Forever Summer

Some more fox sketches, I'd like to turn these characters and their day at the beach into a mini booklet. (Thanks to Kelly for the inspiration - she is such a genius!)

I'm not ready for summer to end! Well, we will enjoy the sweltering heat for a few more months here in Texas - but it's the carefree days and no schedule that I will miss.  I'm back from 3 weeks of travel and not quite ready to face school and work again!

Feeling a Little Sketchy?

If you spend any time at all on Twitter, Facebook or blogs you may have heard about a little something called The Sketchbook Project.  Lots of artists are doing it.

Well, I got my book in the mail the other day, and have been spending quite a bit of time planning it out.  It's a tiny book really.  Soft cover, super thin pages.  I may end up resheeting the book, or gluing in pages though. There's no way the paper in there now will take paint or ink without bleed-through. 

I'm tempted to just go nuts and scribble in whatever I feel that day. But I know that without a little planning, my inspiration is likely to dry up due to a lack of focus, and those blank sheets will become more daunting as the days go on. (I'm also hoping that this project will help to springboard some of the ideas I've had percolating for some time into dummy books or finished pieces.)

My theme is "A Day in the Life" and I hope to share with you some of the sketches I create for it here on the blog.  I'm going to go with an ongoing narrative, as I already have the beginnings of a story forming in my head. Ooh, maybe I'll get to do some of that fantastic hand-lettering like Priscilla showed us yesterday as well. :)

Priscilla ~ Handlettering Summer Fun

Have you noticed picturebooks with wonderful hand-lettered text woven throughout in a sweet dance with the illustrations?  Something very satisfying when it is a perfect pairing for the story.

I love sketching out lettering, and here I was just playing around with what could end up as part of my art business card or promotional image!

Joy of TV Sketching!!

So, you say you don't have a zoo near you? No pets you can draw? Oh, it's raining outside and you can't go sketch people at the mall, coffee shop, wherever? Well, here's a solution for you...

If you've got a TV set ( I think most of us do) and you have a DVD player, TiVo or even Netfix streaming you can sketch from a "model"! My husband and I like to watch shows with characters in great costuming or just interesting looking people. Twilight Zone episodes are the coolest! You can watch what ever interests you of course, but the costuming makes it even more fun. It's a good exercise for your eye in looking for great poses, too. When you see something you want to draw, you hit the pause button. Voi-la!

These sketches above were done in anything from blue pencil, regular graphite to black marker. The Twilight Zone episodes were fun to explore shapes because of their being shot in black & white. It's also fun to take real people and create characters or caricatures out of them.

If you want more action poses, try renting some of the Cirque du Soleil DVDs!

I.O.U. a Ripple

Today is a big day over at Ripple. The blog has passed it's $10,000.00 goal! Along the way- I have had requests for art done by me. Me? - oh yeah- I draw...  I have not done much art for Ripple so- it's about time I fulfill these paid orders!! Here is the first.

In it's scribbly first draft - "They'll be there when you scuba...."

The Sketchbook Project

Can't get enough of sketchbooks? 
Fill them up in no time flat? 
Love a good theme to explore in sketch form?
 Like participating in national group art projects?

Yes to all - then check out the Sketchbook Project and Exhibit.

Eye on the Prize: Mini Goals

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things (with unlimited stops and starts, of course.)I find it helps my focus if I have a set of small goals to concentrate on when I find a few minutes to work in my studio. No surfing the 'net for me. I get right to work on whatever goal I hope to accomplish that week.

This week I'm using the zero2illo's newest challenge to focus. There is no way on earth I'll be able to brainstorm, draft, paint and blog about a new piece of work a week, but that doesn't mean I can't create.  So I am picking up where I left off with the 12 week challenge and doing my version of the Musicians of Bremen.

And while I am very, very tempted to rush through the sketching process so I can hurry up and start painting some new pieces, I am forcing myself to slow down.  This week I am creating at least two pages of studies for each character before I even move on to creating the compositions of the spreads. I will probably work on one page a week, trying multiple points of views, compositions etc. before moving to the next one.Once those are completed, then it's off to paint!

I know this will be a lot of work, and it will take a long time to do. But this story is one of my favorites from childhood, and I want to do it (and the characters) justice.  If it takes me until the end of the year to finish the six pieces I have planned, then so be it.

What do you do to keep your focus and drive going?