Monthly Pencils

At the start of the year I made a goal to draw a pencil portrait each month.  Nothing fancy, just something quick to practice my skillz.  I'm glad I've followed through because besides this project I have had the BIGGEST art block in the world and these are basically all I've drawn all year.  Lame. O.o 

Anyway, here is where I'm at so far:

January was Katniss.  I have to make an effort to draw the ladies.  I like how this one turned out, especially since it's a more quirky angle of her face.

In February I returned to Harry Potter fanarts with Sirius.  I still don't think the resemblance is quite there, but I like how this one turned out.  I wasn't so sure in the middle of it, but yeah.  High fives, Sirius.

In March it was Obi Wan's turn.  I think my brother asked me to draw this picture about ten years ago.  Better late than never?

Starbuck popped up in April (or maybe the start of May...).  For how much I love Battlestar, I draw it very little.  I also kind of phoned in her uniform.  All those lines!  Wahhh.

For May I've been working on something BIG!  Literally big because it's on three separate pages right now and there will be a fourth before I'm done.  More on that to come!

Sunday Sketches: Men of the Fleet (J)

Here is a fact I have learned over the last two weeks: there are a lot of dudes in Battlestar Galactica.  So, it took twice as long and twice as many pages to draw all these than it did the ladies.  I left off most of the minor fellows, but I think I got everyone that's most important (except you, Zak Adama--oops).  I tell you, I have been living in fear of even attempting Bill Adama or Colonel Tigh.  And what do you know, they slid right out of the pen without a problem.  Anyway, the menfolk of BSG:

Some random stats of this little project: Simon took two tries, Helo took three and poor Leoben took five and I still don't think he turned out.  Ah well.  Overall, my favorites are Admiral Adama, Dr. Cottle and Romo's kitty.  Hah!

Roll call (l-r, t-b): Doral, Cavil, Leoben, Billy, Cottle; Simon, Lampkin (& Lance), Hot Dog, Hoshi, Zarek; Jammer, Tarn, Chief; Gaeta, Crashdown, Helo, Tigh; Gaius, Anderssssssss, Apollo, Adama; Bonus Gaius.  

I thought I should probably draw the actual Galactica at the end of all this:

 Hey, guess who can't draw spaceships?

Sunday Sketches -- Space Edition (D & J)

Lately we've been watching some space type things.  J just finished her latest re-watch of her much beloved Battlestar Galactica, and last night we finally re-watched the newest Star Trek movie.  We're not Trekkies by any means, but we still really like that new movie.  What a great cast and script and story!  So, this is what happened in my sketchbook today:

Boldly Go

I'm quite surprised at how well I like how pretty much everyone turned out.  I think my favorites are McCoy and Chekov, and maybe Spock.  Oh yes, and I added that lame green girl on the bottom because I was finished and was asking J who else to add in case I forgot anyone, and she was the only person who came to mind, so I just dropped her in there.  Also, yay for that weird little alien companion of Scotty's.  *so weird*  I'm pretty sure this is the dorkiest fanart I have ever done, though I will say that I think the new ST is the least dorky incarnation of the franchise yet.

And now I'll turn the reins over to J to introduce hers!

*turns reins over*

Story time: As I watched the final (epic/spectacular/Anders/satisfying/AWESOME) season of BSG I decided that this weekend I would try drawing the different characters.  And even more boldy, I decided to draw them in PEN.  I can't remember what inspired that decision. 

It took many ugly drawings before these Battlestar people started turning out.  I nearly gave up, I maybe nearly cried but with the Husband's encouragement, I tried again.  Here's a trick I discovered today: when drawing characters from a book/movie/show/etc., it can be helpful to first draw the one you like least, thus leading to less frustration if they don't turn out.  Once things started coming together, this morphed into a page of all the lady characters from the series, and I think I got pretty much every single one (those who appeared on more than one episode anyway).  If you're in know, take a whirl at guessing who's who!  Answers follow the image.

I like how most of them turned out, especially Dee, Roslin and Six.  And yes, Cally is first because I dislike her the most, haha.  

Roll call (l-r, t-b): Cally, Tory, Kat / Dee, Boomer-Athena, D'Anna / Ellen, Six, Roslin / Hera, Starbuck, Racetrack, Eshay / Cain, man-haired Seelix, Kendra.  Whew.  Next week I'll go for all the Battlestar dudes.  This is a much more daunting prospect but if they turn out, I will have gotten a lot of practice at drawing cropped hair.