Loomis at Lunch

I had an Andrew Loomis practice session for lunch today. "Fun With A Pencil" is a great book, and I decided to try out the whole thing. I think I'll probably go through all his books, but I'm starting with the fun stuff.  Here are some of his "Blooks", as I rendered them. In the spirit of the book, I loosened up to see what my lines would do, and it showed me three things: 1) where I need work, 2) where I think I'm doing ok, and 3) these sure are funny looking guys (why do they all look old?).  My end designs are similar to his, but I took a little liberty with shapes and poses.  This is fun practice. If you care to check, Loomis' "Fun With A Pencil" is public domain, and available here, although I'm sure you can now find it in PDF with a Google search. These exercises are from page 13 through 16. Thanks for visiting! (Say, is that Howdy Doody, or Ronald Reagan?)

Waiting for Earl

We are lucky. If this is what hurricane Earl has for us, we will be fine. As we waited for the storm, someone got bored with the wind, and flopped unto the couch with her games. Power has been going out and coming back. I sketched a few seconds, and left to deal with storm things. I grabbed that last mini sketch book page, and while waiting for the next outage, and listening to all the electrical gadgets I can turn on, worked on the sketch, cartoon-like.  Now it commemorates Hurricane Earl passing so close, leaving a big mark. It's still going on, so we'll see. Thanks for dropping by!

Top Hat And Wand

From practice drawing top hats, and magician oriented props. I impulsively drew and rendered (leaving much excess graphite) a magician's top hat and magic wand. Some areas got more attention than others, but I don't care. Shiny top hat wins!. I like it! And I hope you do too. Thanks for dropping by.

Mr. Blook

I was reading "Fun With A Pencil" by Andrew Loomis, which recently went public domain. "Mr. Blook" called my attention, and since he himself invited you to draw him, I obliged. You can tell that Andrew Loomis was actually having fun in this book, hoping you to join. "Mr Blook" looks impish, and is sure to be all over the book with tips and congratulations. I will draw this guy a few more times if I continue the Loomis book. By the way, his public domain drawing books were refered to in an Escape From Illustration Island blog post.  Follow on twitter Illo_Island.  Here's the blog post.

Old And New, Bimbo and Drinky Crow

I'm having fun drawing and rendering iconic cartoon characters from yesterday and today. On the left is "Drinky Crow", a creation of Toni Millionaire. It stars in a late night adult cartoon show. This is "fan art"! To the right, Betty Boop's friend, "Bimbo".  Warmed up, learned, and enjoyed. Goals achieved. Thanks for visiting!

More Known Tuxedos

Here's today's tuxedo reference hunt. Can anyone name more cartoon characters in tuxedos? Anyway, here's Jiggs from George McMannus' "Bringing Up Father" strip, and the ubiquitous "Monopoly Guy", otherwise known as Rich Uncle Pennybags. I didn't look up his origins, but I'm sure there's probably debate over it, and its versions (the 3D-CG version is simply ugly). I prefer the original renditions of these guys, at least to practice with.  So here's today's little impulse.  Like I said, anyone know any others, other than Mickey Mouse in a tux?  Thanks for visiting!

Sketching Reference Images

Whenever I have a subject to draw, and I have time to practice, I break out some reference images, and go at it. "Ape-ing" what I see, learning from the construction, and the lines on a well known subject. Drawing someone else's images helps to understand the original artist, and can add variety to your repertoire of "go tos" when drawing different elements and components of a composition.  I was looking for a silly looking person in a suit or a tuxedo, then I thought of Wimpy! So cool to draw these legendary characters. Well, the top hat in the middle of the page is original. :) Practice, practice, practice. Oh, and thanks to all the good folks that made those images available on the web. You guys rock!
PS-Some credit later found for the reference images. The top-left magician is clipart, the center pipe person reference image was of an artist unknown sketch of Jacques Tati, as Monsieur Hulot (comedian), Wimpy's reference images courtesy of google search.

Learning to Draw Hands

Earlier this week, Mark Rudolph had tweeted about a tutorial from Tom Richmond's blog on drawing hands. It looked like a good way to start studying hands, so I started to play around with the ideas.  I've loved MAD Magazine since childhood, so it was a fun way to approach it. Not that my first rough try looks anything like Richmond's but I'm learning in an entertaining way. And by the way, the two big slightly cartoony hands are from the tutorial.  The rest is just me doodling. Sometimes I like to try "negative space" drawing (the little hands on top). You can check that tutorial out here. Thanks for dropping by!

