Posts tagged drawings
Blank Page Anxieties
These People Ought to Know who We are and Tell that We are Here
Two sassy ladies from the sketchbook, let’s call them Marya and Gretchen. I’ve been trying to think of a way to include them in the world of Cid & Francis, but nothing has dawned on me yet.
When I made these sketches, I was thinking of how to interpret Internet features (in these cases, trolling and online dating) into a fantasy setting. An attempt at cleverness more than anything…
The dude on the left is Hank, his friend on the right is Ian. Another sketch from Sunday night.
Even though he appears formidable, Hank is by and large the silent type, speaking only when he feels the need to. Ian, on the other hand, is a motormouth, never knowing when he should shut it. And yet, you’d think he would have a drink by now…
Apartment People
Listen: On Sunday nights, after I get off work (I work the late evening shift at a college library), I go to a bar by my apartment. I have a few beers, maybe a burger or sandwich, and I sketch or write. Sometimes it’s productive and fruitful, sometimes it’s not.
Listen: This past Sunday night, my pencil drifted over the page and started drawing a character that I was working with earlier this year. Mr. Dunlop was his name, the chap on the left with glasses and the long dark coat. But as it sometimes happens, the story fell to the wayside, and I decided to focus on another story I was working on at the time, Cid and Francis. You may have seen those two elsewhere on this blog.
But then, after Mr. Dunlop, I started drawing some other people, inhabitants of the apartment building that he lives in. The young woman on the top right I based on a neighbor I had last year who would always fight with her boyfriend late at night. And the pose I drew her in is strikingly similar to a profile pic my ex-girlfriend use to have on Facebook. Must’ve seeped into my subconscious. Go figure.
The burly dude below her with the shades I based on a property manager for a building I lived in in Omaha. And the girl at the very bottom, well, she’s not really based on anyone. But her little owl hat is based on one that a friend knitted a long time ago, I think. Hard to remember the genesis of that idea, actually.
Listen: I don’t really have any plans for these folks. Lord knows I have enough to occupy my time with right now. But Sunday night I felt like drawing them, and that’s going to have to be good enough for now.
A mermaid that I drew at the Book Paper Scissors festival this past weekend, when I had some down time.
A bit of Abe Sapien from Hellboy found its way into this design, I must say…
A few quick, loose, almost impressionistic sketches that I made while visiting Bartram’s Garden in southwest Philadelphia. I’m amazed that something like this is even in Philly, it’s almost out of character. But then again, Philly is filled with little gems like this.
Also, I’m a very impatient sketcher. As soon as I start I want to move on to the next drawing. Especially so with trees! I don’t know what to do with all those leaves! As you can imagine, this makes my current body of work…interesting.
Couple panels (from two different pages) from an in-progress comic about a gnome and a tree spirit walking through the woods.
The tone of the comic is a bit irreverent, just something that I’m not use to, and I’m not exactly sure what people will think of it. But we can’t let this hold us back, right? I’m just running with the idea, seeing where it takes me. It’s fun either way.
Couple in-progress panels from Mr. Dunlop of Apt. 3A.
Sophie’s reaction upon receiving her story from Mr. Dunlop. Probably my favorite bit of dialogue from the story so far…
A few rough sketches of a couple new characters I’m working on for the new year. They’ll be appearing in a short, 14 page comic I’m working on. It’s a fantasy setting this go around, with equal parts comedy and pathos.
The short gnome character is Francis, and the giant tree spirit is Cid. So it goes.
