Digital Doodles

Fiddling with Manga Studio...

More Bored in Class Sketches

I also tried to draw Zach's Voodoo Croc character. He's really hard to draw right.

The Angry Commuter

There's one on every train.

A Small Serving of 'Tideyouoverings'

A jazzy swamp critter:

An excuse to draw a dodo in turn-of-the-century driving clothes riding a vespa:

My explanation for Pooh's peculiar head shape:

And a perennial favorite; Pooh as a big, fat n' sweaty dynamo.

Without the mud, it's kinda suggestive

Instead of a sketchbook (which I should use more often) I do all my drawings on a clipboard, and after a while, old drawings get shuffled in the back and get lost. I came across this unfinished one that I put off because I needed to adjust the legs, but then thesis production came in full swing and I never got around to it. Because of my thesis, I haven't had much time to draw much of anything else.

Luckily, that's where college humanities classes come in!

One of my classes is a Jazz History class. We listen to all the early greats: Leadbelly, Bix Biederbecke, and, of course, Louis Armstrong. When the teacher speaks, I take notes. But when the music begins to play, so do I! I re-found this sketch during class and decided to finally get it done. I screwed up on the stripes around the feet and hands, so I added some drippy bits and made it like his hands and feet were covered in mud that he threw at the cub. It added a whole new side to the image. Definitely a happy accident. I'm not very happy with how the lion came out, but I'm pretty satisfied the tiger's expression. It captures that panicked plea-bargaining look.

In case your wondering, he's reading "Love's Captive" by Mrs. Arabella Richardson and drinking a Boston Cooler.

When you hibernate in a hotel suite for a few months, you're bound to rack up a hefty bill.

Preparing for Bed

Lately, I've been drawing more fleshed-out scenes rather than a page of random nonsensical doodles all over the place.

Here's one of my better ones:

And Shannon, being the gracious and loving helperton that she is, colored it all up for me. I really admire her dedication and patience when it comes to color. She's gonna be an awesome professional colorist someday!

Poke-Monstrosity

Years ago, I was REALLY into the whole Pokemon thing. I had everything: the cards, the figurines, the games, the videos... you name it. There even used to be a "Pokemon store" a few towns over from where I live, and I'd beg my mom to take me there every week. It was mostly cheap Chinese knockoffs or imported cards, but I still dove headfirst into the stuff. God, it was nuts. I could barely keep up with it.

Then one morning I woke up, looked at all the Pokemon paraphernalia I had strewn around my room, and had this "Oh God, what have I done?" feeling. I felt so guilty that I dragged my parents through all this. The money they must've spent on all that garbage. So I took all of it, put it in a big box and shoved it up in the attic. I looked online recently to see if any of my cards were worth anything, but its barely worth the paper they're printed on. The only Pokemon-related things I'll ever keep are the little figurines. They're still really cool to look at.

Looking back, I don't know why I got so hooked on it, like millions of other kids did at the time. Maybe it was just because everyone else was in on it, and I was just curious enough to get in on the act too. I have to admit though, the designs of these creatures are very appealing and original when you really look at them. AND IT'S STILL GOING! When I stopped, there was, what... like 200 of them, now there's over 500 of the damn things! How do kids these days keep track?

Recently, I was conversing with a few friends, and I asked them what I should draw. They named some random Pokemon I never heard of, so I looked up reference and drew it. Then somebody named another, and another and another.... so now it's become this regular thing, where I draw like 5 or 10 random Pokemon and compile them together. Here's a few of them

I wonder if Beanie Babies still sell...

A Very Special Someone

I've had a great deal of inspiration lately, all thanks to my love Shannon. We began our relationship about 2 months ago, and it's been absolutely wonderful. She makes me feel so great each day, it's really given me a new lease on life. She's cute, and funny, and sweet... and to add icing on the cake, she's an artist too! And a very good one to boot! Go check out her stuff!

One thing we've really had fun doing is drawing each other. She's posted a lot of fun pictures of us together over on her blog, so make sure to take a gander at them. Here's just a few of my drawings to her.

(apologies to Bill Watterson)

Shannon's major strong suit is coloring. She's a real whizz at it! Just look on the job she did on these two drawings of mine!

Didn't I tell you she was amazing? I just wish I was as eloquent with words as she is. She sends me poems, and fun little texts on my phone and writes all kinds of wonderfully written messages to me. While I may not have a way with words like she does, I can still send her my love in visual form. Pictures speak louder than words.

Doodling in Photoshop

Neanderthals

Here's some Neanderthal doodles that I did during my anthropology class.

Sliver of Doodles

Here's some quick meanderings I did on the opposite side of a page where I had a finished inked drawing (to be posted later).