Arizona Artist Jephyr (aka Jeff Curtis): Sketchbook Drawings

Showing posts with label Sketchbook Drawings. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

New Artwork: Pastel Pencils And A Regular Ol' Pencil Sketch

Hi,

My computer's operatin' system has informed me that my version will no longer be supported soon.

So I need to migrate everything to a new hard-drive/OS ASAP—and I've been deleting old unused files and programs, etc—both to make the migration process faster—but also so I'm not transferring a bunch of un-needed stuff.

It's amazing how much of that accumulates through the years—and it's been pretty time consuming.

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See News Update below. *

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While in the midst of that—I've STILL managed a little drawing time, and today you'll find a few new sketches using both graphite and pastel pencils.

Let's get to 'em!

^ ^ ^ A LONG time ago I found a photo of a little girl and loved her expression and pose.

She was at some kind of event and was holding balloons—but she looked like she was NOT HAVING FUN!

I printed that photo out ages ago and have been carrying a copy around with my sketchbook planning to sketch it some day—and I finally decided to do a caricature of her recently.

Once I had her lightly sketched in using graphite pencil—I decided to expand my sketch—and at first just drew in the balloons she was holding in the photo.

I thought that her hand was already in a position that would make holding something else easy to do and quickly imagined her holding the leash of a BIG ol' dawg.

So, after searched for reference photos of dogs online—I combined several to create the final look of Molly's pal, Rex—and used some photo references to rough in a background.

I used to love watching the painter Bob Ross—and he often said that doing something to a painting was a "bravery test." With that phrase ringing in my ears once I finished the sketch—I got out the pastel pencils and made my first dabs of color with them right on my drawing.

Once they're added—they're impossible to completely remove—so I knew I'd just committed myself to coloring this one (or having to re-draw it).

In the end though, I was happy with the final result—and am considering this a "study" for a larger version I hope to paint using oils some day soon.

BTW—I'd be happy to credit the little girl's photographer—so if you have any info please let me know in the comments below or shoot me one of them thar email-thingys:

jrcurt77@msn.com

^ ^ ^ Just having some fun with exaggeration and character design in my sketchbook.

Had a blast letting my imagination flow and making her YUGE feet/boots. 😎

^ ^ ^ Though I'm putting this one last, Fazazz one was one of the first of my recent pastels pencils.

When using pastel sticks, unless you press too hard you can create layer upon layer of various colors—and you can make numerous corrections and changes as you go along.

With pastel pencils however, they tend to build up very quickly—and after just a few layers it gets harder and harder to adjust things.

So there'd be a lot I'd re-work on this guy if I could—but I'm calling this one "done"—although I may eventually paint a version of this with oils as well.

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* Additional News: I have just completed another extensive update to my website adding a LOT of artwork I hadn't shared there before.

The lay-out on my website shows thumbnails of everything I've shared in different categories on a single page (ie: digital art, sketchbook drawings, etc)—and clicking on any image will take you to a link to a page with a larger view of it, and often a few words about it or how to find out more.

All links below will open a new window:

Jephyr.com

Jephyr Digital Art

Jephyr Sketchbook Drawings

Also—I edited my Honors and Awards page—making it easier to read IMO.

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That'll do it for today.
Thanks as always for having a look.

See ya again soon.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Lotza New Doodles

Hi!

Today I'll be posting some newish sketches for your perusal — mostly from the last few months — and one from last summer.

Let's get to it!

^ ^ ^ One morning I got up early and went to a local greasy spoon to sketch and came up with this other-worldly guy "photo bombing" an alien dood in the background.

While he doesn't seem to pleased about it — this sketch makes me happy — and it was the first in a new sketchbook — so a good way to begin.

: )

^ ^ ^ As I've mentioned in numerous posts through-out this blog — I start a lot — if not most — of my "just for fun" sketches by lightly scribbling on the page and looking for shapes and ideas to jump out at me from those lines.

This cows head was the first thing I "saw" — and I added his body and other details to him as I went along.

The background "logo" and the milk carton and glass were some ideas I came up with towards the end of this sketch.

I imagined our determined looking friend the "Cow King" — negotiating a new contract for his herd with the Milk Council.

: )

^ ^ ^ Last summer my artist friend Chad had some serious on-going health issues and passed away after a long battle.

Although this might seem like a very dark tribute — I thought about him as I worked on this.

^ ^ ^ I went to a local coffee house to sketch and of course started with some scribbles. Pretty quickly I "saw" this guy's monkey-like head and tried to add a matching monkey-like body.

