karlsimon

ipad painting workshop

2012-01-09T19:29:00.003Z

Happy new year everyone!

Ive written an article for the magazine ImagineFX. Its about painting from life on the ipad. I went to the Wallace Collection here in London and painted some medieval armour.

If youre interested in seeing the step by step creation of this image, pick up a copy of issue 79 of ImagineFX this month.

Ive done a few simpler lunchtime studies aswell. These were all done in the British Museum using an app called 'Procreate'.

Merry Belated Christmas

2011-12-26T21:08:00.003Z

quick christmas ipad painting...

Vietnam - Hue

2011-11-11T17:46:00.001Z

The Imperial Palace.

ipad plein air

2011-10-23T20:16:00.004+01:00

I got myself an ipad to be able to do colour sketches from life. Would be nice to do it in watercolour but its just not practical. The ipad is surprisingly nice for sketching though, Ive used the program 'Brushes' for these paintings.

These first two are lunchtime sketches from the British Museum.

St Pancras station.

Queens wood in Highgate. Its getting a bit cold for sketching outdoors in London.

Exciting wardrobes!

Our entrance hallway.

Huw Edwards tells us about life in the big world outside.

Character and tree

2011-10-14T11:19:00.006+01:00

The first image was ment to be a quick sketch for me to practice character design (Its supposed to be Victarion Greyjoy from Game of Thrones) but it turned into a kind of rendering exercise instead. Ive been thinking alot about trying to describe differences in materials lately and Im trying to get better at this.
The second image is a quick painting I did for a thread over at the sijun forums.

Heres a guy thats really good att describing materials in his paintings:
www.greensocksart.com

India - Varanasi

2011-07-16T13:35:00.002+01:00

Holy men giving blessings by the Ganges river one morning in Varanasi.

A knight and a ghost

2011-07-02T12:43:00.005+01:00

This image will be published in Spectrum 18 this autumn.

I thought I should show some images to explain the process of this illustration. I originaly had this idea of a stone tomb surrounded by dancing ghosts. I did a little thumbnail, scanned it in and tried some different colour palettes. My girlfriend said it was a boring picture and that I should get closer to the subject if I wanted to get more emotion into it.

So I tried out this composition, and instead of lots of dancing ghosts there's just one, whispering something to the dead/sleeping? knight, who is not made out of stone anymore.

After trying out colours on the second thumbnail I worked up a tighter drawing, using reference for all the things I didnt know how to draw. I scanned it in and finishied it digitally. The ghost girl went through the most changes and I ended up rotating her head around as you can see in the final image.

India - Jodhpur

2011-06-08T20:21:00.001+01:00

Entrance to the womens court, Zenana deodi, in Mehrangarh Fort in the city of Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Nepal - Patan

2011-05-21T11:57:00.003+01:00

Temples on Durbar Square in Patan, a town next to Kathmandu.

Peru - Puno

2011-05-02T16:11:00.002+01:00

Over the last four and a half months Ive been out traveling, hence the lack of posts. The good news is I had plenty of time to sketch. We went to Peru over christmas so the first drawings are from there. The top one is of some rooftops in Puno at lake Titicaca. It was raining alot and we were forced to stay in the hotel. This was the view from the hotel window.
The other two are quick studies done in museums.

Spectrum 17 - Mooseman

2010-11-20T21:03:00.003Z

I managed to get one image in this years Spectrum book! It was inspired from the winter landscapes around lake Tåkern back home in Sweden. The drawing was done with pencil on paper, I then did the "inking" and colouring digitaly.

One year later and this inked version of the drawing seems quite weak. It was a fun experiment though.

I might try again for Spectrum 18 if I can find anything worth sending...

More comic book experiments

2010-10-15T20:23:00.004+01:00

I've been playing around more with inks. Bought myself a crowquill pen and some nibs. It gives surprisingly good line control. The solid blacks are filled in with japanese brushpen and then the pictures are scanned and coloured in Photoshop. I also used photoref more than I normally do. This allowed me to focus more on style rather than the design of the characters.

