All Thumbs (and fingers and feet and what-not)

This little fellow was fun to draw - I thought I'd give him a rather nonchalant hair-do and a pair of sporty sneakers. It was also handy to be able to skip the shoulders and neck, two areas of human anatomy over which I often stumble. But he gets on just fine - obviously able to shave and comb his hair, dress himself and even finds time to scrawl a bit on the floor (which in this case is a lemon yellow, level loop pile carpet, perfect for this high traffic area).

Water and Women

Ah, two of the more difficult things to draw I've always found. Well, horses and cars and bicycles are hard, too. Birds as well (the feet always come out odd when they're flying), and a table set for dinner is kind of a challenge - with all those plates and glasses and silverware. Round things like wheels give me no end of trouble, and drawing grass and bushes is another thing that keeps me guessing. Actually, I think everything is pretty hard to draw and ink... well, the starfish was fun to draw, and all those dots for the sand. And her hair - I enjoy inking hair, it's one of my favourite parts of a drawing.

Cartoon Summer Special!

Gee whizaroo..! How's come there have been so precious few cartoons and posts on this idiotic blog the past few months?  I do firmly believe it can be remedied, and should like to delight my audience with a shed-load of brush and ink offerings for the coming month of August. I'm half tempted to write a few coherent lines about each drawing as well, but let us see how that pans out.

Here is the first instalment, as a gentle countdown to the coming month. I tried a couple of things with this illustration - firstly, it served as more practice in using the diagonal vanishing point. Projecting a square onto the drawing and using it as a sort of grid or floor plan -  I find that very useful while drawing, it seems to help give me a feeling of space and proportion. And more often than not, I'll keep the grid as a tiled floor. I ought to draw a carpet one day, now I think of it.

And secondly, I wanted to use more blacks in a constructive way. I find it difficult to "spot" blacks - it's kind of a juggling act between contrast and interest and clarity. And clarity is what I find most difficult. Obviously, the floorboards and more of the floor should be in shadows here (not to mention most of the figure...) but in trying to develop my own style, I tend to stylize the reality of it all. The lighting could be much more dynamic, much more dramatic - it's something I have to work on.

Sniffles Clifton - the Boo-Hoo Guru

Spencer Deane - Saturday, with a Sturdy Pair and a Smile

Sun, Surf and Deep Land Fishing

     "YIPPEE! THEY'RE BITING TODAY!" So quipped Cumbert Quince as a quick tug at his bait belied the hungry presence of a frenzied fish. Cumbert's enthusiasm was perhaps odd, given that he refuses to eat fish. "I couldn't do that, no. I couldn't eat a fish. I only catch them because I one day dream of taking swimming lessons from a mackerel or perhaps an eel. I've just never come across one yet that seems willing to teach."