posted 05-25-2014 06:46 AM               

So, for those who may have interest in space autographs, space drawings, and many other drawings of people and things, please take time to visit my updated website.

posted 05-25-2014 08:09 AM               

I love your style. I drew a lot as a kid and pencil sketching was also my preferred technique. I eventually became a designer which required me to communicate my ideas through drawing. But, inevitably, I migrated to 3D modeling and rendering with computers and let my hand skills erode. Lately, I've been thinking about picking up a pencil and giving it a go.

Your portfolio might have provided the spark I needed to get some graphite on my hands. Perhaps I should drive to your house and get some lessons. As good as I was, I never reached the level of your work.

posted 07-22-2014 02:22 PM               

I collected "space" for many years, but it had been a long time since I drew anything relating to space. My time was spent collecting, not drawing. But recently I decided it was (past) time to do some drawings relating to space, and especially of those individuals involved in it. So for my first "space" drawing, what subject would be better or more appropriate than the first man in space: Yuri Gagarin?

I was able to acquire two good, clear photos of Gagarin and have drawn two portraits from them. The first drawing is from an early image of him, taken before he flew and while in training. The second drawing is from a later formal photo, with him showing the effects of being older and of the many banquets and dinners in his honor or where he was the main attraction. His was a handsome and interesting face.

Next, I plan to draw a portrait of "our" first man in space, Alan Shepard, and perhaps later Armstrong, among others.

posted 07-30-2014 04:15 PM               

As a model, I used Shepard's first NASA portrait photograph. So this is the Mercury-era Shepard, about 12 years before he walked on the moon on Apollo 14.

The drawing was more difficult than I expected, and took about ten hours, over a three day period. His wasn't a handsome face, but it was an interesting face and had character.

posted 07-30-2014 04:54 PM               

Your drawings very much remind me of another space artist, Bill Nummeroff, that did astronaut portraits of all the earlier space fliers, and were signed by them, too, with others containing actual postal cancels here from the Cape that I would help him with.

In continuing the fantastic series, Bob, are there future plans to include perhaps other space pioneers like Ed White, Neil Armstrong, John Young, and how about Robert Goddard, Wernher von Braun, and any others?

posted 07-31-2014 07:40 AM               

Back in 1989 I hired an artist to paint the famous silver Mercury Seven portrait full size from the chest up for the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Shepard's wife absolutely hated the interpretation of her husband. I believe she said he looked liked a monkey. The artist tried to modify the portrait but never could satisfy her and consequently the painting was never used.

posted 08-01-2014 10:06 AM               

Thanks for sharing!

posted 08-01-2014 02:26 PM               

As far as future space drawings, I have come up with the plan to draw portraits of the seven Original Mercury 7 astronauts. So my next drawing will be of Gus Grissom followed by Scott Carpenter. Only six to go, which is somewhat intimidating.

And, Joel, the brave artist that took on the task of painting the 7 Mercury astronauts from the famous photo of them in their silver spacesuits, has my sympathy. To attempt to paint/draw seven portraits together is something I wouldn't consider because of the difficulty of creating good likenesses of all seven. As you mentioned, the portrait of Shepard was not done well and caused the entire work to fail, even though possibly the other 6 may have been done well.

posted 08-11-2014 06:47 AM               

Grissom turned out to be a tough subject, somewhat more difficult than Shepard previously, and maybe not drawn quite as well, although I did well in capturing his likeness, which is the key thing for any portrait. Like Shepard, his wasn't a handsome face, but interesting and had character. More handsome astronauts, Glenn and Carpenter, are coming up.

posted 08-11-2014 07:41 AM               

I have half a dozen or so Berol Turquoise pencils of different hardnesses laying around my studio. I also have a variety of boards and papers. Now all I need is some talent!

posted 08-11-2014 04:01 PM               

I'm okay with the way I did Grissom's mouth, but am a little concerned that his left eye is slightly too high. There is no bigger critic of my work than myself and few drawings I've ever done I'm 100% satisfied with. There is always something that I'd like to have done differently or better.

As far as my drawing material, I use standard artists' graphite drawing pencils, some of which are old and are Eberhard Faber pencils, and with recently bought Derwent-Graphic pencils from England. Both Michael's and Hobby Lobby carry a good selection of artists' supplies.

For Grissom and Shepard, I used mainly B and 2B pencils, with HB pencils used for fine lines and 3B and 4B pencils for darker lines/areas.

I use a kneaded eraser almost as much as pencils and it's a very important tool for me.

I prefer illustration board over paper and use Strathmore Bristol vellum 4-ply illustration board. It has a slight texture, or "tooth," that I prefer over slick, smooth paper. It can give a nice texture/effect to the drawings.

posted 09-06-2014 01:49 PM               

I had planned to draw John Glenn next, but because of various circumstances, decided to draw a portrait of Gordon Cooper instead.

Next I plan to draw Wally Schirra and then Glenn, followed by Scott Carpenter and then finishing with the final Mercury 7 astronaut, Deke Slayton.

posted 10-15-2014 06:58 PM               

Remaining to be drawn are portraits of Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra.

If completed in time, and if accepted, my Mercury 7 portrait series will be exhibited at the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's dinner in November celebrating the 30th anniversary.of their founding. That would be quite an honor and would be quite humbling to this basically unknown amateur artist.