Mike Bear: Sketchbook

Tahoe Weekend

2012-01-23T04:46:00.003-05:00

I spent the weekend near Lake Tahoe with some friends and it was amazing. Being surrounded by all of that natural beauty in the comforts of a warm cabin was incredibly uplifting.

Iceberg

2012-01-18T03:00:00.002-05:00

So I've been pretty silent this past year on my blog, but I feel like it's time to make a change. It's been a year of growth in many ways. Thanks to all of you for keeping in contact, it's very much appreciated!

New Year's Card Commission

2011-12-21T19:51:00.002-05:00

Floating Island

2011-12-13T01:28:00.000-05:00

TMNT

2011-12-11T19:30:00.002-05:00

Red

2011-12-11T17:46:00.001-05:00

Glasses

2011-12-07T03:16:00.001-05:00

Blue Knight, Monk, and Bunny (the dog)

2011-11-22T05:28:00.001-05:00

Adventures

2011-10-14T03:42:00.005-04:00

Array'd in Flames

2011-10-08T21:43:00.007-04:00

Sky Dog

2011-09-17T02:56:00.001-04:00

Marker Sketch

2011-09-07T04:12:00.003-04:00

Bear Grills

2011-08-30T03:13:00.006-04:00

Lemurs

2011-08-22T04:03:00.005-04:00

Revolutionary War Zombeeeez!

2011-08-20T20:37:00.003-04:00

House Sketch

2011-08-19T17:03:00.000-04:00

The Worst Hero

2011-08-19T03:07:00.009-04:00

Doodles

2011-08-12T03:50:00.003-04:00

Sketchbookin'

2011-06-28T21:50:00.006-04:00

My computer and scanner broke on the trip over so I haven't been able to properly document my sketches or paint digitally at home. Here are some photos of sketches from the past four months, taken with my phone.

Superman vs Robots

2011-05-20T05:10:00.004-04:00

Sailboats

2011-04-30T05:23:00.009-04:00

Inspiration

http://mcqueconcept.blogspot.com

Island

2011-04-19T17:27:00.000-04:00

A 30 minute sketch after looking at some Final Fantasy IX art.

Big Move

2011-02-20T16:02:00.005-05:00

The Bob

2011-01-03T04:12:00.004-05:00

felt like painting a pretty lady.
i found the paper texture and wallpaper on google images.

Tree Sketch

2011-01-02T06:07:00.006-05:00

i'm missing my family. it was great to come home and spend Christmas with them. i felt replenished. i feel so very thankful for my loving family.

House Sketch

2010-12-31T19:11:00.001-05:00

Mountain Town Sketches

2010-12-28T05:54:00.008-05:00

sketches from today and yesterday. i went on the underground tour of Seattle and the tour guide told us of the people who lived on the hill above the water. it has apparently inspired some part of me. i think it would make for some really amazing visuals of having people in shanty towns on mountains.

i'm going to keep developing these sketches and see what happens.

Tron

2010-12-20T04:50:00.002-05:00

http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2008/10/writings-from-the-holy-texan/the-tron-aesthetic-the-atari-age-of-german-expressionism.html

i found this blog while searching for info about Tron.

Influences

2010-12-03T13:50:00.003-05:00

it's fun to see all the artists who inspire me the most in one image.

Little Shop Sketches

2010-11-30T01:51:00.004-05:00

i did these while watching little shop of horrors for the first time. the characters, story, and music were so good.

Viking vs Ninja Sketches

2010-11-16T11:39:00.005-05:00

these are for a personal project with a friend. a good reason to learn more about character design for animation, too.

Life Drawing

2010-11-15T14:54:00.003-05:00

this model was awesome. probably the most serious model i've ever drawn, it was great. his poses were really dramatic. it was like he had posed for Frazetta or something. funny thing was, during the break he never put a robe on, he just hung out in the nude.

check out my co-worker's blog, http://www.hethe.com/. his work is inspiring, to say the least.

Summer n' Fall

2010-10-22T16:55:00.006-04:00

gouache sketches. i ran out of time to finish them. i'm starting to think about changing the shape of the things i see to make a picture more interesting. i've never really tried this before, but it seems that it would be helpful to apply what i've been studying to what i observe and maybe combine the best of both worlds, design and observation.

LifeDraw

2010-10-08T16:49:00.004-04:00

15 minute poses

Creeper

2010-10-04T18:04:00.003-04:00

i think i'll give him a costume next.

Lifedraw

2010-09-12T18:56:00.002-04:00

5-15 minute poses.

