Since I’ve started my new job working with kids at an after-school program, I’ve had to find some way to impress or entertain them. Fortunately, I’m sort of a competent artist. At the very least, a lot of the kids think that I’m amazing, and drawings from Mr. Ian have become coveted commodities – so coveted, in fact, that I’ve had to institute a limit of one drawing per kid per day in order to actually be able to, you know, do my job. At the request of my cousin Stephen, an award-winning illustrator who enjoyed the drawing on the About page, I decided to share some of my recent random sketches.
Most of the drawings come from the 5e Monster Manual, which I bring to class as reference material, and in order to instill a proper sense of geekiness within my young charges. These drawings use the art in that book as reference, and were drawings that I chose to make for myself. Drawing from photographic or artistic reference is a great way to practice, and it’s a good thing I have the Monster Manual in front of me, because I couldn’t do nearly as nice work without something to guide me.
Mind Flayer:
Minotaur:
Human Fighter:
Archmage:
And finally, as a non-D&D related piece of art, a baby with two wheels instead of hands, in tribute to the beautiful minds of Sirs Thomas Cardy and Brian David Gilbert:
As an aside, I’ve noticed that there’s a certain segment of commenters online who say that drawing using reference material is a crutch, that it’s at best lazy and at worst an act of plagiarism. I find this completely baffling. Not only have artists used references for literally thousands of years (unless you think that those Renaissance masters came up with the subjects of their portraits and still-lives entirely out of their imaginations), but how do you think you’ll be able to draw what something looks like if you don’t actually, well, look at it? I shouldn’t let comments like that annoy me too much, though. Probably the people who say things like that aren’t actual artists and have never made anything in their lives. Either that or they’re bots farming engagement. What a time to be on the internet…
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