Art of Zachary Knoles

365 Pages: Week 20 (Armor Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:10:23 +0000

Week four of costume studies! More armor drawings, using figure reference for the poses and all my previous studies for the armor. All the poses incidentally are from female models, but I didn’t do anything to “feminize” the armor for the female figure — I just drew the armor as-is from the reference, which I suppose makes it all “reasonable armor,” seeing as they’re all based on historic sources.

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Pose reference by Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Hong Ly, Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Hong Ly, Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Marcus J Ranum

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Pose reference by Marcus J Ranum

365 Pages: Week 19 (Armor Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:48:28 +0000

Week three of costume studies, and just as promised — more armor drawings. A page of helmets, a page of cuirasses, and then a whole bunch of pages just drawing armor from reference. I’m still pretty unfamiliar with armor in general, but drawing it over and over again seems to be a good way of getting those forms into my head.

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Armor reference: A Knight and His Armor by Ewart Oakeshott

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Armor reference: European Armour in the Tower of London by Arthur Richard Dufty

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Armor reference: European Armour in the Tower of London by Arthur Richard Dufty

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Armor reference: European Armour in the Tower of London by Arthur Richard Dufty

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Armor reference: Heraldry and Armor of the Middle Ages by Marvin H Pakula

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Armor Reference: Arms and Armor by Paul Martin

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Armor reference: European Armour in the Tower of London by Arthur Richard Dufty

365 Pages: Week 18 (Costumes and Armor)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:58:11 +0000

More costume studies this week (from the same book as last week, Historic Costume in Pictures), with a few pages trying to analyze the layers of clothing that make up a particular costume, although I ended up just making up the layers that I couldn’t see. And then I spent a couple of pages specifically studying armor, after A Knight and His Armor by Ewart Oakeshott, which has some great diagrams and even better explanations.

Probably going to continue armor studies into next week, as dry a subject as that might be. But I also picked up a book from the library on 1930s and 40s fashion, so I might also take a break and switch over to that if I feel so inclined.

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365 Pages: Week 17 (Costume Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:24:21 +0000

Let’s talk about costumes.

I draw a lot of figures. It’s a subject I really enjoy, probably more than any other. And because I’ve drawn the figure so much, it’s something that comes fairly easily to me.

But something happens whenever I try to draw costumes on those figures, which is that my mind goes blank. I struggle. I have no idea what to draw. I just don’t have the memory library to invent even the most basic of costume ideas. Everything that comes out is a half-remembered cliche, and anything I use from reference feels like I’m copying by rote. I just don’t have a strong enough visual library when it comes to costumes.

Well, this week I’m trying to remedy that. This week is costume studies from an old Dover book, Historic Costume in Pictures. Which is apparently not an accurate survey of the actual clothing of the period (if the Amazon reviews are to be believed), but I think it’ll do for my purposes, which is just to practice costumes at all, and to get into my head some of the common details that show up all the time in fantasy-ish clothing and armor.

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Lure

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 02:00:15 +0000

New digital painting! Technically my first new painting of the year, if you don’t count the three weeks of personal paintings I did back in March. In any case, it’s my first painting of the year outside of my daily pages, which makes it something of a milestone — proof that I’ll have more to show at the end of the year than just 365 pages of studies and exercises.

After a photo by Jessica Truscott, painted for her Creative Challenge #21.

365 Pages: Week 16 (Anatomy Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:11:02 +0000

Anatomy studies, week three — diagrams of the hands and feet, followed by studies of the torso. This concludes my anatomy study for now. I may do more focused study in the future, but right now I think I’m ready to move on to other things.

It’s easy, when immersed in a complex subject such as this, to let yourself get carried away and think that anatomy is the most important part of a drawing, or possibly even the only important part. There’s always more to learn, and always more you don’t know. But before we let ourselves get carried away, I’d like to quote a passage from the preface of Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist:

The student should not assume that it is necessary to be correct at all costs in these matters of bone and muscle. [...] It is true that the student must work at first to be correct, but he should never forget that there is little virtue in sheer correctness. Ultimately, he should propose — right or wrong — to be convincing. [...] I believe, in fact, it is those aberrations of the anatomical truth that so often make a piece of work personal and exciting.

This, in a book about the study of anatomy, telling you right at the outset that perfect anatomy isn’t everything. How about that?

And so I conclude the last page of this week not with more anatomy studies, but some regular old figure drawings. Drawings that are certainly informed by all the study of the last three weeks, but otherwise not trying to focus on anatomy. Just drawing.

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365 Pages: Week 15 (Anatomy Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:24:24 +0000

Anatomy studies, week two — hands and feet. Technically these are probably less “anatomy studies” and more just hand/feet studies in general, as I was more focused more on the drawings and less on the anatomy itself. Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist is actually less useful in this regard, because its diagrams of the hands and feet reach almost medical levels of detail, making it harder to simplify the forms for drawing purposes, plus there are fewer views than I’d like — only three of the hand and four of the foot.

