Lighting Test Sketches

In an attempt to get better at intuitively adding lighting to sketches I'm on a mission to reproduce a variety of photographic lighting techniques. Below are a couple examples of quick sketches for practice.

Art Nouveau Update, 2.13

I had been testing different iterations for her hair and settle on what's below. However, after changing her expression to that of a 'just-after-crying' expression, I may change the hair to suit her mood.

The hair was inspired by the work of this Dutch gal, Lois Van Baarle (loish.net). It needs a bit of tweaking but it's almost finished.

Belly Dance, Ambiance

I've decided on the ambiance of the picture, thus:

Belly Dancer

I've started another sketch today of a Belly Dancer, primarily because I was listening to music form the Balkans today... Anyway, with this sketch I wanted to test out colors first, before I even have the right gesture. New technique, we'll see how it turns out in the end:

Art Nouveau Update, 2.11

Although I've been influenced heavily by Alphonse Mucha, I'm straying away from his style a bit in favor of something closer to fine comic art and clay sculpture. I still plan on incorporating floral, flowing elements in the picture but it's probably best I stick to my own style. Here's what I have:

Art Nouveau Portrait of Jessica: In Progress

I recently had my friend Jessica pose for me so that I could take a crack at an Art Nouveau style portrait, influenced mostly by Alphonse Mucha. Whereas I thought this would be a fairly quick illustration, it's taking me a considerably longer amount of time to finish. No matter, below are the sketches I have so far:

Red-Tailed Klutz

After an exhausting day of hiking I decided that I'd like nothing better than to camp out in the canyon behind my backyard and birdwatch. I did so happen to catch a few photos of Cooper's Hawks and Red-Tailed Hawks--one of which had a hell of a time getting its footing on a very thin branch. Below are 2 of my favorites of the day: