It was such, yesterday when I drew these, and it’s another such today. Happy to draw real animals, etc, from my balcony.
Other people are TV and DVD-inspired faces. Not so bad, but I’m waiting for people to start walking by looking less frozen and bundled up.
I saw these kids the other night, in a dream. I think their Uncle is Orson Welles. Still working on figures.
A pensive Orc, and Pug Dog:
Hmmm. Maybe a pug dog-something else cross. The head is the wrong shape, muzzle too long and the ears should be lower down, for that true pug silliness.
These don’t need explaining, but I like to write a little. Above is Catwoman and a dog. Below, the creepy cowboy from Mulholland Drive.
Next, some well-known author at a badly-attended book convention. I’ve sometimes dreamed about being able to fly to the ceiling at these things. Though I didn’t need Leo da Vinci wings.
Bottom, a pensive puss.
Today I’m going to be cartooning at the Eaton Centre in Downtown Montreal, part of the events surrounding Car Free Day in that part of the city. Please visit, if you can make it!
Meantime, I bought a new little sketchbook (only 4″x6″), and drew a bunch of things. Mainly animal-related.
Man, this is fun to do.
Sometimes I wait a while and then post a lot of sketches I’ve done, but didn’t post, for whatever reason. Nice not to have to look at my friend’s death notice first thing when I visit the blog, however.
Street guys:
Street kid:
Street Pug Dog:
Street cute chick:
I should be doing comics today, or fixing some directories on a blog. But my back brain wanted to do watercolours. At least I learned something with these.
Not easy to explain, but it’s mainly about when I can use dark lines to outline something, and not. Like on the lady below, it’s better if you use lines the same colour (but a little darker) as the general tone you’re trying to convey:
Don’t think that’s very clear. But there you are…
Have this flickr uploader gadget in the blog. Haven’t gotten it to work yet. This is my first real post on the new system on the blog. Pretty spiffy. Plus I feel proud of myself for following the 18 or so steps to upgrade, with backups and passwords and all.
Anyhow (feeling wordy, a switch from twitter!), this is a ballpoint pen sketch done on the balcony this morning. It points me towards drawing or painting a complicated fan’s den, filled with gadgets and tchotchkes.
Inspired by the movie Paprika, which was above-average anime. Intelligent speculation about what would happen if someone invented a machine that let others share or record your dreams. Had a lot of the usual tropes of giant things smashing stuff up, colossal toys, tentacles, and kinky imagery, plus that crowding of things I was mentioning, but also a plot I could follow, and almost human characters.
I usually do this in the morning. Nothing interesting drawn. But tonight I’ve got Lou Reed lyrics put into the mouths of people drawn walking down the street. “What good a war without killing?” and “life’s like Sanskrit read to a pony.” You have to hear them in the proper Lou Reed deep voice, which will help.
And below, an animal called a “gryllus” (anything with legs and only a head — no body), but I can’t find the citation for the name. All I get is the genus for cricket.
“Old Yeller?” I like drawing in the morning, and I like being spontaneous, but it has its disadvantages. Certain things make me go “darn!” but I wonder if anyone will notice them, or cares. Could be a dog with ears of different length. Or maybe he’s just a dog who looks like that, and it’s not a big thing. I’d have to check the pencil drawing in a mirror or something to avoid it happening again. Still, there’s a lot I like about this.
The sign I was keeping track of in yesterday’s post is still unmarked. Actually, not. There was a shoe print already on it when I took the picture. I’m looking for actual tagging or major vandalism, however.
What’s a little depressing is when you go a “Graphic Image Search” (GIS for those in the know) for “pigeon,” you get a larger than usual number of dead and messed up pigeons. It’s not the main thing I think of when watching pigeons out my front door, but there are a lot of them by the church steeple and school. Lots of models, therefore, but they don’t stand still, or get very close.
Chihuahua’s not the same problem, but there are still a lot of them out here, and other small dogs, mostly attached to people. Cats rule!
Kind of like what a complete page in my sketchbook sometimes looks like, rather than a nice drawing excerpted and isolated to show you. Again, the usual paints on a thin, sketchbook paper.
I’m a little bit torn up this morning, because a pro illustrator (more successful than I, at least) looked over my website and said the things in black and white were more “professional” than the ones in colour.
She was trying to help, and be honest, (and she’s probably right!) but I’m just barging ahead anyhow, hoping someone likes something. Artists have huge egos, and I’m no exception. I think it’s part of how we function. Personally, I’d like to have a less fragile one, so I can take criticism better, but at the same time not be in denial about my level of ability. I know some artists like that (and no, it’s not you!)
My trouble is that if I’m in any way methodical or self-critical about what I do, I get blocked, and the work gets awkward. The fun drains out. So I purposely put on blinders. I seem to get much more praise than critique, anyhow, so have learned to take it all with a grain of salt. If people want to buy it or print it, then I feel it’s all right. Sometimes they do. And I know I’m not Bob Peak or Maurice Sendak, but that’s okay.
I think successful people in general don’t let failure or shortcomings slow them down, or get in the way. Of course, if you have no talent and think you do, you’ve got problems, and will go through life frustrated, like some artist-manques I’ve known. Such as this writer who knocked off an atrocious “novel” every two weeks, simply by free-writing for extended periods of time. He got angry and frustrated, because people didn’t think of him as the new Henry Miller. There are obviously combinations of talent, business-sense, and confidence which let you succeed. I think it’s pretty rare to have all three, elsewise we’d all be rich.
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