So instead I focused this week on simply drawing feet from photo reference and trying to glean whatever anatomy lessons I could from that. The result looks fine, but I think I might go back and diagram the hands/feet anyway (from a different anatomy book probably) before moving on to the torso. It might seem like an arbitrary step, but it does help — I’d like to know what I’m drawing, not just draw what I’m seeing.

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All reference this week by Marcus J Ranum.

365 Pages: Week 14 (Anatomy Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 07:12:19 +0000

All right, we had our fun with three weeks of painted nudes, now it’s time for the boring stuff. It’s time to study our anatomy. I suppose if there’s anything that prepares a person for some dedicated anatomy study, it’s three weeks of painting figures from imagination and realizing how much you don’t know about the human body.

This week is arms and legs. Next week (I’m thinking) will be hands and feet. And the week after that will be the torso and head. I might flip the order, I haven’t decided yet, but a total of three weeks of dedicated anatomy study is what I’m doing next.

Obviously, I could spend more time on this. Three weeks is obviously not enough to learn everything there is to know about human anatomy. If I wanted to, I could probably spent the rest of the year on this, but you know what, there are a lot of other topics I also don’t know enough about besides anatomy, and I have to fit those things in sometime this year too. So I’ll just have to be satisfied with three weeks of dedicated study.

Besides, it’s not like I won’t continue to practice my anatomy in subsequent pages while also working on other topics. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll have plenty of opportunity to keep painting the human figure. Just call it a hunch.

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Reference from Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck

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Reference from The Nude Figure and The Figure in Motion by Mark Edward Smith

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum and Hong Ly

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Reference from The Nude Figure and The Figure in Motion by Mark Edward Smith

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Reference from Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck

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Reference from The Nude Figure and The Figure in Motion by Mark Edward Smith

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Reference from The Nude Figure and The Figure in Motion by Mark Edward Smith

365 Pages: Week 13 (Personal Paintings)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:46:40 +0000

Okay, I lied. One more week of these, this time focusing on the male nude, which I’m unfortunately a lot less practiced with. Probably lots of anatomy mistakes in here, which I’ll have to remedy with future study. In any case, these were still a blast to paint, and I hope they’re at least somewhat close to the same level as last week’s.

Also, this was completely unintentional, but it seems my last page of this week ended up a sort of mirror of the first image in this whole set, the one that really kicked this whole series off in the first place. I’ve never had that happen before, but it seems quite fitting.

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Pages 73 and 90, side-by-side:

365 Pages: Week 12 (Personal Paintings)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:25:32 +0000

Seven more personal paintings, continuing the same theme as last week. I think I’ve got it all out of my system now, which is good because I don’t think I can maintain this kind of daily output — I’ve basically been finishing, on a daily basis, pieces that normally would have taken all week. Still, it’s a sign that I’m getting faster, and also that I’m settling into a steady method for approaching a painting without reference. Now the next step is to take it further, add costumes or backgrounds, different compositions, different lighting, etc., and overall build on everything I’ve learned thus far.

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365 Pages: Week 11 (Personal Paintings)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:23:24 +0000

So far, I’ve used this project mostly for studies and exercises, things of that nature. This week I wanted to switch it up and do something a little more creative.

I’ve heard actors sometimes describe acting as an “interpretive” art rather than a truly “creative” one, because you’re often just bringing your interpretation to material that’s already been written. Sometimes I feel that way too, about painting from reference — that, even though I’m bringing my own interpretation and artistic touches to a piece, ultimately the best I can do is interpret something that already exists.

Obviously, there’s more to it than that. And reference is, of course, an absolutely indispensable tool for any artist. But that’s just how it feels sometimes. And sometimes I just want to take a blank canvas and start painting, and see what happens.

So this week, I’m just doing some free-form painting. Just throwing down some paint and some lines, and see what emerges — let the canvas tell me what it wants to be, so to speak. While I’m not exactly focusing on study with these, it’s also an opportunity to see if I can apply some of the things I’ve learned over the last couple months.

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365 Pages: Week 10 (Frazetta Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:04:22 +0000

This week: Frazetta studies! So here’s something I’ve always known I should do but never have: copy the works of the old masters to learn how they paint. I suppose Frank Frazetta isn’t strictly speaking an “old master” (according to Wikipedia), but he was nevertheless a titan among illustrators and someone well worth learning from.

You may notice that two of these studies — pages 64 and 69 — are both copied from the same painting. That’s because I did such a horrible job with that first one (not really understanding what I was doing or what my approach should be), and then learned so much from all the next ones, that I wanted to try again with the same piece. The difference between the two is so startling, I thought I’d show them side-by-side, for contrast.

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Pages 64 and 69, side-by-side:

And … a page of figure drawings (actually the first page of the week, but it seemed more appropriate to post it out of order). Because I needed a break from all the drow last week.

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365 Pages: Week 9 (Drow Week)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:56:57 +0000

Drow week! So for this week’s pages, I wanted to continue with my goal of trying to be less reliant on photo reference, and so I set two constraints on this week’s studies: 1) Use only my own life drawings for pose reference, and 2) Draw every character as a dark elf. Doing this lets me work repeatedly within a consistent theme, and also forces me to change existing details and/or invent new ones like costumes and props.

