Illustration Friday: Gesture

He timidly made a gesture of affection toward her.

So during my photo research at work this week I found such an awesome photo:

istockphoto.com

That trunk, with its curl, was begging to be a caricature of some sort. Out come the pens and markers and voila! Blushing elephant. I love the pink/red marker that I used on his cheeks, but it's scary to use sometimes because it is such a strong color. I did use a gray pencil to draw in the elephant originally, but tried to keep the artwork loose and scribbley.

Happy Birthday Bella

Happy birthday to a most wonderful niece and Goddaughter! You are growing up too quickly!

Illustration Friday: Remedy

"Choose your remedy wisely."

There actually is a story behind this one: At dinner, while trying to figure out what to draw for illustration friday, we had some almonds on the table for our salad and the package read "all natural!" Well, the hubby wanted someone to make a product that markets how UN-natural it is. So I did. For more amusement, it was suggested that the side of the label read "mild side effects include death..."

It may be darker then my usual doodles, but I guess I had a bit of quirky humor going on today. Now that I think about it, "humor" would have been a good term to add to the bottles, especially when I was running out of label ideas. It was a lot of fun to lay in the shades of gray with the markers, and I got to put my toe into the steampunk craze that is quite fun.

Happy Trees

So not all my sketches turn out exactly how I want them too. This one was supposed to be much more regular, almost pixelated placement of trees. I almost gave up on it a number of times, but I kept at it. It's growing on me.

Bad Day

I didn't have a bad day, but this guy sure is! Another quick doodle, based on a giant-mouthed fish I doodled last week or the week before.

Meet Marvin

Meet Marvin. He's MARVELOUS!

He's also my new bloggy project! I've been wanting something fun that I could post on my blog that will also teach me to dedicate shorter blocks of time to finished work, ie, work quicker and looser. He is also my work-around so I have stuff to post while working on my children's book. Like Illustration Friday, I have to do one a week, from sketch to quick finished color. Each of his adventures will be based upon a sentence or scenario that my husband comes up with. The above post is NOT this weekend's, it is just getting a feel for the character. We'll see how color pans out, and he may change slightly in appearance as my characterization develops.

I'll be adding color later, but I'm off to bed now since I work tomorrow. more to come.

Illustration Friday: Wilderness

And he looked in horror at the 'wilderness' before him...

I don't know why I had such trouble with the IF topic this week. It's pretty open-ended, providing limitless possibilities. Yet I was. I tried something with some tropical plant fronds, but it felt too much like someone else's work I saw earlier in the day. I guess the problem was that all my thoughts are on my personal project. I still need to remember to draw other things too.

Once I went back to the Re-cycler Squirrel post from 2 weeks ago, I decided to delve more into his story. What made him the way he is? Why does he travel around re-purposing trash? I also really wanted to do a more dynamic pose then 'just standing there', so it started with him perched on the edge of the cliff, then I needed to give him something to be staring at. Obviously, since he's a nekkid squirrel, this is before he acquired all his accoutrement.

Daily Sketch 1: Monkeys

First of all, my IF: Renewal post (previous post) got 12 posts! WOOHOO! that's already 50% more posts then my best IF post last year. I think that's a perfect way to start the year.

Next, posts were nil the past two days because my evenings became filled: saying farewell to a coworker one evening, and taking my visiting aunt and uncle to Griffith Park Observatory.

Today's sketch is monkeys, because i'm trying to fulfill a promise to my co-worker that I'd do drawings for her child's room.

Illustration Friday: Renewal

Re-cycler Squirrel

I had fun with my little squirrel. The thumbnail at the bottom of the page is the initial sketch. There are elements from the initial that I like better, including working in the recycling symbols. If I ever do this as a finished piece, I think i'll try to work it with those arrows as the framing device. Mostly, I love his ears and the bottle cap.

People in airport

Faces

Travel and drawing

I went out of town this weekend to visit my grandparents. It was a very good trip and I got some sketching done while I was traveling. Drew the plane above...the first time I've ever really drawn a plane. I'm pretty happy with it, although I think I foreshortened the body of the plane too much--planes are BIG. Really happy with how the wing/engine turned out. Friday, I'll be posting a number of sketches that I've had in my sketchbook for a bit and have been meaning to get up here. (Tomorrow I have class).

In particular I want to post the drawings I've been working on from the Facial Expressions book I got for my birthday. Some of them are frustrating, some of them I like a lot. All of them are good practice. As I am determined to get better at faces and people so I never can use the argument "I can't" again, so are my friends determined to help me. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and continues to support me.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

"Once a year, with no explanation, all the turtles went fleeting."

This was a LOT of fun to draw. It's the kind of illustration I like doing the best: silly, whimsical and cute! I also liked researching all the different sails to use on the 'boats'. One day this WILL be a full-color illustration.

Illustration Friday: talisman

This actually turned out a lot softer then originally intended. I guess I just like pretty things.

Daily Sketch 29: Zoo on Saturday

Here are many of the sketches that I did on Saturday when I went to the zoo with Tabla. I didn't realize just how many sketches we did until I started scanning them. The most frustrating animal of the day was the giraffe, particularly because that was the one I wanted to draw the most. Eric suggested that I try drawing them a bit more in my whimsical illustration style. I suggest more practice.

Huntington Gardens flowers

I finally got out to the gardens by myself to do some drawing. I had a good time. I also went to the zoo yesterday and drew lots of really sketchy animals. I'll get out there a few more times before posting those sketches. I like the colors better in the drawing than the scan, but it still looks good.

Illustration Friday: poise

The cat burglar had to use poise and balance to haul away all the goods.

It's been two weeks since I posted any artwork! Eeep! Up until then I was doing so well at posting regularly. I guess I'll just have to draw more and get back into the daily posting mode. I'm going to the zoo tomorrow, so I should be able to post some great sketches this weekend, as well as some I did earlier this week that I didn't get to post due to technical difficulties.

In life drawing, I've been having trouble with building the structure and getting the squash and pull to look right, so here's some practice. This was the second attempt, since the first one was feeling a little stiff. I'm very happy with this. I think I may try to do a repeat of the 'Legendary' post and do a finished version in color...and perhaps with an outfit and some hair too. Maybe a slight tweak to the left arm, moving the elbow up to see the back side of the arm a bit.

Any suggestions on hairstyles or outfits? should my burglar be a guy or a girl?

Illustration Friday: Legendary

The bull's fear of the mouse was so legendary that the rest of the herd laughed.

After illusions of epic grandeur with a victorious female knight standing with her helm under one arm and a waving banner grasped in the other hand, this is the resulting sketch. I need to find a balance between anatomically correct people and the looseness and character that this sketch has so I can start replacing animal figures with human figures and draw all the fantastical images that are in my head.

I am loving this sketch and want to create a finished piece with this at some point.

UPDATE: I gave myself four hours to color the cow and had a lot of fun with it. Enjoy!

Daily Sketch 28

Some sketches from lunch. Not my best, but I have a few women in there. The waiter ended up looking Asian, which he was not. I think it is because of the nose.

Daily Sketch 27

Today's daily sketches. Time for bed.