Category Archives: Scribbles

Drawings and doodles, works in progress and other ephemera

Back in the Saddle

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Some months get more hectic than others. March qualified as one of those.

It’s been a particularly hectic time at my day job — not assisted by my having to move offices for the first time in many years. Being busy is good, but these days it feels like we’re always playing catch-up.

In the good kind of hectic, however, they sent me to SXSW Interactive, a week-long conference on all the latest and greatest internet trends and technologies. It was an amazing experience, which I’m still processing in my head. I met a lot of great, amazing people, and if any of you are reading this and wondering why I haven’t gotten back to you yet, read on.

Immediately upon returning home I had one good day at work before coming down with my all-too-typical Post-Travel Creeping Death Plague. This time it took the form of a horrendous headcold which knocked me completely out for three days, not counting the two days of feeling ucky beforehand and now over a week of deneumont. Fortunately, I’m now just down to a nagging cough, a tendency to tire easily, and lingering congestion which could just as easily be caused by the weather. Which I’m trying to shake off as quickly as possible because I’m still very charged up from my trip and want to act on it, but I’m also playing catch-up from being out of the office for over two weeks. (Not to mention packing/purging ten years worth of stuff to fit into an office which, although it has a window with a nice view, is significantly smaller than my current space behind the boiler room.)

All of which is my long-winded way of saying: watch this space. Tho the pace may be slower than I’d like, good things will be happening here soon.

Illustration Friday: Intricate

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Year of the Snake — Preview
(click to enlarge)

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Even though this week’s Illustration Friday topic gave me several intriguing ideas, I don’t have time right now to make any of them! (sketches will be filed away for later tho…) Instead, I’m uploading a preview of a particularly intricate image I’ve been working on. I just finished the ink drawing this week, and I thought those scales were going to kill me. Scale patterns are so complex and regular, I had to deliberately simplify or I’d be working on it for weeks despite modeling it after a species with simple coloration. I’ll be adding some more details and color shortly.

I just spent the evening scanning in this and three others in the series… almost halfway done! For anyone who doesn’t recognize it, this is the Snake from the Chinese Zodiac, and will be part of a series of 12. Of course, I’ve changed direction slightly and will have to edit my Ox image to match, but that’s what happens when a control freak like me has no outside deadlines.

Illustration Friday: Breezy

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Caught in a Breeze
click to enlarge

Getting back into the swing of things, I was feeling inspired by this week’s Illustration Friday topic. Of course, it’s not exactly seasonal — around here we just had what everyone is hoping was the last big snowfall of the winter before spring starts seriously springing — but the word “breezy” always brings to mind those crisp autumn days when the wind just picks up the leaves and swirl them around. Wouldn’t it be fun to hitch a ride?

She’s a little rough and quick, but I couldn’t resist dressing this inked sketch up with a bit of quick color.  I have a hankering to draw more fairies, but costume design has always been a bit of a challenge for me. Hmmm… maybe that’s why I want to do more of it.

Visit from the drawing board

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I’ve been a negligent netizen again, barely keeping up with any of my online activities.  I think I’m going to have to start doing Illustration Friday again, just to keep me updating, in addition to getting back in the groove in other online arenas.

So what have I been doing? Well, it’s been a bit of a hectic time out in the real world, which has sapped a lot of my attention. But I’ve also been drawing! I’ve been making some real headway on a personal project. Want a sneak preview?

From the drawing table
(click to enlarge)

Yup, that’s the Ox from my last installment up in the corner, next to another nearly-finished drawing. The bottom row has concept sketches, another nearly-finished image, and one that’s been traced onto the bristol and ready to ink. Some of you will probably recognize the Chinese Zodiac taking shape here. As with most of my personal projects, I have to fight the urge to over-think things. As it is, you can see that I started this series before I got my A3 scanner, at which point I realized I could switch to a larger size paper — which I’m loving! I’m still debating a bit what to do with the backgrounds: make a full scene like I did with the Ox, or keep it abstract… full color or more monochrome. One of the beauties of working digitally is being able to play with options, so I’ll probably end up with  more than one version of each.

I’m actually further along than this picture indicates — the Tiger is inked now and looks fantastic, if I do say so myself. The scales on the Snake, however, are killing me! More updates when I start scanning these babies. When this series is done I’ll be making several nice products available to buy, so if you’re interested… stay tuned!

I’ve also slowly been adding new pieces to my RedBubble profile… mostly the more elaborate work from my portfolio. If you ever wanted a print or a notecard of one of my pieces, go check it out; all of the products I’ve ordered from them have been gorgeous and high-quality:
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I’m still taking suggestions, so if there were any images from this blog that you absolutely had to have a nice printed copy of, let me know and I’ll make it available.

Another update soon, I promise!

You Can’t Make Me!

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 You Can’t Make Me!

… and don’t go trying to change her mind! (Even if it is way past her bedtime…)

I am resolved to simplify things, if it allows me to meet my other resolution to post something new weekly. In this case, this week’s oh-so-appropriate Illustration Friday topic — the word is “resolve” — a fairly quick one in between working on a slightly more ambitious project.

This is also the first piece of new artwork to be scanned in with my most practical Christmas present: an A3 Mustek scanner. Now I can draw on my 11×17 paper without having to scan it in pieces and piece it together in Photoshop! Not that it was an issue with this one because it was so small, but as I said, I have more ambitious projects underway….