Four New Sketches - Nearly 100% After Surgery

Howdy,

As you may know by reading other posts here—I had a lover'ly surgery about 2 months ago.

The recovery process took a while and when I first started trying to create again I had absolutely nothin' in the ol' tank.

Finally—slowly but surely—I've climbed back into the real world—and have been creating some sketches that feel worthy of posting.

In fact—now that I'm thinking about what to say about them—I actually began all of them BEFORE my surgery—but was already feeling some pain (that made the surgery necessary) and was stressed about going under the knife—so I had NO energy and felt COMPLETELY uninspired, and got no where with them until more recently as I've felt way better.

Anywho—on to the sketches and a few words about 'em:

'Love Struck - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ Regular visitors here will know I start most of my sketches by lightly scribbling on the page and looking for ideas from those lines.

With the pic above—I went out before surgery and scribbled around a bit and "saw" this figure in my scribbles almost immediately—especially those big feet and YUGE out-stretched hands.

After my surgery when I was feeling much better—I worked on refining all that in a local coffee house one day—and had most of the body including the animal skin wardrobe—but was struggling with getting the face right (and understanding in my own mind what in the heck the character was doing).

☺ 

I'd been in a bit of a grumpy mood—and was trying to add a surprised/scared or angry expression to the face (most likely as a result of my negative disposition)—and was imagining our stone-age friend reacting to a BIG dinosaur or something—but WHAT??

As I struggled, a young woman who worked there walked by, and smiling down at this image, said simply that she liked what I was doing.

I laughed and thanked her, but added something about not knowing how to finish it.

That quick exchange with her, however, lifted my spirits, and when I started on his face again it reflected my improved mood—and after adding a few hearts circling over-head—our "love struck" cave-man was born.

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The next time I went to that coffee house, I showed the young woman the drawing and thanked her again—and told her she had helped me finish it.

She seemed to like the final sketch, and even asked if she could take a picture of it.

'Professional Stick Pony Championship Rodeo - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

 
^ ^ ^  Another sketch began with some scribbles.

I "saw" the cowboy with his boot in the air almost immediately—but before surgery just didn't have the energy to finish it up.

One day when I started feeling better—I turned to this one and began working on it again.

Once I added the "stick-pony"—everything else practically drew itself.

I hope anyone riding in the Professional Stick Pony Rodeo Circuit will feel I captured the spirit of this exciting and challenging sport.

☺

'Super Rick - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  I scribbled some lines before my surgeryfor this one, and "saw" the elongated legs right away—but also a torso with the body thrown backwards and the arms and the hands way back over the head.

When I started working on this one again post surgery, I tried and tried to make that pose work—and somewhere along the way he sprouted GIGANTIC feet (which amused me)—but making the body look and feel "right" was definitely eluding me.

One night in frustration—I erased the entire upper part of the image and experimented (with some light lines) by moving the body and arms forward.

After a few attempts in that direction, a body and arms began to emerge that I felt suited the character a LOT better.

I then created a city skyline background—and "Super Rick" made his first appearance in the world—dashing over the roof-tops—lookin' for baddies to battle and bring to justice!!

"The Surprise Party - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr! - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^  This one is actually the first sketch I finished after my surgery.

Before they sliced me up, I'd scribbled the basic idea for it—and when I started to have some life back in me I began working on it again, and while her pose didn't change much—and I just refined what was already there—when I added the balloons and purse it finally began to feel complete.

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Well—that'll do it for t'day.

Thanks for looking in on my little corner of the world.

See ya soon and God Bless!

First Sketches 2019 - Part Two

Hello!

Hopefully you've had a chance to check out Part One of my recent sketchbook drawings.

If not—you'll find that here.

https://artmusicpoliticsfaithhopeandlove.blogspot.com/2019/01/first-sketches-2019-part-one.html

Today I'll share more of my wacky characters and portraits.

Hare Brained - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

 ^ ^ ^ As noted in my last post I've been creating more complete characters recently.

One afternoon I went out to a coffee house to sketch.  

I honestly hadn't planned to make any kind of social commentary with this drawing—but as I was putting the final touches on this smart-phone mesmerized rabbit I looked around me.

Almost EVERYONE was looking at their phones.  There were only two exceptions—but otherwise at least eight other people all were bent over and engrossed with their phones.

Just a few tables away from me sat an older couple—both silently staring at their screens.  I watched them for several minutes—and neither said one word to the other.

I'm not anti-technology and spend a LOT of time on my computer every day—but think we have lost a lot due to our fascination with cell phones and devices—and wonder sometimes if a plane could literally go down and wouldn't be noticed.

