Musings From a Dinner Napkin

In movies, there always seems to be this romantic lore about doodles and drawings an artist might place upon a napkin. It typically either depicts an artist so desperate to create and record the images in his head that he must record them on a napkin, or it shows a boredom induced bit of scribbling that turns into genius.

 I'd like to set this matter straight by telling you that these stories are 100% completely based on fact. This napkin doodle above was an act of desperation just like the ones in the movies. You see, the building I was in had been set on fire by arsonists and if it weren't for some quick doodles on this napkin, the whole building would be nothing but ash. The mayor called to congratulate me.

 In all seriousness, it does show some concept pre-sketches I did for a client, a logo idea for my Captain Blacksocks show in the upper left, and an inane doodle on the upper right.

The first explanation was probably better, though.

Illustration Friday- Swarm

 Poor Carl just wants some honey to curb the longing of his always persistent sweet tooth. Of course, bees don't tend to like that very much and have given Carl some lessons.

 I hope to color this soon. The sketch was completed on paper with ballpoint pen. (that's been a trend for me lately)

It was a battle to get this entry for Illustration Friday's topic: Swarm up before the deadline. My microtek scanner is down. Luckily, after some searching, I found out I had a backup scanner.

Ballpoint Pen Sketches and my cat Bea

I make a lot of sketches and cartoons of my cat Skelly, but today marks the first for my newer cat, Beatrice. Since she's young, she's still very active and adventurous. As you can see in the drawing, she often gets in trouble for her antics. It's a good thing she's very good in nature and likable.

This was drawn in ballpoint pen.

Robots and Cats, Water and Maps

What will Skelly and Bucket do? They have been rowing for hours and it turns out they are looking at the wrong map! You should never let a cat be your navigator.

This sketch is done in ballpoint pen of two characters I love drawing. I still snicker when I draw the underwear on the robot. I'd like to color this one soon, so look for that to be posted here before too long. I hope you enjoy.

Where the Wild Things Are Sketch

Here I've posted a ballpoint pen sketch (that I tinted brown digitally) of Where the Wild Things Are fan art. It's one of those doodles that just sort of grew, and since I was away from any reference, some of the details are off, but I like it anyway.

It was nice doing a tribute to a book that captured my imagination as a child. I remember being both enthralled and scared of it at the same time.