The Sketch Challenges continue

 Here are my G+ Artist Sketch Challenge entries for the topic "Ways Penguins Fly":

The Frostfoot Flyer

Totoro & Pen Pen taking the top for a spin

I can't emphasize enough how much I'm enjoying these sketch challenges (big kudos to Carsten Bradley!), and networking via Google + in general has been, well, a plus. Being able to interact with all these great artists on there has been incredibly invigorating, and definitely gives my creativity a big ol' punch in the arm.

Matador

The model at last night's Figurative Illustration Workshop wore a matador's costume:

Drawn with blue pencil, brush marker, and Sharpie pen

Drawn with blue pencil, brush marker, and Sharpie pen

Painted with Colors! for DS on the Nintendo DS Lite

For the next session, our host Aaron Miller said he'd try to get a big poofy Renaissance costume for the model to wear. Fantastic!

New sketch challenge art

The G+ Artist Sketch Challenge has been responsible for most of my personal illustration output this past week, and it's been a lot of fun.

For the fantastically absurd challenge Gargoyles in Evening Wear Dancing with Famous People born on August 25th, I submitted this comic strip:

And for today's topic 80's Movies That Should Have Happened I submitted this drawing:

30 Days done!

Here's something I did for a daily sketch challenge, the topic being "Cartoons as Sea Creatures":

My Narwhal Totoro

Here's today's entry for "Unsuccessful Monster Cereals":

Gamera Crisp Cereal-- Stays scorching hot, even in milk!

And here's a sketch I did of an old man on the bus this morning:

I was looking at my calendar and realized that today marks 30 days since I made a formal commitment to draw at least once a day for a month. My posting frequency got a bit sporadic towards the end because of a heavy workload, but I still managed to eke out stuff.

Things I learned from these 30 days:

• I should have a sketchbook on my person at all times, because opportunities to draw abound
• I missed cartooning, I plan on doing more of it
• Google Plus is a great venue for sharing art with others. Great for networking with other artists as well!
• I used to not enjoy drawing with blue pencil because I thought it was too light... Turns out not all blue pencils are the same. Col-Erase for the win!
• I need to draw and paint more (Granted, I already knew that, I just realized it's something that'll always be true)
• I'm less afraid of ditching a drawing that isn't working, and start from scratch
• I'm more open now to getting things wrong being a part of my learning process. Failure for the win!

Sketchy sketch

Some robot and character doodles:

In other unrelated news, I believe Photoshop opacity masks have earned a place on my "These are a Few of my Favorite Things" list.

Loosening up

Been too busy lately to work on anything beyond doodles, but I've been sticking to drawing at least once a day. It's funny, with all these comics and pen sketches, I feel like I'm revisiting my cartooning roots from back in high school. Not what I had planned at the outset, but I'm curious to see where it goes.  

It's all about the journey...

People and ships

 Latest sketches...

 

I've been listening to the illustrator/painter-centric podcast "Drawn Today" and one of the topics in the episode I just listened to was the use of references. It was an interesting discussion, and something I hadn't really given a lot of thought to. Beyond drawing from life in my sketchbook or painting portraits, I don't know that I've really looked to references for stuff like, say, the robots and spaceships I doodle (at least, not consciously; I've got tons of toys and models around me all the time that certainly inform a lot of what I draw, but I think I absorb that osmotically more than anything else).  Something else to add to my list of things to work on.

Bus sketches

Drew some sketches on the bus this morning, trying to loosen up a bit...

Sketch roundup

Been slammed with work, I manage to get some sketch time in on the commute and at home after the baby nods off...

Bus sketch... Started out as a study of negative space, the scale went a little wonky here and there as the drawing was done over a couple different sessions (different buses, same model... took a heck of a time to get in the identical seat position though):

 And here are some doodles of ships n' robots:

Robot Salutations

For today's drawing/painting, a robot greeting:

Yet another Ashley Wood-inspired piece, created in Colors! for DS. Painting playback can be found on the Colors! gallery here.

Bruiser DX

Fighting tournament robot BRUISER DX,  something along the lines of Real Steel, or for those of you who might remember the old Playstation game, Zero Divide.

In other news, it's been a looong day.

Walker Mech

Managed to scribble out this sketch while I was waiting for files to copy over to my machine...

Down on the corner...

... Out here in the street! Some new commuter sketches:

   

Things are ramping up at work, so I won't get to post as often as I have lately, but I will keep on drawing.

The Tissue Issue

Lights out, uh huh...