Have Pencil, Will Draw #109

It's really a gift for him but meh, the thought was there.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #108

Maybe he just stabbed a hologram??? Maybe there was a net at the bottom of that chasm??? If anyone has any other straws to present I will gladly grasp at them!

Have Pencil, Will Draw #107

Absolutely the best version of that story.

Class Flyer

A quick flyer I threw together to advertise the class I'll be teaching at the local charter school this coming spring.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #106

...some kind of interjection of agitated bafflement?

Creature Sketch 17

So Thanksgiving was fun but frankly it's good to be back in the drawing seat again.

I got around to coloring my sand beast today. I gave him an abundance of cracks through his armor to emphasize his age and threw in a few scars from his younger years of turf wars and stag fights over the females. I like my beasts to be beasts.

May have gone overboard with the brushes but regardless I think he turned out good.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #105

This week's comic was written by my Dad. You know, for artistic variety...

Have Pencil, Will Draw #104

Let's be honest, they're not that bright.

Creature sketching

An hour and a half worth of sketching. Wasn't planning on it but I think I'll end up coloring him.

And some desert people!

Yaaaay! Monsters!

Have Pencil, Will Draw #103

It's probably more like six hours actually...

Will Draw cover

The preliminary sketch and final artwork for the cover of the very first 'Have Pencil, Will Draw' book!

Now before you all release your bladders in excitement you should know it's not being picked up; this will be a self-publication of a single copy for a certain someone's Christmas present.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #102

Everything good is bad. The ultimate irony of life.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #101

Keep doing what you do Mr. Stine.

Birth

Finished in time for Halloween!

It was fun to depict the cleanest and least disgusting childbirth since the dawn of man.

Okay, off to find candy...

Have Pencil, Will Draw #100

Still here!

Have Pencil, Will Draw #99

It's weird drawing him with a smile.

Babies!

More pretty faces

Some quick sketches. 

Have Pencil, Will Draw #98

They're Halloween lights, in case you were wondering.

Cigar Break

A quick redesign of a character from my 'Ray' project from art school.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #97

Where can I get a leather wingback chair fairly cheap?

Yeeeakh! Color!

Something a little different. It was actually pretty fun to work on.

Slightly annoyed I went through three variations of 'Yuck'.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #96

And after that a live poetry reading on this week's 'Sorry, Never Heard of You'.

Hey, where are her feet?

Another prosperous work day. Lunch breaks are overrated...

Have Pencil, Will Draw #95

Susan B. Anthony would be proud...of other things.

Go Go Nineties Fashion!!!

Have Pencil, Will Draw #94

The donut isle is just so much more fun.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #93

So, like a T-18? T-20 maybe?

Have Pencil, Will Draw #92

Actually, it doesn't look that bad...

Fire & Ice

There comes a time during each piece where you have to to clock out before you nitpick it to death. 

I actually finished this a few days ago but I've been rather busy putting together a portfolio to send to Disney. Their animation studio has called for story artists and I am heeding said call. I know the odds are stacked pretty high but this is too big not to take a chance. 

Have Pencil, Will Draw #91

Other names brainstormed were 'Coelacanth' and 'The Screeching Eel'.

The inking

I wish color wasn't such a necessity in a finished piece; I always thought it obscured the linework. 

Icicle Lizard

My idea is to have a little ice elemental lizard pet for the character in the next piece to contrast with her fire theme. It's the new-aged Odd Couple!

Roughs, roughs and rougher roughs

Top right wins in my book. I think hers is the weakest silhouette but her pose is still my favorite; plus that one strikes me as the least cliche'. 

Roughs, rougher roughs and silhouettes

This second page of roughs are of a preliminary quality that I usually don't post, but I think the earlier stepping stones of a project are just as vital--if not as pretty--as the more glamorized steps. 

The silhouettes are something I don't often do when creature design is concerned, but this particular beast is going to be of the vaguely constructed, paranormal type; perfect for this kind of amorphous approach. 

Have Pencil, Will Draw #90

I'm sorry to report the most fundamental law of the universe is not entirely accurate.

No seriously, do not try them.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #89

Seriously, what's the point of zombie stories now?

Storm

This piece hopefully emphasizes my ever-surfacing philosophy of hiding the monster. Originally the sea beast was fully silhouetted against the lightning but I found it much more eerie thinning up the shadow and letting glimpses of the detail peek through, particularly the eye. I'm also hoping the chaos of the scene will overshadow the dumb joke I threw in. 

Speaking of subtlety--which we weren't, directly--I'd like to take a moment to explain the drabness in my titles. I like to think that I stay away from pretentious art cliches--I'm talking artsy shit, not necessarily the design concepts--which would include but is hardly limited to overzealous, over thought out names. I don't do that kind of hackneyed garbage any brain-dead dog could do were you to throw a paintbrush in its mouth; and I don't proceed to wrap it up in a stifling heap of philosophical jargon and pretentious ploys, polished with a meaningless name that sounds earthly rhythmic and romantically alluring but is in actuality the result of an hours worth of playing dictionary darts. 

I don't do that; you couldn't pay me enough to do that (well you could but your family line would be broke). My art is about visual entertainment coupled with character-driven storytelling. It's as simple and complex as that; and this approach warrants very little attention to the naming convention. The titles aren't unimportant, unless you're comparing it to absolutely any other part of the art process. Were I to entitle this piece "Surfacing Redemption" or "Salacious Encumbrance" or "jcie4..ieo" or "flabbibibible" it shouldn't alter a thing; the piece is still what it is. To me it's like naming a shot from a storyboard. 

I suppose I should be adding little snippets like this every time I post...though I can list at least a few hundred negatives for turning an art blog into a journal--hell, ANY kind of blog. 

But I'm the cynical type. 

Have Pencil, Will Draw #88

We heard the call, and it had whiskey on its breath.

Have Pencil, Will Draw #87

And we had to pay for movie channels! What is this, the dark ages?!?

Have Pencil, Will Draw #86

Don't tell me! I don't think I could handle it...

Have Pencil, Will Draw #85

Can't even use it as a paperweight; thing keeps rolling away.
But I wanna' tell ya...

Have Pencil, Will Draw #84

Nothing like a healthy dose of cynicism to kill the party. 

Sketching in paradise

Some warmup babes--er, sketches plus some preliminary designs for the next portfolio piece.

Designs were inspired by Camile from 'Death in Paradise'. Great show.