I’m not that great at coming up with costumes off the top of my head, and so I think most of these fall into the realm of standard fantasy cliche. But honestly, costume design is a whole area of study that I’ll need to focus on all by itself, and right now I’m just trying to break myself out of that photo reference comfort zone.

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365 Pages: Week 8 (Color Experiments)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:08:20 +0000

Continuing with color experiments this week, plus a couple pages of taking a break with figure sketches. Still trying to push myself to be less reliant on photo reference, so along those lines the last page in this set is different from the others in that I didn’t use photo reference at all. That page was drawn using my own life drawings as reference, which gives me the pose but little else, and so it forces me to fill in the gaps myself. Not sure yet how successful it is, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum

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365 Pages: Week 7 (Color Experiments)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:46:15 +0000

Split theme this week. The first three pages are rough fantasy-themed concepts and brainstorming, and the next four are color exercises in the form of portrait studies.

I switched gears mid-week because I felt uncomfortable with how these concept thumbnails were coming along, like I wasn’t ready to jump into these quite yet. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out the proper way to make things up and have them seem natural and not just visual cliches. I don’t think my inner reference library is strong enough yet. That’s okay, it’ll be a nice signpost to look back at six months from now and see what kind of progress I’ve made.

For the second set, I switched to more portraits from reference, but I’m trying break away from always just copying the photo reference, so I decided to paint with random colors (in some cases, literally rolling dice to decide which colors to use) to force myself to make different decisions than I otherwise would. As I continue with this, I’ll probably try other things too, like different compositions, adding different costumes, or stylizing the figures a bit. Anything to teach myself how to use reference without just copying it.

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

365 Pages: Week 6 (Landscapes)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:33:29 +0000

More landscape studies! Color this time, and getting the hang of it now. And for the last two days I gave myself a break and did some black and white figure studies.

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott, Marcus J Ranum

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott, Nichelle Nolan

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

365 Pages: Week 5 (Landscapes)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:54:57 +0000

This may be a boring couple of weeks as I focus on landscape drawing, something I haven’t done a lot of and am not especially good at. Basically this project is turning into “365 pages of stuff I didn’t study hard enough when I was in art school.”

I started with color pages (naturally, coming straight out of a week of color portraits), but then quickly realized I needed to go back to basics here, so the rest of the week was in black and white. I’ll probably do at least another week of these until I get the hang of it, but I can’t promise I won’t take a day off and draw something else for one of these days.

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum

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Photo Credits: Jessica Truscott

365 Pages: Week 4 (Portrait Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:36:38 +0000

More portrait studies! One day of black and whites, then the rest of the week in color. Some quick studies, and some longer ones too.

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

365 Pages: Week 3 (Portrait Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:58:02 +0000

This week is portrait studies! I started with color studies like I did last week, but mid-way through I switched to black and white studies so I could get more drawings into each page. I’m less experienced with portraits than I am with figures, so I end up noodling with details more than I really should.

I was planning on switching to landscape studies next week, but I’m thinking now I may do another week of portraits, at least until I really feel like I’m getting the hang of it.

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Photo Credits: Nichelle Nolan, MissSouls

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Nichelle Nolan

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Nichelle Nolan

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Nichelle Nolan, Hong Ly

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott

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Photo Credits: MissSouls, Marcus J Ranum, Jessica Truscott, Nichelle Nolan

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Photo Credits: Marcus J Ranum, Nichelle Nolan, Hong Ly

365 Pages: Week 2 (Color Figure Studies)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:33:59 +0000

This week is lots of little color studies from reference. I’m trying to figure out how to approach a painting, the early stages especially. Thinking about what my process should be — blocking in shapes vs starting with a line drawing, painting lights or darks first, etc. Also trying to get a feel for lighting and color, and especially what makes the light look convincing and realistic.

Also playing around with my Photoshop brushes a bit, but that’s more about finding a brush that discourages me from noodling too much at this early stage. “Paint with the largest brush you can get away with” was the rule I always followed with traditional painting — perhaps there’s some similar rule to be stated regarding opacity, size variation, and pressure sensitivity?

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum, Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum

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Reference by Marcus J Ranum

365 Pages: Week 1 (New Year’s Resolution)

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 05:15:09 +0000

I don’t often make new year’s resolutions, but this year I have something I’d really like to do. This year, I want to finally focus on improving my drawing and painting skills, something I haven’t really done in earnest since I was in art school. Even though I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years working on art, I haven’t really dedicated any time at all to improving my draftsmanship, which I’ve always felt was lacking in a lot of key areas.

This year I want to change that. And one of the best ways to improve at anything is to do it over and over again. With that in mind, here’s my resolution for 2013:

Do a page of drawings every day — 365 pages by the end of 2013.

Doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it fills a page. If I skip a day, the next day I have to draw two pages. (Or I can work ahead if I know I need to skip a day.) Some days I might be trying new techniques, some days I might be doing detailed studies, and some days I might just be doing warm-up sketches. Doesn’t matter, as long as it fills a page.

