1931 Speed Week Poster

A submission for the recent "Speed Week" over on the "Spontoon Island" website.

Guess what language the poster is in.

1932 Speed Week Poster

Another Spontoon Island "speed week" entry (this time, in Dutch)

1940 Mercury Lead Sled

This particular piece is of some significance to me because there is one particular DA artist whose digital work has been a great source of inspiration to me greatly. He is Yankeedog. He and I share some of the same interests (in particular, classic American cars)

this isn't a valentine's day pic. I just had that particular idea for the background in my head. I am quite pleased with the way the "metalfake paintjob" turned out.

All in all, I think this piece has some good composition to it.

48 Buick Kustom

Recently, I treated myself to a set of
Prismacolor markers.

This is my first-ever attempt at using them.
They will take some getting used to.

With this little exercise, I was trying to
visualize how I would customize a car
such as the '48 Buick Roadmaster
sedanette. My inspiration for the
look of the headlight clusters came
from those found on quitle a nnumber
of Hooper-bodied cars of
the early-mid 50's.

Alouette

I'm really starting to get the hang of using scraperboard.

This is one of the earliest characters I ever came up with. Her name is Alouette (she's a Samoyed)

This chara must be around 10 years old, now. Maybe I should do some more work with her.

Batty's Last Stand WIP

It's my take on the beginning of a great
scene, from probably one of the greatest
films of all time-Blade Runner!!!

It's been quite a hard slog, so far.

BR (c) the Ladd Company/WB, 1982/2010.

Cubist Air Pirate Panda

This is a follow-up to my original brush-and-ink illustration, "Air Pirate Panda". This didn't take that long to do this in Photoshop-just a few hours.

The inspiration behind this image was Dutch/German modernist poster deign of the early/mid 1920's.

I reckon the centrepiece of the image would look good on a T-shirt.

Into The Darkness

I was beginning to think I'd never get this piece finished, seeing as my computer'd been constantly shutting down by itself, at the time. I'd really like to get my hands on an Apple Mac sometime in foreseeable future.
When I started on this, I intended it as a piece of fanart, then later on, I decided that it would be just as good as a piece of standalone artwork in its own right.

The smoke turned out pretty good.

Femme Fatale

I actually started this one last year.
I'd only recently just managed
to get this finished off.

I can certainly say one thing-working with vectors in
programmes such as Photoshop can be quite a long
slog.

Originally, I had intended to draw Alouette with a
feather boa in her hand. I eventually decided it was
too much hassle to do. Apart from which, I felt it
was a bit pointless.


Probably the most awkward part of the piece was
drawing out the gun.

Artwork (C) Stuart McCarthy
Alouette (C) 1999/2010, Stuart McCarthy

Breath Of Fire

Another recent experimental piece done in Harmony.

I Am a Fish

Some more practice with Harmony.

My Signature In Harmony

Just another little experiment with drawing in Harmony.

As the city burns

Man, I'm really finding my legs with that graphics tablet!
To begin with, you sort of have to look at the screen as though you're actually drawing on a sheet of paper in front
of you.

Gestural Hospital Sketch 2007

Near on three years ago, I was in hospital.

To pass the time, I would draw some sketches of the
other patients on the ward. I decided to suggest the figures through loose, gestural lines. This is probably the loosest of the bunch.

Gestural Hospital Sketch 2007 2

2nd in a series of 6 gestural drawings I did in hospital.

This one looks surprisingly lifelike.

Gestural Hospital Sketch 2007 3

This is a sketch of a patient who was lying next
to me when I was in hospital.

Mottenfest's Birthday Pic

Here's a little something I rustled up for mottenfest:
for his big day a while back

It took me about a fortnight to get this done (on-and-off with some other commissioned work I'd been doing then.

1937 Speed Week Poster

I had done a previous version of this poster design, but I FELT was lacking a little something, so I decided to make certain parts of the image look more "three-dimensional".

Nosferatu On Scraperboard

My second effort in drawing on scaperboard.

This time, I feel as though I'm starting to find my footing with using the scraping tool.

NosfeRATu

The character in this Photoshop rendering is based on the main character of Murnau's 1922 classic, "Nosferatu", played by Max Schreck. When I first started working on this, I envisioned the vampire as a rat! (no prizes for originality, there)

I tried to capture the atmosphere of the original movie, as well as getting a few ideas from Art Deco graphic design, and German Expressionism.

Panda Air Pirate

A brush-and-ink illustration of a pulp-style Panda air pirate I have recently drawn. As well as brush and ink, I have also used permanent Black markers and fineliners. I based the design of his outfit loosely on the armour of a Mongol warrior. The flying helmet was inspired by the early-model (1920's-30's) Red Army helmet. I haven't gotten round to blessing this character with a name.

(c) Stuart McCarthy, 2007. Please do not redistribute or alter.

Saluki In Harmony

Recently, I happened to be browsing on FA and found a sketch done by Soundhound, with the free drawing tool, Harmony. I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This is one of my first attempts.

Sandy In Harmony

A little Harmony doodle of my spaniel gal, Sandy

In spite of the lack of features, Harmony is quite easy
to use.

Sany (c) Stuart McCarthy, 2005/10

South Seas Sandy

A scraperboard piece of Sandy taking a dip on a south seas island. I couldn't quite fit it onto my scanner, unfortunately.

Sandy(c) Stuart McCarthy, 2005/10

The Face Of Evil

At one point, my art was going through a bit of a "cubist" phase. This is another example. I started and completed this in one night. I would like to take my digital art a step further and produce proper "painted" pieces.

One Lowdown, Dirty Rat

A little piece I did in Harmony.Since
I got my Wacom A4 tablet, my Harmony
work has come on in leaps and bounds!!

I also tweaked it a little in Photoshop.

Sherlock Hound

Please excuse the rather lame title. It has very little to do with the original Miyazaki series (even though that's what inspired me to do this)

I quite like the "antique" look created by the coffe-wash.

I'm in two minds on whether or not to add a few washes of colour to define certain areas of the drawing-what d'you think?

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Sophia At The Races 1932

Every year, in August on the Spontoon Island Website, Ken Fletcher invites all contributors (including myself) to submit work for the recent Speed Week art section. This is something I put forward to be submitted.

It is meant to be a sepia photograph of my character, Sophia, getting ready for an air race. I rendered this with a brown watercolour pencil.

Sophia (c) Stuart McCarthy, 2004/10.

Beach Blanket Sophia

A pic of my chara, Sophia, hitting the beach.

Rendered with graphite pencil and watercolours.

Stylized Portrait of Sophia 2

A slightly different version of my recent Sophia portrait. I chose a moodier colour for the background.