The Princess

 Sometimes I get an idea in my head... 

This was done as a companion piece for The Prince (which I did back in August)

The Princess

28cmx35cm (11x14) - Ink on Paper

I may have been a bit overzealous with the blood spatter on this one... 

The Prince

 

The Prince

28cmx35cm (11x14) - Ink on Paper

Lately I’ve been kind of obsessed with the art of Eric Orchard (@Inkybat on Instagram and Twitter) I LOVE the miles and miles of hatching that creates both dynamic texture and value in his drawings. It kind of reminds me of what I was trying to do in some of the early minicomics I did in the mid 90s (except, y’know far more practiced and way better executed and… with COLOUR!) Got me thinking I should have a go at doing that again… 

The picture kind of just popped into my head last night and I thought about staying up stupid late and just doing it then and there… but it was already FAR TOO LATE and despite worrying I’d COMPLETELY FORGET the idea, I woke with it still in mind, and so that’s what I’ve been doing all day… The image in my head shifted to something very plain to something inspired by Vladimir Giurescu (from Hellboy) to something more like the denizens of Ulfenkarn from Warhammer Quest: Cursed City when if finally ended up on paper. 

(which reminds me… I should FINISH PAINTING THOSE miniatures and actually get around to PLAYING THE GAME!?!?) 

I had fun with this. I don’t HATE it, I may play around with this some more… 

I'd like to do character and NPC portraits like this... If I ever got around to playing Role-Playing Games again...

Birbs of Saskatchetoon - House Finch

EDIT: I initially misidentified this as a Purple Finch, but it has been brought to my attention that what I was actually looking at was a HOUSE Finch! (I may have put a bit too much red on it's head...) 

I haven't seen any NEW birds to add to the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook for a few weeks. 

On Thursday, I was out a ride and, near the end, in a spot I don't really often see birds... I spotted a bird! It was on a branch at the top of a bush! I slowed a bit to have a look.  Initially thought it was a sparrow but then noted it was RATHER REDDISH on the head! 

It took a moment, but I realized I was looking at a House Finch! So I stopped and quickly got off a few snaps before it chirped out a singsongy little tune and flew off!

House Finch in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook. 

It was a really fabulous end to a rather enjoyable ride. I'd seen two Coyotes in a field north of the university and pretty sure I HEARD a blue jay and... well there was another exciting thing that happened... but I'll save that for another post! 

There are the few pics I snapped before it flew off... 

November 2021 - Day Flerbpteenty

I had the next dozen pages written... then I thought I'd pencil them all in one batch... and I did that, mostly... and then I thought I'd ink and colour a few pages a day and post those... and started doing that... but then started jumping around a lot... and then got sick of it all... and then decided to take a day or two off.... and then got distracted by other things and fell out of the groove.... that day or two turned into a week or two... and then the rest of the month... and now here we are... It's been a struggle to finish these. I'm not sure where I'm going from here. 

If you're just joining this Journey, you might want to head on over to Day One and once you've read to the bottom, click on "Newer Post" on the left, just below the comments.

Like I said... I'm not sure where I'm going from here... I have a script for the next dozen pages or so... and a general (but somewhat vague) idea of where it's going after that... but I am SO SICK of drawing it on these tiny 8x8 squares... I may continue... but the format may change. Which causes me some deep pain... the whole point was to pick something and STICK WITH IT!? 

On the other hand, the other point of this was just to do a thing and learn from the experience and grow... and if I hate what I'm doing so much that it makes me NOT want to do the thing... maybe it's time ot change it up to something I DO want to continue with... 

We shall see... 

Sketching After Scarry

 I kind of gave up on Kaijune after the GIGAGOOSE... but once I let that go, I did start doing some more drawings/paintings of Critters on Bikes - mostly inspired by the works of Richard Scarry. 

I've been trying out some different paper and sketchbooks and experimenting more with Holbien Acrylic Inks. I'm not sure if I should call these drawings or paintings... I mean, I draw with a pen, but then colour with a brush (like painting) and then touch-up the outlines with a pen again... I don't know. "Illustrating", I guess. 

One of the things I LOVED about Richard Scarry's books as a kid was the fact that there WERE bicycles in the books and so I've been seeking out those pictures the last week or so and copying them into my sketchbooks for practice and inspiration. 

Huck and Lowly worm - copied from Richard Scarry. 

Huck and Lowly again - and a police officer that commandeered their tricycle after a criminal made off with his own bike - also copied from Richard Scarry. 

French Police Fox from Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World. 

Delivery Cat - also copied from Richard Scarry.

Dutch repairpig from Busy, Busy World that stuffed a tourist into a dike to (temporarily) plug a leak! Copied from Richard Scarry.

This one is based on an illustration from Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World, in Rome where a runaway car bashes into this poor fox's gelati bicycle cart and motor tomato cart (and others) - there are cones and spaghetti and tomatoes and balloons and bicycles all thrown up into the air! 

Lowly Worm and his friend Goldbug on a bicycle. I found this image on the internet as part of a pdf activity book made by Richard Scarry Books. I found it interesting as it has details that Scarry often left out in drawings of bicycles in books I've been looking at lately.

Not copied from Scarry - this one's all me - Cheetah on a Road Bike. 

Another doodle I did in my sketchbook while waiting for Keira at her music lesson - Piggies in a Cargo Bike! 

September Drawing-From-The-Masters Challenge

 Though the month of September I challenged myself to draw/paint a picture ever day. I decided to try "painting from the masters" - copying the work of another artist. In this case I ended up copying the works of John Blanche. This is more thoroughly covered on one of my Other Blogs. 

All of the pieces below are copied from John Blanche illustrations copied from The Emperor's Will - Agents of the Imperium (pictured above).  I really LOVE his style - there's kind of a frantic rawness and intensity to these illustrations that, for me, masterfully conveys the grim-dark reality of the life in the 41st millennium. I should say, just to be 100% clear here (because, as an artist, intellectual property rights of of great importance to me), the original illustrations are © John Blanch and/or Games Workshop and my studies  were done purely for my own private entertainment and education purposes and are presented here simply to share with the community a creative thing that I did. They are not now, nor ever will be, for sale. I do not take commissions of any kind. 

Well, that's it. It was a fun project. The plan WAS to continue on with daily drawings through October... but... that plan is currently in flux... for... reasons... I'll try to post what I'm working on, periodically, throughout the month. 

As I said, these were originally posted on my Gaming Blog through the month and there are a lot more process pictures and chatter about what I was tryign to do. If you're intersted in seeing/reading more about what I was doing, check those out:

September Challenge - Part One

September Challenge - Part Two

September Challenge - Part Three

September Challenge - Part The Last

Anyway, if you found your way here and read all of this, why not drop me a line in the comments below, so I know I'm not totally wasting my time posting all this crap for NO ONE?!

Thanks!