My hope is that I’ll end up wanting to draw more, even after I’ve finished a page. But even if I don’t, a page a day is still more mileage than I’ve done in a long time.

I’ll post each week’s pages every Sunday. This week only has six because Janaury 1st was a Tuesday, but after this expect a full seven every update! Let’s see how it goes! Here are this week’s pages:

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Reference by Hong Ly

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Reference by Marcus Ranum

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Reference by Nichelle Nolan

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Reference by Nichelle Nolan

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Pixel Nude #4

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 07:09:25 +0000

And here’s #4! Actually finished this one a couple weeks ago but hadn’t gotten to photographing and posting it until now.

Pixel Nude #3

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 06:11:03 +0000

Finished this one last night. Pixel Nude #3!

Pixel Nude #2

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:04:01 +0000

Next one in the series!

Pixel Nude #1

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:15:24 +0000

New painting! The first in what I hope to be a new series of pixel paintings … on canvas! I’ve already got #2 in progress, and maybe half a dozen more already sketched out.

Pixel Nudes 2

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:53:12 +0000

These are so much fun to draw, I had to do more. I just can’t get enough of that pixel aesthetic.

(Reference by Marcus Ranum — one, two, three, four, five)

Pixel Nudes

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:16:32 +0000

I thought this would be a fun experiment. Pixel figure drawing!

Red Riding Hood Timelapse

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:31:24 +0000

The Flight of Red Riding Hood

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:47:46 +0000

Thanks everyone who came out last night! Below was my piece in the show, The Flight of Red Riding Hood:

Beasts & Beats Gallery Show Tonight

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:41:02 +0000

I have a new piece in a group show tonight! Beasts & Beats: Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales at SF Public Works, 9pm-2am.

Lavender Timelapse

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 07:56:08 +0000

A new timelapse video, and it’s a special one this time, because it’s my first timelapse video of a digital painting, rather than a traditional one.

Click to play

Since this is the first time I’ve recorded my digital process, I thought I might talk a little bit about what’s going on here.

What’s happening at the beginning?

This piece started as an older painting that I reworked. I liked some elements from the first version that I wanted to keep (the color scheme and the face, mainly), so I drew a new sketch, laid it on top of the old one, and then rearranged and repainted until everything fit.

Unfortunately I wasn’t recording when I drew the new sketch, or a year ago when I painted the first version!

Two Monitor View

Recently I started using a technique in Photoshop where you can open the same image in two separate windows (Window > Arrange > New Window for X, if you’re curious) and dragging the second view to my other monitor. This way I can paint little details and have better control close-up, and see the full painting at the same time.

It’s a great help for me because I’ve never been able to get the hang of painting while zoomed out so far. Plus, putting the zoomed out view on my second monitor lets me go full screen in my primary monitor, which is a nice luxury.

Flip the Painting

I wasn’t in the habit of flipping my painting, but it really is critical. I mapped it to CTRL-F so I’d remember to use it. I think I do it a few times in this piece, but I should do it more.

Copy Across Layers

It may not be obvious, but I use a lot of layers, and pretty haphazardly. (Note: I only do this when I’m painting; my graphic design work is a lot more organized.) Sometimes I need to move or skew something (repositioning an arm, for example) that’s on several layers at once, making this inconvenient.

The solution is to use CTRL-SHIFT-C to copy across all layers (or “Copy Merged” as Photoshop calls it) — this will copy a merged version of all the visible layers in your selection. Then you just CTRL-V like usual to paste as a new layer, and then move/skew/rotate that new layer.

You can’t go back to previous layers when you do this, but when I’m painting I don’t really do that anyway.

What brushes do you use?

I think I only use three or four brushes in this entire painting:

A round brush, hard-edged, with the pressure sensitivity mapped to both size and opacity/flow.
Another round brush, soft-edged (like an airbrush), which I use when I need quick soft edges.
A textured chalk brush that I got from enliighten.com for when I want some quick texture.

Lavender

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 06:35:31 +0000

New painting — an older piece that I started back in 2010, then revisited last December, and only now got around to finishing. Painted digitally, like my last couple pieces, except this one was from imagination, not reference. I also think this is the first time I’ve painted something digitally that really feels like one of my traditional pieces.

Cordula

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 08:43:25 +0000

Another more fleshed-out piece from one of last week’s color studies. This one was maybe 5-6 hours total — a little longer than the last one to work out more details.

Reference photo by Marcus Ranum.

Tofu Girls Warm-Ups

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 08:20:46 +0000

More quick sketches to warm-up before working on some other pieces. Same model as my speedpainting from yesterday!

Reference by characterdesigns.com (Hong Ly / Tofu Girls).

Tofu Girls Speedpaint

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 07:30:55 +0000

A more fleshed out version of one of yesterday’s color studies. I think this was something like 2-3 hours total?

Reference by characterdesigns.com (Hong Ly / Tofu Girls).

Speed Color Studies

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:45:10 +0000

More quick color studies from reference, continuing to practice early-stage coloring.

Reference by characterdesigns.com (Hong Ly / Tofu Girls).

Reference by Rebecca Röske.

