Quirky Botanicals and Friends Colouring Book. My first colouring book, all hand-drawn illustrations that started off as doodles -- as a way of destressing and relaxing, taking breaks from 'real life' and work. My form of joyful creative therapy! It's available at Amazon worldwide and Barnes and Noble online.
Here is my submission to the 10th anniversary Plushform show at Rotofugi Gallery. I was invited by Shawn @shawnimals to participate in this fun show. He is the creator of the Plushform DIY plush figure being customized by 40 artists at Rotofugi, a designer toy store gallery in Chicago. The original Plushform show was in 2008. I was waiting for their official announcement before posting my final so I could link people to the site for more info. I was told they are working on it and will announce soon. This will be for sale at the show.
"Parts Unknown," Acrylic on Canvas, 18x24 Some actions we will never know the reason behind, and, quite honestly, we don't always need to know the answer. Anthony Bourdain committed suicide on June 8th, 2018, news that was shocking for most to hear. People continue to speculate what could have caused him to commit suicide, some feel he had more to do, to say before he died. Personally, I find there's some feeling of closure or completeness to his death. I don't know what the feeling is exactly, but it's there. It feels like he left on his own terms, decided it was time. I wouldn't consider his death as him waving a white flag to addiction and depression. He said his shows were intended to tell other's stories, tell them frankly and truthfully. It's interesting how blunt and honest he could seem to be about himself, though he kept so many layers held within. Although we'd love to have a clear cut answer, explanation, reason, what would knowing that information change?
Horses ... These noble animals have always been a source of inspiration for every artist, sculptor, photographer and will never cease to delight us as one of the most successful creations of God, pleasing the eye and soul with graceful forms.
Some LGBTQ+ members of the community can’t openly love who they want to love, so the bars represent that barrier. The fabric, with all its complex folds and creases represents sensuality, desire and love. Love, in all its forms is a complex thing of beauty.-------------
The companion piece to my previous post ‘Ecstasy.’ Agony and Ecstasy were always meant to be a diptych. The issue for me is that there is a two-year gap between the completion of the two - there is a noticeable difference in the the way both were drawn.
Faber Castell pastel pencils, Black and White Generals charcoal pencils on 9” x 12” Strathmore Toned Grey sketchbook paper.
The past two days have been interesting, to say the least. My anxiety kicked up again, yielding two more panic attacks...oh joy. There's an increasingly chaotic external environment: COVID-19 positivity rates rising, looting, SAT nonsense (thank you College Board for not giving anyone information and for being very uncooperative). Am I angry at people in the world? Yes, and I know that's a generic, over-used phrase, but I truly am. I'm tired of all of this. I'm aggravated with the current state of the U.S. There's moments where things feel fine, and others when it feels like things are closing in. No one knows what the next few months will bring and tensions are high. Will things work out? They will eventually; they better. But, at the same time, what the heck is even going on anymore?
Sorry that I haven't posted anything I just have been feeling like bleh. I can admit quarantine makes me a little depressed even though I'm an introvert, I guess it combined with the rain gives me an excuse to stay in my room and never come out... Okay so there is some really sad news for the wonderful people that follow and support me... I am leaving next week, I have to give my computer back to the school... I might come back mid summer.... I might come back during the beginning of the year... I might forget about this super positive platform (not likely unless I go back to Deviant art (also not likely)... I will miss you guys and I'm only posting 1 more time after this post... Thank you... all....
I gravitated towards the fony baobab, a real type of baobab. Sadly, all baobabs are in decline, which informed my composition. I used pastel earth tones and a lot of blacks. Digitally hand-drawn in Rebelle 6
WIP and having a blast. What could it be? The answer coming in the near future.
