Mae's erotic Sketchbook again

[maeharrington]

Hello again,

there is still some past stuff I should share, but I thought I'd post a little experiment, after all this is a "sketchbook" thread.
I was wondering if the Ipad could become and interesting tool for illustrators, and some time ago I got one from a friend as he wasn't using it that much (the useful/useless debate on the ipad rages), got a griffin pen and bought one application for painting (Procreate). I will try Brushes as well.

Anyway, I will write an extensive review/thoughts for my blog once I get Brushes, but I thought I would share this first experiment. To make things easier to start with I kept it b/w, I found myself working with quite traditional non-traditional (digital) methods, some things are great and some other ones tricky.
Here you go!
r.

[maeharrington]

Hello,

as I mentioned earlier I'm going to share some snippets from the GN I'm working on, just to give an idea of the mood and style used.
I decided to go with a simple approach, starting with the panel layout, the drawings and the colouring (I strictly limited the colours to 4, including white), as I wanted to retain a oldschool European BD feel, with readability being the bottom line (It's very dialogue oriented).

Anyway I'll start with a couple of sequences ("libraries are evil" and "I got to her first"), which in a way introduce some of the characters and approach.

r.

[Sarmati]

You gotta love the girl with a fish tattoo. Awesome hatching. Wanna see more of that stuff. :3

[shambok]

Every single woman you draw just oozes with sexuality ... very nice! The finished colour illustrations are fan-damn-tastic!!!

[maeharrington]

Shambok: thank you!
Sarmati: I will, I actually saw some stuff from a japanese artist in an exhibition of upcoming artists in tokyo, which in a way inspire me to find the right path were to take this kind of things down...

In the meantime, I don't think I've posted these yet...

r.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

The last ones are so lovely!!! Keep it up! ;))) <3

[maeharrington]

Thank you Unknown Sketcher!...

and since we're amongst just a few friends, I found a few scans from some very (very) very (did I say very?) old work...traditional painted stuff (before lettering) from the Slaine days, when I was still interested in a certain style and way of doing things (although I sometimes miss it...I find it so hard to get that happy balance between what I like and what other people like)

cheers
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[maeharrington]

new one
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[maeharrington]

I was noticing how this sketchbook changed over the time...lately I have been posting my experiments (and since I hate them after 3 seconds I sometimes delete them), and not the actual sketches.
There are so many that end up forgotten, for one reason or the other (lack of time usually), so I thought I would scan them anyway, and post them here.
And leave the finished stuff to other places. Some of these will go to the next stages, but most won't.

So I'll be posting a few a day (or anyway frequently), I'm not quite sure anyone will be interested, but at least it forces me to "archive" them in some way or another.

r.

[linesanddots]

My eyes are in need of some condoms haha. I really love the line work, very edgy and you keep everything in good perportions. What prompted you to want to draw this sort of subject matter if I may ask?

[shiNIN]

Are you kidding? I'm totally interested and I know I'm not alone.
Yay for sketches :D
I still don't know how to put so much grace and sexyness into a few lines.

[maeharrington]

linesanddots: safe eyes..always! Anyway, you may ask, by all means...well, I'll spare you with the "obvious" answer (the beauty of the female body, it's fun, I'm good at it, etc) and I'll give you another one..as you can see (partially) a couple of posts up, I used to do a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, monsters, heroes, heroines, etc...and when I wasn't doing that I was doing all the goth goth goth moody stuff (being a bit gothy me-self).
Well, I don't disown that stuff, but I just saw so much of it around. Now you may say that you see a lot of women art around, probably it's the most overexploited subject of all. But I felt that with my still modest means, I could give another take or perspective to this subject. My own view of eroticism. Not necessarily the booby pornstar, super hero - catwoman - hentai etc view (which I like, btw). As I was trying to explain a few posts ago to another user, I try to portray what makes ME tick. Then if it makes other people tick, even better!

shiNIN: nice to see you around again, you're very kind, and it's very encouraging. Moreover it kicks me into getting that scanner and sketchbooks and start scanning through them. It's useful for me, and if someone else appreciates it I'm really glad.

So trying to make it two days in a row, three random sketches yay! (different "styles/approach", just to mix things up)
cheers!
r.

[Velocity Kendall]

lovely, slick, feminine work Mae, im off to look through the whole SB

[shroomcat]

Mae, those lines are yummy! Your stuff is great. Specially love your 'Sepia Series'. Keep it comin'!
*follows blog* ;P

[maeharrington]

Velocity Kendall and Shroomcat, thank you! I'm doing my best to keep posting regularly. As I said, most of these will remain "ideas", or quick sketches. I know that some will remain so, while I'm pretty much set on carrying on with others. But if anyone of you should have some preference, it would be interesting to know!
(but as I said, it's very useful for me...today I was going through the sketchbook, and there were some nice ideas I had completely forgotten about...probably they'll stay this way, but it's nice to archive them)

There you go (three different "genres" again)

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[maeharrington]

ok, (semi-) daily sketch digest, some "left-behind" ones.