Dark Elf Sketches and Color Studies

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:47:48 +0000

More sketching. I hope these are interesting to all of you! Normally I just do these sketch pages for myself (the more practice the better) but I think these pages are fun. Besides, it gives me something to share in between the long waits between finished pieces.

Tonight’s sketches are a series of awesome archer/warrior poses that look so elven I can’t see them as anything else, and a quick color study I was using to test out some early stage coloring technique.

Reference by Kxhara.

Reference by Marcus Ranum.

Nichelle Sketches 2

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:20:34 +0000

More figure sketches!

I think I’ve figured out why I like this style — it’s because the way I block in shadows with this Photoshop brush feels exactly like watercolor (in the sense that you can only get a clean wash without overlaps if you do it all in one stroke).

It’s nice, because it forces me to focus on the big shapes and not fuss over the details so much, plus it also gives me all this neat variation within the wash just by varying the pen pressure on my stylus.

Reference photos by Nichelle Nolan (charligal-stock).

Casual quick sketches

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:27:41 +0000

More quick sketches, maybe 3-5 minutes each.

Reference by Imperial Starlet Stock.

More quick sketches

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:11:17 +0000

More quick sketches, these ones 2-3 minute poses (maybe longer; I turned off my timer to make sure I could finish the pose and get some shadows in before it switched).

Reference photos by Marcus Ranum.

Nichelle Sketches

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:53:32 +0000

A sketching session that I thought turned out especially nice.

Reference photos by Nichelle Nolan (charligal-stock)

Lonely Nude

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:41:38 +0000

New acrylic painting started way back in 2010. This piece went through a number of changes right there on the canvas. See if you can count the number of times I repainted the hair:

Cornered

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:05:30 +0000

Finished a new acrylic painting, which some of you may remember as this work-in-progress from way back in August, which remained unworked-on for the majority of September through March.

Sometimes I’ll do that, put a painting on hold for long stretches of time, only finishing it months later with very little work in between — a habit that would be much easier to hide if I didn’t painstakingly document every moment of my painting process for all the world to see. Speaking of which:

Red Alessandra

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:39:19 +0000

Speedpainting from reference, about 2.5 hours. This one was difficult because I didn’t have any easy shadows to fall back on and pretty much had to render based on some pretty subtle soft lighting.

Reference photo by Gilliann (model) and Bansheechild (photographer) on deviantART.

Aimee Speedpainting Revised

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:22:14 +0000

Went back and did some revisions/clean-up on this piece from the week before last. Mostly it’s just cleaner rendering (the previous version was pretty sketchy), but also a couple of changes to some shadows and forms.

Not sure if this qualifies as a “speedpainting” anymore though, as the changes took me another 3 hours — an hour longer than it took me to do the entire previous version! Ahh, so it goes.

As before, painted from this reference photo is by Aimee Fitzgerald.

Keira Portrait Speedpainting

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:36:39 +0000

Most years the first time I write down the new year is on a check. So very pleased that the first time this year is signing it on a painting. What an awesome way to ring in the new year! Let’s keep it up! I hope all of you out there accomplish all the things this year that you set out to do. Here’s to an awesome 2012!

Photoshop speedpainting from reference, about 2 hours. Reference photo by Marcus Ranum.

Elven Portrait Speedpainting

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:57:02 +0000

My wife’s reaction when I showed her this one: “YAAY ELVES~~!”

Photoshop speedpainting, no reference, about 1 hour.

Aimee Portrait After Vermeer

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:37:40 +0000

Photoshop painting from reference, about 4 hours. Started out as more portrait practice but then I keep getting carried away! The pose obviously is after Vermeer, though the colors and painting style are not. Rather, I’m just trying to paint with more colors, instead of the pure monochromatic approach of my other recent studies.

From this reference photo by Aimee Fitzgerald (though I don’t think I quite nailed the intensity of her stare).

Grecian Portrait Speedpainting

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:03:50 +0000

Another speedpainting from reference, about 2.5 hours.

Grey Elven Nude

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:28:42 +0000

Digital painting of a nude grey elf, about 8.5 hours. Started out as just a regular nude but then I gave it the grey-violet color scheme and the pointy ear, so I guess she’s a dark elf now. (As for which kind of dark elf — drow? Dunmer? Noldor? — I leave that up to you.)

I originally intended this to just be a quick speedpainting, but then I kept finding things to work on and before you know it eight hours had passed. But I’m trying to push my digital work in a more painterly style, so it was nice to work on something longer that also felt very loose and energetic.

Portraits Speedpainting

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:36:25 +0000

Another Photoshop speedpainting, this time portrait studies. About 1 hour for the first one and 1.5 hours for the second.

(From reference photos by Marcus Ranum)

Aimee Speedpainting

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:23:29 +0000

Photoshop speedpainting, about 2 hours.

(Reference photo by Aimee Fitzgerald)

Who Are You? (Part 2)

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:15:02 +0000

Who Are You?

