End-of-year sketchdump

Just a couple sketches I never got around to posting. Have a safe and happy new year, everybody!

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays, everybody! Here's hoping the Holiday Yeti throws lots of presents through your window, as I understand is the custom.

IF: Hatch

For this entry I drew a turtle with a hatch on it for some reason. Also, I did the shading using the technique of cross-hatching.

Thinking back, I may have been influenced by other entries of turtles hatching from eggs. I maybe should have stuck with something like that - this turned out pretty weird.

Another Dragon

Oh, hey, speaking of dragons, here is another stupid little drawing I did a while back.

IF: Crunchy

I had trouble thinking of a good illustration for this week's topic, "Crunchy", so I went with the provided quote: "Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." - I figured it was a good excuse to draw a dragon, which is always fun.

Tofurkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! To celebrate, here is a picture of a turkey chasing some tiny pilgrims:



I suppose it could also be a giant turkey chasing some regular-sized pilgrims, but "Tiny Pilgrims" is funnier to say.

Enter the Hippodome!

As you may know, I always try to keep up on the latest news about crocodiles fighting other animals (see, e.g. here and here), so this news story about a crocodile trying to climb over the backs of a herd of hippos was of particular interest to me, and inspired me to do a quick sketch. (SPOILER: It doesn't end well for the crocodile).



Anyway, I have been pretty busy lately, but I have a few more drawings I will hopefully have the chance to post soon.

(Via BoingBoing)

Giraffe? Giraffe!

Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I was able to put the giraffe from a few Illustration Fridays ago in a more climate appropriate background.

IF: Blur

Quick digital sketch based on an old idea I had for a painting, this is entitled:

"Stupid cardinal won't sit still while I paint it (number 48 in a series)"

Ironically, this is one of the few pictures I've done digitally where I haven't used a blur filter.

Boo!

Just in time for Halloween, here are two pictures.

Ghost clowns...

...and a vulture. Spooky!

IF: Frozen

Okay, this one probably needs an explanation. I couldn't come up with a good idea to illustrate the topic, but I had a vague image of something frozen in a block of ice. So I thought, what is the funniest thing you could find frozen in a block of ice? Again, I drew a blank. So finally I thought, "draw a giraffe, giraffes are always funny" and called it a day.

Assorted Nonsense

Here are a few more sketches:


TIME CACTUS!



A Moonotaur!



And an octopus eating a banana.

Robin

Just a quick sketch of a robin.

More Flying

This is last minute and it's not even finished, but I had to post this because I remembered the best quote about flying there is.

"There is an art" goes the quote. "or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

The quote is from Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams. The illustration is based on a scene from the book in which the protagonist, Arthur Dent, succeeds in missing the ground.

Sketchdump!

Here are some sketches I scanned in recently. Enjoy!

Art By Committee

Another activity similar to Illustration Friday that I have been interested in participating in is "Art By Committee", hosted by James Gurney at his always-interesting and helpful blog, Gurney Journey. The idea is that we are given a random snippet of text from a science fiction novel to illustrate. Here is my entry:



If you can't read the text from the illustration it says:

"I became immediately and irrationally angry. How dare this six-foot chicken
with a silly red crest on top of his narrow foolish head say that we humans
were deficient in feii? I controlled"

I still don't know what feii is, but I felt I had to submit something, because I mean, giant space chicken. How can you refuse?

IF: Flying

Hi everyone! Have a busy week this week, but fortunately I have this quick little doodle that seemed to fit the topic.

Update: I have done another illustration here, based on the best quote about flying there is.

IF: Germ

It's the germ of an idea, of course!

Yeah, sorry about that.

Scanner Update

So, the issue with my scanner is, I need a new scanner. While I figure out what do about that, here is a picture of a bird with a beard.



(What is the deal with animals with beards? I guess it is another recurring theme.)

Old Sketches, pt. 3

Apparently crocodiles fighting other animals is a recurring theme of mine - here are some sketches from another nature documentary of otters chasing off a crocodile. If I recall correctly, the otters were successful!

Old Sketches, ctd.

So, the old sketches I did eventually led to this nonsense:


And his opponent, Sumonoceros!



I posted these on a board where someone suggested I add a kung-fu crocodile for balance. So I made this:

Old Sketches

So while I resolve the issues with my scanner, here are some old sketches I did while watching a nature documentary about hippos and crocodiles.

IF: Infinite

I wanted to come up with something profound and original for this week's IF topic, "Infinite", but I couldn't, so I just went with the old "infinite number of monkeys typing the works of Shakespeare".

Technical Difficulties

Hmm, I had a whole pile of drawings I wanted to post, but my scanner doesn't seem to be cooperating. In the meantime, here is a picture of a bear with a beard.

IF: Welcome

Part of the reason I started this blog was to participate in an activity called Illustration Friday - every Friday you are given the chance to make an illustration based on a word or topic. I was going to wait a little while until I had fixed up the blog a little more, but this Friday's topic was "welcome", which seemed like as much of an invitation as anything.

So here is Christopher Walken as The Continental, welcoming you to his home and offering you a glass of fine champagna.

And welcome to my blog!

Hello!

Hello! Just testing to see if this works.