Danger!

A sort of clunky, sharp lined experiment of Austrian bombshell Marisa Mell. It sort of takes away from her full-lipped beauty...but sort of still works for me for some reason.

The Summer Wind...

It seems as though the June Gloom has finally blown away. Mayhap it is time to hit the beach...

Wednesday in the Boudoir Revisited...

Shootin' Marbles

I Maniaci (1964)

In cult and exploitation cinematic circles, Lucio Fulci will perhaps always be identified with bizarre horror titles (If you've ever wanted to see a zombie fight a shark, may I recommend his 1979 effort Zombie). In the stream of 60's and 70's genre cinema that's often parading before my eyes and in my brain, I've found that I enjoy Fulci's earlier comedic efforts more. The man was a gifted director for farce...which doesn't explain the often farcical leaps in logic that his horror titles usually contain. Anyhow, this quickie sketch was grabbed from a still from his 1964 collection of comic sketches, I Maniaci.

Sex and Fury...

A few posts back, I put up a quickie I had done of Meiko Kaji, and said I might revisit that territory. Well, I sort of did. Reiko Ike was one of Toei studios top stars for 'pinky violence' films in the 70's (if you don't know what they are, I shan't embarrass your delicate sensibilities). Her 1973 effort, Sex and Fury, featured a fair quantity of both and also starred Sweden's Christina Lindberg (star of exploitation classic Thriller: A Cruel Picture...which I also won't bother to explain...if you look it up, you're on your own). Anyhow, if you've ever been curious what a topless woman would look like sword-fighting....look no further. Amazing that it came along years before the internet...

Mood Lighting...

Still June...Still gloom...

June Gloom...

...deserves a touch of the girls of summer...

A Moment of Quiet Contemplation...

Diaphonous...

A word that neither you nor I use often enough.

Wednesday in the Boudoir...

At this point, all I need is an ascot and some Prohibition Bath Tub Gin, and we're ready to go.

Still in the Gardens...

Last Year at Nymphenburg...

The Bavarian Nymphenburg Palace in Munich features expansive gardens which features a variety of classically inspired sculptures. Now, the one this li'l quickie was inspired by was labelled as Pluto, but the trident he carried said Neptune to me (other images of it I found also labelled it as Neptune). Oh internet, you occasionally possibly mis-leading scamp you. As a side note, the palace and gardens were featured in Alain Resnais' surreal masterpiece, Last Year at Marienbad.

What's Cabfare to the Elysian Fields...?

A return to my statue drawing shenanigans. The Lord of the Underworld isn't often depicted when compared to his more sunny or sea-going brethren. The story of his abduction of the fair Prosperina seems to be the most frequently rendered. This one, once again, was inspired by the simple direct statue carved out by the great Canova.

The Galveston Giant...

If you're not familiar with boxer Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, may I take a moment and recommend you go look him up. Even if you don't care for the sport and are somehow immune to interest in civil rights struggles, I'm sure Jack's larger-than-life style of living will be more than enough to keep you interested. The white boxing community threw anything it could at the "Galveston Giant" (I'm not sure that it's merely coincidental that Jack was from Texas) trying to take the title away from him, but Jack held onto it until 1915. It would be 20 years before another black boxer, Joe Louis, would be allowed to compete for it. By then, times had changed, and Louis' reign as champ was heralded by many and even used as anti-Nazi propaganda. In any event, I had fun drawing the big, smug galoot.

The Many B-List Sartanas...

Many spaghetti westerns had their titles and dialogue re-dubbed to turn their heroes into so many Djangos and Sartanas. This quickie was from a screen-grab I made from the '71 entry Django Defies Sartana, which was perhaps the weakest title of the knock-offs though a slightly better movie than many of them. There's simply no beating One Damned Day at Dawn...Django meets Sartana for title umph. Much like there's no beating Gianni Garko, the original and best Sartana. Perhaps I should be drawing him instead...

"Forget Everything Except Vengeance!"

Another "exploitation" quickie based loosely on Lady Snowblood star Meiko Kaji, one of the queens of lurid, blood-spattered Japanese cinema in the 70's. This one's a little rough. I didn't quite capture her the way I wanted, but I was still happy with the lines to an extent. I might have to give her another go...rarely has feral intensity looked so sexy...

Exploitation...Armed to the Teeth

This was a quickie of Maurizio Merli, star of many an Italian thrillride. I first saw Maurizio in the spaghetti western Mannaja (aka. A Man Called Blade). Despite the general power and prowess of a great 70's stache, he died young at the age of 49. My desire for Euro-Exploitation flicks, however, lives on.

The New $13 Bill...

Recreating the interwoven curved hatching that is oft featured on paper money and stock certificates is not easy...but, it can be fun...especially with a subject not traditionally depicted in such a way.

Frivolity...

"People With Ropes Around Their Necks Don't Always Hang..."

