Category: Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 24 – Dinomime

Today’s monster has kind of a strange yet short backstory. At my current animation day job I was working in a large room with several other artists. Somehow we got to talking about dinosaurs in museums, when the thought was brought up by someone about dino bones in France. Then our imaginations got the better of us, and we were wondering what a French dinosaur might have been doing when he was trapped in the earth. Naturally, he had to have been a street mime.

I know, I know – it was a VERY strange line of thinking, but we were all storyboard guys after all. Of course, I had to stand up and mimic how a stubby-armed tyrannosaurus mime might have performed in silence on a quaint Parisian street corner. To further illustrate my point, I quickly sat down to my Cintiq tablet (a computer screen you can draw on with an electronic pen) where I banged out this quickie sketch in about a minute…

Tyrannosaurus Mime
He’s performing the classic “trapped in an iceberg” routine.

The sketch, while certainly not anatomically correct, has such an energy to it that I thought it’d be fun to share it with you. One of these days I’d like to turn it into a full-blown watercolor illustration. Perhaps that will make an appearance in a Monster Month of the future!

Oh, and if you ever run across a real Dinomime, be sure to toss him a tip if you value your life!

Categories
Animals Art: Photoshop Art: Preliminary Sketches Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 16 – The Red Scare

I tend to draw in my sketchbook often. It’s a place where I can go to get all the bad drawings out of my hand, and hopefully get some decent visual ideas on the page, too. Often I’ll look at that blank whiteness that mocks me without a specific thought as to what I’ll be drawing. Even as I put the pencil to the paper, I’ll begin a nose and let the face organically materialize around it making the design decisions along the way. This unstructured method really allows for random experimentation.

For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you know that from time to time I share a drawing here and there from the sketchbook. I try to select a decent sketch to show while shielding you from lesser ones that may share space with it on the actual paper. Once in a great while, a whole page in the sketchbook just clicks and is worthy to be unveiled. This is one such page…

All I knew at the start was that I wanted to draw some monsters. While they aren’t masterpieces, they each have a little something interesting about them, don’t you think? If you like to draw, PLEASE buy yourself a sketchbook and fill it with the random musings of your mind!

Well, to continue the creative process, tomorrow I will have a more fully developed full-bodied drawing of one of these fellas that just started here as a random red monster head. Come back to see which one I picked!

Categories
Art: Preliminary Sketches Character Designs Development Art Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 14 – Stranger In the Night

Imagine walking home from the park late one night only to be met in the dark by this huge hulking beast in a red cape. You are either going to think “Wow, that guy is really cool looking” or you may shriek in terror. Then again, maybe you’re the type who might offer him your orthodontist’s phone number.

The Red Scare
You’d look glum, too, if you had that big of an overbite.

Believe it or not, this was actually just a sketch in my sketchbook. If you look closely, you can still see my sketchy blue lines in there. I didn’t even try to remove them. I liked how the blue sketch looked so much that I inked it right there in the sketchbook, and eventually decided to scan it in and Photoshop some life into it.

Well, enjoy today’s monster drawing, and may your evening walks in the park remain relatively monster free.

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 12 – Squiggly Legs, Esq.

Something about this guy just amused me when he made his presence known in the pages of my sketchbook. If he were animated, he would just be a swirl of motion with all those worm-like legs and seemingly boneless arms. He gets to combine the captivating nature of a snake with the jaws of a ferocious bear. Maybe he’s a lawyer.

With all those legs, it’s a good thing he doesn’t need to buy shoes!
Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 10 – Spike

Just a few days ago I was winging my way from Toronto back to my home in Los Angeles. I was returning from a good friend’s wedding (congratulations Steve and Ruth!) when on a completely unrelated train of thought, I started doodling this dragon in my sketchbook.

Dragon Drawing
Of course he looks ornery. You would be too if you never knew the joy of playing with a balloon!

While the wedding didn’t inspire this red pencil and ink sketch (really – no bridezillas there), my time spent that very morning at the Royal Ontario Museum‘s dinosaur bone exhibit DID get my mind working. I was quite fascinated by the supposed bones they had on display.

I say “supposed” because they never do reveal how much of those skeletons are created by a sculptor rather than a casting of actual bones. So, my imagination may very well have been inspired by the imagination of a master sculptor. Somehow my imagination seems to have included opposable thumbs.

Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 9 – The Mouth

You know, yesterday’s monster probably has a pretty good time at her job, until a customer like this fella comes along.

The Mouth
Somebody hasn’t been keeping those bi-annual trips to the dentist. tsk tsk
Categories
Art: Drawings Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 5 – Blue Frankie

Alright, let’s just get it out of the way early, shall we? I can’t help doodling Frankenstein’s monster all the time. At least not since doing that big Frankenstein watercolor painting based on the Mona Lisa awhile back. (CLICK HERE if you would like to revisit it!)

So, here is yet another in the fine line of Frankensteins by yours truly – this time drawn with a ball point pen from the pages of my sketchbook.

Frankenstein's Monster
You’d be blue, too, if your whole wardrobe was in tatters like Frankie’s.

Categories
Character Designs Frankenstein Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2010 Monster Month: Day 3 – The Brat

You know, I often see other people’s children behaving badly in public places. One of my pet peeves is seeing little tykes kicking and screaming publicly while their parents just let them do it. Why do these parents seem so intent on not punishing their little ones while they are actually punishing the rest of us by letting the kid carry on? I may not fully understand the parental thinking on that since I do not have children of my own. However, as memory serves, my own youthful attempts at causing a commotion were often swiftly dealt with. What it all boils down to is if I couldn’t get away with it, why should these crybabies?

So, if I’m pushing my cart around the grocery store, and I see a little one red faced and very vocal while mama pretends to ignore them, I break out my very stern evil eye and stare the kid down. I would say 8 times out of 10 the kid shuts up from the sheer shock of this strange disapproving scary hairy adult. The other 2 out of 10 start crying again, but not from a place of selfish strong will. This time it is usually out of fear.

Having said all that, which creature in this drawing is truly the real monster?

The Brat
Well, there’s one thing to be said about that kid – he’s sure got moxie!
Categories
Art: Drawings Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook