Creative block / 5-minute exercise: Mouse Skiing

This unfinished image was done a few years ago, I found I was having a creative block and needed to get out of that state of mind.  Many times when a project is not working, I'll stop what I'm doing and doodle. In this case, I set a 5-minute alarm to create a character.

Quick digital inking of a pencil sketch, unfinished due to a 5-minute limitation

The trouble with having a career as a designer is that you eventually burn out, especially when the work is repetitive, tedious and just not inspiring.  There are good days and very bad days when nothing seems to work. But taking a few minutes to create something you enjoy can sometimes do wonders.

Very loose pencil sketch of the inked drawing above

For this exercise I simply started penciling a character, not really focusing on any specifics. I usually start with the head and after adding big ears it was looking more mouse like. Once the head was made, the body's pose suggested a skiing posture. After adding the scarf I felt there was enough of the sketch to scan and ink in Art Rage Pro. Once the 5-minute alarm went off I stopped drawing the image.

(Just to note: This exercise turned out better than I expected . . . it doesn't always work out this way every time.)