Category: Doodles

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

30 Days of Drawing… day 25

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Bruce

30days-25

This is getting harder and harder, not just because of time but other commitments.  Today I finished up the comic strip for FTF Geocacher and sent that off and really just wanted to sit back and relax… but I knew I needed to to get a drawing done.  SO after dinner tonight a sat at my drafting table and decided to dredge up an old drawing I had done years and years ago Harry Potter chasing a a golden snitch.  The crazy thing these entries take more time to write than the drawing do.

The story for this drawing is one of opposing authority or at least openly disregarding it.  As you know I’m a school teacher and over the years certain  “Educational Decrees” have been issued some make sense and others show that whoever is writing these things isn’t all there.  Unfortunately once a decree has been made the people in charge tend to just send out reminders without really looking at what the decree said.  So years ago a school I was at sent out to all teachers requirements for classroom holiday decorations.  basically a list of stuff that you could have on bulletin boards, on worksheets, and newsletters.  When I first scanned the list I thought, “Hey, it’s nice to know so I don’t get in trouble.”  Then I took a look at the list and since it was getting close to Halloween I started there.  It was the typical – no monsters, or witches- you could however have harvest themed decorations including jack-o-lanterns.  I stopped… I did a double take- you couldn’t have anything related to Halloween, but you could have jack-o-lanterns?  I was confused and decided at that point I was going to see how far I could bend the rules.  Outside of each room was a floor to ceiling bulletin board.  It was a monster to deal with.  I decided starting in October to create a Harry Potter bulletin board.  Today’s image is pretty close to what I drew except Harry was pretty much life size.  So there in the middle of the school was a bulletin board with a guy in a black robe riding a broomstick.  That bulletin board stayed up for a year.  No one said anything.  I updated it with information about (at that time) the upcoming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film.  Oh, that same educational decree still get’s sent out every year- and I’m still allowed to put jack-o-lanterns in my classroom to ward off evil spirits during All Hallow’s Eve.

30 Days of Drawing… day 24

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Bruce


30days-24

As we reach the end of this challenge, it is getting a little more difficult.  Mostly it’s about just finding the time to draw.  I’m behind on things like this comic, or finishing the comic for FTF Geocacher.  Fortunately for me,  the weather looks horrible for the weekend so I should be able to take the next two days and get those done.

As for today’s drawing- a while ago (not sure, a few years maybe) I thought about doing a comic about fairy tale characters attending a school.  I liked the idea but with “Fables,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Grimm” and other fairy tale based properties I figured someone had already done it.  Then I started reading things like JL8, so I moved on.  I still might try it sometime, but tonight (with “Grimm” playing in the background) had the desire to draw the red hood… Fine, Little Red Riding Hood- I thought about having her wearing a Joker t-shirt, and jeans.  Maybe next time.

30 days of Drawing… day 23

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Bruce

30days-23

I wear an number of hats at work… today one of my co-workers came up with an idea to engage teachers in some technology training.  We’ve done this before, “Tech Trick or Treat”, “Tech the Halls”  Basically anything to get someone to read our email and pay attention to us.  So the idea of “Tech Things I Love” was presented.  Like I said anything to help get people better use the technology they have.  I doodled a quick robot cupid… an decided if I finished it it could be today’s drawing.  As with any graphic design project I’m sure it will need to be revised 12 times before the committee likes it.

