Sunday Sketches -- Austen Arts (D)

Last year I had an epic Year of Hardy, which you might recall inspired several Sunday Sketches posts.  This summer I decided to go for something pretty different, much less tragic, and much shorter, with a Summer of Austen.  I'd read two of Jane Austen's published works years previously (and of course seen many movie versions of almost all of them), but I thought it was a good time of year to work through all of them.  I have now read two, which naturally led to these:

Sense and Sensibility (1811)

The Disparate Misses Dashwood, or, Ever So Many Beaux

 Pride and Prejudice (1813)

So Proud, So Prejudiced, or, Waaaay Too Many Characters to Draw Them All

There you go, a plethora of character sketches from two of Jane Austen's most enduring novels!  And plenty of Miss Bennets to go around.  I'm looking forward to reading her less popular (or at least lesser-known) books.

An Unexpected Posting (J & D)

Once we saw the (first) movie in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit series.  Overall we liked it (not as much as his masterpiece that is The Lord of the Rings, but how could anything be as amazing as that?), and who knows if we'll like it more or less as the series goes on, but in any case, it did inspire a few more polished arts, so now we shall present them to you!  First, I'll turn the reins over to J to introduce her masterpiece.

In The Hobbit, you may recall, there is a certain villainous orc of significance called Azog.  He's big, pale and scarred and wreaks havoc periodically during the movie.  He also loses half of one arm and replaces it with a robot hand long, clawed contraption.  But I just couldn't stop thinking of a more practical thing he could stick in there: 

Surely every orc is in need of a good back scratching.  Weta is missing out on my brilliant ideas, you guys!!!!

...

Back to me!  Whatever issues I have with this movie, I think Martin Freeman is brilliant as Bilbo, and so one day he appeared in my sketchbook.  I liked the result so much that I decided to paint it, and so, here he is:

Son of Belladonna Took, Photoshop

Just for fun, here's the original sketch.  Sometimes it's worth seeing things in their rougher form too.

We'll see what happens this December with part the second! As far as we can tell from the first trailer, it features a lot of Legolas and a lot of Kate.

Sunday Sketches -- Speck Style (D)

The day came at last!  The Speck is for certain a speck no more.  Just over two weeks ago we welcomed our little one into the world, and naturally this inspired a couple of arts (though not very many as yet, since most of our time has been spent actually interacting with the little one and adjusting to his and our new schedule).  So, just to update the blog regarding the latest post, here is my first Speck*(-on-the-outside)-related contribution to Sunday Sketches.  I'm sure when J gets the chance she'll be glad to do a little something or other in honor of her firstborn too.

Happy birth, son!  I just love a baby burrito!

And now, just for fun, here's the first unofficial portrait of the little one, done in that most versatile and favorite medium, dry-erase marker and whiteboard.  It changed a lot here and there over the days we spent in that room, but I thought it ended up looking pretty good!  The nurses always seemed amused by it.

Welcome to the family and the world, Boy!  We are ever so pleased to have a whole new ever-changing subject for drawings!

* And yes, we still sometimes refer to him as The Speck, but decreasingly often.