New Park Sketch

Today I took my daughter to get some sunlight at a nearby park we hadn't visited in some time. She had a hard time remembering previous visits. It was kept a lot nicer than our latest park destination. It had better features, and it easier to keep an eye on her.
She rode her scooter while I walked behind. Then we hit the jungle gym until a girl her age showed up scooting beside her. This was perfect for me to finding time to sketch a little bridge on the running path.
It was great to stand on the side of the path, sketching, while walkers, and joggers passed me by. A couple peeked at what I was doing, but they left me alone. Maybe it was the silly satisfied smile on my face because I was enjoying the moment. It was easy to keep an eye on charge while drawing.
The perspective is a bit off, in general, but I enjoyed the challenge (there are some visible construction lines). The foliage was left for the last minute, since its busy detail work, but it didn't get much attention when we started loosing daylight.
I believe this is going to be a regular stop for us. Well trimmed grass, no garbage visible whatsoever, and very pleasant. To think my daughter didn't want to go there. She's still at that age when routines make her life, and gets funny if you change things. Hope you enjoyed this little fun sketch. Thanks for dropping by, and have a great art time!

New Park Sketch

Today I took my daughter to get some sunlight at a nearby park we hadn't visited in some time. She had a hard time remembering previous visits. It was kept a lot nicer than our latest park destination. It had better features, and it easier to keep an eye on her.
She rode her scooter while I walked behind. Then we hit the jungle gym until a girl her age showed up scooting beside her. This was perfect for me to finding time to sketch a little bridge on the running path.
It was great to stand on the side of the path, sketching, while walkers, and joggers passed me by. A couple peeked at what I was doing, but they left me alone. Maybe it was the silly satisfied smile on my face because I was enjoying the moment. It was easy to keep an eye on charge while drawing.
The perspective is a bit off, in general, but I enjoyed the challenge (there are some visible construction lines). As for the foliage, left for the last minute, it didn't get much attention,  and I was loosing daylight. My daughter's new found friend coincided with our quitting time too.
I believe this is going to be a regular stop for us. Well trimmed grass, no garbage visible whatsoever, and very pleasant. To think my daughter didn't want to go there. She's still at that age when routines make her life, and gets funny if you change things.
Hope you enjoyed this little fun sketch. Thanks for dropping by, and have a great art time!

Garden Robot

Here's Garden Robot. A sketch for "Tuesday Sketch", a weekly drawing tradition created by Noel Curry, where artists on Twitter jump in with their creations based on a theme that Noel comes up with. I believe it was his son that suggested "Gardens" this week. You can see all of the submissions on its own Flickr group.

As the word sketch suggests, its supposed to be a rough pencil, or pen, or even digital drawing, "rough" being a relative word in most cases, depending on how inspired the artist is, and how much time is available. This week, I roughed it out, but thought it was good enough to ink. Other artists will go as far as painting, or coloring digitally. I gather this is an impulsive thing.  I could have worked it up with shading and details in pencil, but I really felt like inking it this time, and used my trusty PITT pens.

Here's my rough sketch version in pencil.  I'm still not using the old "blue-line" penciling technique, standard with the pro-inkers, but my pencils are light enough to erase after the initial ink pass. And I also like to correct things, and enhance while I'm inking. I think that's what I like best about inking.

I hope you like this little guy. Thank you for dropping by, and as always, I wish you a great art time!

Poker Game Postponed

The maintenance crew aboard the space station had to postpone their weekly poker game due to an unfortunate incident. Activities will return to normal as soon as missing crew members are retrieved from their unplanned vacation.
This is an art card (2.5x3.5in) that I had bouncing around my "desk". I thought I'd experiment a bit with that "black sharpie" background technique I've seen some artists use. It turns out PITT pen ink and sharpie ink show a difference in their sheen. I leveled up the darks to minimize that effect using GIMP. This would probably look better done on a bigger scale, specially the jagged outlines.
This is also a little joke message to a good friend (you know who you are). I'm revving up my art motors to explore, produce, and have fun. Keep tuned in. There will be more art fun. The art bug never sleeps.
Thanks for dropping by, and have a great art time!

Art Card Doodles

Hi there! Busy with other activities this week, I managed 3 art cards to keep the ball rolling. These are all done on Bristol 2.5x3.5in using ink and pastel pencils.

First up, I call this "What Listeners See". A bit conceptual, it shows with body language what some folks look like to their listeners when expressing their opinions. The folded arms indicate the attitude, and in my humble opinion, when you see this, you can be certain that the speaker is either demanding to be recognized as an authority figure, or that their attitude is closed and negative. This speaker's approach may be effective for listeners that just follow, but I think one must be open, and receptive, to convey a middle ground in conversation, or discourse. The face is featureless to indicate my own reaction to these situations.

Next, I call this "Puppet Man". Another concept piece that kind of goes with the previous one. Meant to illustrate the type of person that listens and obeys blindly. Some people give up, and let themselves be totally led by others, or their environments. Its a pity to find examples of this in real life, but they surround us too often. A good example would be those kind folks that provide support over the phone, robot-like, programmed and scripted to react and respond following instructions. Or one could even think of politicians, and actors to fit this profile.

