At a loss for something to doodle, I used Illustration Friday's word prompt, subterranean, as inspiration. I'll admit, originally, it was gonna be a zombie corpse clawing his way out of a coffin. But I've been drawing a lot of monsters lately so I thought I'd give it a rest. Hence, the happy mole. Work-in-progress steps below. -v
In Pittsburgh, this time of year, every other road is under construction. Traffic's bumper-to-bumper for three months and when it's all over...the roads are just as bad. It's like a magic trick.
That's what came to mind when I saw this week's prompt word, caution. Driving up on one of those road crews you never know if the "slow" sign they're holding is meant as a command or an autobiographical note. -v
This is a detail from a piece I did last year that fit this week's Illustration Friday topic, drifting. You've probably seen it before on my website, but this is a good opportunity to post it along with some work-in-progress stages of the piece. People seem to enjoy those.
Below are the original rough doodle for the three men in the tub, the polished pencil drawing, and a close-up of the candlestick maker during the painting process. He still creeps me out. -v
I'll admit I've lazed off doing these Illustration Friday things. I'd like to blame it on other deadlines but mostly I just didn't dig the word prompts.
This week I wanted to draw a zombie. It's been a long time between zombies and I thought it would make my day. By chance, I noticed the Illustration Friday word prompt was "contagious." So. Serendipity.
Remember when everyone was going crazy with Swine Flu panic a couple weeks ago? Shaking hands was outlawed and if someone coughed in a restaurant everyone would scatter like cockroaches when the lights go on. I thought, "Man, if that's how everyone acts with the flu, how panicky will they get when the zombie infestation starts?" But to tell you the truth? I didn't leave my studio for a week. Didn't walk outside. I rarely do. Germs are everywhere, people are dirty and it's only gonna get worse. You wanna protect yourself? Follow my lead. Stock up on supplies and get some deadbolts. That way you're ready for the next outbreak whether it's the flu or zombies. -v
Pretty sure I'm the only guy in Pittsburgh who was drawing cartoon cats instead of watching the Superbowl (though, I did catch Springsteen).
The result is Helping Hand, a little doodle that more-or-less fits Illustration Friday's flawed theme. It took me about 6 hours from sketch to finish, but I might go back to it at some point. Nothing's ever really finished. -v
I went through a list of choices in my head for the illustration of pale, this week's Illustration Friday topic. My first thought was to draw my old girlfriend. Skin like a vampire, that one (or a porcelain doll if she's reading this). Then I free associated to some other ideas -- vampire, joker, clown, corpse, zombie...
Deadman! Still one of my favorite comic book heroes and pale as the belly of an albino catfish. And anyone out there watching Star Trek in your Wolverine Underoos thinking, "Deadman can't pick anything up! He's a ghost!" just pretend the skull's a ghost too. Or, better yet, pretend Deadman's inhabiting the body of a guy in a Deadman costume.
So here's ol' Boston Brand, contemplating his existence. It took me three hours start to finish but most of that time was staring at the screen, trying to remember how to ink a comic-style sketch. For me, comic inking is like defusing a bomb. I take my time and I'm really meticulous, afraid of screwing up. But more often than not the whole thing blows up in my face anyway. This one's not too bad, though. -v
I took a few hours this afternoon to crank out "Having A Ball" in response to the Illustration Friday prompt, contained.
I've done a couple of these Illustration Friday challenges before ("David & Goliath", "The Music Critic") and I'll say this -- as a way to goose the imagination and tweak your speed, they're tops. As a way to make money and impress the ladies....eh, not so much. -v
Yesterday's Illustration Friday topic was "resolve" so I thought I'd take a run at it. It took me about seven hours to slap this together -- the classic David & Goliath bout. Technically, it covers two definitions of resolve. 1) David is steadfast in his resolve to defeat Goliath, and 2) his actions will likely resolve the conflict at hand. Ka-Blam! Two in one! Noun and a verb!
And while I'm at it, here's some David & Goliath trivia: It's estimated that David the rock-thrower was around 15 years old and the "giant" Goliath was, possibly, only 6 foot 7. That's like a skatepunk with a slingshot taking out RuPaul. Which is totally believable. And if it ever happens, you heard it here first.
For anybody who's interested, I also posted some of the rough sketches for this piece. And for those who just can't get enough of these speedy little challenges, feel free to take a gander at my first attempt at Illustration Friday, "The Music Critic." -v
This is my first contribution to Illustration Friday - a site that tosses out weekly topics as a creative exercise for illustrators to tackle. This week's topic was "voices" and I decided to go with a cute, cartoony image. Them's what pays the bills.
So here is "The Music Critic." The illustration took me maybe 6 hours off and on, completed between long stretches of wrapping gifts and shivering in my heatless apartment. I've also posted some steps in the process: the rough scribble and the polished pencil drawing. -v
