Sketchbook Revival : part 2

Sidewalk Crack - Grasshopper

Continuing on with the "Sketchbook Revival" online workshop ... I worked on Day 1: Session 2 - Sidewalk Cracks: A Creativity Starter" with Carla Sonheim.  I found this photo of a sidewalk crack online & developed it into a grasshopper munching on a leaf.  

This was a fun session, however I did work with sidewalk cracks previously when I was working in Carla Sonheim's book, "Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists", several years ago.

Here is one of my sidewalk crack drawings from 2010:

 And here it is colored:

I still have several sessions to work through.  This is keeping me motivated to play and make art every day.

Sketchbook Revival

I am playing along in the "Sketchbook Revival" online workshop for a couple of weeks.  I don't have much free time, but I am making sure to do at least 1 exercise each day & hope to make up the others over the weekend.

The first exercise I participated in was the "Portrait Party" with Koosje Koene.  This exercies was about making blind drawings of the face.  I love doing blind drawings & have done this before from photographs, but never using a mirror or doing any type of self portrait.

The next exercise I completed was "Mindful Inspirations: A Thumbnail Sketch" with Rachel Rose.  This exercise focused on finding inspiration all around you in small things. 

 
Next I worked on "Sketching Like a Kid Again: Scribble, Doodle, Color" with Charlie O’Shields.  This exercise was quick doodles, crayons, and watercolors.  I have always been "blah" with watercolors ... but did find some of the tips very useful.  It will take some practice, but I think I will give watercolors another try.  

I am excited to continue on with the exercises that I haven't done, yet.  So ... more to come!

Tastes Like Chicken

Doodled this chicken in my sketchbook last night.   Used brand new Faber Castell pens (from Christmas).

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 30

Trick or Treat!  Sketchbook doodle in Indian ink.

  30 days down ~ 1 more day till Halloween!

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 9

I have been grabbed by the "tentacles of death" and pulled into "The Simpsons Tapped Out" game's Halloween update.  Yikes!  Need donuts now!  It's far too easy to get obsessed with collecting characters and objects ... especially if they are "limited edition".  This update has me squishing aliens and trick or treating like there is no tomorrow!

Above is part of a page from one of my old sketchbooks, with a mishmash of characters and doodles.  I'm pretty sure the monster with the tentacles is based on something from an old Treehouse of Horror comic.  Pen and ink - sometime before 2005.

9 days down ~ 22 more days till Halloween! 

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 8

A quick little sugar skull I doodled last night.

So far, so good ... I'm pretty proud of myself for actually making it through 8 days of posting Halloween art (my last record was 6 days in a row!).  ha-ha!  I sure hope that the next 23 days go as smoothly as the first 8.

I picked up some Halloween candy this morning.  I never get any trick or treaters, but each year I dig out all of my Halloween, spooky, or odd themed games (board games, card games, Wii Spooky mini golf, etc...) and play a weekend marathon for candy and prizes with my sweetie.

I have a pretty good collection of Halloween, spooky, or odd themed games, including a few Goosebumps games, a couple of Haunted house games, 1313 Deadend Drive, Labyrinth, and even a custom Halloween art set of "Old Maid" that I traded some handmade puppets to get. One of my favorite odd games is "Cosmic Cows ". It is a simple Yahtzee style board game with dice, aliens and cows. Simple to set-up, it's an easy to play 2 person game.

8 days down ~ 23 more days till Halloween! 

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 4

Here's an oldie but a goodie ... I found this in one of my older sketchbooks from 2003. 

This drawing inspired my idea for a "haunted house book".  The book itself being a haunted house with each page a "room" designed by a different artist.   As you turn the pages, you travel through the haunted house visiting all types of rooms from attic to basement, kitchen to playroom, even including a garden and solarium, with the path leaving you in the graveyard.

I hosted the project in one of my online art groups and each artist sent me their pages (20 pages of the room they designed).  I bound the pages into books with black coil binding and finished them off with attached fibers and a skeleton key.  The pages are embellished with moving parts, pull outs, tags and whatever the artists dreamed up.  Each artist received a completed book in return - with original art by all of the artists.

I enjoyed this project so much.  Each year I pull out my book and visit the old haunted house.  You can see a bit more about the project on my hobby site here: http://hobbyloco.com/chunky_haunted.html

4 days down ~ 27 more days till Halloween!

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 3

I doodled this little mutant frog last night.  I will do some digital coloring and be back later today to add the spiffed up version.

I have a trip to the dentist today ... (how's that for some October frights).   Maybe I'll just close my eyes and think about the Little Shop of Horrors (or the remake Little Shop of Horrors).  I love them both!

