Utopia Moment sketches and writing by Jack Ruttan and friends

Just means “pictures,” I think.

Well, they were fun for me to do.

Pretty tired now. Worked hard today. Maybe it’s just that I worked at all.

I did some more of these, but I’ll put them up later. Good night again!

I like these little paintings. Though I have to take my glasses off to do them. The biggest is four inches high. These others, more like three and two.

No, he’s not Pedobear:

I’m actually putting off some important work, but thought I’d screw around with watercolour, because it’s important to keep one’s hand in. These guys are from some things I watch a lot, which are the “making of” documentaries from the Extended set Lord of the Rings DVDs.

I think I like those more than the real films. They remind me of stuff I’ve done, both in front of and behind cameras. Painting sets, etc, running around in armour, yelling. Even writing and working with few of the people from this very project.

Below, your standard horsie. I did some yellow underpainting to get the effect of “light,” which didn’t really come off. Still, I like these, because they’re free and unlaboured.

Yesterday’s comic was my trying to do that. Get into a working routine that doesn’t take me too long (nobody’s paying for those pages yet! But they’re a lot of effort), and see what works.

That means finding what I’d like to do, and in what style. Also, as I usually do with the sketches that go on this blog, I’m just just putting whatever develops during the day out there, without too much thought beforehand of whether it’s good or not. Not censoring.

Impression of a news reporter, and delinquent boy from tv:

The character in yesterday’s comic isn’t me! He’s also not someone I know, though there are aspects of both. Don’t think he’s going to be a continuing character. Anyhow, it’s been a while since I did a comic regularly, and for some reason I’ve found them difficult to do. Trying to get out of that. And I enjoy telling stories, no matter how eccentric!

Nerd boy drawn mainly with the Pentel brush pen:

I’m also trying out techniques. Yesterday’s story was drawn with a dip pen, which was a little bit awkward, but I’m getting back into it. Other stuff is drawn with a Pentel brush pen. I also fool around with the pages on the computer a bit. Usually just to adjust the tone of the scan, but sometimes I try to fix things. I’m trying out a lot of what the computer can let me do, so that I can produce images that are funny, fast to produce, and look good.

Struggling with the dip pen (a Hunt #102 Hawk Quill):

Writing and drawing makes me feel good, and I’m lucky to be blessed with at least a modicum of ability, or inclination, towards these disciplines. The season’s been psychically rough so far, and I’m trying to smooth it out, get things running.

Woman from a “Making of” doc on a DVD, in colour ballpoint and black roller pen:

Meanwhile, I’m putting up yesterday’s production of sketches. I really do miss sitting on the balcony and drawing people. So during the Montreal winter I’m drawing people I see on DVDs I’m watching, or snapped with the camera, or who have just popped out of my head. Funny, they’re not the most dramatic scenes, but there you go.

Always sketching: busy hands. I added her dress pattern via photoshop.

Yay, C’boys! One of them is vaguely Francis Ford Coppola, director of the Godfather films:

That’s just a (possibly misheard) song lyric from Wendy James, that I thought would make a neat title. Otherwise, these are new sketches, from my recent trip to Calgary to visit my Dad, who passed away.

This and the other two below are from the Toronto Pearson Airport.

Little horse, drawn on the plane:

Server at the Ship and Anchor bar, in Calgary. He had great arm tattoos, which you can fill in, if you want:

Women at the bar. Sorry!:

Some fanciful German World War One guy:

Imaginary plume of smoke rising:

Feeling like I’m getting better at it. Actually, I just enjoy doing these.

Meanwhile, I’m watching a cheap supermarket DVD of the silent film “Nosferatu.” The picture quality is terrible, but every frame is a perfect image.

The cat is listening, a guy is sitting on a horse without stirrups, and the poor beknighted kid from the movie Into the Wild is being stalked by a cuddly, harmless grizzly.

This post got munged somehow, so I’m putting it back At least the images.

Tough doing plain backgrounds…

Wow. Painting dark in watercolour is hard. Or, at least involves different skills than slashing away at a light picture. With light things, there’s always a chance of overworking something, and spoiling it. With these, there always seems to be something else you can do, which will make it a better, more interesting picture.

I’m worried that the over-all effect of these is a little kitschy, but that might be because of using a “horsie” as a subject. Also, you have to be way more accurate in terms of forms, or else you risk falling into the surreal. Not that that’s always a bad thing. Still, I dig horses, having worked with them for a summer job way back in the 1980s.