Hymn of the Pearl - Palace

This is the line drawing I've been working on all week. I had lots of problems with the perspective and I don't know if I really solved them.

Here are some tonals aka lighting studies in marker.

The assignment was an up view or a down view of a hotel lobby. I decided to do it as a palace for my graphic novel.

Hymn of the Pearl

I chose to do interior of a banquet in Gandhara - the beginning of my graphic novel Hymn of the Pearl for Ed's midterm. I have posted here some thumbnails, line drawings and tonal studies.


Crowd Studies 4" x 6"

Developped 4" x 6" - Exterior Gandhara

Thumbnails - Interior

8 x 10 Lighting Studies

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11 x 17 Line Drawings

8 x 10" Lighting Studies

11 x 17 Line Drawing

Central Library

I did this drawings at the Central Library in Downtown LA on 5th and Flower. I'm going to go there again and draw some time soon and see if I can do a little better.

Crowds - Mucha

Ed suggested we look at some Mucha painting for crowds. These are the ones that interest me.

Ed's notes on crowds

- Treat crowds as abstract shapes

- Pick up T-Shirt silhouette or pants

- Block in architectural shapes

- use dark and light in shadow shapes (this can be done with prismacolor pencils over markers)

- play with shapes and tones

- lead the eye by breaking up the space w/ groupings of people

- observe first and try to create a nice pattern with crows groupings

- go back later and support it

- it is more important to get outside shapes pretty well

- the further back we go the flatter the elipses get

- go back into sketches and make it better by memory

- make sure you know where the group plane is

Ed Li's - 4 Different Types of Space

According to Ed there are 4 Different Types of Spaces

1. Deep Space (i.e. and Establishing Shot - has a sense of depth)
2. Flat Space (2 Characters Simple - no converging lines in perspective)
3. Limited Space (Transition Between Flat Space and Deep Space - Generally a waist up shot - you don't get the sense of the vanishing point in your frame)
4. Abstract Space (super close or really faraway - takes a bit to figure out what you are looking at)

All these shots together give visual variety so you don't get the same shots over and over again.

When you are drawing environments think about
1. SPACE
2. LINE (width and thicknesses)
3. SHAPE
4. TONE
5. COLOR

Ed's words of wisdow

Vanishing points in drawing can be used as pointers - to point to something you want someone to look at.

The more you know about perspective the more you can move away from perspective. The world doesn't always line up on a perspective line which is part of rea world situations. Your design sensibility lets you know if you want to make this perfectly in perspective or imperfect

Organic Environments (i.e. Trees, Rocks, etc. . )

This is this weeks homework for Ed Li's class "Environment Sketching." Each place has three thumbnail drawings and then a 4" x 6" sketch.

Trees around my condo complex, "The Village Green".
Trees around the lake at Kenneth Hahn Recreation Center (up the hill from me).

Rose's at the Exposition Park Rose Garden near USC.

The Meadow at the top of Kenneth Hahn Recreation Center.

Down by the lake at Kenneth Hahn.

Descanso Gardens - Sketches

I did these sketches at Descanso Gardens yesterday in the Japanese Garden with Ed Li's Class.

Sketching Around

Ed Li says "Designing an environment is about how you want to tell a story." I tried to tell some LA stories here.

I sketched on Pico Blvd tonight before yoga. I was near Crescent Heights and I focused on LA Burger.

This morning I sketched in Venice Beach on Windward near Pacific.

Old Town Pasadena

These sketches were down on the streets of Old Town Pasadena on October 17, 2009.

I felt pretty sloppy today in Old Town Pasadena. But atleast I was out there.

Union Station - Quick Sketches

These are some quick sketches from Union Station field trip last week.

Final Color Studies - Hymn of the Pearl

I always imagined this story sepia toned. But it was interesting playing with color.

Tonal Studies - Hymn of the Pearl

Here on the tonal studies I did for the Sketching for the Environment Class based on the line drawing from the scene from Hymn of the Pearl.

Hymn of the Pearl

Thumbnail of the kennels
First Layout

Perspective Overlay

Detailed Line Drawing

I've been working on a graphic novel called the Hymn of the Pearl for several years. The middle of the story is partially inspired by the biblical Joseph story in Egypt. The hero, Gaspar, once a prince is now a slave in the Royal Kennels in Alexandria. At a certain point during his stay in the kennels, Odjit, the kennelmaster's wife, seduces Gaspar which leads to Gaspar's imminent downfall at the hands of Remmao, the kennel master. Before Gaspar is punished by Remmao, a shapeshifter, Neshera - part woman, part eagle rescues Gaspar from the kennels and his enslavement in Egypt.

These sketches are of Neshera, in Eagle form flying into the Kennelmaster's estate. The building in the foreground is the kennels. To the right is the family temple (chapel) The building behind the kennels with the awnings in the kennelmaster's mansion and the building in the top left is the workshops and servants quarters.

I did this as part of the work for Ed Li's Sketching the Environment Class at the Concept Design Academy