Showing posts with label #monkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #monkey. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Inktober 2016: Squeeze (#20 of 31)

This one's showing my age. Day20 for Inktober and the word is SQUEEZE.

My generation grew up on Looney Tunes cartoons, by far the funniest and best quality cartoons on television at that time. Today, I have no idea if children watch any of these classic cartoons anymore, especially when most of them have been edited, censored or banned.
Inktober Day20 "Squeeze", using a Tombow brush pen and Copic markers
"Squeeze" reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon characters as a kid, Hugo the Abominable Snowman. Hugo was only in a few cartoons, but he was such a great goofy character; (basically a tribute to the novel "Of Mice and Men.) Anyone who remembers Hugo, remembers his phrases . . . that's what inspired this cartoon.
Original pencil sketch of "Squeeze"

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Daily Quick Sketch: Giraffe in Shorts Hanging Upside Down from a Tree

Recently, I had the privilege to draw for the children at Reynold School. All this week, I will be posting a few examples of these images made at various schools + library readings.

The sketch below was created by asking several children the following: Name an animal. What is it wearing? What is it doing? Their answers given were: A giraffe, wearing shorts and hanging upside-down from a tree.

With less than 15 minutes to sketch, the image was roughed out enough for the children to see their concept. Over the weekend, I cleaned up the original sketch, added a simple color layer and added the confused looking monkey.
The pencil sketch cleaned up and colored (with an extra character watching the monkey business)
I thought this one sketch was quite a challenge with the limited time, but everything seemed to work out okay. The biggest response from the children was when I added the banana in the giraffe's hand. I decided to add the monkey to give the image more of a story and action.

The original digital pencil sketch made using ArtRage Pro 4 on a Surface Pro tablet

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Daily Quick Sketch: Happy Monkey Cheese Day

I created this sketch over the Holiday break. Pretty much just doodling.
I thought back to my childhood, a time when silly words and phrases could really make me burst out in laughter. Silly names and phrases always got my attention and it is probably the key reason why "The Phantom Tollbooth" remains my all-time favorite children's book.

There is an art to making silly names, words and sayings; it can not simply be gibberish.
A good silly name needs rhythm. It needs to be colorful and playful. But the most important element . . . it needs to make you stop, think and imagine. That's what weird, creative and strange things do -- they make us stop, think and imagine. The funnier the words are, the longer they stay with us.

"Monkey Cheese" was pencilled then colored with Copic alcohol markers . . .
and "No", I wasn't drinking the markers' alcohol when creating this image!

"Monkey Cheese" is a phrase that always made me laugh as a kid. It made no sense. It's also something I thought only I created, but if you googled that phrase today -- apparently many similar like minds have thought of the same saying.

So this is my visual image of Monkey Cheese. Does it make sense? No.
Doesn't have to . . . but having created this little sketch did bring a smile to my face.
NOTE: The Urban Dictionary even defines "Monkey Cheese" as: " Term often used to describe a random, pointless act or outburst. Commonly used in an attempt to draw hilarity where none is found. "

Happy Monkey Cheese Day everyone . . .