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Facial Accessories

March 2, 2014

Here’s a couple recent favorites. My Space 55 pals Dennis and BJ, from a play reading not too long ago. I love these guys, and their faces…
Dennis

People with glasses, mustaches, scars, hats, tattoos, piercings, pockmarks, hairlips snagleteeth, and any other “facial accessories” always make fun and interesting subjects.

Especially mustaches and glasses.

BJ

The more stuff you have on your face, the more reference points I have to work with, which makes drawing a little easier. Plus all those extra details add character. I will sketch everyone else in the room before I bother with some boring PYT.

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Storyline

February 21, 2014

One of my favorite late night events at Space 55 is Storyline, which happens every third Saturday of the month  (that’s tonight!) at 10:30pm.

Different people get up and tell stories based on the monthly theme. It is always a great show, as well as a fantastic opportunity to do some sketching…

storyline

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Prezzies!

February 17, 2014

In honor of President’s Day I drew a couple of our Founding Fathers. It was the least I could do, since we get a paid holiday in their honor. Plus, I will take every opportunity to draw Abe Lincoln. (He’s just so odd looking!)

I would like to thank our American currency for providing reference photos.

(I had to borrow a fiver to do this one because I just don’t roll with that kind of cash.)

Abe

Remember in the last blog post when I said I have to be careful when using the white pen or else I overdo it? Well that there is a perfect example.

For GW I didn’t have to borrow any money, as I was able to supply my own single. This time I didn’t go quite so crazy on the white pen, and I like it better here.

GW

Making this drawing gave me flashbacks to my cherished Garbage Pail Kids collection. Back when I was about 10 or 11 years old (circa 1988) I frequently copied GPKs in an attempt to learn to draw. In fact, the first drawing that I ever remember taking seriously, and where I actually managed to stay focused for more than a couple of minutes, was when I made a copy of “Well Done Sheldon.”

welldone

But my very favorite GPK was Gorgeous George (and his twin Dollar Bill).

GPK

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Goggles and Naan

February 16, 2014

Here’s a couple more Big Head Richards. I took another shot at him in the steampunk hat because I didn’t like the first one. I think I did a better job on the goggles this time, but I still don’t like them all that much.

I found an opaque white gel pen which I used to add highlights on the lenses. I have to be careful when using the white, because it’s tempting to go nuts and put highlights everywhere, thus diminishing it’s effect.

Streamhead 2

I did this one at Indian Delhi Palace, where we went for Valentine’s Day. I did the initial sketch at the restaurant and then colored it with markers later at home. I had fun drawing his hands on this one.

V-day India

Also, in an attempt not to complicate this drawing with too many different colors, I just splashed the entire background with yellow, and then used a darker yellow to suggest a bit of depth. I like how the red shirt plays against the yellow background, but I wish I had added a bit of shadow to the shirt, cuz it’s looking a little flat compared to the rest.

When Richard saw this one he said, “Wow, that’s really good. It almost looks like someone else did it.” Then he winced and said, “I meant that as a compliment.”

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Wyldflower People

February 12, 2014

I did this one at Wildflower Bread Co, which is one of my favorite restaurants, as well as one of my favorite places to sketch. I just love the teeth on that guy in the background. I have a hard time drawing mouths in general, and it don’t usually draw teeth, so that was a pretty weird choice for me to make.

wildflower cartoon lady

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A New Pope

February 8, 2014

Sometimes, for reasons unknown, you gotta draw the pope. Like when you see him on the cover of Time Magazine and think to yourself, “Now that’s a chin.”

pope2

My drawings of late have generally been very colorful with lots of contrasts, so a guy with white hair in a white outfit was a good exercise in holding back.

When I did the yellow background I guess I was thinking about heaven and halos and the light of God or something. When I showed it to Richard he said, “It’s like those icons.”

To which I replied, “Say what?”

Then he went into his office and came out with these two religious icon things that he got in Romania. Both have yellow backgrounds. 

idols

So maybe it was the religious art from the days of yore floating around in my subconscious that inspired the yellow background.

