New Hand Puppet Rough 1

It's that time of year again...last year I did an armadillo hand puppet to show students how to use blue pencils to sketch with instead of doing a tracing paper transfer. Since last year's item was more of a hard surface with regards to form I wanted to do something a bit hairier to work without a lot of burnishing. It also helped students in dealing with the creative process...

This is the second major process drawing the students are doing because we have been focusing on observation drawing the first 9 weeks. Students are through the brainstorming stage and dealing again with thumbnails. They vast majority of problems tends to be a lack of pushing through thumbnails and using it as a tool to help come up with creative solutions.I call it drawing with intent vs. drawing to fulfill an obligation. So instead of drawing, say a rabbit, 20 different ways with variations on eyes, ears, nose, muzzle, head, etc...I will get 20 rabbits drawn exactly the same with a hat thrown on...

Once they get through the thumbnails we move on to 3 or 4 mini-roughs to get a good solid idea followed by a full-scale rough. Then the final product...

Dragon Dump

My net buddy and fellow artist Steve always does sketchbook dumps...now that I put dragon dump down I have come to a realization that will always make me look at that in a different context...

Rules for the dragons...15-20 minutes per sketch...one a day until work catches up with me...and since it is political season...I refuse to endorse the quality of any of the sketches...

IF: Racing

"Every time they drive by it sends my heart racing...but I'm not sure for which reason..."

How To Train Your Dragon contest... : (

Whilst watching Cartoon Network the other night they released a promo for How To Train Your Dragon DVD release...and announced there would be a contest to create your own dragon...the winner will be chosen and have their dragon used in cartoon...

#1. How To Train Your Dragon was probably the best movie I saw all summer of the 5 or so I went to...

#2. The contest is limited to those between the ages of 4 and 12...which makes me sad...I may not artistically have had a shot before but I'm definitely not passing for a 12 year old. So if you have a kid that hits that area have at it...

#3. They reserve the right to change and adapt the dragon created for their specifications and purposes because 'animation is tough'...I've seen some contests with that type of disclaimer before and the artist's original work is completely dismantled...so imagine Billy or Suzie getting picked and watching the episode and waiting for their dragon to appear...only to find out they saw their dragon but it didn't look anything like what they designed...

#4. James Gurney talked about doing a poster contest at the age of 13 and he was disqualified because they didn't believe he did it...so if you have a superstar artist is that a pitfall?

#5. I decided to do some dragons anyway...I received a new sketchbook from CCAD during their presentation so I'm going to fill it up with dragons...which means I have 4 sketchbooks going in different directions...and then there is the one I lost...at the park...when someone took it while I was playing with my kids...sketchy come home...so I'm going to do a dragon a day...until I get bored...

#6. Professional development for my job means that I get to actually do some stuff with this...sculpy...and Illustrator...and Photoshop...once I get it approved by our "Committee"...

IF: Spooky

I usually hate for work to pull a double duty...being the elitist I am and all...but with four million meetings and a lot of grading I had to bow to the pressure. I got tired (again) of seeing the kids have all the fun in class...we were working on an assignment involving making maquettes and I wanted to play too. So I did. I'm hopefully going to get a chance to photograph the student work and will include a link to it too...many turned out very well for only the second attempt at sculpy and I'm excited to see how things progress for them.

I had only worked in sculpy once before myself while making a very rough item to do some light work. I enjoyed the problem solving that went along with working in a pretty new medium...Our next stab will be making another head and then a fully body detailed maquette.

IF: What Lies Beneath? Claws

I actually kind of like this one...I'm going to change the snake to a stuffed one and slap it in Freehand or Illustrator and see what happens...of course I still have to finish the turtle and fish from way back when...

IF:Old Fashioned

"Gawd...my parents are SOOO old fashioned...they only let my boyfriend Billy sleep over on weekends...they're afraid I'll be too tired for school if he stays over on weeknights..."

IF: When Acrobats Get Demoted...

"So...how do you feel about getting shot out of a cannon..."

Self-Portrait III

Couldn't leave out Sonics...they have great sweet tea...and awesome ice...but too often they get a little heavy on the ice and after three drinks...done...

I used to appreciate their foam cups until my daughter tried to steal my tea out of my hand...my reaction was 'squeeze hard as someone is trying to swipe the tea'...the result was my thumb going through the bottom of the cup and all my tea pouring into my lap...

As for my bowling shirt...RIP...it was the best $2.35 silk shirt I ever bought...unfortunately I ripped the armpits out of it while stretching one day...

IF: Dessert

"I hope you're coming to tell me he was playing in the brownie mix..."

