"...wicked as it seems..."

I didn't think I'd have time to do any sketching this weekend, but it's only right that I should take a crack at Keef. It's just a quick doodle that I did outta my head as an exercise (winding down after a particularly tense episode of Walking Dead!).
It certainly doesn't match up style-wise with last weeks drawing, but that wasn't really the point.
Anyway....

So things are starting to gradually feel natural. This experiment seems to be working. Now I need to get serious and start something more structured...
Thanks fer lookin'!

"...hope you guessed my name..."

This sketch began as a doodle that started to look like a caricature of Mick Jagger, so I started thinking about taking an actual stab at a Stones piece. I started working out a color scheme which you can see above. I'll definitely have to come back and develop it further...

Thanks fer lookin'!

"...and now a word from our sponsor..."

So I missed a another post last week, but not for lack of ideas. I was productive all weekend despite being sick, but I came up short, leaving me with items not ready to post.

Another case of the art controlling me instead of the other way around. This post may give a little insight at the kind of things that hold me up.

Last year my frequent conspirator John and I were kicking around some Star Trek t-shirt ideas for cafepress.com's Star Trek fan portal. John is always full of great ideas and we took off running. We had several concepts and started designs for three, one of which he actually dreamed up several years ago before we had any inkling of how to go about licensing a major entertainment property. Work and life got in the way and they kind fell by the wayside before we finalized them.

Two of the designs were kind of seasonal and the time was rolling around this year, so I decided to dig them up last weekend and try to finish them. I finally got the feel for our favorite original layout and the second came together quickly. Unfortunately, someone beat us to John's best and simplest idea so we were left short. I felt we should have 3 designs to start with. I really wanted to get these up, but the weekend flew by and I didn't want to show anything until I had all 3.

For some reason, we kept coming up with sort of seasonal tie-ins (St. Patrick's Day, Spring Break). I racked my brain and realized it was time for a Klingon Anti-Valentine. Over the course of the weekend I threw together a sketch and showed it to John. He liked the idea.

So I went back to refine the drawing, but I found that the more times I tried, the more it felt as though it was losing the energy of the sketch. I liked the rough scratchy nature of the sketch for the subject matter. John agreed with me and gave me some suggestions. I thought it might be cool to put the phrase "Love Hurts" in Klingon on the shirt, so I spent way too much time trying to find the correct words and phrasing online. (I think I got it, but if there's any Klingon experts out there that find this is wrong, I'd love someone to correct me!!!)

I went back to the original sketch and tried a slightly new, loose approach to coloring it and I think it works now.

John gave me a couple ideas that I really liked, but in the end I think the simpler layout works better. Here is what might have been...

I hope you'll take a moment to check out the store and let me know what you think.

www.cafepress.com/spaceodditees

Stay tuned for our upcoming Tribble Tee!!!
Thanks fer lookin'!

　

BONUS!
While I was digging through the "archives" this week, I came across this ball point pen sketch that sums up pretty much how I feel most days in my day job. Enjoy!

"...and now back to our regularly scheduled program..."

Ok - Back from hiatus. I've been encouraged to post SOMETHING each week, regardless of how little I've accomplished or whether I've achieved what I thought I set out to do. This has been unbelievably difficult, but I am determined to get back what I think I've lost track of...

So here's some developmental sketches for a collaboration that's been in the idea stages for a long time. It ain't much, but it is SOMETHING.

Any feedback ya wanna send my way is much appreciated.
Thanks fer lookin'!

"Oh, Robot!"

Sometimes I'll start something and end up not knowing what to do with it. It will sit in a folder and every few months I'll play around with it again. Here's the latest attempt at this robot graphic...

Thanks fer lookin'!

Mini Update

Hi, Everyone! I wanted to drop a line here to direct you to a companion to this blog:
sketchround-up.blogspot.com/

When I started my blog, it was with a kick in the pants from my friend Nadine as I mentioned before. Nadine is also a very talented artist and I am always really grateful for the encouragement she sents my way! When she suggested some art challenges, I thought it would be neat to share both our versions in a joint blog.

She accepted the idea and we began a blog with the notion of sharing ideas and techniques and just general enthusiasm for art related stuff.

I'm happy to say she took off running with it and I'm pretty excited with what she started.

I hope you'll give it a look.

Now I gotta pick up the gauntlet...

"...fair to middlin' with a pencil..."

So here's week two's sketch.

Making up my mind seems to be the hardest obstacle in this little endeavor. It isn't what I started out with, but came about while having difficulties warming up. I still like the idea, but not crazy about the end result.

This drawing is 100% digital. I'm finding that I really enjoy inking and coloring with my Wacom digital drawing tablet, but I get much better results when I begin with at least a sketch on real paper with a real pencil. A solid drawing comes more naturally to me the traditional way.

At least I'm learning something as I attempt to climb out From Under the Rock...

Feel free to leave comments or critiques or questions...

Thanks fer lookin'!