Off To Market - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

 ^ ^ ^ I had a blast drawing this character one afternoon in a coffee house.

I had printed out a few photos of wart-hogs I used as references—but obviously went in a more cartoonish route.

I picture this sad, little tough-guy waving goodbye to a barnyard friend who is being taken off to market.

The Chicken King's New Clothes - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

 ^ ^ ^ A while ago I heard an interview with a woman was a secretary for a famous and well regarded cartoonist/animator.

She said that she would hear him laughing out loud at his own work as she worked in an adjacent room.

I mention that—not to put myself in the same category with him—but because I sat stifling my own laughter at this character while I worked on it one day in a local coffee house.

I wish I always had this much fun when drawing!

Update:  I was out sketching yesterday and one of the young men who worked at the joint I was in came over and wanted to see what I was up to.  I showed him what I was working on and he seemed very interested so I showed him several other sketches including the one above.

I thought everyone would know the Hans Christian Anderson's "The Emperor's New Clothes" so when I showed him this drawing I mentioned the story and was surprised to hear he'd never hear of it.

Perhaps you know already, it's a morality tale about a king being convinced by swindlers that they had made an elegant outfit for him that was invisible to fools—and no one wanted to admit they were a fool—INCLUDING the emperor—so everyone agreed it was an amazing outfit.

Later the king took off his clothes and put on the new outfit and then paraded around in front of his people "wearing it"—and of course no one wanted to admit they couldn't see his new clothes for fear of being considered a fool.

Then at last a small boy stated the obvious—THE KING WASN'T WEARING ANYTHING AT ALL.

With that—everyone suddenly agreed—the Emperor wasn't wearing ANYTHING—and even though the emperor suspected they were right—he continued parading around in front of them with his noblemen holding his imaginary train high.

: )

http://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

Glub-Glub - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ Just a silly sketch that started out as a scribble.

I'd done some large looping lines on the page that led me to "see" the large diving helmet and filled in the rest as I went along.

Colonel Almere - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr All Rights Reserved

 ^ ^ ^ This is another example of the kind of wacky portraits created from my imagination I've been doing for ages—and was drawn before I started creating more complete characters recently.

Master Tiggs - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ I'll close things out with this forlorn-looking "beastie" character—which goes back the furthest because it was the first drawing completed out of all the recent work I've posted in Part One and Two.

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Well—that'll do it for my most recent sketchbook efforts of 2019—so far.....

Thanks as always for looking in on my corner of the world.

See you again soon!

God Bless!

Drawings Galore! Jephyr's August 2016 Sektchbook Dump! : )

Hello!

I've been going though my sketchbook and picking out a few of my drawings to add here.

I'll start with some "lighter" fare and then get on to some "darker" schtuffz below.

^ ^ ^  I'm still drawing a lot of wacky faces—and am still on the "hulking doods" kick too.

As I've mentioned before, I start a lot of drawings by scribbling on the page.

Then I usually erase a bit and then scribble some more.

As I repeat that process, I'm looking for shapes that jump out at me that "lead" me to interesting subjects and drawings that I might not come up with otherwise.

The guy above came about after I did a quick scribble.

After a bit I started to see this guys eyes and nose and then—when I saw the big ole mustachio—I KNEW I was on the way.


: P

^ ^ ^  One night I was sketching with a friend and this rapper, mallard-dood came flying out of a "scribble."

Get it?  Flying!

I'll be here all week.........

hahaha

I'll admit there's more than a little "Daffy Duck" influence on this one—but it was done without any references—so I'll just hafta blame all those years of watching TV when I was a kid!

^ ^ ^  Before anyone accuses me of sexism with the caption for the drawing above—I'll let you know what the inspiration was for it.

One night I was talking to a young woman and she asked me what I liked to do.

I told her I was all about art and photography—and then asked her what she liked to do.

She thought for a moment and said, "I like to shop and hang out with my friends."

The next day I drew "Karen" and added the caption thinking about the young woman from the night before.

^ ^ ^  I decided to call the little guy in the drawing above: Opie P.I.—figuring he'd be the most unlikely tough-guy, private detective you'd ever meet.

(Clearly, I entertain very easily!)

: D

^ ^ ^  I don't have a clue what part of my brain this guy came from—but I did have fun naming him.

" /

A friend gave me a book called "Art and the Bible" by Francis Schaeffer, and he writes about art having both "major and minor keys"—and that the Christian artist should be able to use both in their creations—and that ultimately an artist cannot be judged by a single work, but by the sum of all the work they create in their lifetime.

