Recent Work

During our last exercise I debarked to observe an amphibious raid. With some of the down time I had sitting on the beach, I persuaded a Landing Support Marine (LCpl Shellito) to sit still long enough for a portrait.  With an artistic mind himself, he was intrigued by the whole practice of drawing from life and using raw light to capture strong and dramatic imagery. This 'sketch' was drafted in about 35min, and was a solid practice of proportions and values that I've been focusing on the past couple weeks. 

My focus as I move forward in my artist career is to capture the Marine. A former combat artist told me, "the Army likes their trucks, they draw trucks. The Air Force draws planes, the Navy draws ships... But Marine Corps history is based on the Marines, and it always will be."

At-Sea Periods

During our recent training period, we embarked and operated from several naval vessels off the east coast.  With the little time o had available I sketched the UH-60 Seahawk (Navy version of the Blackhawk) while some maintenance was being down in the hangar bay.  

The values on this one are not and wide as i would've liked. I decided to use ballpoint pen in my sketch and like the results!  They're cheap, dispensable and can create a wide range of values.

Access to the flight deck will hopefully be better on our deployment so I can draft up some work from there. This last one is of an LCU (Landing Craft Utility) which can carry troops from ship to shore. It's a slow but dependable vessel.

With our next training period around the corner, I hope to post some more work soon.  I'll also lay out my traveling kit and its components to show all that I work with when away from the studio.

Drawing Academy Winner

Thanks to everyone's generous support in this competition I've been selected as a winner for the Drawing Academy online course.  I'm excited to see how this course deepens my understanding of classical art and strengthens the skills developed over the years.  Feel free to visit www.drawingacademy.com to see for yourself the depth and quality of material offered there.

Sgt Collins of CEB

Recently the Motor Transport Marines of my Combat Logistics Battalion and the engineer Marines of Combat Engineering Battalion conducted joint training for counter IED and Lane sweeping techniques. Of the CEB platoon was a squad leader named Sgt Collins who displayed confidence, knowledge, and command presence. My inspiration to create a portrait was kindled. The day was clear and cloudless since the snow had blown through just a few days before, so with the sun in full participation, I took a few photos to later work from. Below is the progress of my work since the watercolor realm is still new to me.

The initial layout in graphic pencil. Here time for proportions should be taken. It's easier to erase pencil than watercolor.

A few steps in, I laid the first wash for the sky, then began the major colors and shapes for the uniform. I mostly used combinations of Veridian, Burnt Umber, and Yellow Ochre. I also included some of the shadows early to break up the smaller shapes.

Here my focus was the skin tone and creating the form under the Kevlar using the shadows and darks.

This was the most consuming part. The values depicting the shadow of his helmet but also the reflected light you see in his brows and eyes. Also, the shape of these shadow really brings the convincing look to the form of his face. Again, more reason this took a little more time. The other detail was the NVG mount and goggles which took only a few minutes.  The next step was to put a loose wash and a few details on his weapon, touch up his uniform, and darken the upper right corner. Once this was done I'd call it complete.

Here is the 11x14 final product.

M1A1 Tank

While in our training cycle, integrated training offers greater understanding of the MAGTF, an expansion of equipment knowledge, and often new friendships. Here the Battalion Landing Team linked up with CLB's maintenance platoon to conduct power plant (I.e. The engine) maintenance and training. 

This is the raw sketch I did. I was on my way to scout a live fire range and caught this. It took about 20min, with a Sharpie pen layout and tonal markers. They come in handy for quick and large areas of coverage. 

Here's the same piece with some details. Done after the tank left and I had to walk away.

Field Maintenance

Here is a sketch of a Marine working on an MTVR that went down after a 10hr convoy. It was cold this day and I kept to the bay shelter as best I could while the designated maintenance bay took in and worked on this truck for several hours. This sketch was done in the evening hours, when Maintenance Platoon seems usually to be most energetic and productive.

A lot of maintenance is done while in the field and this is only a moment captured of the hard work done that is often not fully appreciated. My trucks wouldn't run if it weren't for these guys.