The Old Crown

2010-09-03T16:20:00.003+01:00

A pub in Highgate.

Summer sketches

2010-07-20T14:50:00.002+01:00

In Crouch End

Around Highgate

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010-06-25T17:32:00.009+01:00

I did quite a bit of concept art for the film 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' back in 2008-09. It was a fun project as I was asked to do both storyboarding and mood studies aswell as more polished artwork to help define the look of the visual effects of the film.

There is alot more to see over at my website: www.karlsimon.com

Head studies

2010-05-21T17:56:00.002+01:00

A couple of head studies from photographs.

Italy

2010-05-14T14:16:00.002+01:00

Bologna

On the cemetery island in Venice

Spring

2010-04-23T10:17:00.003+01:00

Its been getting steadily warmer here and its now possible to stand outside and sketch again (finally!)

This one was done in Amsterdam at easter. It was cold and rainy. We were waiting for a bus.

Im not sure about this paper. It gives a nice texture but its very tricky to control the ink.
It was very cheap though...

Soldiers leaving London

2010-03-27T09:51:00.004Z

A few weeks ago I saw a small exhibition of Arthur Ranson's art down at Orbital Comics here in London. It was really inspiring to see such nice comicbook art in its original size. I decided to have another go at doing a small project with comicbook techniques. These are all pencil and ink on paper. Inking is very difficult and as you can see I still have alot to learn...

Paris rooftops

2010-03-22T21:15:00.003Z

These rooftops need some colour. Question is, should it be daytime or nighttime?

Here is a bonus samurai:

Viking ship

2010-03-02T14:47:00.003Z

My colleagues and I decided to make a little list of things we could sketch when there is time between projects etc. First up was " A viking or pirate -ship at sea"
For the next one I shall do some thumbnails first to help make the composition less boring.
Here is Philippe's version.

Plane crash

2010-02-05T13:30:00.002Z

One day when I was bored I asked my good friend Philippe "What shall I paint? I have no imagination today. Help me! What shall I do?!"

"A plane that has crashed in the mountains" he replied.

Turned out to be quite fun. The top images are pen and ink composition thumbnails on thin wobbly paper. The image below is digital.

Rooftop conversation

2010-01-29T19:26:00.001Z

A quick composition sketch.

Snögar

2009-12-18T13:12:00.000Z

A little bit of winter came to London today.

Travel sketches

2009-12-05T13:12:00.000Z

I went to Spain for a weekend in September. Will definitely go back.
Barcelona

Montserrat

I found these old sketches from a trip I did to Thailand a few years back. Gave them a bit of a digital touch up.
Ayutthaya

Khao Sok

Skola

2009-09-09T10:23:00.000+01:00

This is the school I went to from age 9 to 13. Good times.

Kyrka

2009-09-02T11:18:00.000+01:00

The village church.

Farm buildings

2009-08-27T11:09:00.001+01:00

A small farm shed. The thing on the left is a poo-transporter-device. Cow shit if Im not mistaken.
I ran out of grey ink. Turned out it wasnt such a bad thing though.

Maybe they use this big building to store the harvest at the end of summer.

Kvarn

2009-08-19T16:55:00.000+01:00

This is the mill. I think its still in use. Maybe not though.

Smedjan

2009-08-13T10:51:00.000+01:00

Just came back to London after a three week holiday in Sweden. I decided to do some sketches around the village where I grew up. This first building used to be the local blacksmith's, but now its empty. I also started to experiment with black ink instead of just using shades of gray.

Crouch End Clock

2009-06-21T11:47:00.000+01:00

Working with ink pen is tricky. Since all the lines come out the exact same value and thickness it easily looks static. I will try to be more economical next time.

Old prosthetics

2009-06-14T18:19:00.000+01:00

At the Wellcome Trust in London.

Gardens

2009-05-28T21:51:00.000+01:00

A small communal garden behind Sainsburys in Angel. Its difficult to make sense of all those leaves when the sun is shining all over the place. Nice lunch spot though...

