the ROYGBIV, color after the screening when everybody came over in the weeeee hours and we had an impromptu drawing party. I used my trusty Faber- Castell's to ink the drawing and Prismacolor markers to color it in.




Art. Color. Blood, sweat and tears.

Please don't steal this image or any other on this site. 
© Brian Batista 2010

March 5, 2010

The NEW Opposite Machine

I visited a few blogs and decided to draw and color and new title for my blog.
This was done with my Copic Marker for outlining and some Prismacolor markers.

The Opposite Machine: It makes the reverse of whatever you put in it!!

March 4, 2010

Color markers (Warm and Cool)

My marker of choice is  Prismacolor markers and I have a nice collection developing.

I can say plenty of good things about prismacolor markers, but instead I invite you to discover them for yourself.

The bad thing I can say about Prismacolor markers is that they are very Expen$ive!
I bought my set of warm greys for about $50. Same for the primary and secondary set.
I found them at Micheals craft supply store  for $75. If you have a 40% off coupon it will cost you about $47........ For 12 markers. That's about $4 per marker. They tend to cost about $5-$8 individually anyhow. Once I had my base collection I add to them as I need.

I love color so I keep adding new ones to my collection. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Here is a sampling of the ones I use from the infamous last pages of my sketchbook (the impromptu test palette)

Warm and Cool.



March 3, 2010

My Art Arsenal. Drawing and Inking. Part 2.

I decided to do a quick example sheet to give you a visual idea of the difference between the the drawing tools in the previous entry.  Here is some of the line work I can achieve with some of my drawing tools.


I added ball point pen at the end to give yet another example of a drawing tool I use.
They are in the general order from the list yesterday. Tomorrow we will delve into Prismacolor Color Markers. Fun, Fun =;)

March 2, 2010

My Art Arsenal. Drawing and Inking.

I have been getting a ton of questions in regards to what I use to draw.  
I wanted to offer a glimpse into my current collection of drawing tools.
This is just part one, more to follow!

Sometimes I just pick up whatever is around!

Here are the two tins I was given my my good friend and fellow artist Jim Laing. 
He is the lord of cool containers. These Botticelli tins used to be filled with chocolates at Easter. 
Empty, they fit my collection well. My nickname being 'bunny' adds a deeper dimension.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Here are my tools in order from left to right. 
(Note: Not in order or importance)


PRISMACOLOR VERITHIN BLACK 747

It is great for drawing in finer details because it can hold a very sharp point. It is much darker black than any pencil but works the same way. Note: The shape of this pencil is hexagonal (more like a traditional pencil) so it doesn't get mixed up with the softer more pencil crayon like Prismacolor's.


STAEDTLER Mars Lumograph F - 8B

I have an entire set of these pencils. I mainly use the HB for my preliminary drawing but If I am doing a study I tend to go up all the way to 6B for dark shading. The 8B gets more charcoal like and any number below HB favors a graphite look.


PRISMACOLOR Pencil Crayon PC935 (Black)

Illustrators, creature creators and tattoo artists use these like they are going out of style. They are AWESOME for creating depth, texture and mass/shading on good quality papers......even vellum. Affordable and reliable I highly recommend having these on hand. They erase fairly well on sturdy papers. One thing is they have a soft lead so the tips break often. I prefer a sanding block over anything else to get a good point, I have yet to find the ultimate sharpener.


COPIC SKETCH MARKERS 

Here, in cow town, we have Inglewood Art Supply  which just so happens to have a sale on these markers right now!!! (about $7 each). The best part is they are refillable, they also swear they will last at least 3 years. That's bang for your buck on an under $10 pen. It has two ends, a rubbery tip and a chisel tip. I love these markers, they are great for silhouettes but take some practice handling for other inking jobs. You could ruin everything if you are not confident with mark making with this one.


SHARPIE 

The classic standard Permanent Marker, don't leave home without one.  Yup, they bleed, and most paint wont cover mistakes, it will eat right thru but man, I love these things. Also good for tagging bathroom stalls;) I have a collection ranging in sizes, colors and styles. I like the ones with fine and ultra fine tips, especially when they are new and pointy and rich. After a short while they become good for dry brush technique. I cant remember the last time I threw one of these out.


UNIBALL VISION NEEDLE

I got this ultra fine point waterproof/fade proof marker thru work. It is my primary outline marker. They cost around $3. The ink tends to be a little thin so you have to work fast or you'll get too much ink bleed if you are not careful. I really like to use these to thicken outlines rather than a thicker more uniform tip. That way I get a very hand-made feel.


PENTEL STYLO MLJ20

I got this pen at Mona Lisa Art supply for about $10. It has a hard plastic point that never seems to loose it's sharpness. In fact, the ink usually needs to be replaced before there are any signs of wear and tear. Luckily, the refills are inexpensive and come in a variety of colors. A few years back this was my primary pen, now I have green ink in it so it has become less useful.


PRISMACOLOR PREMIER WARM GREYSCALE

I have an entire set of warm greys. I like the warms but may add a cool grey collection in the future. The set was under $50 and has 10 levels of gradation from 10% - 90% + 3 pure blacks and a colorless blender (Acetone pen). There are two ends on each pen a large chisel tip and a fine felt point. I absolutely love these!!!!! Highly recommended. You can see them in previous posts, like my storyboards. I couldn't make them without these!



CHARTPAK MARKER/BLENDER

The final pen is another blender from Chartpak. They are a single chisel tip marker that cost a few dollars less than Prismacolor. They bleed a lot more and stink !!! For the savings per pen they are worth having a few. I think they are considered PANTONE too. But don't quote me on that one.


ERASERS

I use A STADTLER MARS PLASTIC white  most often, Knead Gum when working in graphite and charcoal (not pictured here). I sometimes use the Blue Pentel Clic eraser (Ze22) However it's not great for covering large areas quickly like the mars plastic. I never use the pink school ones unless it is on the back of a pencil. I find they leave smudges. 




SHARPENERS


As for sharpeners, as mentioned before I haven't found a good one yet but I do carry this metal MAPeD one around, I prefer the metal ones....... let's be honest they either go missing or get stolen all the time! Luckily I inherited an old school hand cranked one. Like this one pictured here, but I don't use it on expensive pencils as they tend to eat them up quickly.












March 1, 2010

MUNSTER Monday

I did a self-portrait in HB pencil today.
He. he. he. Grandpa Munster;)


For those out there who are as big of animations fans as me.......a little known fact: 
The idea of a family of funny monsters was first suggested to Universal Studios in the late 1940s by animator Bob Clampett, who wanted to do a series of cartoons. He never got a reply. 
Boo! Intellectual property?

Speaking of intellectual property........Please don't steal this image or any other on this site. 
© Brian Batista 2010