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:50:51 +0000

Costumed Sketches 2

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:44:17 +0000

I’m having so much fun with these I thought I’d post another. This time on slate blue backgrounds with yellow highlights.

reference credits: Rebecca Röske, Hong Ly, Marcus Ranum, lisajen-stock

Costumed Sketches

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:59:32 +0000

Some quick sketches tonight from costumed reference, two minutes per pose with some additional darks and lights added in afterwards.

reference credits: Rebecca Röske, Hong Ly, Marcus Ranum, lisajen-stock, attemptestock

The Gift Opening Reception

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:32:18 +0000

Great opening reception last night for the group show at Market Street Gallery, thanks everyone who came by!

The Gift at Market Street Gallery

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:46:36 +0000

My painting Sunlight Nude is on exhibit right now at Market Street Gallery in San Francisco! Lots of great artwork in this group show by the looks of it. Opening reception is this Saturday, November 5 at 6:00pm.

Draped Figure Sketches

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:11:23 +0000

Been a while since I posted some artwork. Have some figure drawings everyone!

I recently went through my vast collection of figure reference and whittled it down to only a choice set of the best poses and photos. Oddly, one of my most important criteria? The model must not be looking at the camera. I was surprised to realize how much this makes me not want to draw a pose. I guess it breaks some sort of fourth wall for me. Well, also I took out any poses that felt too forced or self-aware, and I suppose looking directly at the camera falls into that category as well.

In any case, what I’m left with is an awesome set of beautifully natural poses that I always want to draw — all the better for encouraging daily drawing!

(reference for many of these poses by Marcus Ranum, whose deviantART account has loads of awesome poses and would be a great place to start if you were looking to build your own collection of figure drawing reference.)

The Color Black

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:00:43 +0000

Work-in-progress sketch and comp for an upcoming painting. Sketch was done digitally in Photoshop, and then I painted the comp with acrylics at about 3.5″ x 4.5″.

With this piece I’m doing something that I literally haven’t done in years — using the color black.

One of the things they taught us in art school is that black has a tendency to deaden the colors you mix it with. Instead what you do is mix a blue and a brown (typically I use ultramarine and burnt umber), and that gives me a nice rich chromatic gray that mixes really well and looks black on the canvas, but doesn’t feel out of place next to all the other colors.

Normally I don’t have any black on my palette at all — but with this piece I want that sort of deadened look that comes from using pure black.

And so into my art supply archives I went, pulling out a tube of mars black that hasn’t been opened since probably 2004.

Pillar of Sand

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:25:15 +0000

Violet Nude

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:45:25 +0000

New acrylic painting, plus new timelapse video!

Note: your eyes are not playing tricks on you, the colors in the video do look much different than the actual painting, something to do with the lighting I think. I assure you the actual painting is much closer to the plum color in the full view and not the dark indigo shown in the video.

Tribute

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:50:57 +0000

More experiments with new Photoshop brushes turned into this tribute of sorts to Frank Frazetta.

New Brushes

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:45:14 +0000

Experimenting with some new brushes and I liked how this one came out. So very dramatic!

Red Sketch

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:35:11 +0000

Some digital works-in-progress

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:25:43 +0000

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you’ve seen these already but for everyone else, enjoy!

Sketch Pages

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:26:36 +0000

(original reference photographs for this last one by Marcus Ranum)

Three More Watercolor Prints

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:46:02 +0000

Added another three prints to my store, including one piece from 2008 that was never previously available as either a print or an original, as it was originally drawn in one of my sketchbooks.

New Watercolor Prints (and one acrylic)

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:32:06 +0000

I’ve added four new prints to my store, three watercolors and one acrylic piece.

Pink Nude

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:26:56 +0000

Portraits in Watercolor

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 07:05:00 +0000

The life drawing sessions at Cogswell are starting to do clothed sets the first session of each month. These pieces are from the same session as my last life drawing post, but sketched in pencil during the session and then painted afterward.

As always, these pieces are available for purchase in my store.

Buy this painting

Suits

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:18:13 +0000

Early sketches for a new series I’m working on.

The Way She Moves

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:38:17 +0000

This week’s figure drawing set was a clothed session, which I really enjoyed. Here’s one of the brush paintings that came out of this session, as well as some of the sketches from that set.

Buy this painting on Etsy

Dirty Show 12

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:15:41 +0000

Ahh, February, the month of true love. On that note, one of my paintings, Faceless Nude, will be on display this month at Dirty Show 12, an erotic art exhibition in Detroit. The show runs from February 11-19, 2011, more information at www.dirtydetroit.com.

New Brush Paintings

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:06:27 +0000

After a long hiatus of nearly ten months, I’ve finally returned to regular live figure drawing sessions. Right now I’m going weekly; we’ll see if I can sustain that or if my schedule will say otherwise. Regardless, I have a new set of brush paintings from last week’s session, all of which are available at my store.

Buy this painting on Etsy

It’s All In Your Head

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:03:18 +0000

Digital Warm-Ups

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:36:09 +0000

This is how I start most of my digital painting sessions — with a quick set of figure drawing warm-ups. These are all drawn from reference, using ACDSee to run a random slideshow on my left monitor while I draw in Photoshop on my right monitor (one of the greatest advantages to a dual-monitor setup).