Finally, a silly expression. Maybe disbelief? Or someone dumb-founded? I think I'll call it "Derp!" in honor of a slang term often used these days (at least in online circles). It could be better understood by more folks if I called it "Duh!" I was just doodling, playing with eyes, when I decided to make it a more silly looking face.

I had these doodles done some time ago, and thought working them over would be a little exercise in creativity and improvisation. I also wanted to play with skin tone shading with this last one. I hope you like them. Thanks for dropping by. Have an excellent art time!

3 For 1 Impulsive Sketches

Hi there! Bunching up 3 quick sketch pages into one post. First, a scene from an interview. I found myself at a recruiter's office on Thursday, between errands and driving family around. It went well, although "outsourcing" makes it hard to find permanent positions. I sketched part of the meeting room while waiting. The interviewer had great questions. After asking "what do you think your co-workers say about you?", she finished with "What do you like to do in your spare time?" I was glad to show her a sketchbook. She reacted positively, and said that  IT workers seem to have a big tendency towards art. I told her about my art journey, and shared my blogs. It was refreshing to end a great interview with this.

I had a very short coffee shop sketching session last Sunday. I planned for more time, but my crew was restless, so 12 minutes had to do. The man on the top left happens to be the director of human resources for the local government. 80% of the population works for the government, and last year the layoffs were monumentally radical. Some departments were severely affected. I thought he was brave to walk around in public. He was smiling, talking to folks, and seemed to be a man of the people with a tough job. I don't get into politics, so I'll leave it at that. On the top right, a bearded man, and below, two punk-like girls in the coffee line.

Finally, park sketches. I took my daughter to the park today because she did her homework in time (good strategy eh?). I didn't expect many people, as always, but as we went for a lap on the runners loop, folks started showing up. I sat at a bench and tried to capture some of them as they passed. I was in a cartoony mood, which was fine because everyone was in motion. I like the the simpler ones the best.
That's all for tonight. Life changes have been taking up lots of my time lately, and I really miss drawing more frequently. I need the practice. I think the best strategy is to dive in without thinking. Maybe I'll get radical, make it extreme, or even try a more "guerilla" approach. Hope you liked these. Remember to have a great art time!

Lost in Space

Hey there! Getting back to sketching after a long week. I had started this one two days ago, and didn't get a chance to hit the pencils until tonight. But no matter. Any time to sit down and draw, is good.
I wish I had my elementary school days drawings of this famous robot from the Irwin Allen TV series "Lost in Space". I remember making sure I was in front of the television whenever this show aired. It is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, and ranked right there with "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" . I wanted to be Will Robinson so bad that I bugged my parents enough to get me one of those turtle-neck shirts with the collar trim, almost like Will's. Who cared if my island's climate made it too hot to wear. I didn't have the official toys, but almost every pretend space playing I did had to do with Lost in Space. Today I see those hard to get robot models of B9, and I still want one. "Danger Will Robinson, Danger".
I hope this brings memories to those who shared those TV times, and curiosity to those that like sci-fi. This was one of those things I really wanted to draw now that I'm more serious about art. I hope you liked it. Have a great art time, and let those memories of the past express themselves through it. It's good for you.

Happy B-Day Jules

Here's wishing Jules Gabriel Verne a happy birthday! I've been so busy with job-hunt related activities lately that my daily drawings have suffered from neglect. Today I got fed up with the stress of waiting for responses from interviewers, and decided to draw something I really like, and that had meaning. I grew up watching those fantastic movies based on Jules Verne novels, among others, and grabbed the ocassion of his birthday to pick one of my favorite scenes from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I also liked the movie adaptation of his novel "The Moon Voyage". Some of the most cherished memories of my youth include sitting with my father to watch these stories. I inherited my love of sci-fi and fantasy from my dad's own, and I'm grateful for this. And thank you too, Jules!

I hope you liked this. Its a bit rough, but my pencil flew tonight, and it felt good. Thanks for dropping by, and always remember to have a great art time. It is good for you.

Quick Quetzalcoatl

I've been hitting the homestead duties, and the job search market kind of heavily lately, and art activity has been intermittent and far between. So today, right before an interview with recruiters, I managed a little drawing. This meeting happened to be at a restaurant. It went well, but in the end, its always a "wait and see" thing.

The meeting was at a nice Argentinian restaurant, but right across from it, there is this other nice Mexican restaurant with a big wooden statue of Quetzalcoatl, right next to its entrance. There was a comfy bench right beside it, and I couldn't resist sketching it while waiting for my lunch companions. I had little time before they arrived, so I couldn't get to draw the full body of the statue, which consists of the human Aztec head on a serpents body. I would have liked more time for this, so I will be drawing "Q" some time soon. For some reason, the Aztec motifs call me to draw them, as do dragons, and other fantastical creatures. I have this idea of perching a dragon on top of our local historical Spanish "castle/fortress' in San Juan, which is called San Felipe del Morro. I wonder what legendary creatures may be found in the local lore. I thought "Q" would be the closest dragon-like creature to be associated with this latin country.

Well, that said, I hope you like it. I snatched this little moment of the day to draw, and even if it was very little, it was satisfactory. Tomorrow there will be more time for art. Have a great one!