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:
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| '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.
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| '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.
☺
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| '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!!
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| "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!