Rogslösa Bibliotekshus

2009-05-18T09:53:00.000+01:00

My parents house in Sweden. I spent a long weekend there celebrating my birthday in the beginning of may.

Easbourne Pier

2009-05-13T16:29:00.000+01:00

If you live in or around London, Easbourne on the south coast is well worth a visit. Its just an hour and a halfs train journey away.

Tottenham Court Road

2009-05-07T10:41:00.000+01:00

Lunchtime study.

Egyptian statue

2009-05-04T10:32:00.000+01:00

N6

2009-04-27T10:00:00.001+01:00

Clockwise from top left:
1. Highgate
2. Highgate
3. Highgate
4. Highgate
5. Highgate
6. Highgate
7. Highgate
8. Highgate

Maybe I should travel somewere else to sketch...
Tried working on brown-ish paper for these. Next I'll get some sepia ink instead of black.

Happy Assyrian

2009-04-23T22:17:00.001+01:00

Quick lunchtime sketch at the British Museum.

Toledo

2009-04-20T23:43:00.000+01:00

I went to Madrid over easter. We rented a car and drove around the countryside, visiting Toledo and Segovia. It was very beutiful and inspiring. Unfortunately I didnt have much time for sketching. This is the only one I did. Maybe Ill go back there one day...

Kenwood lodge gatehouse

2009-04-06T10:37:00.000+01:00

Another house. This building stands next to Kenwood lodge close to Hampstead Heath. I dont actually know if its a gatehouse but it was next to the entrance so Im guessing it might be.

Sketching around the Thames

2009-03-30T10:28:00.000+01:00

I went out sketching with some friends one Saturday. We ended up going from Borough market to St.Katharies dock and then back again. Nice day out!

Some old boat.

St.Katharines dock.

London City skyline with the Gherkin.

Sketching the sketchers.

Another cemetery sketch

2009-03-25T21:34:00.000Z

Highgate cemetery again. Not my best perhaps. But look, its got little people in it!

Mr Clutch

2009-03-19T09:51:00.000Z

Its always more fun to draw when there is some sunshine. Looks like spring is finally arriving!

Quick one while waiting for my cappuchino.

Entrance to estate

2009-03-16T15:40:00.000Z

Some victorian houses around where I live.

Highgate hill

2009-03-12T11:38:00.000Z

Grey neighbourhood

2009-03-09T10:23:00.000Z

Victorian house

2009-03-05T11:51:00.000Z

Believe it or not, this is actually a colour study. London is grey =(

More Hampstead Heath

2009-03-02T10:17:00.000Z

Hampstead Heath

2009-02-24T10:32:00.000Z

Ikea monkey

2009-02-20T11:37:00.000Z

This one is from a photo.

Quick sketch whilst waiting for a bus outside Ikea.

The British museum

2009-02-18T10:40:00.000Z

Highgate cemetery

2009-02-16T11:50:00.000Z

Highgate cemetery is one of my favourite places to go with my sketchpad and camera. Its full of nice views and overgrown victorian graves.

Waterlow park

2009-02-13T10:10:00.000Z

Tiny sketches

2009-02-11T10:20:00.000Z

Very quick drawings from my smallest sketchpad.

Crown of feathers

2009-02-09T10:05:00.000Z

Altar

2009-02-06T10:02:00.000Z

In Lima cathedral.

Mummies

2009-02-04T10:55:00.001Z

From south Peru. Probably Nazca or Paracas.

Mummified baby

2009-02-03T11:25:00.000Z

Some kind of Inca gold vessel. Alot of the gold in the Museo Oro is said to be fake, but I dont think it has been proven. Everything looked real enough. And so did the mummies.

Trophy heads

2009-02-02T11:43:00.000Z

Trophy heads at Museo Oro in Lima

Andean churches

2009-01-30T10:17:00.000Z

One of the churches at the main square in Cuzco.

An old monastery in Chinchero, a small village in the coutryside outside Cuzco.

La Molina street

2009-01-29T11:29:00.000Z

This is my first blog post. A suburban street in Lima. I just came back from a six week trip in Peru and over the next couple of days I'm going to share a few sketches I did there.