Inktober 2018 (D)

Inktober has yet again come and gone, so here's the grid!

Also, it turns out I don't think I ever actually posted last year's so here you go:


There were some fun ones both of these years, and it's always good to get the drive to draw something every day for a whole month.

From Absaroka (D)

We recently finished watching Longmire and enjoyed it mostly but would probably have rewritten the entire last half hour.  #SundaySketches characters!

Fie on the wireless scanner but yay for Photoshop adjustments.

I Wasn't Born This Morning (D)

I've been working on this for a few days experimenting with a new emulation style for an upcoming commission prospect. Does it happen to remind you of any well-known contemporary movie artist's style? 

I relied pretty heavily on ref but the real test was the painting look and feel (this article was really useful).

Sketch version before color or effects were applied:

 And the other side of The Other Side, because everyone knows this guy is the real star of that scene:

Checking In, Checking Out (D)

It's been a while since I finished a show and did a montage of character bust sketches, but Bates Motel ending just had that sort of effect on me.

Moana of Moto Nui -- Now With More Maui! (D)

I saw Moana!  I loved it.  I think I'll like it even better when I see it again.  Anyway, unlike the last few Disney animated movies, I was actually inspired to do some fanart for this one before seeing it:

She's so cute.

And so fierce.

16-year-old me would be shocked that I didn't see it on opening day but he would be pleased at opening day splash-of-color sketches.

 And then of course I did some Sunday Sketches after actually seeing it.

That Maui is tricky.  He took three fails before I was more or less okay with him.

Away away.

(Incidentally, I finally saw Finding Dory on the same day and found it thoroughly, and ironically, totally forgettable.)

UPDATE 6 February 2017:

I did one for Maui too.  Our kids love his song, which has grown on me (though some of the lyrics still seem lazy), and his design has grown on me too (probably helped by doing these studies). The shapes! The tattoos... And a great subject for Manhair Monday, which is interesting because early design sketches show him as bald, surely inspired by The Rock.

Inktober 2016 (D)

Yesterday I finished my very first Inktober, which was fun and challenging and I'm glad I don't have to scan anything tonight and I'm probably going to throw out this sometimes leaky pen soon. You can also see these individually posted along with the prompts on my Instagram art gallery @drewgrahamart.

Phew.

Here's one I especially liked so I painted it:

MerMay Kick-... erm... Flip-Off? (D & J)

That just doesn't sound right.  And I guess mermaids do kick...  But oh well.  Apparently #MerMay is a thing (and also #MermaidMonday?), so J and I did a few mermaid Sunday Sketches last week to celebrate.  It was fun!  Here are mine:

And now, back from a little hiatus, I'm happy to welcome back J, who had this to say: "er mer gersh merberbers".

And look at that, they're (respectively) in pen and pencil!

642 Things To Draw Intro (D)

I'm finally putting this awesome Christmas present from The Wife to use! She always manages to surprise me, and this is sure to provide sketch inspiration for ages.

Sunday Sketches -- Poppy Pertinent (D)

Recently we happily welcomed a new addition to our family.  She's sweet and snuggly and has quite  a shock of dark hair.  And, of course, now that she's finally here, she's just begging to be drawn, so I present her first portrait by her daddy:

And now, keeping in tradition set when The Speck came along, here's her first unofficial portrait, beloved by nurses one and all.

We love you, little one!  You already are and I'm sure you will continue to be the subject of many arts in the future.

We Have To Go Back! (D)

YIKES, it's been over two months since our last post!  This is unacceptable.  I'll just have to make up for it by posting a lot of arts in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, this week marked the ten-year anniversary of the premiere of LOST (a.k.a. the best show in the history of television).  To commemorate the occasion, I didn't have the chance to do a new drawing, but here's something I did not quite ten years ago of the principal cast circa Season 2 (and didn't post, since we weren't artblogging back then).  It's interesting to see how many of them were pretty prominently featured from start to finish.

I love this show SO much.

Until next time!

Sunday Sketches: Recent Reads

A while ago, I read some books that I liked--The Scorpio Races and A Company of Swans.  So I drew the main characters from each. I also drew some water horses, in the only way I can draw horses...

Puck Connolly and Sean Kendrick from The Scorpio Races on the left.  I could picture Puck pretty clearly, but Sean was a little more nondescript for me.  On the right is Harriet and Rom from A Company of Swans.  Again, I could picture her clearly, but I couldn't really remember what Rom looked like after the fact--you know, aside from good looking.  Is it wrong that I like the horses best?

...

Hello, D here.  I've been reading through the source material for the Disney animated films chronologically, which of course led to doing sketches of my own designs of the well-known characters (cleverly termed "Disney Un-Disneyed').  Though I haven't found the chance to post some of these sketches until now, I thought this would be a good time to share a couple recent ones based on some classic literature, drawn around the same time as J's book-based sketches above.

The Wart (rhymes with Art, short for Arthur), from T. H. White's The Sword In the Stone, The Once and Future King

Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book

I'm liking how this series is turning out, I'll have to post more.  The fairy tale ones especially have been fun to try to re-envision.

Charles Carmichael Etc. [Incorporating Sunday Sketches] (D)

A few weeks ago we finished watching Chuck (I was a little late to the game on this one).  I liked it a lot, and I miss it a lot, and therefore it inspired some arts.  First, a slew of Sunday Sketches featuring the principal cast over the five seasons:

And, just because it was floating around in my head and therefore demanded to be released, this little portrait of Charah (not the best mash-up name ever, but it's better than Suck....).

The last show that received similar treatment was Alias.  What will be our next binge-watch show???  Time alone will tell...  Stay tuned!!!

(Stay tuned also for more arts from J, I promise she's been working on lots of great things and that I'm not trying to hijack the blog.)

Pushing Daisies At Last (D and J)

About half a year ago we were ever so glad to introduce our offspring to the world.  As is often the case with newborns, we had a lot of downtime during which to watch a lot of TV shows and movies.  After a few recommendations, we decided to watch the sadly short-lived Pushing Daisies, which we enjoyed very much.  Then, these naturally happened, though for some reason they have not seen the internet-light of day until now (don't ask me why, it's been sitting on my desktop waiting to be posted for over three months).  So, here are our sketchbook tributes (which may or may not have been sketched on a Sunday) to a show that ended long before its time.

I think I could probably draw these characters a hundred times and never get bored, but for some reason I haven't drawn them since the summer.  I probably should do some more, especially since I think some of them could turn out a little better than they did here (especially Chuck, I didn't make her nearly wide-eyed or charming enough).  I love the aunts though.

And now, I turn the reins over to J to present hers:

Here's mine!

Sunday Sketches -- Austen Apotheosis (D)

And now, after two previous posts, I present as Sunday Sketches from August and September my final character sketches from Jane Austen's novels.  These last two are very different from each other, though of course still very JA.

Northanger Abbey (published posthumously in 1818)

That Quixotic Catherine Morland, or, Beware of Any and All Thorpes

  
Persuasion (published posthumously in 1818)

Not SO Much of the Elliot Pride, or, Whatever Is Captain Wentworth Looking At?

And, to finish things off, a sketch of the authoress herself:

Clever Miss Austen, or, Pity She Herself Never Married

And that's that!  This was a really fun summer reading series, and it's nice to have read all of these classics at least once.  She had such an understanding of people and literature.

* Bonus alternate title of Somehow She's Still Ever So Sensible... Maybe even something about ever so many Charleses.  I just couldn't decide, ha.

Sunday Sketches -- Austen Again (D)

The Summer of Austen continues as I have now made my way through two more of her novels.  This post features character sketches from one of Jane Austen's least well-known and one of her most well-known (and one of my favorite) novels.

Mansfield Park (1814)

The Timidest of All Austen Heroines, or, Sibling Shenanigans

 Emma (1815)

No Inducements To Marry Indeed, or, Paired Off Ever So Nicely

A couple more to finish up the series are on the way by summer's end (or shortly after).


P.S.  We have J to thank for Fanny's pug there in the top right.  It's a most appropriate addition

Babyfaces (J)

We have a baby now!  He is very cute and funny and charming.  He is also giving me cause to practice drawing babies, which I have always found difficult to draw.  The proportions of their faces can be so tricky.  I don't have a lot of drawing time these days, but here are a couple of little attempts I've made recently:

It's so hard to capture his looks and little personality in a wee pen drawing, but it's fun to keep trying. Here's to many future attempts!

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.

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.

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!

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.