Category: Doodles

Doodles leading up to character designs, completed strips, and finished artwork.

We’re Going on an Adventure!

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Bruce

For the last few years I’ve been reliving my youth by playing Dungeons & Dragons. While there is a very nice game store nearby, I drive over to my favorite comic shop twice a month to answer the call of adventure. I know that many stores have games open to everyone so check out your local game shop or comic book shop if you are interested in trying it out. For first timers they tend to have pre-generated characters ready for you. This is not a post about fantasy role playing games, but rather something that has grown out of my characters’ adventures. I am currently running two characters: Cecil (you know I had to name one that), and Peter. One on Wednesdays and one on Sundays. Since the beginning I took notes to help me keep track from month to month. While the person running the adventure keeps notes and recaps at the start, I just feel better & have found it helps me focus.

So on Wednesdays, Cecil Ookington-Smythe – a halfling rogue fights to save the world from being taken over by evil dragons & those that worship evil dragons. If I slipped into geekspeak here’s a rough translation- I’m roleplaying a hobbit (you know like the short guys in Lord of the Rings- the ones without beards) he’s a thief/spy. I sneak around & do a lot of lurking, although as luck would have it he’s dealt the killing blow to a dragon so he can add “Dragonslayer” to his name. For Sunday’s adventure I am something completely different. I’m playing Peter Paulenmary, a half elf bard (think storyteller). While I’ve been using Cecil for a lot longer, I’ve really tried to flesh out Peter’s back story a bit more. Cecil’s excuse is he has told so many lies about his origin, he doesn’t remember the truth.  Peter’s basically a guy running around gathering stories of adventure, He’s not looking for fame or fortune, just a spot in the local tavern to spin tales of heroes and get some free drinks.  He  has ended up taking some bad advice by heading to Ravenloft (think Transylvania) and is trapped with the band of adventurers he had met on the road.  I like to think of the group wishing they hadn’t taken that left turn in Albuquerque.  He’s pretty light-hearted & optimistic, he keeps a leather bound notebook that was given to him by his mentor, Woodrow of Guthrie, along with his favorite history book by S. Morgenstern.

So as the adventures have gone on, I’ve been taking notes. These started as just lists & names, but have become much more elaborate as you can see from the examples. This is basically how I see Peter’s notebook, filled with doodles and information that, when time finally permits, may be made into that great novel, song, epic poem, whatever. So while the actual comic has been on hold for way too long (I only have lame excuses as to why) I’m still recording a “geek odyssey” of sorts. Like anything, my style has changed over time, but it adds a little something to our adventures. Note: in some cases off topic bits from conversations end up in there. Proper conventions of writing are ignored, including spelling since many words are made up so a “phonetic-ish” spelling is used.

& so it begins… after a month break I tend to start off with just words.
SO the adventure really starts to take off… trolls & ghosts and I almost die.
Somehow I get dragged into a tar pit by some ghasts… and almost die.
Getting to the fight before confronting the big bad guy. orcs & snake people. Did I mention the rest of my group decided to run away?
So fighting a group of orcs & snake people ends up almost killing me (again)
Finally we confront the big baddie who is trying to control a troll/dragon spirit and… You guessed it I almost die.
So the adventure ends and the spoils are handed out. You may have noticed that some notes are circled in blue- that way I can find our spoils so I can total things up. The result of my flirting with death- I get a magic item that will allow me to escape once per day! Hopefully I won’t die as many times.

A Year in Wombats- Lackey #2016

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Bruce

lackeyEach year I give myself a creative challenge. In 2015 it was draw a monkey (one of Cecil’s Minions) each day. This has led me to my greatest challenge yet- a year of Wombats!

OK just kidding… This years challenge is a bit cerebral. This year I’d like to to accomplish three things on the creative front. 1. Take all the MINIon Badges I’ve done and create a book with all of them (thank you Chris for giving me that idea). 2. Finally get the game I designed for my students years ago into a playable format. It deals with the rock cycle and helps them to remember what it takes to make igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Not as scientifically accurate as it could be, it at least is a start for elementary kids. 3. Gizmo Girl. I’ve got a story or two, I’ve done character designs, so get a finished issue (24 pages) ready for printing by the end of the year. In the mean time I’d also like to start doing My Geek Odyssey a little more regularly since I’m not drawing monkeys every day. This isn’t a challenge (although it kinda sorta is) more like an ambiguous goal. Basically, I’d like to have more comic strips posted that I did in 2015.
So that’s going to be my 2016 on the creative front. I hope you’ll stick around to see if I actually accomplish anything.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1124

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Bruce

1124Today is officially “Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day” I figured the only unique talent i have is drawing monkeys… so here’s my celebration. I hope you took some time today to celebrate your unique talent… within the limits of the law.

