Kingsleys Blog

Flamingo Motel

2011-12-17T00:30:00.001-08:00

Julie wanted a pillowcase silkscreened. She chose the design, I sat there for a few hours cutting and prepping. It was a lot of fun to make. Here's the final and a work in progress shot of the stencil.

Roll da dice!!!

2011-09-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

Legs and things

2011-08-25T00:28:00.000-07:00

Idel hand

2011-08-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Big Bang Theory RC

2011-08-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

One of my ideas for a TBS commercial was for the cast of Big Bang Theory to use a remote to mind control the TBS logo. Turner liked the idea, when it came to shoot it, we needed a good mind control remote. My boss went to a store that has old and odd electronics. He brought back a cardboard box filled with thingamajigs. There was an old rotary phone, tube radio and other odds and ends. I took apart and gutted the phone and radio, screwed and glued pieces back together until the frankenstein device resembled a remote control:

Add some spray paint and a strap from a postal worker's bag:

BBT using the remote, whoooo hooo!! :

In 3D I rigged a little antennae to pop out of the TBS logo. Our master animator, Claude, brought the logo to life and made it look awesome! I'm not sure if the commercial has aired yet, if you've seen it, let me know!

Thanks

Ego Death

2011-06-28T22:56:00.001-07:00

Gettin dirty.

Caboose

2011-01-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

Vlad

2010-11-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

I ordered Fable III today. I can't wait to get it. What I love most about the Fable games is the way your character changes. Tonight I kept brainstorming about it in bed. The only way to get it out of my head was to put it on paper. I thought of Vladmir, a kid who lived during the industrial revolution. Born a pauper, became a king.

TPTB: Roughs for the Forest Orchestra

2010-10-01T22:58:00.001-07:00

Trying to wrap my head around this place.

TPTB: Word Market

2010-09-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Word Market is where all words are sold.

TPTB: Color Script

2010-09-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Next: Rough layout

A warm-up exercise

2010-08-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

My copy in 2B and 4B pencil.

Mme. Pierre Gautreau by John Singer Sargent

My copy overlaid on Sargent's.

It's clear to see on the overlay image I pushed the curves too far. At Art Center I was taught to exaggerate rather than to understate. Slight exaggeration can loosen drawings up and kill stiffness, that's goood. I think that was good advice because it got me to push things farther. Now it seems I need to focus and be more subtle with my line.

My larger forehead makes her look younger. I think Madame Gautreau would have appreciated that.

Lower Extremities & Compositions

2010-08-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Daily exercise: draw draw draw!!!

Exercise: A "real" perspective drawing

2010-08-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

This exercise is about using "sighting."

Sighting is a skill artist use to maintain proportion by comparing relative shapes or lines to each other. This exercise tells artist to hold their pencil at arms length and use their thumb to measure an object in the real world. Once they have that measurement, they can find the proportion of everything else relative to it.

I don't like to use this method when I draw. During a model session, when you hold up your arm, stick out your tongue and squint one eye as you meticulously measure the length of the model's arm to their thigh is embarrassing. I like the old fashioned way of just drawin'.

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 100/100

2010-08-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Finished!
Next time I'll be faster. :)

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 99/100

2010-08-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 90/100

2010-08-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

Only 10 left!
I'm all caught up in True Blood. I love that show. I wouldn't mind becoming a vampire. If I didn't have to hunt humans all night, I'd drink Tru Blood and draw instead. I'd have many lifetimes to become the best vampire artist. I wonder if my mind would change so much that all my art would be real morbid. My only color would be blood. I sound insane.

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 81/100

2010-08-04T04:11:00.001-07:00

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 72/100

2010-08-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

Three quarters of the way there! Can you feel the music in this one?

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 63/100

2010-07-31T03:33:00.001-07:00

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 54/100

2010-07-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

While I work on these film studies I've been watching blocks of True Blood . I finished season 1 on this page. Season 2 and page 7 tomorrow. Tonight, vampire dreams...

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 45/100

2010-07-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

Almost halfway there.

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 36/100

2010-07-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 27/100

2010-07-26T22:56:00.001-07:00

Cranking along..