Ok, I had to slip in one more Lee. This was meant to a stylized portrait quickie of Van Cleef as Setenza, the aptly labeled Bad.

"When You Have to Shoot, Shoot, Don't Talk..."

It's been said that Clint Eastwood broke off his working relationship with Sergio Leone when he realized that the stories were steadily moving away from him. In many ways, it can truly be said that The Good, The Bad and The Ugly belongs to the Ugly, Tuco (Eli Wallach). In many respects he's the only human character in the film, and I think, one of the best characters in cinema history. The Good is an almost ethereal angelic figure who pops in and out, and The Bad is an almost purely demonic presence. Tuco, on the other hand, is grimy and gritty, and though thoroughly despicable, one can't help but root for him. I narrowly missed getting to meet Eli when Walter Hill tried to cast him in Undisputed, but at 87 years of age, Eli was in the midst of working a Broadway play.

"This Train'll Stop at Tucumcari..."

This quickie called for a little Lee Van Cleef. His hat's way too tall on his head (I even cropped some of it in the scan, and it still wasn't enough), but that's why it's a quickie and not a finely finished work. Still and all, Lee makes for a mighty striking figure. He was quoted as saying that he told his mother that being born with beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to him.

This is Agua Caliente...

This was merely a digression from my embarkation into the world of marble. It was a new paper. It was a new time. I was going for something else. This quickie was taken from a still of Indio (the late great Gian Maria Volonté) from Sergio Leone's For A Few Dollars More. Anyone who manages to share the screen with Klaus Kinski, and somehow out crazy him deserved the recognition of my pen.

I Didn't Get a 'Harumph' Out of That Guy!

Give the governor a 'harumph'!

In Light of Our Theme...Let's Call Her 'Statuesque'...

This was the day I took a break from all that cold marble...hubba hubba...

The Fruit of These First Herculean Efforts...

For birthdays, it's now become something of a tradition amongst one group of friends to do drawings of them for their birthdays. I had previously painted Marciel (you can see that HERE...), and my thoughts on this caricature of sorts had nothing pertaining to his personality or interests exactly. (Who wants to draw a guy collecting turn of the century Bulgarian postage stamps amongst his collection of 1960's biergarten steins from Cleveland anyway?) So thanks to all that statuary I'd been drawing...he got thrown into the mix...

Oh, the Romanity...

This is perhaps my favorite in the series up to this point. I'm afraid I can't remember the title or artist for the piece I adapted this chunk of magnificence from (and I'm in a bit of a rush, so can't do the usual research). I can, however, tell you that I believe he's a part of the famous palazzo of statues in Naples (some of you know what I'm talking about...). I really like this quality of line. It's almost the ridiculous thinness of a Rapidograph, but with just the right flexibility to not have as technical a look. Problem is, I can never remember which quill I did it with.

You Killed My Snake....

Ever since first seeing it in an Art History course way back when, I've always been fascinated by the statue of Laocoön and His Sons. The Trojan priest's grisly fate is a powerful image of contortion and horror. I know I'm not the only one, as several artists sought to redo the statue with the broken bits repaired. Some came pretty close, but no one captured the agony quite like the sculptors who crafted the original.

Breaking News...

We interrupt the Marble-thon for this image that's somewhere between Klaus Kinski and Ludwig Van....More Marble later...

Hide Your Wife...

Centaurs...always running off with people's wives. Nessus ran off with Deianeira. To those of you who only know Hercules from Steve Reeves or...ahem...Lou Ferigno, Deianeira was Herc's main squeeze. Naturally, Herc shot Nessus with an arrow as he ran off with her across a river. While dying, Nessus told Deianeira to take some of his blood, and to give it to Herc if she ever thought he was being unfaithful. Well, bright girl that she was, she later smeared it all over one of Herc's robes...and only after sending him off did she notice that the blood caught fire when hit by the sun. Herc, of course, not one to go down without a fight, tried to put out the flames, jumped in the water (which only made it worse), and tried to rip it off...taking his skin and organs with it. Before dying, he tossed the servant that gave him the robe into the sea.

The Moral of the Story: Don't use centaur's blood as sunscreen unless you want your husband anything above medium rare.

A Well Deserved Nap...

The next greco-roman quickie was from a reference photo of Canova's Theseus and the Minotaur. If you'd been running through a maze all day and then had to fight a manimal, you'd be a touched tuckered out as well, I'd imagine.

And So It Begins...

As you may recall, I mentioned that I had begun looking for images of centaurs for reference for a drawing I was doing for a friend. Naturally I came across the colossal statue of Theseus and the Centaur, by Canova. It's a very striking piece, and I recommend you go look it up. Of course, I could hotlink it...but uh...I don't want a Canova masterpiece drawing away from the pale first image I did in this quickie sketch series. I'm no dummy.

