Real or "fake"?

I had an interesting interaction with a doctor that I work with quite often.  It really brought up the question, "Is what we do as medical artists real or fake?"

(At this point, I should take a moment to apologize for the over-use of quotation marks in this post.) 

I don't have an good answer for that question, especially in light of the reactions from said doctor.  Before observing her reactions, I would have said with 100% confidence - what we do is "real."  So, yesterday we were working on the project we have been collaborating on, and I was updating many (most) of the images.  One of the things that Stanford (and myself, especially) is very aware of is copyright. 

i.e. You can't just use images from Google in things you are offering outside of the University, and especially not for profit.  

I thought that this was common sense, but it seems that many a professor disagrees.  One of the things I have had to do on this project was replace images pulled from Google with original work. On a personal level, I know that I wouldn't want people ripping off my hard work, so I tend to lean towards the copyright enforcer role sometimes...

In any case, we needed an X-ray that depicted a CMC fusion.  I pulled one that I thought portrayed that surgery from her library... but I was wrong.  It was a hemitrapeziectomy with a k-wire pin, not a CMC fusion with a k-wire pin.  Darn and blast!  It turned out that she didn't have a CMC fusion with a k-wire pin example in her library.

Now, if this book wasn't due the day before yesterday, she could go off to her case library, strip all identifying data from a patient case example, and use an x-ray from there.  Especially since she has a ton of x-rays from patients that have agreed to let their data be used in studies and papers.  But... needs must.

So I modified an x-ray that we had available.  It was ours, nearly showed what we needed it to, and was fairly straightforward to edit.  Which is better than what might have happened- yep, google was the first place to turn to.  Now, she made the argument that an x-ray with identifying data stripped from it is actually in the common domain.  I have no idea, truthfully.  She could have been 100% correct and I spent my time on nothing.  But I would rather err on the side of legality, especially since it's my name on the artwork in this book.

Looks like a CMC fusion x-ray to me!

As I was exporting the book for final edits tonight, her reaction to my editing this x-ray really struck me.  She was unhappy that we didn't have the real thing, or access to one via the internet.  On the other hand, I was happy that we had a drawing that looked accurate and was from source photos that we owned.  I was really wondering why editing an x-ray was bad, but editing photos is okay (I did a fair bit of that as well).  Or even teaching via 3D models and line drawings... why does a "false" x-ray ring so much more on the 'not good' side than the 'teaching' side? 

I don't have an answer for that, but I found the idea of it intriguing. 

Self portrait sketch

In addition to other things, I am working on a challenge from CG Hub - 'skinless portraits.'  Very fun.  So, here is my quick color study of myself.  And I do mean quick, as in a sketch. 

Webcam shot - I'm tired.

So, this will be the basis of a 'skinned' portrait.  Fun!  I love CG Hub - they have great ideas.

Random sketches: hippos

So, I've been pretty swamped at work, and I haven't had a lot of time to get much of anything done.  However, I did sketch some hippos. Including a hippo from a challenge about flying animals that ended up flopping.  So, it's not going anywhere any time soon, but it was fun to sketch.  Enjoy.

Hippo poses - roughly 3-5 minutes spent on each

Start of an idea.  I like hippo feet.

Eye studies

Today was a busy day at work.  Lots of questions to answer and fractured bones to segment.  So, I decided to do just a few quick 5-10 minute sketches of eyes to relax when I got home.  The two panels I am doing for AMI are on my mind, and tomorrow is a holiday.  So, hopefully, I'll be able to get some great work done.

Sketches!

How I remember eyes, with no additional study of life or mirrors, etc. Hmm...  In many ways, this reminds me of manga eyes. 

Time for a real reference!  With very thin eyebrows...  Eyebrows are dumb.

Woah.  Perspective.  I dislike side views, so I'm trying to sketch them more

Lush lashes.

Dog Anatomy 3

So, I fall afoul of deadline dates once again.  I had to submit my work on the canine Anatomicae contest this morning - and I don't feel like I've finished my final piece.  However, isn't the cliche "when do artists actually feel like they've finished?"  Truthfully, there have been some pieces that I really do feel have been completed.  But, this is no where near one of them.

Some WIP shots.

Color blocking in the silhouette and choosing some colors to work from

Basic shading added

adding in a very rough background and refining the shading - her paw looks amputated right now

tried to work on her eyes and the paws.  Got some reflected light going on, but it's not quite there.

