INKtober 2016, Day 26!

INKtober 2016, Day 26: Herculephon
8x10 Staedtler Mars Graphic 3000 duo on Kona Classic artist paper

Some of you may remember Herculephon! He's an old college assignment from my 2011 Cleanup Workshop class. I spiffed him up and now he's bright and shiny again.

There's a major error in his wing structure: primary feathers do not fold behind the secondaries while resting. All the reason I need to make an even better version! Usually I'm good about using reference.

Sketchbook page (left) drawn May 25, 2015; tracing paper cleanup drawn May 31.

Quick Lumocolor trace-over made to combat Kona paper's opaqueness.

I used my light box to keep the proportions of the older sketches. Sometimes I miss cleanup animation - even though I developed a Pavlovian response to working on animation tables: I'd start to fall asleep!

INKtober 2016, Day 9!

INKtober 2016, Day 9: Like a Kitten
9x12 Prismacolor / permanent marker on Crescent Rendr paper

Sketched in Prismacolor marker.

Kritchpaw is not amused.

Once again borrowing Dad's tiny netbook to reference my blog!

Kritchpaw hates being carried around like a kitten, but she lets Tailscuff do as he will more often than not. She cares for him like a brother, though others rarely see it.

Tailscuff was separated from his mother early. The epitome of a gentle giant, he is motherly at heart. He and Kritchpaw met when young. They were conditioned for pit fighting together.

I need to draw Maubork again to round out my primary KriMauTai crew! I think they're destined for a comics venture.

INKtober 2016, Day 7!

INKtober 2016, Day 7: Kritchpaw and Chester
9x12 permanent marker / color marker on Crescent Rendr paper

A fun, fairly quick drawing of Kritchpaw and Chester, two of my KriMauTai characters. These gals look like they're ready to cause trouble! Kritchpaw excels at hand-to-hand combat; Chester's specialty is subterfuge.

INKtober 2016, Day 5!

INKtober 2016, Day 5: Pudgikins!
6x8 Pentel Color Brush on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media paper

Introducing Pudgikins, the Hummingbird-Housecat Gryphon! She is a mischievous bundle of sweets-craving energy. Felt good to use my Pentel Color Brush again; the poor thing is neglected.

Sketchbook page from September 16th / 17th.

RoAnna's graduation gift!

My friend RoAnna graduated recently! I wanted to post these drawings sooner, but I figured it might be better to wrap up the 30 Day Art Challenge first. Ro loves bunnies and Gargoyles, so I wanted to combine the two into something fun: a gargoyle bunny and its bunny gargoyle companion.

It was a good opportunity to practice my cleanup skills. I'm pretty rusty, but I'm happy with how this turned out. 

Quick concepts in putting gargoyle features on a rabbit and rabbit features on a gargoyle.

Construction drawing used as the basis for the final at top.

A BIG congratulations to you again, Ro! :D

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 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 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!

Character Development: Kritchpaw

Character development is, for me, often a lengthy process. I may not realize I like a design until I've left it alone for a year or more, only to pick it up again to try and improve it. Such has been the case with Kritchpaw.

She began - as many of my characters have - as one of those silly ideas that simply popped into my head, demanding to be drawn before I forgot. From walleyed goofball to grumpy, reactive fighter, Kritchpaw's design has been a lot of fun to explore. 

I'm not sure what she is exactly. Mutated pet? Alien species? Parallel universe denizen? 

Kritchpaw and a couple other characters I've developed (I'll introduce them soon!) are part of a story I'm keeping in mind, perhaps a short comics venture. Consider it an ode to my love of the odd.

Just a little something to post about before a larger update on the Oaxacan Coyote.