Impulsive Bedtime Storyboard

Trying to get my daughter to fall asleep is a difficult thing to accomplish. My latest attempt yielded a little storyboard practice. This is the first time. It was mostly a little impulsive experiment that proved to be fun. This was a quick-draw exercise: no preciousness or nice rendering. 

Instead of just telling a story, we decided we would make it up. My daughter would make up the story, with a bit of direction from myself, and I would draw them as fast as I could to keep up with her creative drive. You can tell from these three images how I got a bit more comfortable by the end, especially when we would linger on a panel talking about whys and hows of the "story flow".

Basically, a story about a girl named "Alexandra" (my daughter's name is Alejandra, so I can only guess it is her wish to project herself into the story, naturally). This girl walking in the woods, stumbles upon a cave, and goes exploring, finding scary but friendly vampire bats and vampires along the way (her idea obviously inspired by the Halloween goings-on these days). The sparse speech balloons are in Spanish. In the end, the girl is given an amulet (very much like one my daughter was given a few days ago) that will protect her from evil vampires.

This, being my first storyboard experience, was fun for me because I mixed quality daughter time with art time. At the same, it opened my eyes. It was a simulation of the pressure storyboard artists may go through sometimes. Indeed, something very worthwhile to try at a serious level, if I ever want to create a story in any form.

I hope you liked this. Leave a comment if you feel inclined. Don't forget to check out my "lab" at http://jaglab.wordpress.com

Quick Coffee Shop Sketches

Today, after the movies, I "convinced" my wife and daughter to go to the Borders bookstore next to the theater, while I sat at the coffee shop sketching. This gave me about 15-20 minutes, after the coffee line, to sit and target some folks. Believe me, folks are really not aware of their surroundings, and even less aware that others are looking. I don't know, but folks behave very absent-minded in crowds these days. Anyway, there were lots of interesting faces, and situations. In that time, I got to sketch 2 chess players (top two). The first guy didn't last long, his family came by to snatch him (or maybe he lost). Then this guy with a "Jesus Did It" cap sat to play. There were other players to sketch, but I got bored of their "dynamisn". So I turned my chare 180 degrees to watch the rest of the human drama unfolding.  The middle left lady, as lots of folks do, was talking on her cell phone, sipping her drink, pretty unaware of her surroundings (I think this was the theme today). The middle right lady was reading, and chatting with her friends. She seemed happy and serene. The bottom left lady was with her family, trying to organize the bunch. and just before my wife got back to fetch me, I almost finished drawing this lady at the coffee line that was wearing a bright  sundress. My wife laughed as I showed her later tonight. "So that's what you wanted to sketch, eh?" The life of an artist can be dangerous some times. My wife is a great sport too.
So, all in all, this was a great way to get back on my art-groove, sketching subjects in 1-3 minute spurts, before they moved, or were blocked from vision. Its a little bit like hunting, I suppose.
Well, that's it for now. Hope you liked them. Thanks for visiting my impulse sketching place, and have a great art time.  Oh, before I forget, I posted an experiment at the LAB. Mixed media of an ugly looking scared dragon. I used watecolor pencils, inks, and sharpies. Crazy but fun. Take care!

iPod Dinosaur

I've been sketching and doodling various subjects this weekend, and while trying my hand at reptiles, I used Sketchbook Mobile on my iPod to put together a composite of a dinosaur. This looks like a Leptosaur, but I'm not all that sure, since this was from imagination. Working on scales was therapeutic on this one. I'm sure I could capture scales better, but this piece was mostly me at play, enjoying coloring as a break from pencil sketching. There will be more serious attempts in the future, as I work my way up to dragons.  I hope you like it!  Thanks for visiting, and have a great art time!