Coloured Pencil Peony

 I have been trying to take a photograph of a peony for reference for a long time. Still the reference image for this drawing is at least 4 years old. I had intended to try out watercolour pencils. There were unexpected challenges. Even if I let the first layer dry, it would not behave like paint and blend well with another colour. So I went back to using the Berol Fantasy coloured pencils. It turned out OK.

Red Rose of Late Summer or Early Autumn

 The first creative work of art since becoming a person of leisure is a pencil crayon render of this rose from our garden. I used a set of Berol Fantasy pencils. It's not the best quality, but it worked out just the same. It's my third rose. Since the last time, I really wanted to know what still worked. Just pencil illustrations is far too difficult, so I went straight to colour. The main thing now, I have to figure out how to keep the pencils from breaking when I sharpen them.

Colouring and My Drawings

Finally, I have started to use colour medium to render a drawing. The only references I had were photos taken from our garden. At first I used pencil crayons or coloured pencils. These I had an abundant supply of. There were false starts of course, to get used to the practice. I had viewed enough tutorials on Youtube to see what artists had to say about techniques and layering in particular. For the roses, I stopped short of overworking the drawing. The green was used but in the photos, they were ill-defined. In the drawing itself, it almost anchored an otherwise floating flower.

For the second rose, I used a slightly limited palate, but it ended up muddier looking. Clearly I needed to work learn more about colours.

My next challenge was watercolour pencils. I had played around with this before I understood how to release the pigment in this fuller set of pencils. Even then, I still had difficulty matching the colours to the reference photo.

In Steele We Trust

It is time for another cover art. I think that will be the twist for my new fan fiction in this genre. I have gone back to a caricature style. That way it is easier to capture the expressions.

In Steele We Trust
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Rated: K+
Character: Laura H., Remington S.

While on a romantic getaway in the Orient, Laura goes missing. It is up to Remington Steele to find her. Can the duo match wits with criminal elements without causing an international incident?

Who's Sorry Now: A Comic Drawing

Drawing in Pen!

I took one correspondence course in commercial art, but most people  know I have only ever sketched in pencil. This started as such. Having read daily comic strips for months now, I became inspired to adapt it for my own style. It took a good many hours in front of the TV, to search for the right scene for re-imagining, and many more hours browsing the internet for what to include in it.

After the initial pencil layout, I was less than impressed by the placement. I let it sit for a month, before deciding on using pen ink to finish it. I had a black gel pen and a set of fine-tip art pens. Setting the drawing on a transparent clipboard, I had a makeshift light table. A couple of design changes later, I continued the hand drawing with coloured pencils.

Steele Others: A Tale with Two Covers

What is Laura hiding?

A ménage à trois?

I was first intrigued with producer Michael Gleason's full fifth season treatment with a new love interest, Eddie. He comes from Laura's past. The change I made was to have the character introduced later, after Remington and Laura have been time living together for some time.

In the cover art, I gave Laura Holt, Stephanie Zimbalist' 1990s look.
For the first cover, I used an expression from Stephanie's movie "The Killing Mind". For the second cover, I finally got a handle on Remington Steele. Laura was from the episode "Steele Among the Living". Eddie was a composite of three actors.

AND STEELE THERE WERE OTHERS
Author: loneguppy
Remington Steele
English, Rated: T
General
Characters: Laura H., Remington S.
Chapters: 5, Words: 5,660, Rated: T, Complete Inspired by Michael Gleason's season five treatment, this is a re-imagined one night of romance from Laura's past and possible surprises in store for the Steele's future. I used my previous entry to provide the setting for exploring Laura Holt's hidden wild side.

Sketch Your Heart Away

A composition featuring four scenes of Remington Steele episode Steele Your Heart Away. Also an example of my favourite negative spaces.

The First Inspiration

The final act of Steele Your Heart Away, before Laura pats Mr. Steele on the shoulder, the previous shot that focused on her. The first time I saw the episode on DVD was the first time I decided to take out my sketchbook again. My previous renderings were always Star Trek characters. It's the second time I attempted to draw from the freeze frame. Eventually, I may make a composite with various scenes from this episode.

Inspiration Needed

I have been writing more of late. One goal is a chance to be published in a magazine. This will be my first new original fiction entry in a while.
Unlike fanfiction, it's not that easy to envision. I have half an idea right now and only a little over one month to write it. Only plus side is the low (1000) word count.
Meanwhile, I am continuing the next chapter for my Remington Steele story. I hope to spend a week before I need to switch gears.

GIF: Burn-in Animation

This of all the sketches took the longest to get right. I turned it into an animated GIF. I also avoided eraser damage to paper by tweaking it in a photo editor.

