A Vortex in the Nebula

Here's a page from my sketchbook. As a practice exercise, I redrew a page of a Flash/Superman story and made a few "minor changes". (Names have been changed to persecute the innocent!)

I drew it in pen without penciling first, and then colored with marker.

I/You

I/You
Sketch in watercolor pencil, ink, and acrylic

I made this sketch, thinking of this quote:

“To be yourself in a world
that is constantly trying to make you something else
is the greatest accomplishment.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Drawing for 2010

Scaling the Ivory Tower in 2010 (Crayola Marker Sketch)

The drawing above is a sketch I made to represent my major goal for the year 2010. I've been working on my doctorate in Curriculum & Teaching for a long time, but this will be the year I finish. I was inspired to make this drawing after doing a similar one (below) for the year 2009. I noticed that every single goal I noted in the '09 drawing I either accomplished, or made a conscious decision to save for later. This year I only put one goal because I'm thinking I may need to set some things aside for a time and really knuckle down and finish.

They say that many successful people write down their goals or visualize themselves being successful before attempting difficult objectives. I guess these drawings are my way of doing that. At any rate, you can read more of the rationale behind that here.

Parallax

Sketchbook drawing: scene from a DC comic redrawn by me.

Bird's Eye View and Worm's Eye View

Artists today have a wealth of visual references online and in print. It would be very easy for us to become overly dependent on these. I think it's a real challenge to take a three dimensional object and attempt to draw the same physical thing from different vantage points. I made these drawings years ago of a simple child's toy, looking down on it and looking up at it.

Sketches from a Poetry Reading by Billy Collins

I had the wonderful opportunity to hear a poetry reading by esteemed poet Billy Collins at the National Writing Project Conference in Philadelphia. To be honest, his work was new to me -- and it had been years since I'd attempted to enjoy contemporary poetry -- but Collins' work is accessible, understandable and funny! While he read, I sketched him in my sketchbook. Later, I bought one of his books to have him sign and talked to him briefly -- one of the really great things that happened during this trip. I also gave him a copy of Eclectic Comics #3. He said that he loved comics. One more reason I have a new opinion of poets!

Below is a video of him reading one of his poems elsewhere.

Quotable Quotes

Sketchbook drawings of people I think are interesting, along with something they had to say.

Some Thoughtless Brigand

Some sketches from an old Conan comic, just getting a feel for Sword & Sorcery comics imagery. Maybe someday, I'd like to do a spoof on that kind of story.

Sketches: Boy Wonder

These are some sketches from a Robin comic. It's not easy to draw a scene that is essentially just two people talking. I wanted to learn from the artist some novel approaches to this task. I liked how he constantly changed vantage points, almost never using the same one.

The Machine is Humming

Sketches from an old Avengers comic.

Afterburn

In this age of decompressed storytelling and photo-realistic computer coloring, the comic fans of today don't know what they're missing! Where is the melodrama? the hokey concepts? the absurd costumes? The sketch above is from a John Byrne issue of The Champions from the Bronze Age. What amazes me is the amount of dialogue they get out in the time it takes to take one punch! The scene above, written by Bendis, would take up half an issue.

Excelsior! 'Nuff said!

There's a Cosmos full of Conundrums to Crack

Sometimes I like to just sketch, without necessarily worrying about the drawing being for any certain upcoming story or project. Here are some sketches I've done of various panels from comic books. I like the Silver Age comic book vibe, with a more humorous approach. Sometimes I just sketch a panel because I thought the layout was innovative. I hope I'm storing away artist secrets in my mind to use later, adding another tool to the toolbox.

The sketch above is from a classic Hulk story, The Brute that Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom. I kept the characters the same, only made them more like caricatures. They used to pack in a lot more dialogue in each panel then.
I think this panel is from the same story, but as you can see, sometimes I like to substitute my own characters.

These are a couple from a Superman/Flash team-up.

I always feel like --

-- somebody's watching me!