Gouche Sketches

2010-09-12T02:07:00.006-04:00

more sketches.
looking at http://crayonboxofdoom.blogspot.com/ for inspiration.

Smokestack Sketch

2010-09-10T17:36:00.004-04:00

these were painted at a derelict factory in Andover, MA.
45 min each.

Cemetary Sketch

2010-09-07T16:11:00.004-04:00

near andover, ma. gouache.
45 min.

Tank City WIP-color

2010-08-26T20:27:00.004-04:00

original sketch- http://mikebear.blogspot.com/2009/03/tank-city.html

one day it will be finished. i like this quote from Bob Peak.

"Now, in every assignment, there is a great deal of preparatory thought. The actual execution of a painting takes about three hours. Few of the drawings take over one hour. Really though, this is a misleading statement. A painting may take ten years..."

"... that is to say, it was ten years before I could do it."

i found it at this blog- http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2010/08/bob-peak-finest-illustrators-work-with.html

Nightmares

2010-08-15T18:02:00.008-04:00

photoshop over a loose pencil drawing. for a contest at sketchaholics.com

the theme was Nightmares. the idea is sort of from Monsters Inc. i love the idea of a couple of bullies going after a gentle monster. poor guy. so anyways, the kids are the monster's nightmare.

Studies

2010-08-13T16:51:00.004-04:00

it seems all i do these days are quick studies from life, imagination, or other artists. this is a collection of quick gouache thumbnails from the past month or so. the top one is the latest.

War Sketches

2010-08-07T20:35:00.002-04:00

Anxiety

2010-08-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

Dreams

2010-07-23T11:33:00.004-04:00

Tin Man WIP

2010-07-13T18:14:00.003-04:00

Layout

2010-07-07T23:35:00.003-04:00

Wolfe's Neck Farm

2010-07-05T14:10:00.003-04:00

I did this a few weekends ago on a camping trip up at Wolfe's Neck Farm near Freeport, Maine. It was really hard to see the color I was laying down as the sun went down and I was a little frustrated.

I'm going to do more of these, and study more plein air artists. It's really nice to use oils again.

Oil paint, Around 1 hour.

Monster Suit

2010-07-04T00:07:00.005-04:00

Gouacheness

2010-06-29T01:07:00.006-04:00

because it's just too hot for computers!

Asteroid Sketch

2010-06-28T12:06:00.003-04:00

Bear Sketch

2010-06-23T01:05:00.007-04:00

this was an experiment with rendering and textures. i'm going to keep exploring these techniques.

Randoms

2010-06-21T01:17:00.004-04:00

studies of Dice Tsutsumi and Gil Elvgren. the others are mine.

an attempt at a concept for the gardens from the film Metropolis.

Moods

2010-06-08T17:33:00.004-04:00

Experiments with Imagery

2010-06-02T01:19:00.003-04:00

Monkey King

2010-05-30T00:58:00.003-04:00

Monkey King WIP

2010-05-30T00:56:00.002-04:00

LifeDrawing

2010-05-28T12:58:00.008-04:00

These are my roommates' cats. Sophia is a Siamese and Fargo is a Russian Blue. Sophia just stares at you and doesn't let you pet her, and Fargo is really friendly and has a silent meow. She just opens her mouth and whispers a meow. Fargo is probably the best cat I've ever met.

Wrastlers

2010-05-18T20:26:00.002-04:00

The Grump

2010-05-18T00:25:00.004-04:00

Wolverine Sketch

2010-05-17T17:56:00.001-04:00

The Woods

2010-05-16T23:35:00.003-04:00

Evening

2010-05-12T21:44:00.001-04:00

Yarn

2010-05-11T18:33:00.003-04:00

Still Fishin'

2010-05-10T21:12:00.001-04:00

Boy meets Girl

2010-05-08T01:23:00.003-04:00

Family Cat

2010-05-05T22:57:00.003-04:00

Life Drawing

2010-05-01T00:24:00.005-04:00

Hello, Viking

2010-04-30T17:59:00.006-04:00

Hooded Sweatshirts for Dogs

2010-04-29T18:25:00.004-04:00

Old Knight

2010-04-27T16:39:00.009-04:00

Cat's B-Day

2010-04-21T02:07:00.004-04:00

Somerville

2010-04-21T01:18:00.003-04:00

Hazards of Love

2010-04-18T23:09:00.003-04:00

West Coast Delights

2010-04-13T15:02:00.006-04:00

Portraits

2010-03-15T23:49:00.004-04:00

Brush Experiments

2010-03-03T19:13:00.005-05:00

Mech Progress

2010-03-01T10:59:00.004-05:00

God Bless the Ball Point Pen

2010-02-26T14:29:00.006-05:00

Keepin' at it.