Those of you who have had the misfortune of seeing me draw might have noticed that I use a non-photo blue pencil for most of my sketching, then come back and ink the drawing, later scanning it into the computer, and coloring it digitally.  It can be time consuming, but I just haven’t gotten to the point where I’m comfortable drawing entirely on the computer… maybe someday, but not now- for now my unique talent of drawing monkeys will continue to be old school.

Hey! Where Have You Been?!? MINIon Sketches

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Bruce

Thanks for asking… I knew you cared. This past week was my school’s “Fall Break” It used to be something called “Teacher’s Institute” when I first started teaching. Back then it was only two days and that was when all the teacher groups had their conferences. Later on someone realized that most teachers were going on vacation so it was renamed “Fall Break.” It got expanded to an entire week as more and more families would pull their kids from school to get a head start. This will be changing soon, at least for my school district. Enough technical stuff, so What did I do? I visited my parents and (shock) attended a professional conference!
During this time I wasn’t sure what kind of tech I’d have available, so like the last time I traveled I just drew MINIons and now I’m uploading them.  As for the “vacation” it was fine, nice to see my parents and the conference was pretty good- at least inspires me to go back to school and work on some new things.  So here are the MINIons I sketched.  Someday I may turn these into completed badges, but for right now… nope.

Time Travel is Messy… Circle City Aerodrome’s Art Show.

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Bruce

I was asked a while ago to contribute something to this show and you may have seen some of my initial attempts during the 30 Days of Drawing challenge.  The artwork is due today and is finished.  While I could (and probably will at some time) color it I felt the initial ink over non-photo blue pencil had a nice feel to it.  Plus since I color digitally the finished work would end up looking mass produced and not original.  The pieces are not for sale, since I have no idea what I should charge, and kind of feel that if I just charged for the frames, it would be silly and overpriced.  The art show is being held at New Day Meadery in Fountain Square with the following events (descriptions taken from the New Day Meadery website):

IDADA First Friday: Circle City Aerodrome Friday, February 7, 6-9 PM

Circle City Aerodrome has done it again! This juried show is a collection of pieces that fit this year’s theme “Time Travel is Messy: Vonnegut in the Aerodrome”.

Stop by to see this amazing collection of works from artists and inventors from Indianapolis, and around the country. Curiosities and thrills shall be had by all!

Circle City Aerodrome Artist Reception: Friday, February 14, 6-9 PM

This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the creative minds behind the amazing juried art show presented by the Circle City Aerodrome, as part of their national convention!

This year’s gallery theme is “Time Travel is Messy: Vonnegut in the Aerodrome”, and is part of the weekend-long A Dark Victorian Romance. Not to be missed!!

—

As for the drawing I guess you could also call the “30 days of drawing… day 32- yes I skipped day 31”  The wrench is an antique that I felt added the certain something to the work…

As for the events.. I’m not sure if I can make either due real life work commitments, but who knows?

12x12 pen & ink over non-photo blue pencil on Bristol. A depiction of Sir Cecil’s Simian Aero Corps that were invaluable at stopping the assault of the mechanical armies from the East during the great time-war of 1883… not to be confused with the great chrono-war of 1875, or the somewhat great wibbly-wobbly skirmish of 1892. Hence the idiom "throwing a monkey wrench into the works" became part of the vernacular.
12×12 pen & ink over non-photo blue pencil on Bristol. A depiction of Sir Cecil’s Simian Aero Corps that were invaluable at stopping the assault of the mechanical armies from the East during the great time-war of 1883… not to be confused with the great chrono-war of 1875, or the somewhat great wibbly-wobbly skirmish of 1892. Hence the idiom “throwing a monkey wrench into the works” became part of the vernacular.

 

IMG_1239
12×12 pen & ink over non-photo blue pencil on Bristol. A portrait of Sir Cecil. E. M. Ookington-Smythe KBE DFC on his faithful steed “Bernice” after returning from “abroad” (Sir Cecil never did explain whether it was forward or backward through his chronovortex.) The original artist is unknown and presumed eaten.

