Baby New Year 2023

Getting ready to kick in the New Year! 🎉

I've been doing variations of this image every couple of years. Each time, a slightly different look.

Kickin in the new year!!!

UPDATE C-BOT: The Smart Bot (supporting Picture Book character)

UPDATE: Color! (Originally published on Saturday, January 26, 2019)

It's been quite a long time since I stepped foot in this blog. 
Not only was the pandemic affecting everything, but this year has also been one family emergency after another. We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, but still have a way to go.

Anyway, this is my attempt to slowly get back into this blog.

Inktober is approaching, I hope I can do some sketches during the month, but I'm not expecting to have much spare time.

The digitally colored version of the C-Bot, redrawn on an iPad Pro using Procreate

Today's quick sketch warm up. Possible support character for a fun picture book with robots. You can see the protagonist to the story here.

Original Inked Sketch of C-Bot using a Tombow brush pen

#Inktober2020 Day04 RADIO

With the prompt word "Radio", I instantly thought of the old Captain Marvel/Shazam villain, Mr. Mind. He definitely was one of the weirdest characters I remember reading as a child.

#Inktober2020 Day 03 BULKY

Good ol' King Mudsok.
Reposting an old favorite character from my story idea about the underground people,
A fair and kind-hearted leader, though one who would definitely dislike being labeled as BULKY.

#Scrawloween2020 Day03: WEREWOLF

#Scrawloween Day 3: WEREWOLF
This year for Inktober, I'm also following The Cartoon Art Museum prompt list jumping around the two lists, pulling and revising some old stuff, and of course, creating new illustrations.

#Inktober2020 Day02: WISP

#Inktober2020 Day 2: WISP
Created with Procreate on an iPad Pro.

#Inktober2020 Day02: WISP 

#Inktober2020 Day01: Cat

Well, October is here already. That means I'm about to attempt to do the month-long challenge known as Inktober for the 6th year.

This year, a slightly different approach; I'll be doing new character designs and using the prompt list of words from The Cartoon Art Museum's Scrawl-O-Ween for inspiration. (See the prompt list way down below.) 

Color version of this year's first #inktober image

The Inked version of the Day 01 image for the prompt word: Cat

The original pencil sketch of the character

2020 Prompt list for Scrawl-o-ween

UPDATE: Daily Quick Sketch: Lil' Squire

In the past year, I rewrote my picture book story The Squire. At first, it was going to be a story about a little girl playing strong roles often portrayed by male characters. Then I rewrote the story to also include a stronger message about equality. That's where the twins' idea came into play. After all, twins should be pretty equal, right?

Adding more humor to the main characters of THE SQUIRE

The story became more of a dialogue between the twins. More humor was put into the characters reacting off each other. Their arguments intensified; hopefully in a seemingly funny way. I also found an ending that I feel fits perfectly with humor and hitting the key message of the story.

The original pencil sketch of Erica and Oliver, including their lovable sheepdog, Max

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Below was originally posted on 1-28-13

Been a while since I posted a daily sketch.  This one is a little girl dressed in a knight's suit of armor. I was just testing out the stylus controls again, making adjustments to the pen line.  I thought of making a strong little girl with a playful imagination of adventure and action. I came up with this quick little sketch which I immediately named "Lil' Squire."

#Mermay2020 fast approaching - aka Mer-Kat

Last year I dabbled with a character for #MerMay2019, the annual month-long mermaid illustration event on the Internet. If you use Instagram or Twitter, I'm sure you will notice a large number of mermaid illustrations being posted during May.

Quick color comp of Mer-Kat "In an Octopus's Garden"

Other Links for Mer-Kat:
https://arrrggghhhink.blogspot.com/2019/05/arrrggghhh-its-another-quick-sketch.html
https://arrrggghhhink.blogspot.com/2019/05/more-mermay-with-mer-kat.html
Oh, and the original pencils and ink images of this image are two posts below.

D-Bot: Developing a Main Character for a Picture Book II

Hard to believe it's been about two years since I created this story and character while doing jury duty. The long hours waiting was the perfect environment for me to daydream this picture book story.

Character study of D-bot: focusing facial expressions

I have submitted the story many times and have received many rejections. Many just say that they don't see a market for it. Others have said they didn't like or "get" that each robot is named with a letter. I still think it is a fun story about self-worth.

