Category: Sketchbook

2013 Eastern European Vacation 1 – Lavatory Line

I just returned from a trip to Eastern Europe where I had an amazing time touring parts of Romania,  Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. Naturally, I took along a sketchbook hoping to capture some of the people I encountered on my journey. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share with you some of my observations that found their way onto its pages.

First up are some faces seen on my 9+ hour flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam on November 10. I flew on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which, despite the name, was not very royal. Nothing was covered in gold, the seats were not lined with ermine, and there was no discernible trumpet fanfare when I entered the plane. Maybe you have to be Dutch to experience that part of the airline’s name. Had I read the fine print, I would have learned that in actuality, KLM stands for “Kramp Legs Much”.

That being said, I had a pretty good view of the lavatory line. With the exception of the smiling stewardess, these are the faces of international travelers awaiting international relief.

 

Bathroom line
If the fella in front of me hadn’t put his seat back onto me, I might have had more drawings of desperate faces after one of the lavatories went out of service. Good times.
Categories
Caricature Chad About Town Character Designs Life Drawings Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 12 – Monsters of Note

You take notes your way in your business meetings, and I’ll take them mine.

 

Post It Monsters
I’m not sure what was said in that meeting, but it probably wasn’t more important than these.

Tomorrow brings another ghoul to make you sleep with one eye open!

Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 11 – The Wizard of Dubious Distinction

When one finds oneself with an inordinate amount of time on one’s hands where absolutely nothing constructive can possibly be taking place, one must be prepared to pass the hours with a sketchbook. I found myself in such a predicament just last week at something that can cause a shudder in even the bravest of men. Yes, I had jury duty. (insert terrifying scream here)

With my trusty sketchbook in hand, I sat in the waiting room at the courthouse sketching fellow jurors around the room, but also some monsters creeped out of my pencil onto the pages. (The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.) Monsters such as the neighborly ones you saw in my previous post started as sketches that day, as well as the blue monster of dubious wizardry you can see below.

I say “dubious” because he hasn’t displayed one bit of magic yet, and quite frankly, I think he bought the hat at a novelty shop.

 

Scary Wizard
When hat shopping, he did favor the Cat in the Hat hat, but a cute salesgirl talked him into this hat of magical distinction instead. Sucker.

 

Return once again on Monday for our final week of MONSTER MONTH!

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 9 – Napkin At 20,000 Feet

There you are sitting in a long, hollow metal tube hurtling through the air at speeds usually reserved for Superman when you look out the window and the maddening realization hits you that you need to draw a monster right then without having any drawing supplies handy! You plead to the passenger sipping their coffee next to you, who oblige by lending you a felt pen accompanied with a worried glance, and you go to town on the closest napkin within reach.

While I wasn’t quite as manic as William Shatner was in that classic aerodynamic episode of The Twilight Zone alluded to here, a version of the aforementioned tale was my reality when I scribbled these creatures on a United Airlines napkin.

Thankfully my visions weren’t ripping up the wing of our airplane.

 

Twilight Zone monster
If you do draw on a napkin, don’t forget and then wipe your mouth lest you enjoy walking around all day with ink on your face.

 

What thumpity-thump thumpers will Wednesday bring?

Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 6 – We All Scream

When I spent some time on the beach this summer, as usual, a sketchbook accompanied me. However, this time it wasn’t just beach walkers that made it into the sketchbook’s pages. Some monsters joined the fun, too. With a red colored pencil in hand, this hard shell fella enjoyed some soft ice cream.

 

Ice Cream Beast
Better this creature is licking his ice cream instead of you.

 

No, my sketchbook is not full of Canson paper. It was just red pencil on white paper, but I thought it would be fun to drop this fella onto some textured colored paper digitally, onto which highlights and shadows were added.

For those of you who regularly follow my Monster Month posts, this guy follows a tradition of including a monster enjoying a frozen treat. If you’d like to see the others from past years, CLICK HERE!

If you haven’t yet had your fill, return Wednesday for an all new beastie!

 

 

Categories
Art: Drawings Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 4 – Meeting Minutes

C’mon, admit it. When you are in a meeting, your mind wanders to someplace other than where your posterior is physically located. Maybe you are thinking about what you will have for lunch. Maybe you are doing mental gymnastics about all the places you have to take your kids after work. Maybe you are thinking of a land of cotton candy governed by gummy bear constables. Me? I usually have monsters on the brain, and they usually find their way into my note taking.

This past May I was in a business meeting with about 20 other cartoonists at the National Cartoonists Society’s (NCS) Reuben Awards weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Of course, I don’t remember what the meeting was about now because you can see that my notes ONLY consisted of monster doodles. If you think MY notes were incomplete, just imagine what all the other creative minds in the room were putting down on THEIR note pads.

 

creepy crawlies
If my notes are any indication of what the meeting was actually about, keep your doors and windows locked, Pittsburgh.

 

The next monster comes to us in frightening color on Friday!

 

Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2013 Monster Month: Day 2 – Ball Point Terrors

Do you ever just get on a roll with sketching in your sketchbook? I do. This is what can happen when you combine an idle mind with a sheet of white paper and a ball point pen.

 

cute creature sketches
Sometimes it is the cute ones that are the most deadly.

 

Come back Monday to see what new nightmares await!

Categories
Animals Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles

2013 Monster Month: Day 1 – Wolfchad

What better way to get Monster Month kicked off than with a self-effacing interpretation of the Wolfman. This is a version of how I look before I’ve had my coffee in the morning.

 

Wolfman
This is how I really am. When a full moon appears, I become normal looking.

 

For those of you paying attention to my signature, I originally drew this one back in 2010. It was a sketch in my sketchbook that I inked, then scanned and colored in Photoshop. I was playing around with the idea of turning myself into the Wolfman for 2010’s Monster Month, when a funnier idea came to mind. I redrew myself a little less angry getting scolded by a police officer. CLICK HERE if you’d like to see THAT drawing which was inspired by THIS drawing!

The next installment of boogie monsters arrives here on Friday!

Categories
Animals Art: Inking Caricature Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Self Portrait