A floral botanical illustration around the words of the famous poem and hymn by Cecil Alexander "All Things Bright & Beautiful'. Drawn in pen & ink with another on the way...'All creatures great & small.
Ink and Watercolor sketch of octopus. Normally I start with a pencil outline, then go over it with micron pens. But I'm learning to skip the pencil step and just sketch with ink. I helps you not to overthink things. Once you lay the ink line down on the paper it's there to stay. You can't erase and there isn't an undo like you have when working digitally. You just have to work around any "mistakes" you make. I'm also working on sketching faster because I just don't have that much free time these days. Trying to produce a new sketch every day is a real challenge.
I've started a new sketch book (one of many, lol), which I am dedicating to ink drawings only. No pencils, no watercolours, just pen and ink :) I drew this doodle today with a Uniball pen and a light ink wash for the space sky. No reference, totally made up. Mistakes and all! Available as stickers and other goodies on Red Bubble.
Sketchbook is Stillman and Birn Alpha - I love, love, love the whiteness of its pages!
(2B pencil on a 87mm x 139mm postcard) Sometimes, how-to books were sold in old comic book adverts. These ranged from ventriloquism to hypnosis and promised amazing things when, in reality, they were just little booklets. With this artwork, I chose to depict one that would show you how to build something truly wonderful.
A reminder to myself:
On rough days when I feel lost, rudderless, overwhelmed or without direction, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through tough times is 100% so far. And that’s pretty darn good in the scheme of things.
It's casual Friday with scientists in jeans,
With half of them relaxing and the others breaking things.
Sweeping robots with a broom is taxing (work's not any fun!)
But they're leaving for the weekend soon and all work must be done!
(2B pencil on a 87mm x 139mm postcard) The old comic book adverts used to promise amazing things for cheap prices. Here, I've spoofed that with an advert for a mind probe.
(2B pencil on a 87mm x 139mm postcard) X-ray specs were an iconic mail order item in comics. It was one of the first things that kids bought that introduced them to the world of dubious adverts. I kept the image here simple, like the original advert.
It's cool how the internet can bring people together from far away places to make things. "Graham's Up the Tree" is based on a true story from the life of author mbpardy ... He's in Australia - I'm in Seattle area. When he posts these images at his page I see comments from people who grew up with real life versions of these characters I drew -- People that actually looked out the window and saw this little guy high up at the top of a tree... where no one else could go.
Funny personal homemade french quotes :
- The wise is not always the best aware when it comes time to do foolish things.
- The arsonists living at a time before the invention of fire were quite depressed people
Lately, I have been working primarily on the computer to wrap up a coloring book that I just published. I've decided to make August about focusing on my sketchbook and discover some new things. I don't really have a direction in mind other than to tackle
PSA to not be a dick to retail workers this holiday season (and all seasons!). Working retail during the holidays was some of my shittiest experiences. People become coupon-waving, red-faced monsters that deserve nothing but a trip into Krampus’ sack.
Here are a few things to remember:
1: They have literally no authority. Honestly, the cashier would love nothing more than to accept a stack of expired coupons to get some cranky-ass customer indignantly insisting that “at this point YOU owe ME money!” through the line. But they can’t. And no amount of screaming will change that. Oh, and the manager is bunkered safely in the back refusing to come out and will only troubleshoot through walkie.
2: If you’re nice (like basic human decency) they are more inclined to help you as much as they are able. Being kind and patient costs nothing and might actually pay off. You might even be able to coax out a skiddish manager that *sometimes* has the magic touch to get things accomplished.
3: Corporate overlords. Managers can do a lot but in the end, the retail world is run from corporate overlords through the machine sentries AKA registers. Welcome to Black Mirror, people. If the machine rejects your request then back to the matrix with you.
(HB pencil on a 89mm x 139mm postcard) The strangest things can sometimes trigger lucidity in dreams. Forget the fact that she was naked, or that she was sat next to an invisible man and that there was a monster trying to grope her. The dragon-headed man was smoking in a no smoking area. How fucking dare he?!
Andy Dooley teaches to "enjoy the meantime" when struggling in life or working toward a goal. It's extremely helpful! So today I'm making a point to enjoy the little flowers in my yard.
Sometimes I like to draw things in the reverse (filling in the light areas, leaving the dark areas bare) and then flip them to see how I did. Today's warmups turned out pretty well. My favorite is the kid on the top, whose head & hair echo the strawberry shape. I wish I'd distinguished the girl's legs from the dog's body on the left more, but overall, not bad.
Trying out some drawing on a slightly bigger scale( it's still only 8"x12, but I usually draw in a tiny scale). It was fun and interesting because it made me try new things.