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard Final

I decided to fill in the sky to add some depth to the final work. I added some gradation to give it a bit of depth and a sense of 'clouds'...I also filled in the rest of the posters/pictures for the backdrop...just a little something to add some visual interest. I'm not sure if it blows up large enough to tell but put me in dressed as a farmer...the overall piece is pretty and it always feels good to complete something...but then there is that bit of 'depression' that tends to come as I try to figure out what to do next...other than work on my styraco...which I have officially started adding in the background!!!

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard VI

I added grain to the boards...For a poster in the background (not put in yet on this snapshot) I located some KY county fair posters and loosely based the sketch.

One note about the expression of the girl. I threw that in because I usually get that slight look of disgust multiple times on 'the drive'...usually after one of my spectacular songs I create discussing my admiration for my children's very large feet or how they got freckles...(you wouldn't believe it if I told you the true origin)...I thought it fit in well with this pic. The young lady is 12 and is kind of in that 'Dad, you are such a dork' phase...I did take a reference shot for the pose but the expression wasn't there...it just came out as I was drawing it....

Next post will be the finished work...I said that last time but this time I mean it...

IF:Atmosphere

"Crab keeps inviting me to the beach for a 50's theme party...but you know I just don't like that atmosphere."

You may have to think about that one for a second...

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard V

To help add some detail without being overwhelming I decided to have an unfinished inside shack type of look. I thought with originally doing 'chipboard' between the boards but figured it wouldn't pop very well...back in the day (maybe still now) I remember going into some old building and between the framing they had a dark 'tar paper' that had a brownish black coloration. It was probably originally black but time had caused the brown to seep in. I decided to put this between the planks and to not burnish it, but rather to allow the texture of the paper to show through...I also planned on putting some stuff here and there on the walls to break it up a bit more but not to 'overwhelm' and draw attention away from the characters.

The next big decision came with the window. I debated between keeping the background color and giving it an 'evening' type look or adding a sky effect...I could picture it working either way but really like the pop of the direction I decided to go...up next...the finished item...

New Profile Pic

Back to work in just a few more days...in celebration a new profile pic is in order...

IF:Public Ed...Stargazer

Dedicated to all those that graduated...and have to pull off their shoes or use a calculator to figure out 8+7...

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard IV

Instead of going with the gas pump idea I decided to throw my daughter in looking through a window. This played off the repetition of the squares of the crates and eventually would help to have some more depth.

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard III

At this point I started working on the foreground and developing the 'story' that was occurring a bit more. There was about a month or two break between where I was at in the last post and what I have here. I changed the theme a bit and decided to have the story occurring in a shed and to put a girl in the window watching. I sketched it all in...To avoid the characters being in the foreground I put two bowls to hold captured chess pieces. I also changed the table to a crate and added two different types of crates to start adding some depth. Because of the difference in color schemes between the two critters I knew I would have to use different crate colors so that items didn't 'blend'.

One major problem I noticed at this point was the wax leeching out of the drawing. I have really never had an issue with this because I typically get the item sprayed before this happens...and at least one other colored pencil project took longer than this without and issues. So I was surprised when I lifted off the protective covering and the wax leech was happening. There was a fine film of wax 'ash' that was dulling all of the colors. I can only figure that the high humidity after the AC was turned off had a lot to do with the leeching being accelerated. I carefully took a slightly damp paper towel and wiped off the wax. I had to do this several times over a couple of days before it all stopped. Either it leeched as far as it was going to go or the humidity conditions changed enough for it to stop.

Rat Crow vs. Chicken Lizard II

After I had a pic in my head of what I wanted and had done the sketches I went out and bought a piece of Canson toned paper. I saw this color and it fit in nicely with what I initially had in mind. I used white prisma color to sketch out the two main characters. Sometimes I will draw everything out and use tracing paper to make a transfer but not when using colored paper...just doing a colored pencil sketch with a lighter color works out fine and blends in nicely when slapping in the color.







Because I like to do detail work I usually don't 'fill-in' the background. I have a pretty good literal picture in my head of what direction and general composition I want so I don't get too panicky. Even though the background did change drastically from my original plan the composition didn't. I first thought I was going to have the two playing at a gas station and have an old time fuel pump in the center and oil cans on the sides.

Rat Crow Vs. Chicken Lizard I

Another meeting sketch. I started out drawing a crow but thought the feathers on the body reminded me of fur...so I threw a rat tail on it...that's where all the trouble began...Initially I was going to just do a 'scientific journal' type of illustration with watercolor and micron...about the highly intelligent rat crow...I was going to have it grasping a chess piece for symbolism...but then I thought there had to be an opponent...one that was at the opposite end of the spectrum...


That brought about the chicken lizard...so then I was looking at a two-page spread...but that little voice in the back of my head started going on about "When was the last time you did a drawing with a background?" So I went out and bought a big piece of toned paper...and readied the prismacolor...