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[maeharrington]

ok, here a new coloured piece..one of the so called NSFW ones.
But it has some interesting aspects nonetheless, which have nothing to do with the NSFWism
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[donalfall]

Beautiful work as always. Sorry I haven't stopped in in ages, been AWOL the last while. Browsing your website, I think that "Angel Skin" looks awesome! Is there a way to get a copy that benefits you, or will I just Amazon it?

[maeharrington]

Hi Donalfall, good to see you around! I think we both go AWOL every now and then...
Anyway thank you..as for Angelskin, I would go for the easiest, and probably cheapest, option, the Amazon one, as probably I won't be seeing/hearing any more from the publisher regarding that specific GN.
You'll find it's a big experiment though! It was very useful for learning a whole load of things.

Anyway, as I don't haven't scanned yet more stuff, and I'm still finishing off some things I'm working on, I'll republish a picture I did some time ago. Since I wasn't happy with it I picked it up recently and corrected it slightly.
And another unfinished picture I abandoned (actually there are quite a few I abandoned which I could post here anyway)

cheers!
r.

[maeharrington]

Last week I was noticed that a Ipad painting application, Inspire pro, was on sale (79 eurocents, or 1 dollar, 69 pence etc), so I thought I would give it a go, or to be precise, I would give painting on Ipads another go, which in theory was a great idea, but I hadn't really explored much (as I found it hard being comfortable on it..as I do generally with all digital media).
I was surprised to see how the feel is very similar to oil painting...although the stylus can feel a bit clunky (Griffin stylus), its limitations were less notable on inspire.
There is none of all the PS and similar software facilitation...i.e. no layers (!), no lasso to move things around (therefore if your left eye for instance is slightly badly aligned, you must do how you would do in traditional painting...paint over and re-do it), no colour adjustment etc etc.
And I found it strangely to be a good thing. It has less of that "perfection" incorporated, and more the serendipity real painting has. (the no-undo theory..although it DOES have undoes...but sometimes it messes up and you have to anyway paint over).

Anyway, after a couple of quick experiments, I did this...at a certain point I called it a day, as I would usually. But I thought it would be interesting to share.

Thank you for looking.

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[maeharrington]

these ipad paintings are getting a habit..
here's another one called "for a second I dreamt" (inspire pro)

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[EllionV]

There is Egon Schiele/Klimt feel to your works, but a bit more cartoony. Really like a lot of these!

[maeharrington]

Thank you EllionV, as the "Austrians" have been probably my main inspiration over the years, I must say it's a big compliment.

So here you are, the last three. Two retro-style posters, and a more lifestyle oriented one.

Now there are other things I have to take care of, thank you again, see you in a while.

Mae/Robert

[maeharrington]

Just a quick note, my first post without an actual pic to go with it.
This thread ends here for me, I've realized that there are too many duplicates spread here and there in the web, and I thought I'd rather have a sketchbook here where I post uniquely what the name implies...sketches, and above all, stuff that I wouldn't post anywhere else (website, blog or other sites). Findings. No more finished stuff. It's not a sketchbook otherwise.

So the purpose of this thread ends here, thank you all for the feedback over these last few years. See you in another thread, maybe.

Mae

[kiwigarbage]

Loove whats happening in this book...so much variety and fearlessness in your approach!

[ANtY93]

Wow man, you're really awesome, I envy your sexiness instinct.

Do you have any advice or tutorial how to become able to draw sexy poses, etc.? I'd love to hear them :)

[Mr.Blonde]

I adore your work and I do not know why. Thanks for continuing to post.

[maeharrington]

ANtY93: hmm, I'm sure there are so many people out there more qualified to give you technical advice than me. So I'll just give you my own perspective, regardless of the "practicing" part: first of all try to understand what YOU find sexy, or anyway a subject/reference/pose that in someway compels you to draw. I find that there is always something that captures my interest, may be it a certain curve/shape, an angle, a position of a hand, lingerie, a look, the hair that falls in a certain way, the light...look for that, and build on it. What the world doesn't need is the same take on sexuality, or follow the same beaten path, we're all individuals. But you're right, I should one day post a picture with the reference that started it, it might give the idea of how far I go from it. The reference for me is just a starting point, and not viceversa (i.e. my goal is not to reproduce it, but build on it.
I hope it helps.

Mr. Blonde: Well, I take that as a huge compliment (especially coming from a great artist like you). I can't help you in explaining why, but I'm really glad that you appreciate the stuff I do. I think I will continue posting, but probably I'll start over with a new thread, and try to keep it more focused. As soon as I start it I will come back here to redirect.

[JuiceHS]

I am amazed at how you get so much attitude and character, with such few lines. Master of this style...awesome thread...:jawdrop:

[Izene]

Very inspiring work :)

[bish0p2004]

I love your style. I've been somewhat dabbling in a more stylized technique with my figures, it's quite fun and your images are definitely inspiring me.

[krysjez]

LOVE your work. please let us know where else to find you as you are stopping this thread!

[rumpenstiltzkin]

i just found this thread and i love it! i love your style and your linework is gorgeous, please let us know where else to find your work if you gonna stop this :(