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Immortal Instruments

February 5, 2014

I’ve been carrying sketchbooks and various drawing tools around for about a hundred years now. And during that time I’ve purchased dozens of different little kits and bags and things to hold my pens and stuff.

Then while back my sister-in-law told me about this thing her friend made to transport her kids’ crayons. I was so inspired by the idea that right then and there I sketched out a design for something similar that I could make for myself…

Instrument Holder

Then over the next few months (yes months, because I’m that slow) I sewed it together. Then I tried it. Altered it. Tried it. Altered it some more, until finally…

instrument holder

What a beautiful functional pouch!

Okay so my work is a bit sloppy. I’ve never been very good at sewing (or any other sort of crafty, 3-dimensional, pinteresty type stuff) but hey, I made this all by myself. And check it out! It’s got slots for all my pens, pencils, and shading markers. And it even has a little button pouch for my sharpener and eraser.

I used to just carry everything together in one big zippered pouch, but that would become a problem because the graphite from the pencils would muck everything else up, and sometimes the pens would leak on each other. With the different slots for different utensils, they stay organized and clean.

The original design had a string on the end so that when it was time to go, I could just roll it up and wrap the string around it. But that was too bulky for my purse. So I cut off the string and added a couple buttons instead.

Now I just fold down the flap…

image2

Turn it over…

image1

Fasten the buttons…

image3

And bam! I am ready to go!

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Steamhead

February 2, 2014

Here is the newest edition to the big head Richard drawings. We went for a steampunk look today with a top hat, goggles, and this old military style jacket that I found at a garage sale a couple years back.

steampunk richard2

He was originally wearing socks but I asked him to take them off because that would have been boring. I am glad I did, cuz I think that foot is my favorite part of this drawing. He is sitting in our “fancy chair” which is always fun, but challenging to draw. Someday I will figure out a way to simplify it and still retain it’s character.

And dang it, I really wish I had done a better job on those damn goggles. Those goggles are killing me. I’ll just have to try again next week.

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Flora

January 30, 2014

I am super crazy happy excited for my friend Molly Schaar Idle, who just won a Caldecott Honor, for her book Flora and the Flamingo!!!

flora-and-the-flamingo_norm_1

You can read all about it at this link here. Then go out and buy all of her books.

I turned to Molly for help last year when I was making a poster for a show called Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings, and despite being a very busy and high demand illustrator, she still took the time to give me a ton of great advice, which really helped me to improve the poster. I wrote all about it in this previous blog post.

I met Molly in college when I joined up with her and several other talented folks to try to start an animation company. The company didn’t last, but it was a great experience, and the friendships I made there (which also include artists Jessica Hickman, Michael Petry, and Molly’s husband Steve) are still going strong after some 15+ years.

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Big Head Richard

January 26, 2014

So here is the first drawing I did in the Big Head Richard series. It’s always convenient to draw someone when they are meditating. And if they are wearing a funky robe thing, that’s an added bonus.

zenrich

Here is the second. Same robe, and now he’s added a funny head sock thing to the ensemble. I have added more detail to the background here. And by more detail I mean, 4 orange lines.

stockinghatrich

Here is the one from last week, which is my favorite so far, for reasons mentioned in the last blog post. Also, there were like three more baskets of dirty laundry in the background. I only drew one of them because I am lazy, which is why we had so much dirty laundry in the first place. Richard ipad

This one is from today. Not so crazy about it. Once again I should clarify that our door is not actually pink. Initially I had left it white, with a few grey marks, but there was so much weight at the bottom with the dark blacks and thick lines, that I felt like maybe some warm color on the top would help balance it out, which maybe  helped a little, but it’s still not working for me.

Afterward I asked Richard if he was in a darker mood here than when I did the previous drawings, and he said yes. I think it definitely shows.

darkrich

This is the first in this series where I’ve gone for the front instead of profile. I’m not as good at this angle, so I will need to keep at it. At some point I accidentally grabbed the “2” instead of the “1” pen, which the reason for the thick black outline. I kind of like it, kind of don’t. I think the thing that is bothering me the most here is the back couch and the colors in the background.

All of these were done with Tombow markers and various pens.