A Herald

This fella was probably the harbinger of the Neo-Neo-Classical insanity that was to follow. I'd been asked by a friend to draw a centaur that he could reproduce to tag his music equipment in order to distinguish it from the ubiquitously black equipment of everyone else. So...centaurs...certainly a motif of the classical age...a little image research later, and I was up to my eyeballs in marble figures. Those to follow.

The Calm...before the Greco-Roman Storm...

A messy quickie portrait in sepia ink. As you may have noticed if you're a truly keen observer, I "blotted" (an industry term for letting loose an unintentional torrent of ink in the middle of your work) on the left eye (her left, smart guy). Some say it enhances the beauty. I'm not necessarily one of them...in case you thought I was preferential to my own work.

Greco-Romanity...

This underdeveloped quickie begins a series of drawings I did of classical and neo-classical greco-roman statues I took to drawing these last few weeks. I'm not sure what drew me to them as subject matter; however, I did discover that I enjoyed the interesting plays of light and dark on the surface of marble rather than on flesh. So, I was able to get some quality time in analyzing anatomy and structural composition while also getting to look at the human form in a different way. Sounds high-falutin', don't it?

The Moose Rider...

That's right, that's right. Once again, my quill was called to the duty of inscribing internet favorite president Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. I'm quite sure you can't blame me for it. This Teddy was a warm-up for something I was working on...but I can't recall what. Sometimes, my warm-ups make sense and often coincide with whatever I'm working on. This one...uh...did not. I feel as though I need to do one of him fighting a laser shark or something...just to get my internet fame up another few points.

Blame Fuseli...

Once again, something less of a quickie, and more of a finished piece. In fact, I don't recall what started this one. It's sort of cobbled together from a variety of reference and sources. It's just...well...it is what it is. And in sepia no less...

"I said 'Good DAY!', sir!"

Guess I can't really call this one a quickie. I'd say it's rather obvious that it's somewhat more involved. At home, I've almost exclusively been using my quills. However, I have a regular drawing hangout where nibs and and ink well aren't really practical. (I've yet to find a pen that satisfactorily mimicked the action of a good flexible quill.) I have a variety of pens that I do like using, but I'd fallen out of practice with them, so I tried to get some warm up work in. I'd intended to only draw the gentleman on the right...then I figured, might as well do the fella on the right. I'd call it an artistic choice that I stopped at the middle-left gentleman...but that was the point that I ran out of steam. Still, a fairly good effort if I say so...

Per un Pugno...of sketches

A pair of li'l quickies. Quick brush pen sketch of directing great Sergio Leone. Then a parallel pen of Mark Damon. I was just trying some quick technique things out, and figured some spaghetti would do the trick.

I'll repeat myself...

You may think this is the same thing as last time. Look closely. You'll find you are mistaken. Similar. Not same.

Something Peter Falk Said About Choosing Hats...

Ignore the title, I didn't know what else to say. (But for that wonderful monologue Pete has about hats, see Wim Wenders' wonderful Wings of Desire). I've had a few discussion with artist type friends about drawing like you paint or painting like you draw. I do in a sense. But, of late in particular, I've wanted my work to be more painterly (a word I've never liked...not because of what it means but it just looks like a crappy word to describe what it means). I'm not sure what I lack in this department...I think part of it is my strong dislike of redoing things, ESPECIALLY if I'm the one that screws them up in the first place. Making a bold stroke may strongly enhance a work...or it might cause you to have to repaint a bunch of stuff...Hmm, this hurdle is high.

The General Steamboat Sherlock Jr.

Today's quickie was an all too brief tribute to the genius of Buster Keaton, who remains my favorite of the silent comedians. I still recall seeing Sunset Blvd. and hearing Buster speak his only line, "Pass." I've seen other speaking films with him since then, but there was something eerie about hearing the great Stone Face utter a sound. Perhaps it was merely eerie because it was in Sunset Blvd. Anyhow, if you've not seen at least The General, you've done yourself a great disservice.

"John, Paul, George, or Ringo?"

I did this as I was gearing up from the Alice in Wonderland Show at the Hive (My March Hare can be seen Here!). Initially I wanted to do something with the strange characters on the train from Looking Glass. Problem is, the book's been pretty well picked over for imagery. On that train, however, you never saw what the beetle beside the Goat looked like.

The King of the Jukebox...

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Louis Jordan...I couldn't have asked for more entertaining subject for this quickie.

A Man About Town...

Once again, my thanks to the Library of Congress for scanning and posting many photos from one of my favorite time periods...look-wise.

Sepia...Puts Things in a Past Perspective...

Since the rise of sweat pants in public, there are oft times when I've wished we'd returned to an age of suits and hats...you know, class the joint up a bit. Then I've strolled outside into a 100 degree blast furnace...and reconsidered my position on the issue.

"You may have the Falcon, but we certainly have you."

How much more can I say other than the fact that today's offering was a stylistic quickie based off the very distinct features of Mr. Peter Lorre.

Eros and Amor...

This is all I have to offer for this most Hallmark of holidays.