elf

Phew! What a fortnight it's been here. Been engaging more in my photography as of late, but the day-job's had me on 'go' mode all Easter quite frankly. Thank the maker for those moments to yourself when you can just.. well, indulge really.

Don't should all over yourself.

Kept myself occupied during a quiet day at work earlier by getting a head-start on things here, and my word it was quiet! Well...ish (towards the end that is).

Drawing to see. Seeing in parts.

Something warm coloured for the incoming spring. Also befitting of the feelings a lot of folks in my life (and myself included) seem to be feeling right now! Much cobweb detangling figuratively speaking this month past, that much is true...

1979’s The Tin Drum is one of those films I’ve been itching to see for a long time, but haven’t got round to yet for some reason. The main character in that film’s played by a guy called David Bennent. Not a household name for most, but you’ve seen Ridley Scott’s Legend, you’ll recognise him when he played Honeythorn Gump, Tom Cruise/Jack’s elfin pal. Not sure why the idea to name this piece after D.B. occurred to me, but it did!

I'm usually not smiling like this in the morning, I used a reference photo.

Been hillwalking a lot more than I used to, and it's starting to show itself in my doodles :)

Whenever I’m channel surfing, I often find myself stumbling into a film midway through it’s running time, and tend to stick around if there’s elements that pique my curiosity and just catch my eye etc. My Girl 2, of all films, was one of them this time around. A line about “barbaric customs” or roundabouts prompted me to pick up my drawing kit...and here we are!

” Please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and taste I've been around for a long, long year Stole many a man's soul to waste ” I have had an idea for a long time to illustrate Sympathy for the Devil from Rolling Stones. This start from free sketching of cloud looking lines and soon i realise they look like atom bomb cloud. Original idea was more landscape version but maybe later.

This time last year I was in the midst of starting off my (then) new sketchbook... And what do I find myself doing tonight? Sticking to the same script with yet another one, that’s what!

A fairly special one for me this week, as today’s post is inspired by what would have been the time of Beltane celebrations. As it is, we celebrated at home in our own little ways, and in the case of myself indulging in my usual habits! Drinking and of course drawing, the usual stuff...

new profile pic :)

At the end of all this self-isolation, I have no doubt folks will be as hungry as that Dalmatian pupper I named this piece after. Hungry for some actual social interaction in our cases, that is...

The title for this one was inspired by a remark the DJ Marc Riley made on his BBC 6 Music show earlier in the week. Couldn’t resist getting inspired! As we self-isolate and/or minimise going out unless we feel the absolute need to, as Freddie of the Mercury once sang, “radio, someone still loves you ❤️”

Kicking things off with the new sketchbook! And what a time to do so... Coronavirus is rampant everywhere it seems, however big or small. If self-isolation (even for just a bit, wherever you are) is the way to combat this then I suggest making the most of this time. *Captain Obvious groove*

Charcoal on gessoed sketchbook paper

Recents. And riffs on the elf thing.

I'll tell you what's up... It's your hot lovah in a teacup. With a tattoo on his thigh because he's the kinda guy who will love you 'til the sun's up.

"If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." - “Weird Al” Yankovic.

I had something bum me out a little bit today. Nobody’s fault but it is what it is. So I decided to draw this up. I’m ready for fall and fall beers! I love to sit out under the moon once the temperature drops a bit and have some marzen lagers and other fall drinks. I felt like this captured the moment perfectly. I am excited for music fest in @havertownlife havertown tomorrow. I heard @levantebrewing will be pouring at brick and brew so I’ll be there sucking back some suds. I’m glad I forced myself to learn #adobeillustrator I’ve come a long way. Since then I have been able to help other artists that don’t use Illustrator or vectors and I am pretty proud of that, because when I was in their place it always felt like a huge struggle.

With thanks (again) to endless listens of Devendra Banhart and other awesome folk like himself...heheh.

Original for sale, see below. Prints and more can be found at http://www.tonyadoughty.net/prints-and-other/

Self-portrait of me now but 30 years younger.

