“There is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.”
– Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
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Animals Art: Inking Character Designs Drawn & Quoted Random Doodles Sketchbook
Category: Art: Inking
Remember kids, yellow snow is NOT lemon flavored.
The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society is having its annual holiday shindig tomorrow night. This year they are doing it at a restaurant that serves British cuisine. It was my duty to make the invitations once again, so with the venue for the party being what it is, it seemed natural to base the art on the most British Christmas tale that comes to mind, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Playing the role of Bob Cratchit is NCS LA’s own mascot, Cornelius the Bear with Tiny Tim being played by Krazy Kat cartoonist George Herriman. In the NCS LA theme song, we herald the bravery and generosity of Cornelius who, back in the day, saved LA based Herriman from a runaway toboggan while up in the mountains. Since Corny is no longer with us, and since he is from Los Angeles after all, we depict him as an angel bear.
Just in case you are curious, I inked this traditionally using a brush and a watered down sepia ink to give the ink line an uneven quality, and it allows for the brown color to show better. Then I scanned it into Photoshop where the colors and plaid fabric were applied. I tried to give it a bit of a nostalgic look in the method of drawing, but also in the color choices. For color inspiration, I looked to the work of my pal and fellow NCS LA member Dan Piraro who has such a great old timey look to his color choices in his comic strip Bizarro, yet at the same time his work looks edgy and modern.
And there you have it. God bless us, EVERY ONE!
Welcome to the grand finale of 2016’s Monster Month!
As I have said here before, I love drawing Frankenstein’s monster a LOT. When trying to figure out why, it most likely stems from how much I loved the drawings the recently departed great Jack Davis used to do. His had such an ease about them, and a quiet grace amid his flurry of cross-hatching. So maybe each time I draw good ol’ Frankie, it’s a way for me to personally remember Jack.
This year’s Monster Month opened with a loose ink drawing of a more traditional view of the original zombie, so for our grand finale, we are ending with a modern version of him. With the hipster movement going on these days, I started wondering what ol’ Frankie might look like had he been put together with parts from this era. Perhaps he’d look a little something like this…
In case you are curious, this is a completely traditional drawing. Inked with a sepia colored ink, and some white & blue gouache paint in my new Strathmore Toned Tan Paper sketchbook! Thought he’d be a good one to start the book.
Well, thanks for following along with my Monster Month posts again this year. I always enjoy drawing them, and hope you enjoy this October tradition of mine. Feel free to check out all my previous monster drawings from years past by CLICKING HERE!
Have a happy and safe Halloween!
Ah, young hipsters in love. However, it looks like they picked the wrong tree under which to plan for the future. Talk about your short-term commitments!
This drawing started out being that I just wanted to draw a tree in my sketchbook. Kinda got carried away…
Well, Monster Month is almost over. Come back on Halloween for the GRAND FINALE!
Here is another high quality sketch created on the back of an envelope. Keep those fingers safe Mr. Postman – this is a paper cut you might not recover from.
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I believe the children are our future. Teach them well, and let them lead the way.
This was just a strange ink drawing from my sketchbook that felt like it needed to be colored. So, into Photoshop it went where I pushed the “automatic color” button. (cough cough)
You know what they say: “Never ever get between a mama bear alien and her cubs.”
This, most definitely, is the astronaut’s final frontier.
