Inktober 2017 • day 9 • Vampire's First Flight

Inktober 2017: Day9
Vampire's First Flight
I wonder how vampires learn how to transform and fly as bats. Is it similar to a baby bird?

#Inktober Day 9: Do vampires take a leap of faith to learn how to fly?

Inktober 2017 • day 8 • Little Witch

Inktober 2017: Day #8
Little Witch . . . 'Nuff said!

#Inktober Day 8: Cute Little Witch

Inktober 2017 • day 7 • Helium Ghosts

Inktober 2017: Day #7
Ever wonder what would happen if ghosts played around with helium?

#Inktober Day 6: Ghosts discover helium

Found a harder tipped version of my favorite Tombow brush pen (WS-BH 150).
I find it's better for my heavy hand, allowing me to add more pressure to get the line thickness I want. This allows me to draw thinner lines than if I used the soft tipped version (WS-BS 150). Because of this, it feels more comfortable. Overall, I think it produces a cleaner image, allowing me to add more lines and detail.

UPDATE: Inktober 2017 • day 6 • Pumpkin King

UPDATE: Decided to do a complete inked version of #inktober day 6's sketchy gel pen image of the Pumpkin King.

Updated version of the gel pen sketch using brush pen and markers

Inktober 2017: Day #6
Greetings from the Pumpkin King!
Did a very sketchy drawing this time using two gel pens instead of the brush pen.

#Inktober Day 6: The jolly ol' Pumpkin King!

Inktober 2017 • day 5 • Zombie Canary

Inktober 2017: Day #5
The not much discussed, but just as dangerous: Zombie Canary!
We worry about big wild beasts becoming zombies; I think I'm more fearful of the little cute things becoming zombies. #watchoutthereisazombiecanarybehindyou

#Inktober Day 5: I thought I smelt a Zombie Canary. I did! I did!

Inktober 2017 • day 4 • Uncle Skullipus (Underwater)

#Inktober: In 2009, Jake Parker created Inktober, where every October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month.

#Inktober Day 4: Uncle Skullipus kicking back with a can of suds

Inktober 2017 • day 3 • Bat (aka Guanoloopie)

#Inktober: In 2009, Jake Parker created Inktober, where every October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month.

For this year's Inktober, I'm just doing quick doodles of characters related to Halloween.
No pencils for this guy, just going straight to doodling with ink.

#Inktober Day 3: Bat named Guanoloopie

Inktober 2017 • day 2 • Grim Reaper

#Inktober: In 2009, Jake Parker created Inktober, where every October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month.

For this year's Inktober, I'm just doing quick doodles of characters related to Halloween. No pencils for his sketch, just started doodling with ink pens and markers.

#Inktober Day 2: "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em . . . I'll see you sooner than later!"

Starting Inktober 2017 • day 1 • Owl

Well, it's October again . . . (I can't believe it!)

Time for celebrating creativity with daily ink sketches.

In 2009, Jake Parker created Inktober, where every October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month.

For this year's Inktober, I'm just doing quick doodles of characters related to Halloween. No pencils this time, just doodling with ink.

#Inktober Day 1: Night Owl frightened by the night

NOTE: Inktober 2017 is about to begin!

Tomorrow is the first day of October, and that can only mean Inktober 2017 is about to begin. In 2009, Jake Parker* created Inktober, where during the month of October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month. (*Jake Parker is one of my favorite illustrators out there.)

Sacko: "Let the inking commence for Inktober 2017!"

Several years ago, I decided to give Inktober a try. It really is a good exercise not just for drawing, but for thinking of creative new ideas and characters. Unfortunately, this time of the year is very busy for my work. Last year, I struggled to complete the entire month due to the workload. So this year, I just doing character doodles, quick and done; using just a brush pen and 1 or 2 gray markers for toning. (And a white gel pen for highlights.)

The ongoing theme for the month will be Halloween-related characters, similar to the image above. So, join me in this monthlong journey of creativity, (and hopefully fun.) Hazzah!

Daily Quick Sketch: Baby Elephant

Today's quick sketch is another character design for a children's storybook idea. I've been on and off with this character for some time. This is the closest I feel to what i want the character to look like. It still needs tweaking, but it's getting there.

Final inked and gray toned Baby Elephant image.

Original pencil sketch

Inked version sans the gray tones

Special thanks to Erin for taking the time to read my children's book, Bobby's Biggest Bubble!

Check out Erin's YouTube page here: Story Time with Erin
Erin posts a new picture book video every weekday, 5 times a week.
I find her site to be a great resource for inspiration and reference to the books that are out there. Please help support her site by sharing it with others.

Daily Quick Sketch: Even More Monstas and Bunnies sketch stuff

I've been sketching this image on and off for a few months now. Another image for my grouping of Monstas and Bunnies, (I'm thinking of switching to Monstas & Bunny instead, since I've been using the same bunny in all the images.)

Pencil sketch for GO FISH, another image for my collection of Monstas and Bunnies images.

Looking Back 2000-2001: Bobby's Biggest Bubble supporting characters

Way before the book was printed, I would often come back to work on Bobby's Biggest Bubble, in over a 2 decade span. My career made it too difficult to focus on making the story, especially with so much travel. While I did have a laptop with me when travelling, I found it difficult to really work/design under those conditions.

I was an animator/web designer back in 2000 and most of our computer design department was let go after the Internet market bubble broke. Only my friends John Biank, John Kowalczyk, and I remained. I stayed on for about 7-8 months, but the work wasn't the same. Our work room was empty and depressing and the projects became too corporate with less and less design needed. Eventually, I left and started freelancing again in early 2001.

Character sheet of the townspeople for Bobby's Biggest Bubble

Freelance work was good. I first got many small projects from eLance.com. This led to several companies finding and hiring me to animated their websites. I was animating for several Japanese online English teaching courses. The pay was decent, tno deadline pressures and they pretty much let me direct my own work (and others.) This provided me with some spare time and I started to go back to doing the book. Above is the image that I pulled over 11 years later to help create my picture book.

Unfortunately, 9-11 changed my career, as it did with so many other people. The freelance work dried up. I was not getting paid for work completed. I was forced to leave freelancing and go back to working under a steady full-time job.

Bobby's Biggest Bubble: about 5 years ago

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since I used Kickstarter to help publish my first picture book. On June 1, 2012, the Kickstarter project reached its goal thanks to friends, family and the many strangers who were generous to help me create something I had envisioned for decades.

The start of Bobby's picture book began about 5 years ago, but his story is decades old.

I had no idea how much work was involved. I spent every weekend working around the clock to make the deadline. Learning the process of creating a hardcover book was surprising too. At time's I felt overwhelmed, and I became my own worst critic when the work hit a few snags. When all the work was finished, the proofs were approved, and the order to go to print was confirmed, it was the highpoint of my career.

Today, the books still sell online, though at a far, far slower pace than it did in 2012. I still donate books to schools, libraries, and charities whenever I can. I'm down to the last few boxes of the books of the original 1st print.

I'm also trying to get more of my stories published, but this time I'm going the traditional route. Many of my stories are currently in submissions to various agents and publishers. Time will tell . . .