Hi!
As I wrote in my recent posts, I've been doing more "full" characters—rather than just the wacky "portraits" I've been concentrating on for ages—and have been allowing myself to create more "cartoonish" images as well.
It's really been an awesome change of pace—and I feel it's helping take my original work to a new and more enjoyable level.
Today, I'll post five recent pencil drawings/character designs from my sketchbook.
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| "Careful Little Fishy" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved |
^ ^ ^ It's really awesome when a sketch practically draws itself in a very short time.
Sometimes though—it's a struggle to bring a drawing to life—and it can be a more frustrating and tedious prospect.
With the sketch above—both were true.
I began this one—as I often do—with some lightly scribbled, unconscious lines and shading—and almost immediately "saw" the little fish-face at the top in them—and began trying to expand the drawing out from that.
I tried adding a body to that face—a kind of Madonna figure with a miter hat of some kind—kneeling in a long flowing robe—with wings for arms that were holding an infant.
I've begun to rely on a "feeling" I get as I work on a piece—but after the initial surge of energy and excitement after I "saw" the face—that just wasn't happening—and the more effort I put in that direction—the less I was enjoying it.
I worked that way for too long—and finally decided to call it a loss, erase the whole thing, and start a new direction.
As I began erasing everything—I hesitated around the face—and ended up leaving it (along with a few left-over lines).
Then on a whim still not sure where I'd take it—I mirrored the first fish face I'd drawn just below it—and using some of those left-over lines sketched in the LONG body and then added a fish body to the first head—and WHAM—the feeling was back—and I was able to finish this pretty quickly afterwards.
: )
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| "Monkey Bid'ness" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved |
^ ^ ^ Just a silly character sketch that—unlike the one above—happened fairly quickly from beginning to end .
Though meant to be light-hearted and very cartoonish—I experimented with perspective and a tree background—and it ended up being enjoyable to create from the first lines to the last.
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| "Father II" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved |
^ ^ ^ Obviously this one isn't as cartoonish—but I decided to work on some human and "creature" anatomy in it (and used some reference images to get things looking kinda right).
A few years ago, I took a number of anatomy and life drawing classes—but for some reason have really let that kind of work slide—and even though I'm now VERY rusty at it—I plan to do more and try to get back into the swing of it.
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| "Deep Swamp Boogie" - Copyright 2019 - Jephyr - All Rights reserved |
^ ^ ^ While admittedly pretty cartoonish and silly—this sketch practically EXPLODED out of my pencils and onto the page.
Before I started it, I said a quick prayer to God—just asking that He help me create a light, fun image.
I used to do this more often—but haven't done as much of it lately.
After my prayer—I made a FEW rapid, soft, sweeping lines that I could "see" as a cartoonish body and legs with HUGE feet—and then experimented with some ideas.
I took a break and as I thought about how to finish this—it popped in my head to make it into a "croc" or alligator dood with a big ol' tail and appropriate head.
When I set about to do just that—in very short order the complete image/character had taken shape.
You may scoff at the idea of praying about a drawing—but it worked for me!
: )
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BTW—these type of drawings help me strengthen my creative muscle—and work at becoming stronger at creating original characters, designs, and backgrounds from my imagination—but I hope to be able to post a new, color digital painting soon as well.
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Well—that'll do it for today.
Thanks as always for looking in.
Ciao fer now!