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update: January 29 (so 30 days of Drawing … day 29) I actually worked on a different version that I kind of like better due to the simplicity.  I also took the black outline and made it grey, just to see how it changed the look.

robot4

30 days of drawing… day 22

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Bruce

30days-22

30 years ago Apple Computer announced that the Macintosh would be introduced to the public during the Super Bowl… I was a senior in high school.  My parents were big into supporting us educationally with the latest fad… We had an Apple II+ I shared it with my brother and my mom (she loved playing games and would get rather obsessed over some of them).  My parents decided since I was going to college that I might need a computer- this was very forward thinking.  We went into a computer store and I figured I would get an IBM PC jr.  I was mistaken…  The salesman asked me what I knew about computers (not much) and what I didn’t like about computers.  I replied I didn’t like having to type in “load” or “run” or “brun”  That I just wanted something easy that worked.  He sat me down at this taupe box put some headphones on me and proceeded to sell my father an IBM PC while I went through the tutorial for “MacPaint.”  I was sold.  I don’t really know how my life would have been different if I hadn’t ended up with a Mac.  I don’t know if I would have done as much with art, or even technology.  It’s silly to say a computer could have that much influence on your life, but I know this is one of those things that made me the person I am today.  Oh, and I still own my first Macintosh from 1984.

30 Days of Drawing… day 20

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Bruce

30days-202/3 of the way done with the challenge and today gave me some time to catch up on a few things… including getting some neglected stuff together for some conventions I’ll have a table at – The INDYpendent Show and Indy Pop Con. Both look like they should be fun and educational (especially for me).

Today’s drawing is actually roughing out some ideas for the Circle City Aerodrome art show I have been asked to be a part of- another thing on my to do list that I need to take care of (deadline in 7 days).  I’ve always enjoyed the aesthetic of Steampunk, even going to the Lego Steampunk session at Brickworld Chicago last year.  I just need to decide what I’m actually going to do.  To use one of my favorite quotes “One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.”  So what do I give up to start delving into the realm of steampunk or cosplay?

This is, of course, 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 18

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Bruce


30days-18Today I attended a wonderful workshop today dealing with chemistry in classroom.  It was lots of fun and reminded me of an old character I created almost a decade ago- Dr. Roswell W. Gigabyte.  The silliest thing about this character is I really never drew him, I had instead created the character out of clay and he hung out in the Computer Lab of the school I worked at.  He ended up being something I placed in photos I took at school as kind of a “Where’s Waldo?” activity for the students… It helps a lot if the kids know that they are supposed to look for a character.  Roswell met a horrible end when I was teaching a class in clay animation one summer and left him (and all the other characters I had made) in the backseat of my car… yuck!

30 Days of Drawing… day 17

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Bruce

There are some days you just feel like a dinosaur…

30days-17

It has been a long week and I decided since I have a workshop to attend tomorrow I needed to quickly get my required drawing done and relax.  I started this doodle somewhere around 8:30 PM  I’m posting it at 9:15 (ish) 45 minutes for a colored doodle.  Not too shabby.  While the race is always won by the quickest, sometimes it helps.

30 Days of Drawing… Day 16

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Bruce

30days-16

This summer it’s MINI Takes The States again.  Again I’m planning on going (at least part way- curse you school starting the first week of August).  Over the years Cecil has created a following on these things, it started at MINI United and this merry little band has grown each year.  This year I’ve been designing badges for members each with a different MINIon.  So I sketched out this one for MINIon #1701.  I’m still working on a bunch of these, and hopefully will get them finished in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished work…

minion1701c

30 days of Drawing… day 15

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Bruce

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What Ho!  It’s time for an adventure!  While I never played a fighter/warrior in any roleplaying games I decided a happy go lucky guy with a sword was an interesting doodle for today.  As for role playing in “Advanced D&D” my best character was an assassin (Lawful Evil). Sneaking around removing obstacles (and characters who got too full of themselves).  In College we played MERP (an off shoot of ICE) and I played a magic user with a lot of sword skills.  He usually wandered around with a katana (c’mon Highlander was big) looking like a low level adventurer until a fireball came rushing towards the unaware evil creatures.  That was one thing I did like about those games… we weren’t allowed to have evil characters since we were out battling evil.  When I tried WOW I ended up with a rogue and a wizard.  I stopped playing because it got pretty repetitive, and I don’t play well with others.  I’m looking forward to getting back into roleplaying sometime, just don’t know when.