October Challenge - Part The First

 Orignially, as I'd planned the September Drawing-From-The-Masters Challenge, I had a nebulous plan to continue on into October with MORE ART. Specifically I'd planned to participate in Inktober - as I've attempted to do in previous years - and many friends of mine have been very into it for the last decade...

But as October arrived, the plan for EXACTLY what I was going to do in September hadn't really congealed at all, it was still very... nebulous... at best... I was kind of burned out from the September Challenge. (I mean, it took me three days to finish the final piece off!) 

Then I took a couple of days off to sort out exactly what the hell I WAS going to do... and... to be honest, I STILL haven't come up with anything concrete!? I wasn't thrilled with the Inktober prompt list (and a number of my friends that HAVE done it in the past are pointedly NOT doing it this year for a variety of reasons...!?). Also, I really had fun working with COLOUR - specifically all the experimenting with Watercolour pencil and marker and a bit of Gouache I did through September and kind of wanted to keep going with that... And now there are just so many copy-cat October challenges: Artober, sketchtober, Faetober, witchtober, it just goes on... Keira's decided to do Faetober (you can see all her drawing on her instagram: Kerifuffle )

So I don't really have any SPECIFIC goal or Challenge in mind for October other than Just Keep Making Art (try to do it DAILY PRACTICE!). 

On teh 5th and 6th I made a couple attempts at self-portraits. This was the least awful, so I'm only posting this one... It's a thing artists do, not out of any sense of vanity (at least not in MY case) but just to study and actual person and try to make a drawing/painting that actually LOOKS like that person. It is HARD. And Heartbreaking to utterly fail at it... and, in the case of a self-portrait, only ONE heart is being broken. 

Also on the 6th... Carrying on in the same sketchbook as the September Challenge - and the same Warhammer 40,000 theme - but with an illustration of my own... Noise Marines! 

STILL more Warhammer 40,000 themed art... 

So... like... six months ago when all the COOL kids were doing this "Six Fan Arts" thingie (drawing six pictures of characters you are a fan of), I thought I'd jump in on that action and asked friends and followers on a few different social media platforms for suggestions, and my friend Orion suggested I draw Leman Russ - Primarch of the Space Wolves.... or... at least I HOPE he meant the Primarch and NOT the Astra Miliatrum tank named after him... boy will I feel silly if he meant the latter... Anyway, I never got around to doing ANY of the suggestions... until now...

On Thursday, the 8th, I decided to go out for a bike ride and to some sketching out-of-doors (as there likely wont' be too many opportunities to do so shortly!) 

Here's what I came up with - some fall colours along the Meewasin Valley, alongside the South Saskatchewan River, which rund through the heart of Saskatoon. 

lacking any other ideas I went back to the suggestions I had for the SixFanArts challenge and did this one is for my good friend Woody, who asked that I do a picture of Roy Batty from Bladerunner.

And that's it for the first thrid of October...