iPad Sketching

donaldsmithgraphics — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:07:12 +0000

I recently downloaded the free ‘Sketchbook Express’ app (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sketchbook-express-for-ipad/id410871280?mt=8) for sketching on the iPad – quite strange drawing with just my fingers, but it was surprisingly easy to get used to and incredibly accurate as well. Decent app for anyone else who wants to try it, as you get a good colour range, with a decent range of starter brushes (more available to buy).

Here’s my first two quick sketching attempts, will post more when I do them:

Beginning of a Graphic Novel…

donaldsmithgraphics — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:05:22 +0000

I’ve been working on a few scripts and ideas for graphic novels lately, and have started on thumbnails for one of them now that the story outline is finished. This one is a sci-fi story set well into the future, which I’m pretty excited about!

Below is a sneak peek of the first page, will post more over the coming months as the story develops…

‘Hellboy’ illustration

donaldsmithgraphics — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:19:53 +0000

I drew this last Saturday when I had some time on my hands – felt like drawing a movie character in black pen with interesting features, and that’s when Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy came to mind.

Here’s the process, beginning with the initial pencil sketch:

Followed by the linework, done in black pen:

Then I started the shading work, using a different thickness of pen – here’s a close-up:

And finally, here’s the finished sketch:

Pretty happy with the end result, tough character to draw – took me about 40 minutes in total. Think I’d do it in colour next time to get the red skin colour standing out!

The Stath

donaldsmithgraphics — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 12:16:53 +0000

Black pen illustration for a friend as a gift for her 30th, shes a big Jason Statham fan!!

Ch-ch-check it owt!!

donaldsmithgraphics — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:09:00 +0000

I don’t post about other artists on here enough – but if you’re at all interested in Aberdeen’s art & music scene (or just fancy a good read!), check out my good friend Jon’s blog – http://moodofcollapse.blogspot.co.uk/

He covers a great variety of topics including his own art projects, and does so very regularly – shaming my rare output!! Keep it up big man!

Sketchin’….

donaldsmithgraphics — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:08:57 +0000

Just did a quick pen illustration (using a Rotring tikky graphic 0.5 pen) while watching the Murray v Djokovic tennis final – another graphic novel idea I’ve got, really need to set time aside to fully create these scripts/plans I have!

Gotham’s Reckoning…

donaldsmithgraphics — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:49:55 +0000

Rather than going in to face the madness of Sunday morning Christmas shopping like I was meant to, I lay in bed and did a quick pencil & pen illustration of Bane, from ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ – here are a few process photos below:

Movember…..

donaldsmithgraphics — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 21:45:21 +0000

So, have ended up co-running the Aberdeen Oil & Gas Team for this year’s Movember, which is a charity that raises funds and awareness for the fight against men’s cancers. Decent team of roughly 100 folk in it, and have raised over £2000 all in so far!!

But still plenty time and money to go, so please donate to me here – http://mobro.co/donaldsmith (or you can also donate to team as a whole). Below you will see my effort so far….

Gaelic Book Designs

donaldsmithgraphics — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:27:25 +0000

Forgot to post these a while back, as I was just finishing them during my period of moving back to Aberdeen. First up is a book cover I created for the author Angus Peter Campbell (Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul). I also designed the layout of the entire novel inside for him:

I also designed a book cover, and layout, for Alasdair Campbell’s (Alasdair a’ Bhocsair) book of Scottish Gaelic plays:

10-minute Illustration….

donaldsmithgraphics — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:47:57 +0000

Quick digital illustration of the fastest man alive, Usain Bolt!