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 18/100

2010-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

By using only a few values I can focus on shapes, composition and staging.

Film Studies: Around the World in 80 Days 9/100

2010-07-25T16:24:00.001-07:00

100 film studies is my current project for practice. This is my first page and I was rusty. My problem was that I was focusing on everything and nothing. The ones I'm working on today are only value with no line so I focus entirely on composition and shape.

Rabbit Family Portrait

2010-06-15T04:31:00.001-07:00

The Old West

2010-06-10T01:32:00.000-07:00

I watched Deadwood and played Red Dead Redemption. Naturally, I drew Cowboys.

The game "DUMPED"

2010-05-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

These are part of a pitch for a Facebook game I designed. The game is created by Oliver Robins based off his film "Dumped" from 2000.

This project was so much fun. I got really into it and drew everything, besides the Sprite and clothing logo's. Oh and the PayPal logo. But all those rings, and purses.... It was all good.

Semi-Caricature of my Dad

2010-05-11T14:11:00.001-07:00

This was a preparation sketch paint for my Dad's present.

My Dad & Sister's Birthday

2010-05-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

These are presents I made for my Dad and Sister's birthday.

Yakuza

2010-04-07T15:55:00.001-07:00

These were done at the Art Directors Guild last night. Last night was the best workshop yet! We had two models, Jee and Toni and they were awesome together. Everyone had a lot of fun and put out some nice drawings.

This is Yuko from a few weeks ago at ADG.

Bikes!

2010-04-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Girls

2010-03-20T05:20:00.001-07:00

Doin' their thang.

Sketching with Vilppu

2010-03-16T23:36:00.001-07:00

Glenn Vilppu flexing his art muscles for the ladies.

Some people chilling in front of the LACMA.

Soul Searching

2010-03-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I was pretty hungry and I wanted some pizza. I decided it'd be a good idea to pawn my soul again. The pizza was delicious.
The next day my mom sent me a few bucks to get my soul back. When the lady in the pawn shop handed me the toe nail clippings I could tell they didn't look a thing like mine. At the time I didn't care about anything so I ate the clippings right up. Ever since then I have felt like a different person.

Apparently I have been thinking in a language called "Catalan" according to Google. My drawing style has been really strange. I tried to explain the situation to the lady at the pawn shop but now she pretends not to speak English. I’m not sure what I'm going to do. I think I'll start by reinventing modern art.

A little lump on a log

2010-03-09T03:13:00.000-08:00

It's late on a Wednesday, early on a Thursday.

2010-03-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

I canceled my haircut appointment and shaved my head. Freelance has been nice enough to feed me and pay my monthly student loans, but not enough to drop $$ on hair.
It's all good. I'm glad to have a chilly skull as long as I'm eating well.

Black Fire

2010-03-02T15:59:00.001-08:00

I must have had weird dreams last night.

Literati Cafe

2010-03-01T22:37:00.001-08:00

Alison in a cafe today.

American Doodles

2010-02-28T03:01:00.001-08:00

Doodling as I watched the documentary "American Movie." At first, I thought the movie was depressing. Then it looked brighter because it seemed like Mark was working harder and being productive. It ended on a good note with Mark finishing "Coven." I felt good in the end, but I didn't want to imagine Mark's future.

Wolfman

2010-02-24T23:49:00.000-08:00

Marengo Ave

2010-02-22T15:06:00.001-08:00

My backyard on a sunny Monday.

*Update: Suddenly, today turned into a bad day.
These guys made me feel better.

Brain by numbers

2010-02-21T23:57:00.000-08:00

Objects from around the house:

A red haired model from Art Center in crayon. I like this one:

I saw a good movie yesterday called "Alien". From the start I didn't trust Robot Bilbo Baggins.

Friday Night

2010-02-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

I don't want to work at 8am tomorrow. Too bad I love money.

The Affair

2010-02-18T14:13:00.000-08:00

ADG

2010-02-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

These little nudies were done at the Art Directors Guild.

For these next two, I started to slow down. Really slooowww down. These are 20 minute poses. I want to sit in on a figure painting workshop at Art Center and draw a 2 hour pose. Then I'll actually finish drawing the whole body.