 

 

30 Days of Drawing… day 30

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Bruce

and so it ends not with a bang but a whimper…

30days-30

This first 30 day challenge is over… 30 drawings in 30 days.  What has it taught me.  A lot.  Not as much about drawing, but more about time management.  I can do a drawing a day, some aren’t as great as others.  Some I actually like and think they could lead to stories or build characters.  I know I have a long way to go and as I learned when I first started out on my geek odyssey, the more I draw the better I get, subtly with little nuances.  This drawing actually is a rough idea for something I need to have done by Sunday.  I still don’t know if this will be the final design, but it did get me thinking.  The other thing is I was bouncing around in meetings until around 8:30.  So to get this drawing done, I stopped off at an art store and picked up a pad and some pencils (I strangely enough had a pencil sharpener with me).  I did the initial drawing (along with some rough sketches) during one of my meetings.  While I enjoyed adding this to my day, I think if I am to continue, I might not go all the way to coloring or even inking.  Drawing was enjoyable, finishing sometimes became more time consuming.

The truth of this 30 day challenge was this it wasn’t my only 30 day challenge.   I wanted to try a couple different things and being impatient and a little ADD (Squirrel!) I decided to try a few- something I won’t be repeating.  Two were adding something to my day, and one was taking something away.  Drawing and drinking a large glass of juice were added.  Thank you to my brother Mike and his wife Erika for talking about Trader Joe’s cranberry juice (definitely an acquired taste).  Seems silly to have to challenge yourself to drink a large glass of juice each day, but I wanted to make sure that I had something healthy at least every day, so a large glass of juice each day.  Today I’m drinking that juice as I write this, most days I would drink it before rushing off to school.  So what have taken away for the last 30 days… I decided to not drink alcohol for 30 days (maybe that how I could draw for 30 days).  As an adult, I wanted to see how that would change how I do things.  Not much change that I could see.  Although going out was strange, since I tended to only order water.  Health wise I figure it helped a bit and I did lose some weight which has been nice.  I actually have one more day to go on this since I messed up at the beginning. And that’s why I really like the 30 day challenges instead of a resolution if you mess up, you can start over.

So 30 days, 30 drawings- which one was your favorite?  I’ll start another challenge once I finally finish all the ones from this month & figure out which ONE from my list I think I should try.

30 Days of Drawing… day 29

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Bruce

30days-29

One more day?  One day more? Really?  Wow… almost there. Can’t get cocky since I still could trip at the finish line.

Today’s drawing is a little practice for that art show I mentioned a few drawings ago… this one deals with Sir Cecil’s Aero Simian Corps  that battled in the Great War against the Mechanical Men from the East…   I like some parts of this drawing but need to tweak others…  I need to have a final drawing ready by Sunday. At least I think I’ve got the monkey wrench pretty close.

I took Ookio’s ‘My Geek Odyssey’ personality quiz and got Minion #4238! Who are you?

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Bruce

Day30-28

From Minion #261 to Minion #9823452 find out which Minion best matches your personality!

 

 

 

 

 

So are you as tired of these facebook “personality quizzes” as I am.  I admit I’ve done a few, but the pessimist in me is trying to figure out what the companies are getting out it except for website hits.   For the record let’s see:  I’m Princess Leia (or Han Solo if I really think about how to answer), Scotty from Star Trek, The Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons in one quiz, in another I was Sideshow Bob, Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory, and Walter White is my TV dad.  Am I really like any of these fictional characters?  Maybe a bit… but I like to think I’m myself- something that has taken me a few years to get to, and I’m not done yet.

On a daily basis- as a public school teacher I do feel like Minion #4238.  For the record-  The description works for any of the Minions so you don’t have to worry about taking the quiz.

Unless something changes- let’s call this drawing # 28 for my 30 days of drawing challenge…

30 Days of Drawing… day 27

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Bruce

30days-27

Welcome to the 27th Century!  All right, maybe the 27th drawing…nothing too fancy here.  I decided to play around in greyscale and add just a touch of color.  I started off My Geek Odyssey this way and realized that adding grey took almost as much time as color so why not just do the comic in color? Tomorrow Mother Nature has thrown some more extreme temperatures our way so I’ll be home catching up on some things included in that list are drawings so as long as Hemi doesn’t decide he needs my undivided attention I hope to be productive.

30 days of Drawing… day 26

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Bruce


30days-26

As we prepare for another wonderful winter week, probably filled with 2 hour delays or a snow day or two, I started working on some ideas for a banner for my upcoming convention appearances…  I began with a few ideas and went instead with this one.  I call this “Cecil’s version of armchair caching”.

For those who do not geocache, armchair caching is basically like being an armchair quarterback.  You sit around and instead of actually caching, you find a geocache somewhere in the world and log it as if you actually found it.  Cecil doesn’t believe in armchair caching… he must see the cache and sign the log or he doesn’t claim it.