Almond Shaped Eyes

The idea for the 'Art by Committee' sketchbook happened when I was working on a lot of paperback covers. I had a habit of snipping out odd lines from science fiction manuscripts that struck me as fun prompts for sketching games, such as: 

"One man, whose eyes were more almond-shaped than those of the others..."

So I taped these snippets into a large sketchbook. Whenever I was hanging out in a diner with fellow illustrators, we would sketch a solution to one of these out-of-context excerpts while waiting for our meal. It was very spontaneous and fun, and after a while we had a whole sketchbook full of these illustrations.

Art by Committee: Randall

It’s February 15, time for the results of last months Art By Committee challenge. The line we had to illustrate was "Randall's avatar was a tortoise." You all came up with some really fun and creative solutions to the idea. Click on the link below the name for a larger image or more information about each piece.

Mei-Yi Chun
Website

Michael Geissler
Larger Image

Kim McCann
Larger Image

Andy Wales
Blog
Flickr

Sean Hornoff

"Mr. Gills"

Natalie Blog
Blog

Andrew Walker

John R. York
Blog

Susan Adsett

….and the one from the original sketchbook.

With that, let’s give the Art-By-Committee game a rest for a while. I have enjoyed and appreciated all your wonderful contributions, but it takes quite a bit of hand work to put these together. Also, I’ve run through most of the material in the original sketchbook.

Art By Committee: Conversation

It’s the 15th of January, time for our group sketch game called "Art by Committee." The way it works is I share a science fiction quote and you come up with a picture to go with it.

This month the starting point was a very long, and rather dull, conversation between "Billy" and "Souci." You all rose to the occasion with some creative solutions. Thanks, everyone, for participating.

Michael Geissler
Blog
Michael says: "..and many thanks to Apophysis for their amazing fractal generator."

Mei-Yi Chun
Website

Ian Garrick Mason
Blog

Andy Wales
Blog, with full-size comic


Mario Zara

Blog

Here's the quote for next month:

"Randall's avatar was a tortoise."

Have fun! Please scale your JPG to 400 pixels across and compress it as much as possible. Title it with your name, send it to: jgurneyart(at)yahoo.com, subject line ABC. Please let me know in your email the full URL of the link to a larger image or your blog or website so people can see your image at full size and learn more about your other work. Please have your entries in by the 12th of February. I'll post the results February 15.

Art By Committe: Cinderella

It’s the 15th of December, and that means it's time for our group sketch game called "Art by Committee." This month it was the Business Card Challenge. Your job was to start with a real business card (taken off a bulletin board 25 years ago) and figure out who it belongs to.

The Cinderella maid service card sparked some creative character studies. What really happened after the fairy tale ended? Scroll down and find out, and be sure to follow the links to the artists' sites to learn more.

Susan Adsett
Blog


Mario Zara
Blog

Robin A.
Website

Andy Wales
Blog, with the full comic story

Mei-Yi Chun
Website

Roberta Baird
Blog

Ian Garrick Mason
Blog

George Semionov
Website

Paul Bozzo
Blog

Jin Lee
Blog

For next month, here's an actual dialog from a science fiction novel manuscript. Your job is to illustrate who is talking and by what means.

Have fun! Please scale your JPG to 400 pixels across and compress it as much as possible. Title it with your name, send it to: jgurneyart(at)yahoo.com, subject line ABC. Please let me know in your email the full URL of the link to a larger image or your blog or website so people can see your image at full size and learn more about your other work. Please have your entries in by the 12th of January. I'll post the results January 15.

Art By Committe: Gray Fringe

It’s the 15th of November, and that means it's time for our group sketch game called "Art by Committee." The way it works is I share an excerpt from a science fiction story and you come up with a picture to go with it. This month the quote was :

“He is shorter than I remember, and thin. His fur is grayed to white in a fringe around his head, just below his ears. His coat is dull, thinning, and coarse. His eyes, so bright I…”

As always, the results are impressive and incredibly varied. Nice work, everybody!

Mark Heng
Website
Blog

Rebecca Dart
LiveJournal

George Semionov
Website
Full size image

Antoine Micheau


Roberta Baird
Blog


Mei-Yi Chun
Image
Other ABC art

Paul Bozzo
Blog


Mario Zara
Blog

Andy Wales
Full story on the blog

Here's the drawing that appears in the original ABC book.

For next month, let’s try the Business Card Challenge. The idea here is to look at a real business card, and try to imagine its owner.

Have fun! Please scale your JPG to 400 pixels across and compress it as much as possible. Title it with your name, send it to: jgurneyart(at)yahoo.com, subject line ABC. Please let me know in your email the full URL of the link to a larger image or your blog or website so people can see your image at full size and learn more about your other work. Please have your entries in by the 12th of December. I'll post the results December 15.

Six Foot Chicken

It’s the 15th of October, and that means it's time for our group sketch game called "Art by Committee." The way it works is I share an excerpt from a science fiction story and you come up with a picture to go with it.

This month the quote was :

"I became immediately and irrationally angry. How dare this six foot chicken with a silly red crest on top of his narrow foolish head say that we humans were deficient in feii? I controlled...."

You all had fun with the story and the annoying chicken. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Michael Geissler.
Image

Patrick Waugh
Blog

Andy Wales
Blog (full panels)

Mei-Yi Chun
Website with Image

Rob Hummer
Image

Andrew Garrison
Blog

Susan Adsett
Website

Here's the drawing that appears in the original ABC book.

AND please check out this link for a whole lot more solutions to this ABC challenge by students in Mansfield University's "Intro to Drawing" class.

Now here’s the quote for next month:

“He is shorter than I remember, and thin. His fur is grayed to white in a fringe around his head, just below his ears. His coat is dull, thinning, and coarse. His eyes, so bright I…”

Have fun! Please scale your JPG to 400 pixels across and compress it as much as possible. Title it with your name, send it to: jgurneyart(at)yahoo.com, subject line ABC. Please let me know in your email the full URL of the link to a larger image or your blog or website so people can see your image at full size and learn more about your other work. Please have your entries in by the 12th of November. I'll post the results November 15.

Art By Committee: Chains

The 15th of September has arrived, and that means it's time for our group sketch game called "Art by Committee." The way it works is I share an excerpt from a science fiction story and you come up with a picture to go with it.

This month the quote was "He stood and held his arms out before him, pulling the chains taut. The muscles in his shoulders and his chest bunched, standing out in sharp relief, and a moment later, the chains snapped cleanly."

Everyone had fun dealing with those elemental forces, and the results are wonderful.

Mario Zara
Blog

Andy Wales
Link to art:
Link to blog:

Mei-Yi Chun
Image

Andrew Walker

Michael Geissler
Blog


Susan Adsett
Blog

Honey Amplegood

Here's the drawing that appears in the original ABC book, done by me and a bunch of friends.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

Now here’s the quote for next month: "I became immediately and irrationally angry. How dare this six foot chicken with a silly red crest on top of his narrow foolish head say that we humans were deficient in feii? I controlled...."



Have fun! Please scale your JPG to 400 pixels across and compress it as much as possible. Title it with your name, send it to: jgurneyart(at)yahoo.com, subject line ABC. Please let me know in your email the full URL of the link to a larger image or your blog or website so people can see your image in all its glory and learn more about your other work. Please have your entries in by the 12th of October. I'll post the results October 15.