After yet another afternoon of mind-drifting, I found something I wasn't expecting. One thing over the years, memories are bound to forgotten if I don't recognise its importance in practice. In this case, it was a basic yet very crucial element for my dynamic pieces: curly lines. Continuing from the "spirit" of that character drawing yesterday, I started early today with trying to draw the character in its updated form. Suddenly, I ran into a roadblock: I was unable to bring it to life. Running through nearly a dozen sketches, something felt missing. A bit frustrated, I just lounged around the place and listened to some music played on my phone. Turning it off after a while to prevent the media distraction trap, I just started to let my thoughts wander and looked through different things, asking myself some things... My work felt a little blocky lately. It almost felt like I was focusing too much using certain details as a starting point to improvise from. This results in me struggling to build outwards into a full picture. Often, I find myself losing track of the original concept, which frustrates me. One thought then got into my head. It was something I enjoyed in the past years, which was the concept of "Flow". Suddenly, I felt signs of an answer. The original drawing "White Bird" came into my mind, reminding me of how I started drawing that important piece. I still have a strong impression on how I started it. It started as flowy lines to carve out an outline, vibe, or energy, or whatever my mind finds to describe. Later, I would slowly narrow out the details and sharpen its precision, almost like carving a figure out of nothing. And there it was. Sketching the core or skeleton of an idea, adding the main shape, before narrowing down the to details and precision. A very basic skill in drawing that I have forgotten, as dumb as a nitwit. If I had the core idea there from the start, I wouldn't have lost it right? Putting it into practice, I saw its immediate effects. Curly lines were the only thing I used, and suddenly the White Bird was flying and "alive" again as it should be. Man, I have recorded these for years, within my personal achieve of sketches. Yet, I somehow forgot them like an idiot? I am just speechless. It almost feels like I am back to square one, although there was a takeaway. I have learned the lesson of forgetting this basic practice, which led me astray for all these months. Seriously, I really have to remember how important it is. Putting that aside, I have noticed that I have these 2 styles. One was that "start from a detail and spread out", and the other was the "start from the big picture and narrow down". I had instances of success in both, which gave me a slight dilemma on which to choose. It is obvious that I can't limit myself to either, that would be falling for the stupidity of Duality. My own solution, would be to use either when the situation calls. I can't forget either, I just need to know when is the correct time to use it... ==

Been some time since I touched the pencil. It wasn't easy to get back to drawing, since I was also distracted by the internet for some time. Lots of things went through my head, while I was out on a trip. Just drew whatever I felt like drawing, and this came alongside some reflections: I have been stuck on fixing this character concept for a very long time, trying to box it within a classification. Bird, wyvern, dragon, shadow, whatever- I came to a point today, where I felt that it really doesn't matter anymore. This is that sort of character who can be everything. I spent the entire afternoon trying to arrange all the little ideas and features, following true to creative intuition. Smashing together many of my previous character designs, this appeared. A masked and unnamed figure (???) with traits from many of my previous works. An avian / draconic / spiritual shapeshifter has always been something with me all this time, even when I tried to create a sona years back (finding it meaningless). True to its nature, it has few lively features except its eyes and requires a mask to display additional signs of life. Its clear that this character is basically a symbolic self-expression. It wasn't easy to seperate myself from my introjective tendencies, which easily distorts my concept of this figure (took weeks to untangle). Once the confusions loosen, it reappears with noticeably familiar features. The scribble above still has some room for rearrangement, just limited by the irreversible nature of pencil drawing. The grey markings were too dark, and the feet might look better staying white. The pale golden underbody markings, were actually a surprise.

We all wear masks…some are beautiful, some are ugly, we change them depending on occasions or people we meet, but every mask is just another piece of who we are. With this portrait I challeged myself to focus more on strokes than variety of techniques and brushes. I mainly used @jingsketch soft square render harmonic brush

A playful and vibrant hand-lettered tribute to the universal language of comfort food. Featuring whimsical doodles of pizza, donuts, ice cream, and fried chicken, this design captures that "treat yourself" mood perfectly. Ideal for foodies, snack lovers, and anyone who knows that sometimes a donut is the best therapist.

A bit on the rough side right now, since I'm just getting started (again) on watercolours. I've never painted this loosely before so this is a big step for me. Maybe I'll try a selfie again in a few months to see how I've progressed.