Later at home — I looked on-line for monkey reference photos to help me finish this off — and printed out a bunch. <banana humor)

But when I tried and tried to make something like that work it just wasn't happening — so at one point I erased everything except his head — and the lines that were left on the page led me to putting this costume on him instead.

Ultimately I was way more satisfied with that.

By the way — the banana the Prime Minister is pondering — began life as a few lines I hadn't erased from my initial scribble.

Life is good sometimes!

Oh...and the caption in the sketch is just one of the MANY ways I entertain myself.

: )

^ ^ ^ Towards the end of last summer and through September I began a routine of going out to various places to sketch — and one day drew the basic idea for this one after lunch in a local dive.

When I was a kid my mom had a Christian book with amazing illustrations in it called Sermons by the Devil — I still have that old book published in 1904 and find myself going through it from time to time.

It's written from the perspective of the Devil laying traps for the unwary — and beguiling people with his words and charm — and contrasts those dark "sermons" with life in the light as a Christian.

This drawing would fit in well with a lot of the illustrations found in it.

BTW: This is the way many people see Satan — as a scary tough guy — but I always think about the verse from the Bible and what it says about him — Isaiah 14:15-17:

12
How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
13
You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
15
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

16
Those who see you stare at you,
    they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
    and made kingdoms tremble,
17
the man who made the world a wilderness,
    who overthrew its cities
    and would not let his captives go home?”

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v v v That equally applies to this somewhat more cartoony — but sad creature with a tear in his eye — whose home is also in the "lake of fire":

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^ ^ ^ Someone on the Concept Art Sketchbook Forum recommended I do more backgrounds and so I put this Native American looking guy in a village scene.

The name I came up for him makes me laugh.

^ ^ ^ I've been going through old sketchbooks and realize how much I used to LOVE to draw figures — but have been doing mostly portraits for quite a while now.

This one of a few recent attempts at doing an entire body — and I'm obviously very rusty at it....

: /

^ ^ ^ This cranky old pup started as another scribble.

I really love drawing all kinds of creatures and critters!!

^ ^ ^ This one also started out as a scribble.

I "saw" both the bird and this guys nose as I went along.

At first I wondered how I could make both of them work together in a final drawing — and initially thought — maybe the bird was something like a coon-skin cap.

But as its proud expression emerged — I decided that Pigeon-Head Jones was allowing it to nestle down on his aging noggin'.

: )

^ ^ ^ Just another wacky character concept that started life as a scribble

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^ ^ ^ This character concept started eons ago.

I was really never happy with that original sketch and decided to rework it one day more recently — and eventually came up with this — which I'm much happier with.

While it wasn't what I intended to do when I started out — this sketch reminds me of something Marvel Comics might do as a concept for a creature that is part man — part sea-creature.

: ?

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v v v Last one:

^ ^ ^ This guy may look a bit intimidating — but he's actually quite good with kids and teaches Sunday School at St. Troll's under the old bridge down on Main Street .

: D

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Thanks as always for stopping by!

See you again soon!

Monday, June 12, 2017

Character Sketches (And A Few Words On Creativity)

Hi-yo!

: )

Sometimes as an artist we work on the craft of our technique—trying to get values and volume looking right—and understanding anatomy, movement and and design so that what we draw appears natural and convincing.

But there is something equally important: Simply being able to create something unique and interesting from our own imaginations.

Thankfully I'm finding that it can be developed and strengthened just like any other artistic "muscle" we have.

Recently—I've felt like I'm enjoying the "creative" side more than ever—and am feeling like my designs and characters are consistently more satisfactory to me.

If this sounds like me patting my own back—please understand—as much or more than anyone I'm WELL aware of my limitations and realize how much yet I have to learn and how far I need to go to get even close to the artists I admire like Frazetta, Carlos Huante, Dali (during his return to classicism during the 1950's on), Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Paul Bonner—and MANY, MANY more!!

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Anyway—I thought I'd share those thoughts because sometimes people will come up to me while I'm sketching in public and say that they like to draw too—but can't come up with anything from their own imagination.

I've said for a long time—by way of encouragement to them (and maybe as much to myself)—that creativity just needs to be worked on and developed like any skill that we humanoids do—(but sometimes wondered if what I was saying was REALLY true.)

But now after many years of effort—I can say with a LOT more confidence that it is absolutely true—and more than ever I enjoy tapping into my own imagination—and how what comes out satisfies and even surprises me.

: )

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Thought I'd share some recent sketchbook pencils today.

"Kip" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ One afternoon recently I went to a little Mexican restaurant near me and after I ate got out my sketchbook to draw.

There was a family at a table next to me—and although they were engrossed in their own conversations and I don't they weren't paying attention to me—I felt inhibited by sitting so close to them and I wasn't able to come up with anything I liked.

