Sunday Sketches -- Eight-Plus Months (D & J)

We're down to the last few weeks of expecting our little one, and naturally I figured J's delightful bump should feature in as many drawings as possible.  So I did a little drawing of her, then she responded by drawing her perception of herself.  Then she did another drawing of her as she felt sitting there as she was, and I likewise responded with a seated portrait.

She just draws smaller figures sometimes because that's how she likes to draw her Pen People.

You look beautiful, Wife!  Even if you do feel like lounging with your water bottle and putting your feet up all the time.  You go right ahead and lounge.  Not much longer!

Holy Fanart, Batman! (D & J)

A while ago the wife of one of my animation school buddies contacted a bunch of his artist friends asking them to do an art of his favorite comic book superhero in their own style to be compiled into a book as a birthday present.  I thought it was such a great and unique gift idea, and I was very glad to participate!  Although Batman isn't historically my favorite superhero, I was a HUGE fan of the animated series in my tween years, so I channeled that for this project.

I tried a few poses and ideas, but then settled at last on my original idea, which turned out I think just how I wanted it to!  I always loved when he glided into some location all cloaked in his cape.

And now, I turn the reins over to J:

A few weeks ago I finished the same 30 Day Challenge as the Mister.  One of the prompts was “A Super Hero” and it was the perfect opportunity to bring back an old, unused idea I had while in college—Batman making a grilled cheese!

I don’t know why, but this idea makes me giggle to no end.  It’s Batman!  Making grilled cheese!  I picture him coming home after a long night of detective-ing and wanting a toasty sandwich.  It’s probably for the best that I wound up switching majors and leaving the art program—all the ideas I ever had during that year were in a similar, kind of ridiculous vein.  And, of course, there’s no place for humor in ART. 

This was kind of hastily done, but overall it turned out just how I always pictured it.  And I’m happy to say it’s an improvement on my original sketch from *cough cough* years ago.  Consider this a teaser for the rest of my 30 Days, which will be forthcoming!

Jace (D)

I actually did this a couple months ago, but I waited to deliver it to the intended recipient and hear back from them before posting it.  This is an art I did for a friend and his wife to celebrate the arrival of their little boy.  (Incidentally, it's a follow-up to this.)

I'm so happy for their growing family, and I tried to capture this little fellow's personality, though I've never met him.  It was a new and fun challenge to do an art of such a wee baby, but it made me excited to do some arts of our own little one, due in just a couple of months!

30 Day Challenge, Part 1 (D)

About a month ago my sister initiated a 30 day art challenge, which J and I decided would be fun to participate in too!  (Details can be seen here.)  So for the last 30 days (minus one day, during which I worked on the Valentine's Day art in the previous post) I have been working my way through all the prompts.  For these I opted to do them all in Photoshop.  Rather than posting them individually, I thought it would be better to wait until the end when I was all finished and post them all at once.  And now, as of Saturday night, I am all done, so here they are!

Click on it to make it big!

(They can also be seen individually and with brief descriptions here.)

It was a great challenge, sometimes pushing me pretty far out of my comfort zone, trying things that I never had/would have drawn otherwise, which I suppose was largely the point.  I learned a lot and it was really fun, and it gave me a LOT of ideas for other arts based on these themes for when I need some fresh inspiration.

J is working her way through these too at a slightly more relaxed pace, but she's just about halfway through so far, and she'll surely post hers here as well when she's done.

The Day of Valentine (D)

This afternoon in honor of the day that this is, and as a surprise to my own sweetheart, I painted this Valentine's Day sketch I did several years ago back when we were still (long-distance, ugh) dating.  I had a bouquet of roses and daisies delivered to her apartment, and as she didn't have a vase, the next best thing was the hot pink pitcher, which worked just fine.  I had a little trouble getting the watercolor-flower pattern on the dress just right without making it look too muddy, but working with a few brush settings I think I managed to get the idea across.

Happy Valentine's Day, J!  You are the loveliest valentine I ever had.

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P.S.  Thanks to everyone for helping us reach 10,000+ visitors!  I kind of think we had a glitch in our counter, and we might have reached that a little while ago, but now the widget reflects it regardless.  I wondered if we should do a separate post as a milestone marker, but I think this will suffice, for now at least.  Thanks to everyone to watching, following, commenting and sharing!

Sunday Sketches: Food for the Drawing (J)

Today I drew a girl with her hair in two buns, except the buns were apples.  I don't know why this happened, but it was funny and reminded us both of an artist on deviant art who sometimes draws human incarnations of food (such as this).  So then, inspired by a few Asian meals we had this week, I started on a theme of Asian food personified.  Sometimes things just happen!

Tonight I gave them a fast coloring (whilst waiting for brownies to bake...browniesssssss) and here they are!  You can try to guess what they are and then find out the answers below.

Some of them were harder than others, but overall they were fun to think about.  And now for a brownie...

(From l-r: stir fry, sushi, egg roll, potsticker (complete with soy sauce) and sticky rice.  Sticky riiiiiiiiiiice!)

Sunday Sketches -- Terminus To Thomas (D)

And so, 12 months and 14 excellent books later, the epic Year of Hardy is over.  This batch of Sunday Sketches includes drawings from January and February, featuring character sketches from Thomas Hardy's final two novels, as well as one of the author himself, just to make it another full trio and to pay some kind of tribute to him, which seems fitting after being inside of his head so much over the last year.  It's bittersweet to come to an end, but that's fitting considering the books that finished his novel-writing career.

Jude the Obscure (1895)

Those Poor Little Fawleys, or, Psst! Arabella's Hair Is Fake

The Well-Beloved (1897)

All the Men Are Jocelyn and All the Ladies Are Avice, or, Three Generations of Drama

And here he is:

The Man Himself, or, Ever So Much Angst

Whatever shall I read now?? Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something.  I may also smash all of these character sketches into one big splat one of these days, but we'll see.