My Surprising Little Artist

Today I have to shine the spotlight on my daughter's work.  I found this little post-it note on my desk yesterday.  At first, I thought it was one of my daughter's many doodles, but I looked closer and was very surprised at the beautiful flower vase in front of me.  Where did she get this idea? I don't know. I do know she likes to doodle flowers, but these aren't her usual circle with petals.  I'm still in awe that my daughter comes up with these things on her own.  I mean, this looks like a grown-up idea on paper.  You could even tell someone a grown up drew it, and they would believe you!  I can only imagine what the future will bring.  I will nurture this side of her, never pushing.  A little nudge goes a very long way with her.  I'm am a lucky dad for sure.

Open Wide!

I think everyone's got something against dentists, no matter how nice they are. I've been going to the dentist. He's by far the best dentist I know. I swear it doesn't have to do anything with the fact that he's my cousin, and he doesn't look anything like this guy. I started doodling a nose, and this is where the impulse took me.  I'm trying my hand at creating characters, and giving the viewer something to think about. If an artist can evoke a feeling with an image, he has's done his job.  Most people like to identify with what they see.  I hope you liked this silly guy, and that your dentist experiences aren't as bad as the stereotype suggests.  Thanks for dropping by!

Ever Tickle a Robot?

Not another robot! Yes, another robot. What happens when you tickle a robot?  If they don't have a "tickle circuit", nothing. Just practicing with a brushpen. DIdn't get the eyes close to the first time I drew it, but you get the idea. Squinting, big laughing speaker cloth covered mouth, the typical pincers, and tubular/flexible arms. Simple is good to practice things you just started learning. Brushpens are fun, but they take getting into the mood, and the zone. Drawing and/or painting common subjects help you see progress. I'm still looking for mine, but I have no doubt its there. This was a little fun warm up. I'm planning on creating a piece for Illustration Friday tonight. Hope this guy makes you smile. And please do visit my laboratory. That's where I usually post more elaborate works, and interesting experiments. The Mad Scientist's Art Laboratory.
Thanks for dropping by! 

Catching Up with an Impulse Sketch.

This little ball-point pen drawing has been staring at me since I drew it some time ago, and it was time to re-do. Basically, it was a doodle that developed character. I like the way the ball-point pen ink lays on the paper. The roughness the ball-point creates gives it an almost three-dimensional feel.  Plus the kid's face grows on you. The background tone is there because it was drawn on a yellow sticky-note.

I couldn't stand this boy's stare any more, so I had to re-draw it in my mini-sketchbook. If that wasn't enough, I wanted to contrast the ball-point pen lines with something different, So I drew it, and then inked it with PITT brush pens (one black, one grey). I love how ink makes almost anything look good from the start. I should have kept the original expression and look, but it was time to improvise. Granted, I need the ink line practice, but its awesome to be able to enjoy inking so much, even at a beginner's level.  I hope you enjoy it.

Triple Tuesday

Three sketches. I extrapolated a very bad rough sketch, drew yet another robot, and took an "unused pose" as the basis of a new drawing.

First off, a child sitting under a table. This is from a discarded few lines of a rough sketch from my recent coffee shop sketching. This boy was playing under the small cafe tables outside, hiding from the wind. The minute I started sketching, my family dropped by to pull me away. So I invented a scene based on that. The child's pose is pretty much what I caught that day. The body was drawn from memory and imagination. (He really had shorter hair).

The second sketch is a robot, holding a speaker that was meant to cause the noise, and wind that would blow the child's hair around. A lazy attempt at composition, but just wanted to draw whatever popped in my head. So this happens to be a robot.  What a surprise.  I'll get over robots some day, but I promise this will not be soon.  However, I promise that I will vary their look and make. I'm trying to come up with a robot related story, and doodling robots helps the muse.

Third and last sketch was the most impulsive of them all. Thanks to Corey (@radiospringy), I saw some of his "unused poses" posted online, and felt the need to work with one of them. I didn't include them here because I don't like to post references without permission, but I'll ask if its ok.  I think I was in a kind of ""life-drawing, but make it up mood". Hope you like these!

Impulsive Comic Panel

I know it can hardly be called a comics panel, but I think it qualifies. Again, trying to draw robotic and metallic things, I find myself doodling, then impulsively sketching, and rendering. A hand gesture turns dramatic with a rhetorical question. The robot, not familiar with mankind, is curious about his re-fitted, anthropomorphic hand. I think this "panel" thing will keep popping up in the future. Thanks for dropping by!

Robot sketches

Who doesn't like them? Favorites since childhood. You may see a lot of robots, don't say I didn't warn you. This impulsive simple and rough sketch was rendered compulsive. From simple shapes, to finishing touches, I hope its all there for you to see. Cleaned it up lightly so you still can see some construction lines.
I dedicate that top right corner robot to Javier Hernandez, and El Muerto.
Thanks for dropping by. Suggestions and ideas are always welcome.

What To Take To Tokyo

A good friend suggested I draw something I would take with me to Tokyo.  The result was an impulsive  mini-sketchpad sketch using a fuzzy reference photo of what looks to be his early career looks.