Saturday

2010-02-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

My room on a fine Saturday afternoon:

Adam and Maude acting like lovebirds while we watched Ghostbusters last night:

You stay classy, Internet.

Going out of town for a few days. I'll start updating again later next week.

Kingsley Vision

2010-02-12T01:15:00.001-08:00

Why yes, that is a pint.

Happy Lunar New Years!

2010-02-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

This is a commission I did for a company in China.

Some proccess:

Morning exercise: Upside down Rubens

2010-02-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

For this exercise, I had to look at a Rubens drawing upside down and draw it upside down. This was fun and Rubens is so good!

My Rubens:

His Rubens:

Exercise: Copy of Homer

2010-02-10T03:36:00.001-08:00

Here's an exercise I didn't want to do. To start off with, I don't like Winslow Homer's drawing. The only thing I like about his drawing is the girls face, which turned out to be the hardest part.

My Winslow Homer:

Homer's Winslow Homer:

Speed Bump

2010-02-09T02:45:00.000-08:00

Morning hand, scribbly me and some girls

2010-02-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

Negative Space Exercise #2

2010-02-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

Well, this turned out like an ad in a 1970's Office Max catalog. It's the chairs fault it's so boring. Though I did like using the toned graphite ground to draw on. It was very forgiving and it's hard to tell how many times I erased my lines. Moving on!

Alisons

2010-02-05T14:30:00.000-08:00

Morning, GTA, Girls

2010-02-04T17:31:00.001-08:00

Alison's room. I won't apologize for the perspective.

Yesterday, I started playing GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony. This is Luis Lopez in a cage match. What a violent video game, my lord!

These girls were done at the Art Directors Guild workshop on Tuesdays. I noticed that whenever I start a drawing I begin at the upper left hand corner. No matter if it's a head, body or a landscape I begin whatever is most upper left. I have a few theories on why I do this. One idea is because people who read English begin at the upper left and move right. I might have the same mentality when I begin drawing. Another reason is because I draw with my right hand and want to start on the left so I don't smear my drawing as I go. These are just ideas, I'm no scientist.
For these figure drawings I started drawing in random places. Some I started on the right toes just to be an opposite. I find drawing this way a lot more fun because I'm not using the same approach and making the same mistakes.

Boss Huang

2010-02-03T15:22:00.001-08:00

I beat Chinatown Wars last night.

Kevin Bentz's Room

2010-02-01T16:55:00.001-08:00

My view from a sleeping bag at Kevin's place.

Yawn

2010-01-31T10:42:00.001-08:00

Morning doodles

2010-01-30T03:26:00.000-08:00

First thing I do in the morning is draw, usually in bed.

Self Portraits

2010-01-27T22:36:00.001-08:00

I did these self portraits while vacationing in Baltimore. It was cold and snowing and I still enjoyed myself. Overall these self portraits are failures because they don't look like me :( There are parts in each that resemble my face, but not one really looks like me. In my Moms words "you made your face too fat."

The last one, in watercolor, I did back in California.

Negative Space Exercise #1

2009-12-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

For this exercise I had to draw the negative space around an object. After I drew the space around the chair, I filled in the chair details. I did this kind of quick while watching Home Alone 2, so I may do another.

Modified Contour Drawing of Hand

2009-12-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

For this exercise I had to use a hand drawn on transparency from the last exercise, transfer it to paper and render it. I redrew a hand on the overhead transparency. Taped a piece of paper to a drawing board and with a ruler marked the dimensions of the transparency, including the horizontal and vertical lines. I toned the paper with a 4B graphite stick. I looked at the transparency and did a rough sketch of the hand onto paper. After the rough sketch was finished, I posed my hand in that position and drew it for the next hour and 20 minutes. I focused on the lines of my hand like I did for the pure contour drawing exercise.

Figure Drawing at ADG

2009-12-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

I did these last night at the Art Directors Guild.

Modified Contour Drawing

2009-12-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

For this exercise I made a frame out of foam core and taped a overhead transparency sheet over the whole in the frame. Here are photos of what I made:

I clipped the frame to a table and put my left hand underneath and with one eye closed I traced what I saw with a felt tip marker.