#doodle @shawnimals @rotofugi #ocean #mixedmedia #plushform #robot #shark #porthole #nautical #outerspace #space #fish
I’m often asked about my Bic pen drawings and how I do them. It starts with a good foundational drawing, the ballpoint pen part is just trying to colour within the lines. I try to do my best to explain the process, but the best way to show my progress is by posting my efforts to master pen drawings over the span of 3 or so years. I have been doodling/drawing with ballpoint pens as far back as I can remember - they were cheap, readily available and always lying around the house. It wasn’t until I was bored during a particularly long team meeting-conference call (around 2016-17) that I started to think about the possibilities of ballpoint pens as serious portrait illustration tools. My first experiments with full colour ink portrait drawings were rather crude, but that’s the point of learning new techniques—as long as the curiosity and the love of drawing is there, you can transfer that skill and passion into any medium. Remember, the most exquisite drawings and paintings you see didn’t materialise fully formed, they started out as failed experiments. Failure after failure after failure. It’s important to remember this when you get discouraged (I've failed spectacularly over the years). The only difference between the accomplished artist and the beginner is hundreds of hours of practice. Talent can only get you so far. It’s the hard work that you do behind the scenes that makes your work look effortless. Keep doodling. Keep learning. Stay curious.
As a child of the 70s, I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of our little colour TV, and watching and adoring Lynda Carter bounce around, kicking ass and fighting crime. I’ve always loved Wonder Woman, and I'm fascinated by the myriad ways she’s been imagined and re-imagined over the years.
For mine I focused on her dualism – the goddess beauty vs warrior strength, combined with the colour and curves of my childhood. In terms of the art, I thought it would be fun to allude to classicism for the subjects association with Greek mythology and form, and balletic contrapposto as a homage to Lynda's classic spin.
Prints available via my website.
Only took like 2 hours. Honestly, this is the hardest I have EVER worked on a digital piece. Surprised I even got this finished in one sitting because I have been pretty nauseous today. @Hirsch I hope I didn't mess up qwq. By the way, are we friends? Sorry if I seem weird for a stranger but I just need a quarantine buddy. It's ok if we aren't, I understand, I'm only a random kid on a platform of other strange people, so it's alright indeed. (P.S. I'm in a super good mood today because I got a new Furby :3 I'm so weird)
Hi. Am I hard to see? You are free to look closer.
This is how I will most frequently present myself as, drawn here in an effort to rejuvenate past drawing abilities . Both Ego and Shadow are delicately present as one, although still not the truly completed form. That is still outside my own grasp within the field of creativity.
Everything here has some meaning, including the blank background. A "Domain" in the form of a canvas. The ability to bend reality. A shadow that opens the door to the extraordinary. The simple tools to channel one's creativity. Most importantly, an Avatar of one's being.
She stands at 6'4,wth a deep voice and long pink hair and muscles,Zevaela is combative and quick like all shadow demons.she is friends with Tenebris and Dezajed,sometimes Tenebris annoys her and fights her,She and Dezajed are very "close" friends.She has a shadow and a monstrous form like all shadow demons have,sometimes she struggles to return to her normal form.she is great at flying whenever she has her large wings present.she's also great at tail wrestling too.
When I am angry and frustrated with the world (politics, wild fires, injustice, etc.) I seem to be drawn to drawing raptors. The first one is today's sketch, the other two are from former days.
Blackwing pencil and woodless B4 pencil on Canson sketch paper.
People click pictures to remember and tell stories of their adventures on the trip. I want to tell my travel stories through doodles. This is my first attempt at them, and looks like i would stick to making these on my travels. This one is for the 4 day trip to Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh, India. A 4 day trip of adventures captured in form of a doodle comic strip.
An article/rant/annotation to an illustration. A #Hackney bar and its flies.
This picture is not as sad and blue as it might at first seem, I promise.
It is early in the week and the pub becomes the territory of the most outspoken drinkers. Raised somewhere between Churchill and Harold MacMillan, a night such as this is time for them to spin out a yarn of nostalgic fantasy. Encouraged by the lack of a crowd and with space to fill, statements start to fly.
In the opening rounds the barman athletically hits back with factual blocks and reality-check haymakers; statistics and personal experiences are given. Two histories cross examined, one where 1982 means Thatcher and the Falklands, the other renders Reagan and the AIDS crisis. Stoicism and national pride vs mental health and realism.