Sketches: Passionate for Laura Holt

What to do with a large page? I could have drawn a big picture. But I was used to working with smaller drawing surfaces. So I compromised. Did a series of small sketches on the same subject, with varying scale. The result is my first composition. Starting from the largest portrait in the middle, I opted for images with different angles and expressions. It worked! ☺☺☺

Sketches: Cheap Paper

It rained yesterday. Perfect time to practice drawing on a big sketchbook. 50 lb, like the pocket size. The only problem was my sweat soaked through the pages. Perhaps the 70 lb paper will do better.

Steele Reeling: An Unpublished Rewrite

The stench of death overwhelmed Laura, when she realized the carriage was where the Ripper had his victims. She covered her mouth with her hand, her tears threatening to spill.
The only words of reassurance to Mr. Steele was spoken in a muffled, "I'm fine."
As detectives led Galt away, Laura accepted a proffered hand down from the cab.
With feet planted firmly on the ground, Laura took a breath and then suddenly took a step back to retch right behind the rear wheel, narrowly missing Steele's midsection. He could only look on helplessly.
At the first wobbly step, Steele took Laura by the elbow and guided her towards the waiting paramedics.

Later in the hotel room ...

On instinct, Laura tensed up in defense, arms ending up in two fists, until she opened her eyes and stared into Mildred's concerned gaze.
"Mildred! Oh!" she sighed with relief and relaxed in the older woman's arms, trying to will the thumping in her chest to quiet itself.
Seeing that Mildred had her in a cradle hold, "What am I doing on the floor?" she asked.
"You tell me, Hon. When you didn't return, and police reports of another attack." Mildred noticed the bruising on Laura's face. "Are you OK?"

---

To get back into the practice of writing, it is always good to do a rewrite. Written above are some re-imagined scenes from one of my fan fictions.

GIMP: The Write Off

For a while now, I have been trying to make a single panel comic work for Remington Steele. I found inspiration from filing income tax. Drawing caricatures is more difficult than I thought. It's even harder to reproduce the lines with the Ink tool.

GIMP: On Location with Stephanie

It was the perfect image to try painting in GIMP with. It had light and shadows and a good posture. I used for reference The Great Elephant Escape DVD with Stephanie Zimbalist and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Near the end, she leans up against a jeep. I made up the part of her putting on Julian Sands' hat.

As much as I tried to correct the proportions in GIMP, the hat came out a bit off. Still I am satisfied with the results. The Ink Tool is really quite versatile. Now having this as reference, I can go back to the rough sketch and do up a proper pencil drawing.

GIMP: Flowers for Stephanie

I spent the weekend revisiting this drawing with the GIMP Ink Tool. The line art and the colouring is mostly done with this. I used the Airbrush Tool for some of the finer details and background, as well as the Smudge Tool for obvious reasons. It does make the composition look like comic art.

Sketches: Flowers for Stephanie

The idea for this was to do a comical drawing of the cast of Remington Steele. Not since taking that art class in cartooning, have I attempted such an endeavor. It was hard to come up with a style I haven't already seen. So I began studying the character's expressions and simplified the lines.

The sketching was the easy part. Painting presented yet another challenge. I have yet to master the controls in the tablet apps, so it is back to GIMP. Some parts of the drawing, I replaced the line art, some I kept.

Finished!

Started with thumbnails.

One of my favourite poses

The layout had a different drawing

Beginnings of a Serial

This coin was just the start of the mystery

The first of many. In this story, I present Sally 'Minor' Descoine. First introduced in the Remington Steele season two episode Elegy in Steele. I am planning to have a deeper look into her past and what is in her agenda for the Steele's. It remains one of my current projects for time being.

Steele Here, To Keep You Warm
Author: loneguppy
Remington Steele
English, Rated: K
Mystery/Hurt/Comfort
Chapters: 3, Words: 3,374, Reviews: 7, Rated: K, Complete
Vacation plans gone awry. Not everything is as it seems, when the Steele's tried to take a break from work.

The Comic Strip

My first ever comic strip.

 

So here is the comic strip. All the artwork was scanned in at 75 dpi. (Not very big and without the added dimension by a directed light source.)

I found the drawing program GIMP was lacking. I used it to create the border around each individual image and then added a text layer. Then lined up each panel. I used Paint to add in free hand lines. It allowed me more control.

As for the drawings. The medium close-ups were more difficult. If I didn't get the angle of the baseball caps just right, the whole drawing would have to be scrapped.

Filters have very little affect on the scanned images. The drawings were already simplified little posters.

Although it's a free form creation, I find it more of a challenge to getting it right. I can't wait to try it on Star Trek and The X-Files, which I have also drawn in the past.

Comic Strip Fan Art

When you are stuck for words as I sometimes am, I doodle. I looked into Remington Steele episode Second Base Steele for inspiration. With twentyish still frames, I am planning a comic strip.

1. Well done, Mickey!
2. You think so?
3. Why don't you try and hit one next time, St. James?
4. What? Deprive me a chance to steal first base?