Thanksgiving Break

Well, it looks like the gala preparations for the upcoming "Day of Thanks" in addition to "The Arrival of My wife's Parents" and "My Daughter's Birthday" is going to leave precious time for drawing and blogging in the short term.

I'm not abandoning either, it's just that posts will be sparse until these events have passed. In the mean time, here is a page of "Daddy / Daughter Doodles" just because:



Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't post a picture of the Li'l one, as well:

Aw, isn't she cute?

The Lost Weekend

Didn't do much "lesson" drawing this weekend. Been Busy. Been sick. There's what I did do.

More to come...

A Couple More

Well, you know...

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Have a good weekend!

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Two More: What Happened to Mia?

Here are a couple more Katie Rice "studies." This first one I did last night.



Here's one I did this morning at the breakfast table. Katie's original looked like a "Rosemary's Baby" era Mia Farrow. Mine just looks kinda blah & wholesome. And those spindly necks!

Still, on the whole, I'm doing better with these than I dared hope for.

I wasn't able to sit down and draw last night, so I scribbled this on a post-it and scanned it.

That should count for something, shouldn't it?

Oh.

Well, more to come. Honest.

Havin' A Rice Weekend

Here's More Katie Rice stuff from Lesson 6.

(Please forgive the wonky formatting for today's post.)

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I tried drawing the samples from that big "page o' lips" here. It reminded me of the horrendous "Garfield" comic strip, as illustrated, above. You'd think Jim Davis would let one of his many minions draw a decent woman now and then. But, no.

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This one just seemed like she would be saying "Ginchy!"

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And one more to round it out.

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So how was your weekend..?

More Rice

Another copy from the Katie Rice lesson.

These are quite a bit different from the generic, circle-based cartoon animals at which I've been slogging away. The necks are so spindly, it's easy to make the heads look like novelty pencil toppers! (Collect 'em all!)

Not much to say, other than I'll keep picking away at them over the weekend. I hope!

Any comments?

Otherwise, see youse on Monday!

K-K-K-Katie Lesson - Part One

Well, I've started in on the "Katie Rice" lesson last night. I was expecting much worse. Much, Much Worse!

Looks like it's time to start working more with facial contours and LIPS!

I trod pretty lightly for a change, as, after all, I am but a doughy, middle-aged guy trying to draw like a young, elfin pixie. (Did I mention said pixie is an awesome cartoonist?)

More to come...

EDIT: Here's one of the drawings I was working from. Katie mentioned that she exaggerated the mouth to illustrate how it sticks out from the head construction lines. Ouch! I guess this is why I haven't been posting the original examples along side my versions.

Note to self: Try to put some of this energy into your drawings, bwah!

Concentrate!

I don't know if anyone's noticed, but my posts have been getting progressively, oh, I don't know, sloppier?

When I started out blogging these lessons six months ago, I could count on my two-and-a-half year old daughter to take a nap every afternoon. And then in the evening, I'd have some additional time while Mommy put her to bed.

Well, the li'l darling is now almost three and the afternoon nap is a thing of the past. The evenings are not as free as they used to be and by the time it's Snookums' bed-time, Daddy is pretty well drained.

As a result, I can't seem to muster the energy and concentration needed to draw.

I'm not yet ready to throw in the towel, since I really like working on this project. I'll keep drawing and I'll keep posting. If things look kinda shaky, well, do not adjust your set. The problem's on this end.

With any luck I'll be able to start on the dreaded "Katie Rice" Lesson six very soon.

Watch this space...

The Shadow Knows

Well, here's the silhouette of Bugs that I've been working up to. Turned out pretty decent, all things considered.

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I didn't have much time for concentrated Blair-based exercises this weekend. I did scribble out this page of doodles, for what it's worth:

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Another thing I did, but can't post, is draw on balloons all weekend! It helped to amuse my (nearly) three-year-old-daughter. Number one, she likes balloons. Number two, she likes Daddy to draw for her. Number three, it was fun! Try it some time. Get a bag of balloons and a Sharpie marker. The marker-on-latex feel as you draw is a treat, plus you get a nice, dark line. (Techie note: Inflate the balloon first!)

Hope you all had enjoyable weekends. Now back to the workaday world we go...

Bunny Thumbnails?

Since when do rabbits have thumbnails?

Since last night when I did these thumbnail sketches!

Can you tell my darling li'l daughter helped to embellish them?

Welp, that's about it for now.

I'll post more Monday.

My calendar says that today is "Day of the Dead" in Mexico.

Just thought I'd share...

"Squeal Like A Pig!"

Here's another one of those "orphaned" characters from the center section of the Blair book. Seemed like a good one to tackle, given that I've been concentrating on poses and body mass. Piggy turned out pretty good, even if I did position his little trotters a little far apart. Also, it's kind of a "Bug Bunny" pose, so it fit in with my "Obsession of the Week!"

Speaking of which, I did a doodle of "that" pose and tried fitting Popeye into it. Why? Just for fun! Spinach? Carrots? It's all good!

Also, there's a doodle of Mr. Mouse. Kevin posted some MM model sheets on his blog and noted how hard it is to draw this character properly. AMEN, BROTHER!

Happy All Saints Day, everyone!