In the latter rounds the barman is fatigued, swaying on the backbar, glasses begin to stack up as form begins to drop. The older men seem stronger than ever.
The barflies come in close now, they scrutinise his generations work ethic and make wild political comments on poverty, immigrants and the minimum wage.
The barman is close to sheer bloody despair, he maintains his defence and focuses on breathing while maintaining his professional stance.
But at the end of the night the barman knows HE will ring that bell, they will politely leave and they will return again in a week and maybe, just maybe there will be a change, common ground or maybe at least polite silence.
But what these interactions have given despite the salt in the eye is community and an exchange between generations, culture and class of those participating. No home is ever straight forward, no relative without their good and bad traits and in a world where we often slide into echo chambers online or in our physical environments, the pub is still a place where society is family, face to face, pint to pint. Or maybe it's just a room with alcohol on tap?
In wanting to get active with my fellow doodler community, I wanted to stop in and introduce myself. My name is Dalton Stark, I live in Texas, and i'm a doodle addict, and an advocate for the possibility of anything. For me, doodling is my purest state of being human. My sketchbooks are a very sacred place for me to practice this expressive and arcane form of imagination meditation, which I'm always trying to find more excuses to spend more time in. It is to me, all about intuition, making discoveries, surprising yourself, having fun and maybe even making yourself and others smile or laugh sometimes. I look forward to being a part of this beautiful inky ecosystem with y'all, here are some very secret sketchbook spreads.
Doodle piano by Cédric la touffe. Superforma and The Silo asked me to customize the old piano that was outside at the silo. I first started during the concerts of 10lec6, Loire Valley Valypsos, The Green box and Ineige then finished at Silo after 22 hours of work.
I am an art teacher with a master’s degree—trained by brilliant professors who believed that art could do more than decorate walls. I offer safe spaces for teenagers to grow—nourishing soil where their imaginations can take root.
And yet… I am assigned to hallway duty.
This is compulsory education, after all.
So I sit—posted like a sentinel—watching young lives stream past.
“Get to class,” I say with a smile and a nudge.
The system wants attendance; I’m hungry for presence.
Armed not with a whistle or clipboard, but with a pen—
my scribble’s soft insurgency.
The hallway stretches out like a geometric hymn.
Columns and corners chant structure.
Teenagers swirl past—half-formed galaxies of limbs and laughter—
their orbits chaotic, their gravity pulling time forward.
I begin to draw.
Not their tardiness, but their motion.
A shoulder. A blur of sneakers.
A tilted head chasing freedom.
Feet flickering like seconds.
Each mark a pulse.
Each smudge a breath.
My paper becomes a seismograph of seeing—
trembling gently through the mundane.
This isn’t about making art for a frame or a feed.
It’s about refusing to leak away in the fluorescent hum of obligation.
It’s a quiet mutiny against the clock.
I do this on long car rides, too (passenger side, mind you).
Letting the lines grow wild, jagged, and unapologetic.
Not for polish—
but for presence.
This is how I remember I’m still alive.
Still growing.
Still watching.
Still choosing to see.
Because sometimes mental health looks like
a piece of scrap paper,
a moving pen,
and the simple, sacred act of
marking time with wonder.
ORIGINAL JIM ART FOR SALE! Title: “The Moon and the Sea.” Custom painted Plushform designer plush toy originally part of the 10th Anniversary Plushform Show at Rotofugi Designer Toy Store and Gallery in Chicago. Materials are pencil, acrylics, pen and ink. This was originally priced at $375. What a fun holiday gift this would be for art collectors at less than 50% of the original cost. This just went live on my Etsy shop. See link to my website up in my profile and then click on the “jim store” link. Thank you for your support!
If it wasn't enough that Ernest Shacletons ship Endurance was crushed by the ice in Antarctika’s, some kind of weird Space Weather phenomenon appeared into the sky(drawing tip:if your drawing looks flat and dull , try to transforming it something different ).