The image itself is still very rough - blocky shading and such.  Her eyes aren't quite right, and the background is atrocious.  But, this is where I got to in two weeks time, while also working and doing the paper mache eye, etc. 

The contest itself required a pose that showed all four legs.  I wasn't completely aware of that when I did my anatomy sketches... But I do plan on including the anatomy for this pose as well, when I get the time.  Perhaps in between paper mache layers?

- SH

Dog Anatomy 2

So, I'm back again with some more canine anatomy studies.  Today was also a study in the adage 'save often' - Photoshop crashed and took my entire skeleton and muscle system with it.  Go figure.  But, I recreated it in a much rougher form and I'm still going to share it.  These studies will eventually be turned into an actual dog.  I'm torn between an action pose and the sleeping pose for the final piece.

Sketching from a photo of Oshie.  Rough sketch.

 

Refined the rough sketch just a bit.

 

Grabbed some more skull references in addition to Ellengerger's Animal Anatomy book and drew in the skull.  Nothing was in the exact right pose, but I'm feeling a little better about canine skulls in general now.

 

I started to rough in the rest of the skeleton.  This is the last stage I had saved before the crash.  I ended losing all of the finished skeleton and most of the muscles.

 

 A much rougher overall skeleton to replace what I had lost.

 

A 15 minute color study of the skull.

 

A very fast muscle study again.

 

I'm just about ready to move on to a final pose.

Breakdown of 'Connection'

So, I recently participated in a challenge called "Manga Mania." I decided to rework an old dryad/forest spirit idea I had sketched out over 10 years ago.  I wanted to work in a background and flesh out the 'connected to nature' angle I hadn't captured before.

I had a great time with this contest - I haven't drawn "anime/manga" in a lion's age.  So, I have a few stages actually saved out, and you get to see the evolution of the image.  Enjoy!

The original concept - from the year 2000
(boots? Why did I draw her with boots?)

 

Initial sketch based upon the original concept and some other references. I wanted to stay true to the original idea for the most part.

(sketches from other poses snuck in here and there)

 

Some basic color blocked in, and the form more finalized

(I decided the vines should be living... and I reaaaaly didn't want to bring them all the way down the leg so... vine shorts)

 

Colors more defined and some initial shading happening 

(She's growing from the forest floor.  Not just because feet are dumb.)

 

A background worked out and a few extras starting to appear 

(my recent trip to a very foggy forest inspired my background)

 

 Starting to tie the composition together

(light rays are always good)

 

 Working with shadows and highlights

(trying to bring the colors into harmony- right now she's very green and the background is very teal)

 

 Trying out a different look - no outlines

(not working)

 

 Brought the outlines back, but refined for a better "manga" look

(also working with the colors and hating on the face)

 

Trying out a different idea for the arms 

(swoopy arm vines?)

 

 Ditched the conceptual lines, but I liked the idea.... so, they are making appearances elsewhere. Also trying to refine the face, especially the eyes.

(the swoopy arm vines didn't work for me - but the glowy blue cracks I like)

 

 Working on the entire composition, trying to tie it together better by bringing the glowy bits into the background

(more cracks! I'm trying to bring interest to the foreground rock too, without it becoming overwhelming to the figure)

 

 Added some more 'glow' to the glowy bits and elsewhere

(trees need glowy line love too)

 

 Final tweaks to nose and other areas

(and the time limit for the contest is up)

 

I'm thinking that I might like to take this from a 'manga' look to a more realistic look.  I only did the manga for the contest, but I still like the overall concept.  So, there you go!  

Dog anatomy

I'm doing a series of images right now with canine anatomy.  Here are some of the sketches I've done today.  The first two are done by observing An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists - a book that I haven't done enough studies out of yet.  Then, I started to sketch my dog, Oshie.  I topped it off with different rapid positions of her both in repose and in action.  Finally, I tried to lay in the proper skeleton in one of her action poses.  The angle was a little strange, so I may need to revist that one as I continue.

Ellenberger pose study - bones

 

Ellenberger pose study - muscles

 

Oshie face head on

 

Oshie face - looking up

 

Oshie studies - laying down

 

Oshie studies - action

 

Action pose - bone placement

  

Action pose - bone with color

 

Action pose - muscles 

(EDIT - I forgot to add the skeleton and muscles sketches to Oshie's 'action' pose)