As soon as they cleared out—I erased what I had on the page to that point—and the brute above came pouring out. : )

"Jeanine's First Kiss" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ I started this character sketch long ago but stopped working on it as I got busy with other things.

Each time I'd see it in my sketchbook though, I'd think about finishing it and finally got around to it recently.

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Well—that'll do it for this time.

Thanks as always for taking a peek.

See you again soon!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

New Pastel Pencil Drawing Of A Vulture

Hi!

As I've said many times before I love sketching birds—and for some reason am "drawn" to the odd, (perhaps) uglier ones—although I think this actually makes them beautiful in their own way.

I found an awesome looking BLUE vulture photo on Pixabay — a site that posts images under a creative commons license which allow the free use of them.

It's a good place to find images for artistic reference and I've collected a couple of folders on my computer of images from Pixabay and Pexels—another "cc" image site.

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In my last couple of posts—I mentioned that I bought some pastels pencils and a couple of different sketchbooks with grey paper and have been having a good time learning how best to use those new tools.

Faber-Castel FC112136 PITT Pastel Pencils In A Metal Tin (36 Pack), Assorted

I've found it rejuvenating at a time when I was feeling a little stagnate—just using white paper and graphite pencils for sketching—as I've been doing for many, many years now.

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Even though it's a bit expensive these days—I frequently go out to various restaurants and coffee houses and work there.

The upside is that it attracts some attention from those around me and I get to talk with a lot of interesting people.

I get so many encouraging comments as well—especially lately for the pastel color-work I'm doing—and that's a big plus too.

: )

Anywho—I thought I'd share another pastel I finished yesterday—and a related pencil sketch from a while back.

"Polly" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ I'm not sure what kind of vulture this guy is—but he was blue in the photo reference I used too.

I love how it looks like he's wearing some kind of feather coat or something (and looks completely focused on finding his next meal).

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Funny story about the pastel above: Today I was working on another new pastel at a Chinese restaurant—and apparently my waitress told the other staff there that I was an artist—and soon I had a steady stream of people who worked there coming over to see what I was up to.

I was showing one young server—who spoke very broken English—some of my other pastels—and when I got to the one above—she reached out her hand a rubbed her fingers across it before I could stop her.

I was a bit horrified—until I saw she didn't damage it—but I'll need to tell people in the future—up front—not to touch the pastels!

: )

Pencil Sketch: Wack-A-Doodle-Do — Copyright 2017 — Jephyr — All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ One night last December I was sketching with Valen and came up with this wacky guy—began as a scribble sketch.

I showed it to Valen and he and I both agreed it was a little more over the top than most of what I do.

When I finished the vulture pastel above—I remembered this sketch—and since he's "vulture-like"—I decided to post them together.

Looking at him today I think I might want to do a color version with the pastel pencils—but time will tell if I get to that.

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Well—that's it for today.

As always—I appreciate you stopping by.

Hope to see you again soon.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

New Pastels And Sketch

Hello!

As I wrote in my February 3, 2017 blog post I purchased a tin of 36 Faber-Castel Pastel Pencils (see photo and link at bottom).

After a few weeks of using them I can say I'm really happy to have them and am learning more about how to use them every time I pick them up

Today I'm going to post three recent drawings from my sketchbooks using them—and one related pencil sketch.

"Purr-T" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ I'll start with this elegant beast (one of my favorite animals).

I found the photo I used for reference on Pexels—a Royalty Free Photo site—and printed it out so I could make a pastel study of it.

As I mentioned in my last post I purchased 2 sketchbooks with grey paper—and used the larger one for this image (9 x 14").

"Wuff" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ This one was the second drawing I'd done with my new pastel pencils and grey paper.

I found the photo I used for reference on Pixabay—another Royalty Free Photo site—and I also did this in the larger 9 x 14" sketchbook.

"Pretty Bird" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ Just finished this one yesterday—and call it "Pretty Bird." : )

If you've seen my other posts—by now you know I love birds—and am oddly drawn to the stranger looking ones.

Not to say I don't love the beautiful ones—but there is something so cool about the "ugly ducklings."

This drawing was done in the smaller sketchbook (8 x 10")—and the paper has a little more "tooth" which I'm liking.

http://www.nitramcharcoal.com/blog/understanding-paper-tooth-what-to-look-for-in-an-artist-charcoal-paper

"Pretty Bird - Pencil Study" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ I did this pencil study of the same good lookin' boid from above in my regular, plain old white paper sketchbook.

Although I took some liberties with the look in this rendering—making it a little more cartoony and caricaturized—it did make good practice for the color version.