A Journal of Other Things

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:29:19 +0000

What was that I mentioned parenthetically in yesterday’s post, but didn’t provide a link for? Something about a new personal blog? Well, I’d better correct that, shouldn’t I?

It’s only been up for a week or two, so all I’ve got so far is an artsy post about StarCraft and old game graphics, and a short post about a dream I had involving Bill Clinton. Oh, and pictures of my lovely Minecraft creations. I can’t guarantee I’ll always have such riveting material as this to post, but if you feel like following what’s going on in my life outside of the art-related stuff, look no further.

Going Electric

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:43:00 +0000

Very little art posted here in the last couple of months. That’s because, in addition to the various other projects I’ve been working on (making prints, starting a new personal blog, making websites for work, etc.), I’ve spent much of that time jumping back into Photoshop and trying to learn how to paint digitally all over again. It seems that two years of working exclusively with real paint has left me incredibly rusty when it comes to digital work!

But, after a couple months practice I think I’m getting back up to speed. It doesn’t hurt that for the last week I’ve been painting using this year’s big Christmas gift — a new large-sized Intuos4 tablet with a luxurious 12.8″ x 8″ workspace.

If I’m being truly honest, I can’t really say that it’s making me draw better … but I can say that it definitely makes me want to draw more.

Tattoo Boogaloo

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:06:16 +0000

Thanks again to Tattoo Boogaloo for having my pieces The Rose Bloom and Statuesque Nude on display at their studio. It was a pleasure being part of your inaugural show!

Thank You Everyone

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:34:11 +0000

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who bought a painting, print, or postcard from me in the last few months. Your interest and support have made me feel really great. Seriously, it means a lot to me. Thank you all so much.

Two More Fine Art Prints

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:28:28 +0000

Two more fine art prints are now available for sale! Sunlight Nude and Pale Nude. As with the others, these are printed with pigment-based ink on high quality Museum Etching paper. Sunlight Nude is available in two sizes (8.5″ x 11″ and 11″ x 14″) and Pale Nude is available in 8.5″ x 11″.

Sunlight Nude: 11″x14″ | 8.5″ x 11″

Pale Nude: 8.5″ x 11″

Fine Art Prints

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:15:00 +0000

Big news today! I’m pleased to announce that I’m now selling prints in my store! I have three pieces to start with: Teal Nude, Figure on Canvas, and Figure at Rest. These are archival prints, printed with pigment-based ink on high quality fine art Museum Etching paper. Each is available in two sizes: 11″ x 14″ and 8.5″ x 11″. And they look absolutely amazing. I wish the screen could do justice to how close these look to the originals.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be adding more prints as I get them ready. The color correction process is long and tedious, but the results are absolutely worth it. These prints really are of excellent quality. I hope you’ll give them a look.

Teal Nude: 11″ x 14″ | 8.5″ x 11″

Figure on Canvas: 11″ x 14″ | 8.5″ x 11″

Figure at Rest: 11″ x 14″ | 8.5″ x 11″

Beach Girls 5-Pack

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:03:32 +0000

Beach Girls postcards are now available as a 5-pack! I wanted to offer them in a bulk deal for those who might want to send to multiple people (or possibly give them as gifts), plus I liked the photograph I took of them.

Pale Nude Timelapse

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:03:40 +0000

New timelapse video!

Beach Girls Postcard

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:57:26 +0000

An exciting new addition to my store, my digital painting Beach Girls is now available as a 4″ x 6″ postcard! Suitable for framing, for use as a bookmark, or for actual mailing. Available now at my Etsy store!

Palin Opening Reception

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:19:56 +0000

Photos from last night’s opening reception of “Palin [Phaze One]” — thanks to everyone who came out!

Palin Timelapse

Zachary Knoles — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:05:46 +0000

“Palin [Phaze One]” opened yesterday at Market Street Gallery! To mark the occasion, here is a timelapse video of my contribution to the show:

The show will be open for the next four weeks. The opening reception is this Saturday, October 9, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Pale Nude

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:12:46 +0000

New acrylic painting on 8″ x 10″ canvas panel, also available for purchase at my Etsy store.

This piece and the one I just finished (previously) were both painted using an extremely limited palette: ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and white gesso. And I’m currently working on a third using the same palette.

25 Figures

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:09:40 +0000

New page of brush drawings today, twenty-five poses from imagination.

Soft Forms Timelapse

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:53:12 +0000

New timelapse video of my painting process for Soft Forms. It’s a small painting, so its creation was decidedly smaller in scope than the others. However, this one also comes with an additional bonus video that shows, well, a slight plot twist in my process this time.

Soft Forms

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:33:21 +0000

New acrylic painting on a 4″ x 6″ canvas panel, much smaller than the other pieces in the series. I wanted to paint something small and quick, and here’s what came out! You can also buy this painting at my Etsy store.

“Palin” Opening Reception on Oct 9

Zachary Knoles — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 03:35:24 +0000

Dates for the Palin exhibit at Market Street Gallery have been announced! The show will be up from October 4 to October 29, with the opening reception on Saturday, October 9 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. More information at Market Street Gallery’s website.

