Category: Sketchbook

Sketch Challenge 2 – The Bear Necessity

Okay, okay. So yesterday we started off with a bang (so to speak) with some cowboys in this week’s Sketch Challenge between me and my buddy, Andy Heckathorne. Andy drew me getting punched out complete with a black eye (which you can see by clicking here). Today, I return the favor by sending him a bear that will maul Andy, if the bear doesn’t tickle him to death first.

I love drawing bears. There are lots of them on my blog. It is almost like it is a necessity for me to draw them now and again. There’s something about being able to put a goofy grin on them, and they have that lumbering, plump exterior that you can twist and turn any which way you’d like. I drew this guy on some brown Canson paper with ink, with added drybrush touches of white gouache.

 

Never trust a grinning bear.
Never trust a grinning bear.

 

Come back tomorrow to see what Day 3 in this Sketch Challenge will bring!

Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Sketch Challenge 1 – Big Belt Buckles

My pal, Andy Heckathorne, challenged me to draw. Yes, I draw every day, but specifically he challenged me to a sketch-off. At first, he wanted it to be every day until we die. Thinking that perhaps the sketching and posting daily is what would kill me, I said, “no.” So, he compromised and suggested we do it for five days. I agreed.

The rules of the game are that each sketch can take only a maximum of 30 minutes. I did not specifically time these, but am pretty sure I am close to that deadline each day this week. No stipulation was made as to drawing materials, so let the games begin.

Since Andy’s challenge reminded me of an old western duel, my first thought immediately went to cowboys. However, instead of dueling with guns, their duel is between who has the biggest belt buckle. Enjoy!

 

The belt buckle makes the man.
The bigger the buckle, the bigger the man – well, in stature anyway.

 

You can see whatever Andy has sketched this week by following him on Twitter! (Click on this sentence.)

Come to think of it, did you know that I was on Twitter, too?! Click here to follow me!

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Cartoons Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Shark Attack!

It seems that it has been awhile since I have posted some art here on the ol’ blog. I would apologize, except for the fact that I have been insanely busy working on a new children’s book! I can’t say anything about it for now, but it does involve a good 20 or so illustrations, and I am doing them all traditionally in watercolor and colored pencil. So there hasn’t been much time for anything else.

That being said, last night I experienced a little insomnia. Went to bed, then two hours later I was wide awake. Not good. So, I channeled my energy into doing a sketch in my sketchbook, which escalated into giving it a quickie coloring job on the computer.

With all the media talk of sharks and shark attacks this summer, I decided to doodle my own fierce shark with a baby seal to add a touch of desperation. Enjoy, and swim safely out there in the big oceans!

 

Seal it with a kiss.
Seal it with a kiss.
Categories
Animals Art: Photoshop Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Travelers Checking

I recently did some traveling, and when I do, I always take my sketchbook with me. I pulled it out last week while waiting for my plane in Philadelphia and started to draw those around me in the waiting area. I chose to focus on some heads that were interesting to me at the time. What do you suppose all these people were doing that would cause them all to be posing in a similar fashion?

 

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Airports always provide an interesting array of subjects to draw. Jury duty is a close second.

 

If you guessed “hair sniffing,” you would be wrong. They are all checking out their mobile phones, of course! If they happened to look up at all, they were probably perplexed as to why I had a book in my lap. Some of us still prefer to remain unplugged.

Categories
Life Drawings Sketchbook

The Coffee Creeper

The other day I was doodling in my sketchbook with a blue pencil when this little creeper came out. I liked how he looked, and decided to put some ink on him. The rough inking raised his appeal a bit, and then it escalated into including some shading. Having just made a pot of coffee, I dipped my brush into the coffee and gave him some brown stains to complete the sketch. I know he doesn’t look it, but now he smells good – like a caramel macchiato latte.

 

coffee monster
Since he was painted with coffee, now it will hard to resist licking the paper. Sigh.
Categories
Art: Inking Art: Watercolor Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

The Violet Varmint

Every now and then you have a dead moment (so to speak) at work waiting for your next assignment. Such a moment was upon me today, so instead of surfing the net or getting a sixth cup of coffee, I decided to start doodling. While keeping things very sketchy and rough, the doodle kept expanding in size, scope, and hideousness until it arrived at this heaping hulk of a concept monster.

Is he a brute with beastly intentions? Perhaps a misunderstood miscreant with a  heart of gold? Or maybe it is someone who just regrets not having taken better care of his teeth in his younger years.

Whoever he may be, he most definitely is a sketch who evolved in a moment of a little workday idleness.

 

purple monster
Genetics can sometimes be cruel.
Categories
Art: Photoshop Art: Preliminary Sketches Character Designs Development Art Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

Spring Bunny

Spring is coming. You can feel it in the air! Well, maybe not those of you on the east coast who have been hit with a dollop of snow in recent weeks. Here in Los Angeles, we have been setting heat records for this time of year with it being in the 90s. I tend to enjoy things a little cooler than that, but we make do.

So with spring around the corner, I felt like sketching a smiling little bunny rabbit. Perhaps you might enjoy looking at it from your sunny front porch, or from your snow fort – whichever the case may be.

 

rabbit art
Beware the Ides of March Hare.
Categories
Animals Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Blue Bear

Recently I started working on storyboards for a new animated film called Animal Crackers. I had some time between assignments last week, and just to keep busy, I started sketching. This bear came out of hibernation by way of my Cintiq screen. (That’s a monitor you can draw on with a stylus.)

While the film does include many animals, this is not one from the movie lest your hopes were up for a sneak peek. For that, you should visit the Animal Crackers Facebook page where you can see some of the characters as designed by the amazing Carter Goodrich!

 

Just in case you were wondering, this bear does NOT use Charmin.
Categories
Animals Art: Photoshop Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook