First off, thank you checking out my site, I hope you enjoy looking through these pages and maybe some of these contents will spark and idea of your own. I am a professional artist and designer with more than 20 years experience working in this field. I am not nor do I claim to be a master. I do not have all the answers – I just love to draw the figure and want to share my artwork and if you can learn a thing or two along the way, I am glad to help.
I work in traditional mediums like colored pencil, pen and ink, airbrush, watercolor, acrylic and oils. For the last several years however, the vast majority of my work is done digitally using a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.
No, I have hundreds of hours drawing from male models. For many years I have drawn from all figure sizes, ages and body types – the human figure is simply the most amazing and expressive subject that I have ever worked with. For this site I have chosen to stick to what sells best. I have other sites for other types of work, this one focuses on a very specific market which seems to be booming.
I never post anything online without permission from the model (not the client, but the model). If i am particularly proud of a drawing or painting, I will ask for the ok to post. Most of the time, they say ‘no’ outright. Sometimes they ask that I remove their faces. In that case, I remove the faces, adjust the cropping/composition (on digital images) and resend for approval.
Yes, I think they all are. As an artist I take pride in finding the beauty in a pose and bringing it to life. Do I take some artistic license? Yes. Do I ever get submissions from models that are overweight/underweight or less than ideal? Yes. Almost every single model sends a list of imperfections they see in themselves that they want me to overlook no matter how genetically ideal they appear to be.
I have a floating price schedule depending on how long my wait list is at the time, you can view it here:
I get this question all the time. From time to time I use the source photo as a reference for the original sketch in a low opacity overlay. Usually only if the main focus of the drawing is a face – getting likeness is critical you know this if you have ever seen a poorly done portrait. The vast majority of the time, I keep the source material up on another screen and just draw from it like I’ve done all my life. Getting the initial sketch and likeness right is my favorite part of the process and I prefer to do it as spontaneously as possible.
You can order a custom painting from a photo reference simply by contacting me. If you want prints of something you see on this site, contact me with required specs (size, material, shipping zip code, turnaround time etc) and I’ll get you a quote. You can purchase a copy of my Figure Drawing book on Amazon as well by clicking here.
© 2024 Derek Matters.