Pure Contour Drawing Exercise

2009-12-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

For this exercise I had to draw my hand while not looking at the paper. I squeezed my fingers together and stared at the lines in my palm. My eyes scanned my palm a milimeter at a time and my hand traced what I saw. This caused my hand to draw very slowly and precisely. I set an alarm for 5 minues so I didn't think about time (a left brain activity) for my first drawing, which was only a few lines when I was done. The drawing I posted below was done in 10 minutes and I was happily surprised by the results. While drawing my mind was in full right brain mode and I noticed the music I was listening too sounded like familiar sounds but I couldn't make out the words being sang.

Recreated Childhood Landscape

2009-12-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

For this exercise I had to recreate a scene I would have drawn in my childhood. This exercise was meant for me to reflect on old symbols I used. I think I simplified my shapes more than I would have when I was younger. I had fun drawing this.

My next exercise is to do a "pure contour drawing." I have to look at my hand and drag my pencil across the paper to record my perceptions. I am not allowed to look at the paper as I draw for 5 minutes. The exercise is meant to keep me in thinking on the right side of my brain.

Upside Down Drawing Exercise

2009-12-06T18:11:00.001-08:00

I had to look at an upside image and draw it upside down for this exercise. The point was to no longer think of the parts of the image as a hand or eye, but to look only at shapes and draw them in relation to each other. By drawing in this way I used my right brain almost completely. I know I was using my right brain because I no longer was hearing the music I was listening to and I lost all track of time. When I did switch to my left side of my brain I made mistakes in the drawing. I know I switched because I started thinking about the hands and the eye and how they function and fit on the forms. To think in that way is a left brain activity and since the drawing was upside down my left brain didn't understand the forms and the proof of my error is in the drawing.
First, I will post the reference below, a drawing done by Picasso. The next two images are my 1st and 2nd tries. Below them is a photo of Einstein and my drawing. Just to clarify, The Picasso and Einstein photo were upside down on my desk and I drew them upside down on my paper.

Vase/Face exercise

2009-12-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

This exercise was to help me feel my brain switch from thinking on the left side to the right side. I had to draw a face on the left side of the page while naming all the parts of the face as I drew. As I drew I said outloud "forehead, brow, eyes, top of nose, bottom of nose" and so on. After I was done the first face, I had to draw the same face on the right side, but looking at the other face. This creates an illusion, in my design class they called it gestalt, and if done correctly the image changes from a vase to two faces. The effect that it had on me while I drew, was that when I got to the forehead my pencil stopped and I had a strange conflict in my brain. I then continued to draw the face while not naming the parts any longer and my pencil didn't move as fluid as the first face I drew. The best way to describe how I felt was that my drawing didn't feel natural and I was trying harder. The version below is my 7th try. I added the black circle in Photoshop for clarity.

Pre-Instruction drawing from Memory

2009-12-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

This exercise was difficult for me. I'm used to using reference while working. I probably did 15 different versions of Alison. The top drawing I thought was successful until I looked at a photo of her for comparison. Once I saw her I had to start over and make the second version. For the second version I made a sketch, used tracing paper to trace it and drew different noses and mouths until something began to work. I think I cheated.

Time to start on the next exercise.

Pre-Instructional Hand 1 and 2

2009-12-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

For my second pre-instructional exercise I drew two hands. I wasn't happy with the first one so I drew another. After looking at them both, I kind of like the first one more. Though, I had more fun drawing the second. On the second drawing, I stuck a small pencil between my ring finger and pinky to hold that pose.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

