Satori

Everyone can use a little more Zen in their lives.

Weekly Sketchbook #001

Most of my sketchbooks are filled with images generated from my head. Lots of doodles, characters, and ideas jotted down. But I've never maintained a rigorous commitment to daily sketch work. I simply never developed the habit. And I certainly never spent much time doing quick sketches from reality. And I always justified my lack of effort by how busy I was with client work. After all, if I'm always drawing for projects, doesn't that contribute to keeping my chops?

Nope.

I've recently committed myself to regular outings in an effort get my observational drawing skills back up to spec. I've always been intimidated by the idea of attempting to capture a person in a quick sketch. My old drawing instructors' constant harping on proportion and proper form has always been in the back of my head, making me feel inadequate if I couldn't create a great gesture drawing. I recently decided to silence my inner Simon Cowell. Rather than try to capture everything properly as a record of reality, I've decided to allow myself to exaggerate the people I draw. I'm not there to do academic drawings. I'm there to loosen up and fill my head with new ideas and images that will feed into my future illustration efforts. 

Every week I plan on posting the results on my daily sketchbook work for the simple reason that I need to get off my a#$ and kill the complacency. Most of the work will consist of my daily outings but I will also include any more structured anatomy studies and any other sketch work from the week.

Daily Sketches #2

 

 A selection from this week's daily sketchbook work. I still feel very stiff when it comes to quick drawings in public. I keep having to supress my inner perfectionist who insists on accurate proportions and details. I'm trying to have fun and let the people I'm drawing turn into characters rather than simple representations of themselves.

The hands are the beginning of more controlled anatomy exercises. I've neglected my anatomy drawing skills for way too long and I'm gonna get my chops back.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Brom

I'm really jammed up with work (fortunately!) so I most likely won't be posting much this week. However, I thought I'd share a quick sketch I did the other evening of from my 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' project (LoSH).

Brom Bones. This is just an initial idea and will most likely evolve over time.  I need to throw down more variations so I can see what else might be possible.

I'm really enjoying the craft paper sketchbook and my Cotman Compact Box. The off-white paper makes it possible to add highlights with guache or pencil, giving sketches a nice added pop. 

Talk to you soon!

Project: Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Since I was a kid, I've been fond of 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (LoSH). When I was in elementary school (circa 1980), we were shown a made-for-television version of the story starring Jeff Goldblum and Dick Butkus(!). It's actually on YouTube! I don't remember much of the details of the film itself but afterward I remember specifically drawing the headless horseman in class (I wish I had kept that thing...). Anyway, that film is responsible for sparking an interest in the story that's stuck with me through the years.

I've been wanting to work on my own version of the story for a long time. Presenting it as a long-form story book with the actual text relatively intact. I love the idea of presenting classic and traditional stories as originally written, rather than editing them down for simplicity's sake or to accommodate current sensibilities. Of course, that will have to thought out as I go forward but it's the initial idea. The format I am thinking is something like a hybrid of a current story book and the old-style children's books of the past with tipped-in color plates, like old Arthur Rackham illustrated books. A combination of spot illustrations, full-pages and spreads, full-color and black and white.

At this point, I'm ignoring all the previous half-hearted attempts I've made in the past, (here and here) and I'm moving forward with a clean slate. I will be posting character design sketches, environment ideas, thumbnails and such. I may also post thumbnails of layout and text treatment.

So this marks the jumping off point for the project: Ichabod Crane.

...of course, of course.

I've always had trouble drawing horses. But I currently have a project where horses will  feature prominently so I had to knuckle under and make the effort.

Now the trick is in being able to make this work across lots of different illustrations.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Katrina & Brom

Designs for Katrina Van Tassel and Brom Bones.

The more I think and design on this project, the more I realize this will entail a different feel than my usual illustration style. Not sure if it will have more of a hand-drawn feel or not. Regardless it will certainly call for a greater level of detail work.

Lily Allen - The Fear

I don't generally listen to pop music since it all really sounds pretty bland and generic.

However, I saw the video for Lily Allen's The Fear and I just laughed out loud! What stood out to me was her look in this video and I did a semi-sorta caricature.

For those who haven't seen it (explicit):

Project: Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Ichabod Crane

One of my all-time favorite stories is Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I read it every year when Autumn is getting closer. I read it a little early this year. So sue me.

This is a project I've thought about for a few years but I've never committed myself to anything until now. SO I figure the best way to begin is with the character designs and work out from there. And the best place to start is Ichabod himself.

Here's how Irving describes our "hero":

In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a native of Connecticut, a State which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest, and sends forth yearly its legions of frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.

So there ya go! I have to say one of the hardest things I've discovered about trying to get him to look right is that nose! I've never really had to draw a long nose from the front before. Getting it to look like there's a bit of length to it when you have it straight on is a bit of a challenge.

Keep your eyes peeled for more sketchbook postings!

BTW: If you want to hear a really good reading of the unabridged story, check out B.J. Harrison's rendition on iTunes.