Category Archives: sketches

Two Goats, Copic Markers

2 Goats, Copic Markers, 9"x6" each

Wanda, on the left, and Sheldon, on the right have been married for fourteen years. Does the name Sheldon ring a bell with you at all? (You may be too young for this.) I shall refresh the memory of those who can’t quite place it: It is a name cruelly mocked by Billy Crystal as Harry, in When Harry Met Sally.

A Sheldon can do your income taxes. If you need a root canal, Sheldon’s your man… but humpin’ and pumpin’ is not Sheldon’s strong suit. It’s the name. ‘Do it to me Sheldon, you’re an animal Sheldon, ride me big Shel-don.’ Doesn’t work.

It’s not very flattering, and I do apologize for anyone named Sheldon who might be reading this. The blue sheep above, this Sheldon, he is not too thrilled about it, either.  In fact, Wanda and Sheldon almost broke up over this movie for this reason. Wanda had picked the film, you see. She had forgotten about the whole Sheldon thing, having only seen it once (and probably intoxicated at the time, if you must know).

Progress pics, which I have lined up side by side though Sheldon was completed first, and Wanda afterwards.

2 Goats Sketch

I don’t think they quite lived up to the promise of their respective sketches. I definitely lost most of the fluffy quality.

2 Goats Ink

2 Goats Color 1

2 Goats Color 2

2 Goats Color 3

2 Goats, Copic Markers, 9"x6" each

In case you wondered, Sheldon is totally over the whole Harry Met Sally thing. He still won’t watch it, however.

 

Stork and Chameleon for Illustration Friday

Stork and Chameleon 8x10 Copic Markers

She rather liked the company, if you want to know the truth. Other storks were so… tiresome, always talking about the latest bugs they ate, always trying to outdo each other. Lucille preferred to spend her days hunting for snacks and shiny objects in a plodding, unhurried manner. The chameleon was welcome to tag along, even if she had to pretend he wasn’t. In her mind she named him Douglas.

Swamp is the word at Illustration Friday. I believe I have veered somewhat from my normally goofy characters, though I suppose making them pink and purple helps. Considered adding leaves or plants, or some flying bugs, but didn’t want to busy it up too much. I am pretty pleased about the wood stork. Inspirational photo came from For the Love of Florida photography blog (last updated 2008!). Undecided about the color scheme. I was going to do a blue swamp, with only shades of blue, and you can see how that worked out.

And now, progress pics! By next time I may have figured out how to post a slideshow, which I think is a cooler way to view progress pics. No plans on videos though. But then again, I don’t own a cell phone. (Unless you count the pay-as-you-go one that has been sitting unused for eight months because I can’t be bothered to look up the code for adding minutes.)

Stork and Chameleon Sketch

Stork and Chameleon Ink

Stork and Chameleon Color 1

I thought this was pretty cool and I tried to decide whether to leave the trees or the animals white. But then I couldn’t do it. Arrgh!

Stork and Chameleon Color 2

(The eeek, why did I pick these colors stage!)

Stork and Chameleon Color 3

Stork and Chameleon Detail 1

Stork and Chameleon Detail 2

Thanks so much for visiting!

IF Shades, Wombat and Chihuahua

Wombat and Chihuahua Copic Ghosts

I’ve been meaning to do a wombat for ages! So my choices for Illustration Friday “shades” included – wombat with sunglasses (shades) or a wombat in front of window shades or in shades of a particular color, or a wombat ghost (shade). My first wombat is a wombat ghost! His name is Nigel. And he wouldn’t be complete if he weren’t haunting the place with his best friend Gabriel the Chihuahua (also a ghost).

Their friendship is a tale of incredible mystery and adventure, but we’ll have to save that for another time. Suffice it to say they met their untimely ends together during an escape attempt from a trio of American kidnappers in Venice sometime in 1974. They haunt the Venetian tavern where they lived with a quiet Irishman for  eight years after being won in a dice game from their former owner, a globetrotting Tasmanian.