2009-11-30T18:46:00.000-08:00

My quest for drawing improvement hit a road bump this week because Art Center no longer has figure workshops till next term. For the past 2 months I have spent almost every weekday drawing at Art Center. The only drawing workshops I have now are the Art Directors Guild workshop on Tuesdays from 7-10pm and Bill Stouts workshop on Sundays from 10am-1pm. I hear Nucleus has a workshop on Wednesdays, but if it is more than $10 count me out. To fill in my practice gap, I started reading "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. Friends of mine told me to check out this book, but I would ignore their advice because I was already paying a large amount of money to attend art college and didn't want to admit a $17.95 book could help me. After I finished reading the second volume of "Drawn to Life" by Walt Stanchfield (BTW the best drawing book I have ever read) his word became gospel and he mentioned Betty Edwards often. I started reading her book last night and I am going to do all the drawing exercises she teaches and post my progress here on my blog. Here is my first drawing for her self portrait practice:My facial expression may not reflect how intent I am about taking her book seriously, but I really am. If I can improve half as much as her student examples than I will be a happy man. The next two exercises I will post by tomorrow. The exercises are to draw my hand and draw someone from memory. Drawing my hand will be fun because I have always loved drawing hands. Drawing a person from memory sounds like it will be difficult. I know in the past whenever I try to describe someone to somebody and they don't know who I mean, I can usually sketch the person and they know who I am talking about, but the way I draw is with basic symbols and caricature. I'm not sure how I will handle drawing someone from memory but I imagine it will be embarrassing to post.

Updated Portfolio

2009-11-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

I've updated my portfolio website with new figure drawings and website layout. Che..che...Check it out!
http://www.kingsleyharden.com

CTN EXPO

2009-11-24T02:32:00.000-08:00

CTN is over and I had a great time. The panels were very cool and informative. I would like to thank the exceptional artists that gave me a critique and helped me set goals to improve my drawing. Thank you to Glen Vilpuu, Fabian Molina, Bobby Chiu, Ed Gombert and Joe Haidar on your very helpful advice. I have a better idea on what I need to focus on in order to create better work, and (hopefully) reach a new level.

Congratulations

2009-11-19T03:13:00.001-08:00

My mother started college before I was born. She is now about to graduate. We all move at our own pace. CONGRATULATIONS MOM!

sketch sketch sketch

2009-10-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've been reading an awesome book called "Drawn to Life" by Walt Stanchfield. It's two volumes of hand outs that he gave to his Disney drawing workshop students. I highly recommend it!

LA Zoo sketches

Disney studies

Left hand figure drawing

2009-10-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

Did this ol' squiggly tonight with my left hand.

Lincoln Sculpt

2009-07-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

Working on the bathroom

2009-07-22T04:24:00.001-07:00

My place update

2009-07-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

My place

2009-07-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

This is a birds-eye view of my place so far.

Tree design process

2009-05-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Portfolio is Online

2009-05-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

My portfolio is up at: http://www.kingsleyharden.com

Hansel

2009-05-03T03:24:00.001-07:00

"The Lifter"

2009-04-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

I made this short animation in Maya:

Maya environment in progress

2009-04-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

This is an environment I am building in Maya. This is my 1st time using textures. I love this program.

Pages from my portfolio

2009-03-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all the artist who looked at my portfolio and gave me great advice at GDC on Friday.

Sketchbook online

2009-03-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

I uploaded my most recently finished sketchbook to flikr. It's from Feb 08 - Feb 09:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25457973@N03/sets/72157604439557960/

Film studies

2009-02-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

Film studies from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew too Much."

Doodlie doodles

2009-02-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

1st Maya models

2009-02-10T04:16:00.001-08:00

My bedroom:

Airplane:

Drunk portrait and 2 sketchbook pages

2008-07-15T01:34:00.000-07:00

Uploaded my sketchbook

2008-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Check it out cool people: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25457973@N03/sets/72157604439557960/

Character Sheets

2008-04-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

I've been working on pages like these recently. I paint shapes on 18x24 paper, then draw over them in pen.

Pinky's Gang

2008-03-31T07:08:00.001-07:00

A few new things

2008-03-26T03:05:00.001-07:00

Hi

2008-01-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

I'm 2 weeks into my 7th term. These are a few things I've done so far. The girls are drawn in b&w prisma and 1,3,6 cool grey copic markers.

The last final!

2007-12-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

A little matte painting for my last final. The term is over and I'm going on hiatus so I can enjoy my vacation. If you are one of the few people that see this page, thank you and goodbye :)

Matte Painting : "Organica Metropolis"

2007-12-12T02:33:00.000-08:00