Original pencil sketches of D-Bot heads

I'm hoping the main reason for the rejections is that I haven't had the time to sketch a dummy for this picture book. So I go back every once in a while. Sketching the characters. Fine-tuning. Experimenting. Learning.

Maybe one day, D-Bot. Maybe . . . 

Months Later: More #MerMay with #Mer-Kat

Back in May, I wanted to do the #mermaychallenge, an online event where artists draw and share their mermaid illustrations during the entire month of May. But I knew I had limited time, with everything happening that month (buying a new home/moving/fixing up the old home to sell), and a full-time job.

The inked version of "Octo-Pussy", using a Kuretake brush pen on Canson marker paper

I created Mer-Kat, a hybrid kitten/mermaid. I felt this was such a fun new character to explore. Life underwater with a feline-based personality.

The original pencil sketch, the background was later adjusted during inking, to create a better composition

Above is the sketch I did some time at the beginning of May. Got busy. Put the image aside, which then got grouped into other piles of papers and sketches, transferred to the new home, and pretty much was temporarily lost. So here are the original "found" pencils, and the inked version I was able to do over the weekend.

I plan to color this image sometime in the future.

D-Bot: Developing a Main Character for a Picture Book

UPDATE: New Type for Title

I'm playing around with type, trying to develop a title design for the book.

Placed the type on a lower layer behind the character artwork.
Not sure it's good for a children's picture book, but I do like it.

UPDATE: Color experiment

I'm playing around with using a very loose coloring and pencil scratchy pencil holding lines.

Not sure I want to add the rustic tones, might be too much, will have to try out several other color scheme variations. Thinking each type of robot should be a specific color, but not sure the colors should be drastically different.

Liking the look, but the rustic feel might not work for this character

Those who see my work on Instagram might recognize this character. This is D-bot, the main character in its self-titled picture book story. The look of D-Bot has changed quite a lot over time.

A pencil sketch of the latest version of D-Bot

In fact, D-Bot looks nothing like the original sketch from several months ago. As seen below, it was just too ordinary and had no striking features. The story of D-Bot is about self-confidence and self-worth, which needs to show emotions to truly work.

The original 1st sketch of D-Bot

But that first sketch did lead to the 2nd and 3rd versions of the character. Each molding towards the latest design. Take what works and drop what is weak.

2nd sketch of D-bot showed more expression

I like this 2nd version, very playful and simple . . . but I still wanted to explore the character design

Image from a video that was posted on my Instagram account

The character was merging into something I could see starring in its own story. I want a robot, but I also want the character to show emotion. If it's too robotic, it'll usually have a dead stare, and the #3 design didn't have pupils, (which doesn't help the character connect with others.)

Seen here are version #3 (left) and #4 (right) of D-Bot. #3's eyes were too dead and cold.

Below, I broke D-Bot down to all his parts to help analyze and remember how to draw the character. Now, I'm considering using a similar image as a repeat pattern inside the end pages of the book.

Anatomy of a character: breaking it down into small components

Inktober 2019: Day 03 - BAIT

As mentioned in my previous post, this image is coupled with my Day#2 image. Always fun to flip the roles of the characters, now having Scare D Katt in control over mindless Mouse.

The final digitally touched-up color image, due to using the wrong markers

I was having trouble scanning the color image of this drawing. Unknowingly, I used several fluorescent markers, which don't scan very well at all. Something about the luminosity of these markers doesn't register correctly on a scanner. For example, the yellow cheese looks nice and vibrant on the original artwork, but the scanner picked up a brownish-green muddy tone. So I had to import this image into Photoshop to correct those marker colors (especially that of the hanging cheese.)

The original pencil sketch

The Inked version of the pencil sketch

Testing out the grayscale values of the image

Inktober 2019: Day 02 - MINDLESS

I decided that Mouse would be the companion of Scare D throughout Inktober. You can now see the ring from Day 1 is placed on the collar and will be part of the character from now on. (So yes, these two are engaged.) 

Day 2: Final inked image with marker coloring

At first, I had the cat simply floating mindlessly, but I wanted some interaction between the characters. That's where Day #3's prompt word, BAIT, came into play. This allowed me to tie today's word with tomorrow's word, creating a fun sequential connection between the two images.