I am not sure they look entirely like shades in the final above. But how about 2 scans ago:

Wombat and Chihuahua, Somewhat More Ghostly

I can’t decide which I prefer. The background is definitely unfinished in this one, but I could have left the critters alone. Let me show you the whole process:

Wombat and Chihuahua Sketch

Wombat and Chihuahua Color 1

Wombat and Chihuahua Frisket

On Nigel here I went over frisket with three shades of gray then peeled off the frisket. On Gabriel you can see the Masquepen (frisket) in blue, with no marker yet.

Wombat and Chihuahua Color 2

Gabriel colored with 2 grays and one gray-purple so the ghosts would not be quite the same color. I suppose I could have left the eyes white. That’s rather ghostly.

Wombat and Chihuahua, Somewhat More Ghostly

This would have been a stopping place for the figures, but the wall and tabletop need somehelp.

Wombat and Chihuahua Color 3

Wombat and Chihuahua Copic Ghosts

I don’t know, the more I look at them, the more ghostly they seem, though they did not need the extra thick black outline. I can say with certainty I have never drawn a wombat ghost, or any animal ghost, before this challenge. And though I do get a kick out of steampunk trend-wise, I don’t have much enthusiasm for the whole zombie thing. But ghosts, that’s totally different! Right? Thanks for coming!

Photo inspiration from Wombats! and Chihuahua Pictures.

Umbrella for Monday Artday with Copic Markers

Artemis Umbrella, 9" x 6" with Copic Markers

My first challenge for Monday Artday! The challenge: “Umbrella”. An interesting creature Artemis, and I do love the flowing locks of an Afghan Hound! But I wish I’d used a larger piece of Canson 150 lb. Fanboy Drawing Pad. See, I haven’t found smaller than a 9×12 pad and my scanner only does 8.5×11, so I have to choose between not scanning, cutting the paper down slightly and wasting the edges, or cutting it in half and doing two 9×12’s.

I have been doing Illustration Friday since October 23rd, 2011, and I could not love it more (I missed a few, as to be expected). Well actually, I could love it more if spammers didn’t link there but otherwise, it is such a great thing I can hardly stand it and I cannot thank Penelope Dullaghan enough for creating it.

However, in my continuing quest to DO LOTS OF ART, I have been looking for another challenge in case I need a content nudge between each IF topic (as my goal is 2-3 new art posts per week). With all my bouncing around to the hundreds of artists at IF and their favorite links, I ran across Monday Artday a few times, and finally took the plunge.

In any case, here are some Artemis Umbrella progress shots:

Artemis Umbrella, progress sketch & frisket

Artemis Umbrella, color 1 and 2

Artemis Umbrella, 9" x 6" Copic Markers

Some things I like (she was too small to go overboard with detailing), and some less so (her right arm is odd and the angle of the umbrella/parasol is off and the cropping is not ideal). But otherwise not too bad. I didn’t mess with the background after peeling the frisket. Oh! I used a masquepen recommended by Mardi Speth and holy cow, so much better than a brush or other struggle. Thank you, Mardi!

Thanks for stopping by! (Tactful) criticism always welcome!

Illustration Friday “Capable” Copic Markers

Cape a Bull With Copic Markers at The Slumbering Herd

“Capable” for Illustration Friday this week, where 104 entries have already been posted.

Yes, this entry is quite silly. I saw some other folks had gone with the cape concept, so I had to crank it up a notch! I think (again) this one is overly busy. Arggh! What I’ve been aiming for is ‘neat and intricate’, but where I have been landing is ‘overworked and confused’. But I’ll keep trying.

Here’s how it happened:

Cape a Bull Sketch

Cape a Bull Liquid Frisket, Ink 1

Cape a Bull Ink 2

Cape a Bull Ink 3

Cape a Bull With Copic Markers

A decent effort but definitely overworked. And I don’t love this color combination quite as much as I’d hoped. Next time I’d go with browns instead of blues. I’m often worried that browns are too subdued but 1. sometimes subdued is good, and 2. I really do have a lot of different browns and I generally like it when I go that way. And so ends today’s ramble!

The font is Ugly Qua. Thank you for your visit!

Blue Llama with Frisket and Copic Markers

Nell the Blue Llama, Copics

This is Nell, and she has come up in the world quite nicely, benefiting from her predecessors, I think:

The Slumbering Herd Copic Llama Retrospective

The trouble is, I have been doing a lot of dogs lately. And dog noses are not llama noses. It seems I forgot this when crafting Nell’s curious nose. So, she has a doggish, rabbity sort of nose. She seems to like it though.

