#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

B-bot: Developing another support character

This robot is a supporting character for my story, D-Bot. In the story, the main character often wishes it was another robot, B-Bot being one of them. B-Bot is a Builder Bot, hence the powerful arms.

A better color comp of one of the builder bots in D-Bot

The original color comp, which I found was too bright and McDonalds-ish

The original concept pencil sketch of B-Bot

Arrrggghhh It's Another Quick Sketch Video: Monster Dance

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 . . . 

Baby Yoda Christmas Card

That time of year when I try to create a Christmas card. After several requests for me to draw a "Baby Yoda" -- I figured this would be a the topic of this year's Christmas Card.

Digital pencils and coloring using Phtoshop

I'm still in the process of creating the card.
Once it's completed, I'll update this page to show the entire work.

Practice Inked version with some background

Original pencil sketch

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

Giddy Santa 2019

THIS JUST IN:
It's that time of year when Santa is getting a little too giddy.

That time of year where I play around creating new character versions of Santa.

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

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.

Pencil Sketch the character Felix from "Whazzit?"

I've written many picture book manuscripts over the years. Sometimes I'll write a story and I "see" the characters. Other times, I haven't a clue, or I'm not satisfied with a character or story; sometimes this goes on for years. When that happens, I put the story away and let it sit for some time.

But every once in a while, with no reason at all, a character "pops" clearly in my head and have to get it down on paper or it is soon forgotten. For example, after years of failing to envision Charli's baby brother, I doodled, and Felix appeared on my sheet of paper. (Even odder, was that I had struggled with a similar baby sister character for another story, and suddenly she was also created two days after Felix. It's like I had a sudden muse of toddler characters pour out of my head.)

It seems Felix has fallen asleep again while standing - a pencil sketch touched up in Photoshop

Felix is an essential character for my mystical wintry picture book, "Whazzit?" (In fact, It's Felix who uses the title phrase "Whazzit" in the story.) I'm testing and rounding this character out, using a more pencil-sketch style and planning to do a character sheet to flesh out the role further.

Related link: I posted an ink sketch of Felix's older sister, Charli, some time ago. For her character, I used an ink brush, so she is drawn in a cleaner black line style than seen here. I think I'll try the pencil sketch style with her character next. Then, I'll sketch . . . Whazzit.

Giant Ham/Cheese Sandwich vs. Battle Ballerina!

This image was initially done sometime around Sept 2018.
I'm only getting around to posting it here on the blog today . . . 

My sister-in-law called me on the phone while playing Giant Sandwich VS Princess Ballerina with my (then) 3-year-old niece, (who I assumed was the Princess Ballerina.) From what I could hear over the phone, my niece was using a "flying fist punch" to devastate the evil "Giant Sammich," (which was later described as ham and swiss on white with flimsy leaves of lettuce.)

After that call, I imagined what that fight looked like and put it down on paper.

Final color image, which I toned to an overall warmer pink-purple hue

The first color version

The original pencil sketch

The inked image with text; adding details to the foreground, mid, and background.

Grayscale version - testing out the tone values of the image

Happy Batman Valentine!

Throwback Thursday:
A Valentine sketch I did for my wife several years ago. They say a picture paints a thousand words. Nuff said.

Valentine for my cutie-patootie of a wife! (That's right, I said that publicly!)

Slingblade Banjo Pig! 🐖

This image was inspired by a blog by two of my favorite online illustrators, Guy Francis and Stacy Curtis. Their blog is called: Dueling Banjo Pigs! Check it out. Anyone can join in on the fun! 🐖

Grumpy ol' Slingblade pig -- uhh' hmmmm.

See the other banjo pig I sent years ago here.

Happy Chinese New Year! 2019: The Year of the Pig!

I created this image based on my New Year Baby image from last month. This one goes out to all my friends and co-workers on the other side of the world. Happy Chinese New Year! 🎉🐖 

Lady Bug: Gnat Skiing

Ever wonder what ladybugs do during their winter vacation?

Quick ink and watercolor warmup from this morning.

Inking Alien Bully (and little Meep-Moop)

A poor little Meep-Moop is being picked on by one of those alien-bully Skarggs.
Someone should do something about this . . .

These aliens were developed for the sequel to my picture book, Bobby's Biggest Bubble.
The sequel answers what happened to that meteor, as Bobby's deals with 1,000,000 pounds of Jolly Belly Jelly. Here's to hoping I'll get to reprint the original book with a real publisher and finally get to tell the entire trilogy written so long ago.

Inked with a Pilot brush pen on Canson marker paper

The original pencil sketch rough

A new year! ACK!

This image pretty much explains all the feelings I have now that the holiday break is over, and a new year has begun.

Christmas Card 2018

This will probably only make sense to people who buy toilet paper. If you don't get the joke, go out and buy toilet paper soon.

Christmas Card concept for 2018

Ruth Vader Ginsburg

Some time ago my sister-in-law, Steph, asked me to do this image. She never mentioned why, but I had fun creating it. So now I'm sharin' . . .

Pencil sketched, then inked with a Pentel brush pen and colored
with Copic markers (on Canson marker paper.)