The original sketch, working out the concept. 

I switched the layout to have the mouse take control, knowing tomorrow, I will turn the tables on Mouse.

Original final sketch images before inking

For those Inktober fanatics who insist ONLY using ink during Inktober, here you go!

The Month of Ink Cometh! INKTOBER 2019!

Yes, it's that wonderful time of year again, Inktober. This will be the 5th year I will "try" to complete the daily inking challenge during the month of October. This year I will focus on using one character, Scare D. Katt, a former Inktober character created 2 years ago.

Here's my little promo for #Inktober2019 using the original illustration from 2017

I also plan to use the prompt word list which is given by Inktober's creator, the great illustrator Jake Parker. I plan to sketch in pencil, then ink using various brush pens. I don't think I will have time to color, I don't want to over commit since work and life do get in the way.

The official Jake Parker prompt list for #Inktober 2019

UPDATE: Fantasy Reading Scene (for SCBWI)

UPDATE

I was working on this illustration a while back, but I had no spare time and had to put it aside. The composition was too busy, but now I think it looks a little better. I made a few major changes, like:

• Made adjustments to light sources
• Created bolder outlines
• Got rid of the Knight reading over the dragon's shoulder

The updated version of the submitted SCBWI illustration sans the reading Knight

Originally Posted on 2/2/19
Work in progress: One of several spot images I plan to submit for consideration with the SCBWI quarterly, Bulletin magazine. 
Testing out the grays, shading, and highlights. No color since all images need to be submitted in grayscale. I still need adjustments to the tones and values. (Also, note to self . . . Make better use of the negative spacing, especially around the knight area.)

Greyscale image, still in the works

Digital pencil lines are drawn over the scan of the original pencil sketch on a separate layer

Adding some green tones on a layer under the digital pencil lines

More #MerMay with #Mer-Kat

Another Mer-Kat image for MerMay2019. Borrowed a fish image I did a few weeks back. Encountering the obnoxious BelchFish.

Arrrggghhh! It's Another Quick Sketch Video: Mer-Kat ( for #MerMay2019 )

So with work, moving to a new home, and many other things making May insanely busy, I still wanted to do a few #MerMay images for 2019. This little character popped into my head as a good mascot for the month-long drawing challenge. Not only do I like the character concept, but the name is a great little play on words: Mer-Kat. (I'm sure fans of actual meerkats won't find it as amusing.)

First #MerMay image of #Mer-Kat for 2019

I decided to record the 35+ minutes it took to create this image and speed it up to a more Internet consumable 4-5 minutes. (I think I still need to edit out the boring fish segment of the video . . .  just runs on too long with not much happening.) The YouTube link is embedded below.

Character Design: Red Dragon

I have been struggling to create this character for some time. I needed a funny yet threatening Dragon for a picture book manuscript. I believe I finally found it in this character over the holiday weekend.

Color comp of the character

I borrowed from my own sketch from a couple of months ago, where I created an illustration of a dragon, knight, and mouse reading in a dungeon: Fantasy Reading Scene (for SCBWI). I took many features from that image's dragon that I liked, then exaggerated them to create a slightly more fierce appearance.

Inked with a very soft brush pen

Original pencil sketch

Cap'n Manchot: supporting character of Pirate Dreams

Cap'n Manchot is another support character for my picture book story Pirate Dreams. The story is getting bigger and bigger so I may have to change it into a chapter book.

The original artwork was created in pencil, white pen, and Copic gray markers on Strathmore Toned Tan paper.

Pirate Dreams is greatly inspired by my childhood favorite book, The Phantom Tollbooth written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. I have always felt that The Phantom Tollbooth was a boy's alternative to The Wizard of Oz. From the very beginning of that story, I was hooked, putting myself in Milo's shoes, being cast into a strange world with incredibly weird characters.

Digital touch up of Cap'n Manchot; line textured, repositioned, desaturated and text added.

Pirate Dreams is also a voyage of discovery, filled with odd characters in a whimsical pirate world setting. With each rewrite, the story keeps changing and growing.  The cast gets bigger and bigger as new ideas pop up. In a way, I'm in Milo's shoes again, discovering a whole new world.