This was Liquid Frisket Experiment Number 4,which started here:

Blue Frisket Llama Sketch

Blue Frisket Llama, Frisket Phase

So I decided to fill the background before adding the frisket. I knew I would go over the outline of the llama and I didn’t know if it would affect the texture of the background even when peeled off. I filled up the middle with frisket swirls then went over them with several blues.  Started a little shading but not much. Lost my pencil line in a couple spots, but no disasters.

Blue Frisket Llama Ink

Blue Frisket Llama Ink 2

Blue Frisket Llama

She looks pretty happy, which is nice. I can vouch for the fact that she is, generally, a happy llama. I may have to branch out into (gasp) profiles or (double gasp) a whole llama body. It could happen.

Thanks as ever for dropping in!

A Mountain of Mugs in Copics for IF’s “Fluid”

Josephine's Mountain of Soup Mugs, Copic Markers w/ Digital Frame & Text

So I recently launched an art challenge with the prompt “Catastrope” at the Etsy group Doodlers Doing Doodles. [I did not start this group (too wordy for one thing!) but as the only leader I became de facto Captain when the real one took off for destinations unknown some six months ago. If you want to join, just drop me a line!] Anyway, my idea was either a stack of dishes or a stack of monsters… or possibly a stack of dishes AND monsters. So I started a stack of coffee mugs and tea cups, and then the Illustration Friday topic “Fluid” was announced.

I believe I am stretching this topic further than I’ve personally stretched an Illustration Friday topic, to include what turned into a mountain of soup mugs. (Originally tea cups and coffee mugs but really, Josephine could hardly drink tea out of these monsters.) (Hey! It turns out I did do a stack of dishes and monsters.)

This will be my third outing with liquid frisket (the results of which are those white swirls in the wallpaper). The paper I’ve been using is Bee Paper Company’s Artist Marker Pad, recommended for use with Copic markers. It is insanely smooth and very nice for markers, but it’s only 110 lb. so the frisket buckles it a bit. That is part of the reason these particular swirls are much larger than my normal. Here’s how it all began:

Mugs and Rabbit wip 1, 2

I figured some sort of creature imminently at risk of toppling the stack was necessary for a looming sense of “catastrophe”. I also used color before black multiliner to cut down on smudging.

Mugs and Rabbit wip 3, 4

I thought about leaving it here, with just the outline of the rabbit beast. Many Illustration Friday folks employ two different techniques in one drawing or painting and it is usually a pretty neat effect. Perhaps I should have done a background but left the bunny as she is here. Actually, if I did it over again that’s what I would do.

Mugs and Rabbit wip 5,6

I think the background is too busy. Or I just don’t know how to make the foreground pop out. I suppose I could put an otherworldy glow around the objects but will have to look into additional methods. (Do you have one? Please let me know. Yet another item I would have learned in art school. Alas!) Oh! And one more fyi, because it seems like good info: the font in the final at the top is Cambria Math.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

That’s One Popular Sheep Cart

The Most Popular Sheep Cart, Copic Markers with Digital Sky

This week’s Illustration Friday topic: “Popularity”. I really had no idea what to draw, for a while, and then I decided that two competing little kiosks might be nice, with competing salespeople. And maybe the popularity of one had to do with the pretty girl running it, and for the other, the quality of the product. But sheesh, that’s a lot to get into a single frame. At least for me who hasn’t done a lot of narrative drawings.

I started to draw the kiosks, but that was more complicated than necessary and I switched to little sales carts.

Toy Carts Initial Sketch

Rather than plain little carts, of course I figured they should in the shape of animals. Goats or sheep, perhaps. As I drew them I decided they would be very different kinds of carts, and one would be more popular than the other.  I picked toys because a little anime style cat could be seriously cute and I was thinking zombies for the other cart but went with misfit monsters.

Toy Carts Inked

I wanted to add more things, but I was worried about clutter. So, no little sales tags, no “50% Discount Sale” sign for the monster cart and no salespeople. Not even any customers! So I tried to figure out a slogan or saying that would tell the story I was trying to tell.