That spoke to my spirit and has freed me to create all kinds of light and dark subjects.

Since I plan to create a graphic novel about the "end of days"—and will need to populate it with all kinds of characters and creatures—for now I'm allowing my subconscious freedom to bring out a lot of different images.

In this post—I will admit my drawings lean towards darker themes however.

^ ^ ^  I'll let the captions above speak for this one—I call him "Spurtz!"

: )

^ ^ ^  Dunno why—but I've done several bird type creatures with a massive bill like the one on this guy.

It started as a scribble and I got the head done fairly quickly.

Then I struggle to get a body I liked.

I began with kind of a stocky, stubby, bulky body and kept trying and trying to re-work it to get something that "felt" right.

Finally I decided to give up on that direction and took an eraser to what I had on the body at that point—and once I did that, in fairly short order I came up with the elongated version you see above.

Since there is no "undo" in a sketchbook—I call that kind of eraser use a "bravery test"—after the late, and much loved painter Bob Ross who coined that expression.

^ ^ ^  Since it's a skull creature—I'll admit this one is similar to the one above.—but even when I go "dark" my work still (more often than not) winds up kinda "cartoony."

This "evil wild boar" look has also made appearances in other characters I've done as well.

This one also began life as a scribble sketch.

^ ^ ^  I'll end with this drawing.

Again—it began as another scribble—and I eventually ended up with this squat looking fellow.

Recently I saw a photo of a Hillary Clinton's minion—Webster Hubbell—and thought my character looked a lot like him—So I'm calling this one "Webster."

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Thanks as always for stopping by!

Please feel free to leave a comment and join my blog before you head out—and please close the door—I have the AC on.

: D

God Bless!

Jephyr Posts Even "Mo" Sketchbook Drawings

Hello,

As I wrote in my last post, recently I got around to scanning sketches from last year's sketchbook

I'll post a some of them today (along with a couple from this year) and add a few comments:


I call this handsome fellow "Zeb".  :)

This guy captures "something" I wish I could put in everyone of my drawings.  There's just something I like about his expression, his eyes, his face, and the shape of his head.

If only I could make this happen every time! 

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Ok...so I hear you saying (or is that the voices in my head), "Wait a minute friendo...this ain't no gosh derned sketchbook drawing!!"

And you'd be right of course.  It's included here because it began its life as a pencil sketch in my 2013 sketchbook.

I was very happy with the way the drawing looked...but when I scanned it in to the computer it didn't look as good.

So I took that scan into Photoshop and scattered some "pixel dust" on it...and done made me this digital version of it.

Anywho...this image is kinda "dark" thematically...so it fits in with some of the ideas I have for a graphic novel.  (read more in my December 29, 2012 blog entry)

I've also been having a GREAT time digitally "painting" this drawing in Photoshop.  Hopefully I can share the finished version of that with you soon too!

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Otherwise, I continue my love affair with "wacky" cartoony faces. 

They are so much fun to draw!

Here are three from last fall and one from earlier this month.

^^^   A quick story about this last image.   ^^^^

I was on the West side of Phoenix and was looking for a place to stop and have a bite and draw for a bit.

I passed a Chinese Cafe that looked promising...and saw a guy just leaving it.

So I rolled down my window to ask him if he'd recommend it.

Normally I wouldn't add details about his race because usually this is not important.  But in this case I hope you don't mind me sharing:  He was a black man.

But when he aswered my question...it was immediately evident that he had a VERY strong Chinese accent. 

Perhaps I might not be faulted to have been surprised because, other than American tourists and athletes etc, I've never seen a black person in all the photos and videos I've ever seen of China.

Statistically I've since discovered that there are only around 0.7% blacks living in China...a hair more than 1 in 143 people.

Later, it became apparent he'd made an impression on my subconscious too...because when I sat down to draw I began to realize this drawing looked like a very cartoony, caricature of him.

Drawing a likeness of someone without intending to do so happens to me on occasion....and I always enjoy when it does.

UPDATE:  Recently I was eating in a Chinese restaurant and started sketching after I was done.

One of the servers and I started talking and she said her family had immigtrated from China (unfortunately...I can't recall the city now).

Anyway...I related the story about the the guy with the chinese accent above...and she confirmed that blacks in China are very rare.

She said that other than in American films she'd never seen a black person until she came to America. 

  She said that you'd probably only find black living in major cities in China...or Hong Kong.

We talked for a while and I found our conversation very interesting.

I often find that drawing in public opens doors to getting to know people.

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Well...that's all for now.  As always I thank you for stopping by my little corner of the web.