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Well—that's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless!!

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Faber-Castel FC112136 PITT Pastel Pencils In A Metal Tin (36 Pack), Assorted

Sunday, August 21, 2016

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

"Padre Mendacitti" - Copyright 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^ 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!"

: )

"Voodla Beast" - Copyright - 2016 - Jephyr!

^ ^ ^ 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!

Monday, September 30, 2013

September 30, 2013: A Bunch O'Sketches From Jephyr's Sketchbook

Hello!

I'm taking an English class this fall as a requirement for my degrees. It's hard to believe we're already about a third of the way through the semester.

If you've looked through my blogs, you can probably guess I like to write, and so the class has been enjoyable...but there's a lot of work that's kept me from making much art.

Earlier today I finished 2 papers that are due this week and decided to go back through the old sketchbook, and scan and post some images here.

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This first one began as a "scribble drawing" and right away I saw the beginning of this guy in his hopped up, space-mobile.

I worked on this a bit one day at a coffee house...and he sparked a lot of enjoyable conversations with people sitting around me.

Image: Copyright 2013, Jephyr, All Rights Reserved

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This next image came about after I'd just re-read Ezekiel's vision from the Bible...and then watched several YouTube video interpretations about it.

It's a really interesting account, with some wild imagery...that kinda got my imagination fired up.

This sketch really doesn't have much to do with the actual vision....but it was a lot of fun to do.

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And a few more recent sketches in no particular order:

Well...that's it for now.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

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Drop by jephyr.com to see lots more artwork and photography etc.

Check out my videos on YouTube too!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Early June 2013: Jephyr's Most Recent Sketchbook Drawings

Hello,

Hope your summer is off to a good start! We've already been having 105 to 111 degree days here in Phoenix.

I'd promised myself that I would tame the jungle in my yard as soon as the spring semester ended so I've been working both early in the morning and late in the evening...avoiding some of the heat...to accomplish that.

I'm nearing the half way point...at least on the initial go-round...but these temperatures are ridiculous. Whew!

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Fortunately, as I wrote in my last post on 5-22-13 I've still been finding a lot more time to work on my own art since school ended too.

I have several digital "paintings" I'm working on...and have been enjoying drawing a LOT in my sketchbook.

It's pretty interesting to discover how quickly I get rusty if I don't draw all the time...and then how rapidly it seems to comes back once I start up again.

Today, I thought I'd share some more of my latest sketches:

Skectchbook Drawing, Copyright 2013, Jephyr, All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^ Not to sound like a broken record...but this guy started out by using the "scribble technique".

I just begin putting down some random scribbles on the page and then look for patterns in them.

Once I start to "see" something in the scribble I begin to work that into a final sketch.

Since the human eye is fine tuned to see faces many of these wind up as my cartoony/caricature people like the guy above

In this case I kinda saw Keith Richards at first and worked toward that.

Later I began to see more of F. Murray Abraham's, "Salieri" (from the movie Amadeus), and finished it with more of that in mind.

- BTW...as I sat in a coffee house finishing this drawing two separate guys came up to me to talk about it.

When I mentioned Keith Richards and the movie Amadeus, neither of these two 20 somethings really knew who/what I was talking about.

That made me feel ancient...like some old codger when I was a kid going on about a silent movie star I'd never heard of.

OUCH!

LOL ;)

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I wish every drawing I did was as easy as this guy! ^ ^ ^ ^

I started with another scribble and immediately saw that magnificent profile. As I worked on it...it was like it was almost drawing itself!

I'd just watched all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and clearly had pirates on the brain.

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^ ^ ^ ^ Not a whole lot to say about this guy...just another chance for me to play with exaggeration and "caricature" of the face.

If this was going in a portfolio...there'd be a lot I'd tighten up. But I called him "done" so I could move on.

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^ ^ ^ ^ I tend to like drawing craggy old male faces because they can be a lot of fun to exaggerate...shading and rendering all those nooks and crannies.

But for this one, I decided to draw the face of a young woman I'd seen in an old movie on TV. She had amazing eyes...and so I set out to capture her from memory.

The final drawing above ain't even close representing her...but I was enjoying just letting this drawing "happen"!

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Man did I sweat over this one! ^ ^ ^ ^

I call it Prisoner Jx-25.

I met with my friend Elkanah to have some grub and draw...and was scribbling on the page to get started. At first I "saw" an astronaut type guy in a space chariot and kinda sketched some of the details in.

I kept saying that I wasn't happy with it at all but Elkanah said he was confident I'd figure something out.

I found that to be very encouraging...and so over the next few days kept working on this page.