Toy Carts Color 1

Toy Carts Color 2

Sheep Carts Original Drawing 8.5" x 11"

The Most Popular Sheep Cart, Copics w/ Digital Sky

Thank you as always for coming by and thanks to everyone for the kind and excellent comments.

Which reminds me!  A very kind and hilarious person at Moonsword’s Chamber has done a little write-up about my shop. He showcases a lot of different artists and I found some really cool ones there, so take a gander if you have a moment!

 

Further Dog Adventures, ACEO Style

ACEO Dog Emma, Copics

I was going to do something much more twirl-related for this week’s Illustration Friday, since that is the topic. But I am currently in the midst of rather severe ACEO dog fever and I didn’t want to stall the momentum. It all started two posts back because I decided, after several days without much inspiration, to draw a sad ACEO dog. One dog led to a four-pack of hound dogs which then led us here. (The current pack has standing ears. They may be hounds but more likely awesome mixed-breed rescue types with mysterious ancestry.)

In any case, I have completed Emma (above) in my recently typical fashion, with lots of swirls. Though this is not technically the same thing as “twirls”, I hope I won’t be judged too harshly for stretching the topic somewhat, from twirl to swirl.

Emma in progress:

ACEO Dog Emma: Sketch, Ink, Copic Pen/Marker

The other members of the new pack, as yet inked only:

ACEO Dog Rufus, In Progress

ACEO Dog Bear, In Progress

ACEO Dog Ernie, In Progress

ACEO Dog Annabelle, In Progress

ACEO Dog Millie, in Progress

All six goofy and and generally charming ACEO dogs drawn by hand in pencil. Then, Copic multiliners, mainly size 0.1 and 0.3, though Emma got filled out with a 0.8 and that was probably a tad too wide for 2.5″ x 3.5″. I’ve been using pre-cut, ACEO-sized smooth illustration board, which comes in handy 5-packs by Strathmore (about $2/pack at Dick Blick’s). I hope to post the colored-up versions soon.  Thanks for visiting! Dogs rule!

The Emergency Wizard Kit, Illustration Friday

I had trouble with this one!  All Illustration Friday topics are good, is my general belief, and if I cannot come up with an illustration, that is not the fault of the word! But all I could come up with for “PREPARE” was an elaborately prepared birthday cake.  So I started a 4-tier fancy cake, but couldn’t decide on a decorating scheme for it.  I finally hit upon Minas Tirith* but couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to do it right.

Then last night the boyfriend’s new alt-country band Honeysuckle Road was playing at a bar, and I brought drawing paper (8″x5″ Bristol paper from a small drawing journal, folded in half to fit in my tiny purse), a pencil and my favorite Staedtler eraser. Oh, and a pencil sharpener. Over the course of the evening (after several false starts), I came up with the following:

Magic Preparedness Kits, Display and "Actual" Versions

It’s a pretty rough sketch with many eraser marks, but I like the sketchy style.  I also left the scanned version in “color” because it seems to give an old-fashioned kind of sepia tone (not sure why, actually, since it was all regular pencil!) Also, it is probably pretty clear I had no reference objects so some of the items are sketchy in more ways than one.

The Display Version of this wizard preparedness kit includes: Magic 8-Ball, witch hazel, candles, “spirits”, jar of newt eyes, tuning fork, genie lamp, Swiss Army Wand gadget. The “Real” Version includes: change for laundry, Sham Wow, spork, sharpie marker, nail clippers, Neosporin, Snickers bar, duct tape, cow bell, toothbrush, bifocals.

Some items that didn’t make the cut: extra straw for brooms, calligraphy pen, snakebite kit, Mag light, matches, flare gun, sticks of dynamite, fishing hook, ace bandage, rope, salt and pepper shakers, sewing kit. I think I will do a full color version in the next couple days, so we’ll see what ends up in there!

Can you think of any items I should have added? How about for your own emergency kit? Thank you for visiting!

*Minas Tirith is the White City from Lord of the Rings. Built in the side of a mountain, with terraces and levels going all the way up to a castle at the top (and the courtyard with the white tree).  Apologies for the rampant geekery. But anyway, great tiered cake idea, right!?  So great it’s probably been done, now that I think of it. ;)