2010-02-18T13:00:00.004-05:00

This was fun. I worked with my friend Chris Grim at a cafe on this sketch. We traded this back and forth over the course of two hours, spending ten minutes at a time on it. It was a great exercise in working with shapes and details. He was much more concerned about details and textures, while I was a lot more focused on the overall shapes. Together we created a pretty interesting character.

Animal Sketchin'

2010-02-08T11:26:00.001-05:00

Happy with how this came out.

Winter Image

2010-01-27T18:21:00.002-05:00

A little bit of sketching to cope with winter.

Ode to the Metabarons

2010-01-27T11:08:00.005-05:00

This was a lot of fun to do. I learned a lot in the process, must keep going! I looked at Frank Frazetta and my Metabaron comics by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez for inspiration.

WIPs. WIPs, and more WIPs!!

2010-01-15T01:09:00.004-05:00

So I'm going to try and get these finished in about a month, plus... maybe a few others if I can! Crazy times.

Shapes and Symbols

2009-11-25T17:53:00.004-05:00

This started as an exercise with light and dark values and shapes. I started rendering it just to see what happens and then I started thinking about symbols (ie, dots for eyes and a shape for a mouth; I recently reread Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and he talks about the face as a symbol) and without them, all we can see are maybe materials, maybe something in three dimensions, but nothing really to ground our focal point.

I realize that some people are more intrigued by pure abstract shapes, devoid of symbolism and others (like myself) are very interested in these symbols. It's a lot of fun to play with.

Samus Sketch

2009-11-24T13:06:00.004-05:00

Colored up an old ink drawing.

Old Timey

2009-11-19T01:06:00.005-05:00

This was inspired by my friend http://www.tychocafe.com/ Jean Fhillipe. Always inspiring, his stuff blows my mind. Looking forward to seeing his work everywhere in the near future!

Dr. Sketchy's Boston, etc.

2009-11-12T23:37:00.005-05:00

5-15 minutes each

"Willowesque"

2009-11-06T14:34:00.002-05:00

I like mountains.

Lifedrawing

2009-11-06T00:20:00.007-05:00

These poses range from 2-10 minutes.
Markers for warmups and watercolor for 10 minute poses.

Study, Study, Study

2009-11-04T18:02:00.002-05:00

A quick Albert Bierstadt study.

A quick John Singer Sargent study.

Tombow Marker Lifedrawing

2009-11-02T00:32:00.004-05:00

Yay! Reading!

2009-10-29T15:40:00.003-04:00

Growing Up

2009-10-25T16:28:00.006-04:00

Coffee Shop Sketchin' 2

2009-10-14T22:29:00.009-04:00

A collection of sketches from cafes, friends' homes, road trips to NYC and Montreal, a life drawing class, and a couple of peaceful days outside.

Progression pt. 1

2009-10-14T17:56:00.007-04:00

This is a pretty inspiring exercise. Starting out with interesting colors and making shapes. And then try to imagine something in the picture. Scott Robertson did a dvd about this. This the most finished I've taken one of these sketches. I want to keep going with it, see if I can polish it even more, play with different ways to lead your eye around. I'm very interested in rendering as a tool for where you can lead the eye.

Listening to Radiohead

2009-10-14T15:16:00.006-04:00

Color and Shape

2009-10-08T03:51:00.004-04:00

This is a simple/quick study from a photo taken in Venice, Italy back in March '08. I don't do these types of studies very often, or at least I haven't done it much before now. I used to look at a photo and see every detail, imagine myself there, with the sounds and the smells and feel the air on my skin... it was too overwhelming to try and translate all of this into a painting, the weight of the information would crush me before I began. But now, seeing a photo as nothing more than chunks of color, it has helped me simplify the process of translating it to my hand.

And another thing, I feel like color is one of those things that is really hard to get at first, but as you familiarize yourself with colors you know how they work together to create whatever u want. It's so different from drawing.

Belt of Orion

2009-09-25T11:22:00.009-04:00

This idea came from a quick conversation with a friend about his ideal studio to jam with other musicians. It quickly turned into an idea bout a floating wolf's eye that took a band to the Belt of Orion for a music video. I made it a wolf's head for the image because it reads a little easier.

Fun with color 2

2009-09-24T12:37:00.002-04:00