Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Squirrelin' around.

One of my friends has a band in Santa Cruz, CA, and as their mascot they've chosen a squirrel with antlers (for obvious reasons I think; squirrels=awesome). So of my own accord I've been sketching around that idea. I'm a huge fan of animals in clothing so I decided to put the squirrel in a suit. Whenever I draw animals in clothing I tend to gravitate towards turn of the century garb and that of the 1920s. This probably has something to do with the illustrations in Alice in Wonderland and The Wind and the Willows including influence by Edward Gorey. Once viewing this fancy squirrel it seemed only natural that he should be framed. I found two different frames on the internet to insert our mascot in and couldn't decide which one I liked better so here are both for your viewing pleasure.

The simpler one is more classic, but the wreath is more woodsy. Maybe next time I'll put him in a top hat and monocle and add a mustache...



Sunday, June 7, 2009

Lila warm-up



I actually started with a different source photographic for the Mother's Day painting that I did of my cousin Lila. Here is a warm up sketch for that one. You'll notice a tinier outline of her head within the larger one as I struggled to get the proportions right. Before starting any final piece I've found that it's a good idea to draw the subject in a sketch book a few times to familiarize yourself with subjects proportions and train your hand to draw it correctly. It's amazing how much the slightest alteration in shading or position will change the entire drawing. It could mean the difference between an artful portrait, or a skewed caricature. I really like the way the sleeves are rendered in this drawing. It reminds me of the penwork I did on those E.T. sketches a while back. I'll have to figure out how to recreate that effect more often.

So far I've gotten two submissions for my photo blog challenge which I plan on getting to soon, but I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get more. Once again send in your photos to be sketched at dailysketch17@gmail.com. I dare you.