30 Day Art Challenge, Day 26!

Day 26: Draw your favorite sweet food / candy.

Colored pencil on toned paper, drawn from life.

Tiny drawing for a tiny treat! SweeTarts are part of the reason I have a receding gumline. I love them so.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 25!

Day 25: Draw someone or something from mythology.

Brushing up on my character design skills with some gryphons. I referenced older drawings: Gryphons, Kitty-Loaf, and Humraptor!

Gryphons are my go-to fantasy critter these days. Drawn with a Staedtler Mars Graphic 3000 Duo brush pen.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 24!

Day 24: Draw something that represents your favorite culture.

I love native art from any culture. Mexico's Oaxaca region is famous for its woodcarvings, which inspired me to begin my series of colored pencil paintings in late 2011. 

This was drawn from a beautiful giraffe sculpture my grandmother bought for me years ago, signed Francisco Melchor. I shared it in an older post: Fun with "studio" lighting: Oaxacan sculptures and more!

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 23!

Day 23: Draw something that makes you happy.

Bicycling is one of my favorite activities. If I need to get away for some fresh air, I'll likely go exploring on my bike. It's a Schwinn Ranger, if you wanted to know. :D

It's reeeally hard to tell, but I'm standing on the pedals in the drawing. Time to sit down and draw my bike while looking at it.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 22!

Day 22: Draw your favorite season.

I love the transition between spring and summer. It means more sunny or partly cloudy days to enjoy hikes on, riding my bike to favorite and new locations, and swimming. This was drawn from imagination, but it's inspired by the views from Powell Butte. Gotta keep practicing landscapes!

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 21!

Day 21: Draw something you don't like.

Note to self: shoulders and necks don't work like that.

I don't like cold feet (literal and figurative). There are nights when I'm ready to fall asleep but I can't because my feet are so dang cold. Sometimes I'll get up and soak them in the sink or bathtub.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 20!

Day 20: Draw a comic.

Paranoid, you little punk!

Some of you will recognize the inspiration for this comic: Labracadabrador

I'd wanted to make an inked comic for Day 20, but that can always come later. Until then, have some ridiculous sketches! Finding an appropriate layout for this comic has proven difficult; I'm not sure if it should be vertical or horizontal - and whether I should keep it to three panels or expand upon that for a chance to include more silly expressions. What are your thoughts?

Initial sketch pages exploring expressions and layout. Paranoid's face gradually got scarier.

Paranoid would never say this to Finch. If, you know, Finch could truly hear Paranoid.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 19!

Day 19: Draw something you're afraid of.

Pretty self-explanatory.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 18!

Day 18: Draw a couple (any two people).

Two pages exploring how Tailscuff (the big guy) and Kritchpaw would interact.

Maybe it's a stretch drawing cartoon cat-things in place of people - but this was a good excuse to continue developing their designs! These two (along with Maubork) are part of a fledgling story idea I have under the working title KMT. I think they may be pit fighters of some kind.

Tailscuff's hind legs are underdeveloped, so he uses his tail like a third leg. Kritchpaw cares about him like a brother, even though she's not quick to show it.

A study made to fix the positioning of Kritchpaw's forelegs.

9" x 12" Prismacolor pencil and Copic marker on sketchbook paper

Quad side view of Kritchpaw drawn on tracing paper.

Her lifted foreleg needs a design tweak, and I don't think her shoulder should be so defined. She can switch between bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion.

Slightly earlier pages revisiting Kritchpaw for the first time since INKtober.

On the second page, I forgot that her chest is nothing but fluff.

Playing around with Tailscuff's poses / mobility. The mouse is named Friend.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 17!

Day 17: Draw your favorite holiday.

5.5" x 8.5" ballpoint on sketchbook paper

GOODNESS I need more practice in drawing my family.

That said, my favorite holiday is Christmas, simply because, nowadays, it's the one time of year I get to see my family and high school friends. I usually fly down to California, but my parents and brother have been able to drive up here on a few occasions, as has one of my closest friends, Kat. :)

And yes, this is a close approximation of what our holiday photo shenanigans look like - featuring Gimpy the cat!

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 16!

Day 16: Draw something that represents your favorite song.

Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again" is one of the most important theme songs in Brainsick.

Here is the music video for your listening pleasure.

The song has been interpreted in vastly different ways; its meaning in the context of Paranoid's world is much the same. Paranoid's 'friend' could be Lily, himself, his visions, or any of the human protagonists.

This is definitely a song to draw some large manic collage illustration to - perhaps another INKtober piece.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 15!

Day 15: Draw someone from your favorite video game.

5.5" x 8.5" Col-Erase on sketchbook paper

Final Fantasy X was a major obsession of mine from late middle school through high school. Auron was always my favorite character in the game. This sketch is simply based on his in-game idle pose - nothing special, but it was fun to draw. One of these days, I'll make some proper fan art for him.

...Unlike the madness below:

Also, 'cactaur' should be 'cactuar.' I've been living a lie all this time. Gosh dang it, cactuars.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 14!

Day 14: Draw your favorite book character.

5.5" x 8.5" ballpoint pen on sketchbook paper

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the most depressing work of fiction I've ever read - but it's also one of my all-time favorite stories. Quasimodo is among my favorite characters, whether portrayed by Tom Hulce, Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton, or Anthony Hopkins.

I wanted to tidy up an older design I'd made in 2011 for my Costumed Figure Drawing class, based heavily on Hugo's description from the book. 

Technical pen on sketchbook paper.

Photoshop vectors with stock photo for background.

This 'final' illustration is something I want to push myself with, but I'd prefer to draw the background when I recreate it.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 13!

Day 13: Draw a group picture.

8.5" x 5.5" ballpoint on sketchbook paper

"Group picture" is awfully vague, so I just drew a group of hummingbirds. I'm always up for drawing hummingbirds!

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 12!

Day 12: Draw an inanimate object.

8.5" x 5.5" ballpoint pen on sketchbook paper

I love seashells, and murex shells are some of the most beautiful I've seen. This drawing was made from a pink murex I have on my headboard.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 11!

Day 11: Draw your favorite food.

I developed a taste for sushi while in college. Nowadays it's frequently on my mind. If I could eat it weekly, I would. Sushi is, for me, one of those foods that easily makes my eyes bigger than my stomach: it's hard for me to say no to more even when I'm stuffed.

This would make a fantastic(ally scary) self-portrait to draw at another time. Consider it done!

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 10!

Day 10: Draw something you couldn't live without.

Okay. I COULD live without caffeine, but life would be far more boring without it. I managed to go three days without drinking coffee until a recent beach trip turned that on its head. Coffee at midnight, anyone?

Caffeine is the only drug I'll ever need.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 9!

Day 9: Draw your favorite cartoon character.

9" x 12" ballpoint sketches, mostly from screencaps for practice

MOJO JOJO. Hands down. The Powerpuff Girls was my life while it was on Cartoon Network, and it's still one of my favorite cartoons to this day. Although I loved Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, Mojo was probably my number one reason to watch the show. I even imitated his redundant speech patterns because I thought they made me sound smarter. Ha! I drew him a lot in middle school and early high school. Seriously. There are more drawings I could scan, but they would require their own post.

I want to take the lower drawing from the second sketchbook page above, fix it up, and finalize it. These were ridiculously fun to draw and I think they were partially guided by muscle memory...

Anyone remember the very first episode of PPG?

A page from my now-defunct Collage Book of Madness.
The crude fellow at bottom-right is from
Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

Now you know what a rabid fangirl I was for a cartoon chimpanzee.

30 Day Art Challenge, Day 8!

Day 8: Draw something with your favorite color.

Testing colors on Canson Pro Layout marker paper.

 Favorite color is a hard concept for me. I love all colors. I am, however, drawn to greens and blues, and I chose to portray them on one of my oldest fantasy critters, the Moraunx (mor 'ONKS). I've been drawing these guys since second grade, back when I called them Flying Snake Dogs. They fly like Asian dragons - sans wings - and have wildly-patterned skin the texture of a salamander's. This particular Moraunx has a plain coat, but she's still fun!

I've slowly been developing Moraunxi over the years; one of my goals is to make a full reference for them.

The Moraunx by herself. Definitely something to finalize!

5.5" x 8.5" ballpoint pen on sketchbook paper