This is my entry in the show.

Return of the Brush Sketch

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:01:31 +0000

It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done any of these. Hopefully this will become a regular thing for me again. Some of these were drawn from life, some from fashion magazines, and some from imagination. Enjoy.

Tattoo Boogaloo

Zachary Knoles — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:45:40 +0000

Two of my paintings, The Rose Bloom and Statuesque Nude, are on display right now at Tattoo Boogaloo until the middle of November. If you’re interested in purchasing either of these pieces and you’re in the North Beach area of San Francisco, stop by and let them know!

And a Quick Postscript

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:34:04 +0000

As a follow-up on the subject of the insecurity and vulnerability that comes with making personal works, I think this quote from Daniel Benmergui, who makes independent video games, is appropriate. He was responding specifically to the question of video games as art, but I think what he said applies just as much to all forms of art:

“If you don’t feel personally exposed when publishing the game, you did not make art.”

So Why All the Naked Women?

Zachary Knoles — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:44:08 +0000

This was posted last week in one of the artist blogs I follow: “May I ask whats your obsession with naked women?” asks one of his readers.

It’s funny that I’ve never been asked that same question, since I also paint a lot of women in various states of undress. I’m probably covered (so to speak) with my watercolor pieces — since those are all technically life drawings and thus fall under the safely acceptable umbrella of “artist study” — but I don’t have the same excuse with my acrylic pieces, which were all done from my imagination, and thus I had to choose that as my subject matter.

To my friends’ credit, none of them have ever gone and asked me, straight up, “What’s the deal with all these naked women?” I think maybe they understand what an uncomfortable question that is. Or maybe it’s just not a big deal to them. I have no idea.

But I’ve thought about it a lot. These feel like very personal pieces for me, but I couldn’t really tell you why. There’s nothing autobiographical about them. There’s no message or statement I’m trying to make. What makes them so personal? I know that when I sit down and just paint for myself, these are the paintings that come out of me, but are they really personal, or are they just paintings of naked women? Do I fall back on the standard excuses — that the female nude has been a favorite subject of artists for thousands of years? Or, even better, that I’m just your average heterosexual male and so of course I like painting naked women?

I don’t know. Maybe. But I think there’s more to it than that.

For one thing, I’m purposely painting these pieces a certain way. I tend not to like painting in an obviously “pin-up” style, and I try to avoid all the usual pin-up tropes, like deliberately sexy poses or staring seductively into the camera (in fact, whenever I can, I usually try to paint them looking away from the camera, or just off-camera). My paintings still feel a little suggestive, sure, I’m not trying to avoid that. But I think my intent is to make it seem like the subjects aren’t aware that anybody is looking, and so maybe they’ll seem a little less fake and posed, and a little more relaxed and natural.

Another thing is that because I’m painting these from my imagination, not from reference, I think it gives them a more personal quality than the ones painted from live models. I don’t know exactly why, because, again, what’s so personal about painting a naked woman? Maybe it lets the piece be closer to my natural drawing style, more stylized, like something out of my sketchbook. Maybe it turns the piece into more of an abstraction, like I’m painting the idea of a woman, rather than any one specific individual. Or maybe it’s that, by creating the entire piece from my imagination, I’m showing you exactly what was going on in my head, and, well, there’s just something very personally revealing about that.

But why is that the image in my head in the first place? Why not flowers or landscapes or people with their clothes on?

Well, I don’t really have a good reason, because I’m honestly still trying to figure it out. I only started this series a year ago, after a long hiatus from traditional painting. And at the time, I was at something of an artistic crossroads, with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my art. When I started painting again, it was because I wanted to see what would happen if I just painted for myself for a while.

But I think maybe sometimes you don’t get to decide what a piece is about, even when you’re the artist. Sometimes you just paint what you feel compelled to paint, and only when it’s finished does it reveal to you what it’s about.

This series hasn’t quite revealed its purpose to me yet, but here’s my best guess so far, which is maybe just a variation of the “straight male likes to paint naked women” excuse, but here it is anyway:

I think I’m just trying to paint something beautiful. And maybe this type of female nude — this stylized, abstracted, anti-pin-up woman — is what I think beautiful is.

If that doesn’t make these pieces personal, I don’t know what does.

Palin

Zachary Knoles — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:20:36 +0000

I have a piece in an upcoming gallery show this October, in which artists from around the nation offer their visual interpretation of the word “Palin.” You can see my piece below, which is probably less political than you might expect.

The exhibit will be at Market Street Gallery, more details as we get closer to the date. Incidentally, the submission window doesn’t close until July 31, so if you, too, make pictures and want to express your reaction to the word “Palin,” by all means, join in.

Sigrid Commission

Zachary Knoles — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:14:08 +0000

This is a commission I’ve been working on for the last couple of months. Acrylic on canvas panel, 11″x14″. Timelapse video below.

Digital Sketches

Zachary Knoles — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:41:40 +0000

Some digital sketches from sometime last year. A couple of figures from out of my head, and then some sketches from the film Chungking Express (one of my favorite films).