**LATER IN THE DAY**
Here I am back with my mutant froggy ... and I survived the dentist!  I am all set ... So,

Bring on the Halloween Candy!!

3 days down ~ 28 more days till Halloween!

Countdown to Halloween : 31 Days of Halloween Art : Day 2

Doodled with Faber Castell Indian ink pens in one of my sketchbooks.

I have always been drawn to masks - especially hand carved wooden masks from around the world.  I hope to have my walls filled with them some day.

On another note related to masks:
I was handed this card yesterday.

I can't quite figure out what I am looking at, though.
I was thinking grasshopper ... or maybe some kind of mutant bunny.

I guess I would have to go to "Daddy O's Tattoo a go go" to find out.

2 days down ~ 29 more days till Halloween!

31 Days of Halloween (or so) : Day 28 - Cluck or Treat

A little Halloween drawing from last night.  Faber Castell Indian ink pens in one of my sketchbooks.

3 more days till Halloween!

31 Days of Halloween : Day 18 - Spooky House

Better late than never.  I doodled this house last night & then fell asleep before I had a chance to post it. ha-ha.  This month has been full of TRICKS ... I'm ready for some TREATS!

31 Days of Halloween : Day 13 - Little Beasties

Here are a couple of little beasties fresh from my sketchbook.  Drawn with an Indian ink pen, then scanned and colored digitally with Corel PhotoPaint 7.   Below is a look at them before I added the color and texture.

My scanner is a bit wonky since I installed it on the new computer.  I think I just need to tweak some settings ... but it sure is a pain to figure out how I had it all set before the crash.  I'm just thankful it is functioning at all.

31 Days of Halloween : Day 3 - Skull Doodle

Fresh from the sketchpad ... this skull doodle was drawn and colored with Faber Castell PITT pens.

31 Days of Halloween : Day 2 - Creepy Crawlers

Creepy crawlers from one of my sketchbooks.  Drawn with PITT artist pens.

Page O' Doodles

A page of colorful doodles from my sketchbook.   Doodled with Staedtler Triplus Fineliners.

Random and Unfinished

Last month I spent a lot of time with other projects ... I made another zine ... I worked on a lot of cross stitch ... etc ...

This page is all I have to show right now, and it is Random and Unfinished. 

8-1/2" x 11" in my hardcover sketchbook.  It includes TV listings, recycled bits from an envelope, printed paper, acrylic paint, and doodles with markers, watercolor pencils, ink, and gel pens.

I originally drew this butterfly in one of my sketchbooks.  After scanning, I couldn't resist a little color play.  It is based on a zebra striped butterfly I saw at a Nature Center in Northern Ohio. 

Fun with Wordles and Skaters and a Fly

I stumbled upon wordle.net, and had a lot of fun playing with words!

Wordle lets you pop in any text you like & it creates a word cloud from your text.  You may also link it to a blog or any site that has an rss feed. 

I took the word cloud that Wordle made from the text of Poe's "The Raven", and added a few little embellishments to bring the raven to life.  What fun!


We had great weather here in Atlanta today, so I was out & about - enjoying the skating skills of the 5BORO guys from NY.   (fyi: those are edited photos, not sketches.)

Last and probably least ... I saw this cute little fly bugging the Pink Panther (lovin' those old cartoons on antenna tv) and doodled him in my hardcover sketchbook.

That was my Saturday ... I hope your Saturday was as much fun.

Lab 18 : One-Liners

Inspired by Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: Lab18

Instructions: Select a subject and draw it from memory using only one line.

I really enjoyed drawing the one-liner faces last time around. 

These drawings were just as much fun!

Drawn with Faber Castell pens in one of my spiral bound sketchbooks.










*To see all of my work inspired by Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists just click the label "Drawing Lab" below.

Pardon my Zombies

I know that lots of folks are "sick to death" of zombies. If you are one of those folks ... Please Pardon my Zombies.

I have been enjoying the Walking Dead series on AMC. Now that Season 2 has wrapped up, it will be awhile before the zombies are back for Season 3. So, in the meantime ... a little zombie tribute.

I felt the urge to make one of my messy, paint splattered collages last night. Sometimes it just feels good to slap a bunch of stuff on the page and clear my head.

This collage is in my 8-1/2" x 11" hardcover sketchbook and was made from clippings, art, comics, and TV listings from local papers; acrylic paint, stamping, and Indian ink penwork.

While I did draw the lower zombie, I only "zombie-fied" the upper zombie - it was originally a cartoon face to which I added the white out eyes, the mouth, teeth and big juicy brain.  (My first brain, BTW.)

Yummy!