Art of DB

08/06/2023

Uncle Jack Charles
1943 - 2022
Australian elder, actor and indigenous rights activist.

Been meaning to do this one for a while now. Rest in peace, Uncle Jack.

29/05/2023

Barry Humphries 1934 - 2023

Australian comedian, entertainer and drag queen.

26/05/2023

Father Bob Maguire, 1934 - 2023.

Australian TV personality and tireless advocate for the poor and homeless.

Not sure if quote is from him or if he just shared it, but I like it.

Pen and Ink on Bristol Board.

16/03/2023

30 years ago, on the 16th March 1993, I completed this drawing, while at Uni studying laboratory techniques. I was 18.

At about this time some popular artists in the US were being paid USD $20 grand a month for pencils on books. I had always been made to feel I shouldn't take art seriously, and even when a professional artist (Eddie Campbell) told me to send my work to Dark Horse and I'd get work, I didn't have the confidence to do so.

My adult life has been an utter disaster because I didn't follow my vocation, my calling, my drive. I allowed others to make important decisions for me that I should not have.

Creative people, follow your dream. Chase the impossible. Give it your all, don't listen to the naysayers, no matter how important they might be in your life. You will regret it if you don't.

No, I'm not dead, but I've got PTSD and have difficulty completing work. I used to draw every day and enjoy it before I wound up in a psychopath's playground medical lab and it destroyed me. Now drawing feels like a chore.

Do what you love doing.

25/01/2023

A slightly more complete Empire Strikes Back illustration.

Added a Stormtrooper, Bespin city and a Cloud Car.

23/01/2023

23/01/2023

Getting back to it. Three sketches for commissions. Pencil on A3 sketch pad. The original Star Wars trilogy triptych. Submitted to client, waiting for feedback before proceeding to inks.

The first one stands out as being a great deal more sparse than the latter two, so might need to add more elements from that film to it. Also might change so Tarkin is big face above everything else just to match the latter two.

Empire is my favourite film of the three, and have tried to include every cool scene and character from that film, with mixed success. Might be too cluttered.

12/01/2023

Last year I had a go at inking a real penciller's work, but it's been abandoned unfinished. The line weights need a lot of work, because I made the mistake of inking the entire thing with one pen and then trying to make the foreground elements' outlines heavier.

The other mistake I made was to trace this using a lightbox, instead of printing the pencils lightly onto the page and then inking over that. Live 'n' learn.

It looks alright because the pencils are *so* good.

Darkseid by Jose Luis, 2019; used with permission from the original artist.

05/08/2022

I took off at a sprint and quickly went splat. Trying to get back to regular drawing again.

Also, inking someone else's pencils, especially when tracing them, is really hard and I'm kinda stuck. But will persevere.

Anyway, here's a couple of old, unfinished Spawn pics I did in the early 90's

29/07/2022

RIP Bernard Cribbins, 1928 - 2022.

07/07/2022

Thor, 1991, pencil, pen and ink on cartridge paper.

I did this in my last year of high school, back when I was a huge fan of Todd McFarlane's comic art. His influence can be seen clearly in the ridiculous capes I've done here. Neither of them are properly finished, for some reason I abandoned inking them both half way through.

I have never felt I've managed to draw Thor very well; I'm not a huge fan of his costume. Drawing Mjolnir is tricky, too.

Anyway, I'm off to see the new Thor film today, so have dug these up to share.

05/07/2022

Liberation from the Daleks, pen and ink on copy paper; not sure when, but around 2015-18.

I quite like this page. Roughs through to lettered page, done for the DWCA for fun.

Death's Head and Abslom Daak, dalek killer! Good stuff.

Posting new work will resume soon.