Finally a weird head with horns all over it began to emerge. I still wasn't very happy with it...but as I eliminated some of the horns...I began to see a wart-hog type head...and at last I felt like I had something going on.

Then I began to add the body...and later even used some reference photos and anatomy books...trying to make the musculature, though exagerated, a little more legit (although I still took a lota liberties in the end).

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when I was looking at this drawing across the room and realized I had it's eyes too high on the head. Once I moved them down to where you see them now...this sketch/character design finally felt right to me.

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Well...that's it for now.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Jephyr Posts A Few More Images From The Ol' Sketchbook

Hi!

Hope you're day is going well!

I finished another semester of college recently as I inch closer to completing my degrees in Fine Art and Digital Illustration at Mesa Community College.

I usually pour myself into classes so even if I only take one it quickly begins to eat up most of my free time. So when a semester ends I realize how much I've had to put aside my own interests.

One thing that suffers is how much time I can spend on my own art...both on the digital painting side but also in my personal sketchbook.

As I looked back through my sketchbook over the semester I didn't like a lot of my efforts recognising now I was often too tired to really feel inspired about drawing.

Thankfully I still enjoy sitting in a coffee house, or after a meal sketching...so it's only in retrospect that I can see that about individual drawings.

Fortunately there were still a few that I felt I could share here:

Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, "Crunch", Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

I call this guy "Crunch". ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I'd found a tiny little Mexican Restaurant, owned by an older couple. He took the orders, and she was the chef. They spoke only Spanish between themselves and I had the impression she spoke no English.

There were only 3 tables inside and all of them were occupied so I found myself sitting out on the covered patio.

That wouldn't have been my first choice but soon enough I was very happy about it.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining but there was a gentle cool breeze so the temperature was just right.

The patio is set off the roadway just far enough that I could indulge in some people watching without being seen myself. There were pretty girls and street people...and young toughs...and old timers and families passing by.

After my meal I began to scribble in my sketchbook and eventually "Crunch" began to appear.

As I was getting close to finishing him, there was a knock on the window beside me and the old guy who took my order (and was a little gruff with me at the time) was smiling down at my work. A few moments later his wife also tapped on the window and smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.

All in all a very good day. :)

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Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, "Perfect", Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

I really enjoy using the "scribble" technique to begin a drawing...and use it fairly often.

(see my May 2, 2012 blog post for more examples)

The old woman, admiring her coiffure above, is another case in point...begun as a scribble.

I'd started the sketch a day or so before and then sat one evening in a fast food joint and finished her up.

Sometimes I go "un-noticed" by the people around me, other times I see that people are interested in what I'm doing but don't approach me. And then sometimes, usually after someone first gets the courage to come over and break the ice, I get a steady stream of people coming over wanting to see what I'm up to...and often we end up in conversations that cover all kinds of ground.

It can be a lot of fun.

That night I had a lot of company...and was enjoying my sketch...so it was definitely a good night.

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Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, "Blump", Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

The sketch above, and the next two, fall into a category the guys over at Concept Art call my "super-exaggerated" anatomy.

They are done without any references so I know that the anatomy isn't perfect...but it does help me practice movement and musculature in my characters...and makes me hungry to really understand anatomy so that in the future I can spew out this kind of work without reference but have the anatomy be more accurate as well.

Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, "Sgt Smash", Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

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The next drawing below came at the end of the semester, and after a few weeks of sketching again on a more regular basis.

Later I was thinking about where her sad face and look came from.

Then I remembered seeing a mug-shot of one of the stars of "That 70's Show", Lisa Robin Kelly, after a DUI arrest.

I did a google search I found the photo again...and was struck by how much seeing this image just one time influenced my drawing.

These sub-conscious connections to my drawings come to me from time to time and I really enjoy when they do!

Mugshot: "That 70's Show" Actress Lisa Robin Kelly

Jephyr Sketchbook Drawing, "Kitty", Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

(I hope nothing but the best for Lisa Robin Kelly)

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Finally, this last drawing came about one day after a meal at a little Greek cafe. It probably falls into the "super-exaggerated" anatomy because of the over sized feet and musculature.

Later I returned to the cafe and realized I might have also been sub-consciously influenced by the table tops there.

They are apparently left-overs from the previous restaurant and have an Asian-Chinese flavor with flowers painted on them...and honey bees.

I call this picture "Worth It"...imagining our hero got into a bee hive to eat some honey and is now being chased by its angry occupants.

Well...that's it for now.

I'm already at work on more pages from my sketchbook and plan to finish up a lot of my digital paintings this summer.

So look for those in the future.

As always I really appreciate you stopping by.

Until next time...God Bless!

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