Sketch of The Watcher

Goals for 2009

Crayola Marker Sketch with Collage

1-14-09

Draw Yourself

A "Wreck this Journal" assignment

Crayola Marker

Biff!

Crayola Marker Sketch 1/8/09

The site of an erupting volcano has got to be the worst place to have a super-villain smackdown.

Dreaming

This sketch is meant to illustrate what it's like to dream. Is it just me, or do all kind of random things get mixed together in dreams?

But I Don't Want to Mess it Up!

A lot of people have sketchbooks and journals that sit on the shelf unused. I was looking at cartoonist Cedric Hohnstadt's website and was interested to see what he had to say about keeping a sketchbook.

A sketchbook is an important part of any artist’s development, no matter how busy or successful he/she gets. The sketchbook is the one place where you can really let loose, try new things, experiment, and (most importantly) make lots and lots of bad drawings.

When I say “bad drawings” I don’t mean getting lazy or not caring about your work. I mean bad in a good way. For most artists the temptation is to try and fill your sketchbook with beautiful artwork, but that can be a mistake. If your drawings are all wonderful, it means you are only drawing things you’ve already mastered. And that means you aren’t improving, growing, and pushing yourself to get better. It just means you are going back and forth along a well-worn rut. The day you stop doing bad drawings is the day you stop challenging yourself, and as a result you stop growing and improving.

I can identify with a lot of what he's saying. Sometimes I'm afraid to touch my sketchbook for fear of not making a pretty drawing, but that's exactly the point of keeping one. That's why when I saw this journal, I laughed out loud and bought it. Now I'm busy destroying it.


Each page is a prompt with some very unusual assignments. The author describes why she made this book:

This book was created for anyone who has ever had trouble starting/keeping or finishing a journal/sketchbook. By forcing ourselves to wreck it on purpose, the “journal as an object” loses it’s preciousness, and allows us the feeling of completion. This book was created for every person who has looked at other artist’s journals and said, “I wish I could do that. I’ve started dozens of them but didn’t stick with it.” or, “But the journal itself is so beautiful, I don’t want to wreck it with my ideas/handwriting/drawings.” Or, “I feel pressured to write something good.”

In this book good does not exist. The goal is to fill it up, to shift your perception of the blank page and the journal itself into a place for experimentation. Into a place where you just get stuff out onto the page. A place to start working against your better judgment. To do those things you were taught to never do (make a mess, destroy, fold down pages, write in books, play with dirt). This book IS the place.

Each page of Wreck This Journal is filled with prompts telling you how to systematically ‘destroy’ the entire book.

Keri Smith's website shows images that those who bought the book have sent to her. They show that in the process of wrecking the journal, some beautiful pages have been created -- and many have found a creative outlet in their lives.

Drawing to Learn

If I have to learn something, I learn best by drawing. The sketches from this post are from one of my old notebooks. I was taking a class called Greek Art and Mythology. As I read the textbook, I knew I would have to write essays about certain works of art. To prepare for writing the essays, I made drawings of them and notes from the text. For me this helped me understand the artwork inside and out. Then I could write.

Donkeys and Elephants -- The Political Scene

I did this first drawing in my sketchbook early in the campaign season. My initial impression of the Republican side was that the field was crowded with candidates, eying one another suspiciously, jockeying for position -- and that they all looked the same!

The second drawing is my statement about the part money plays in the political process (for both parties). It makes me sick to hear about the millions that are spent on campaigns. Think of the problems that could be solved by diverting that money directly to the problem! An individual with a personal fortune (like Mitt Romney) can spend their way to the front of the pack. For the rest of them, where does this money come from? Special interest groups -- or, individuals within those groups. Nothing will be done about the oil situation by the candidate who has received millions from that particular group! For the rest of the candidates, it's the same story. Whoever they've received tons of money from has them in their pocket.


I did the donkey sketch just after the Iowa Caucus. It was fortuitous that I ran out of room and could only write Iow -- which is almost "I owe".

I know I'm not an expert by any means. These are just the rantings of a disgruntled spectator of the political scene.