The Doodle Bug

“burnt out” – digital (4x7”) did this back in, oh…2002 or 2003 I think. it was to support a friend trying to quit smoking. it didn’t work but it was a good attempt. today is national no tobacco day…I quit a long, long time ago, and man that was not easy! but I did it, and am so happy I was able to… “Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) holds World No Tobacco Day on May 31. Their goal is to spread awareness about the risks of tobacco use and how we can make the world tobacco free. Roughly 6 million people die from tobacco-related ailments every year. And that number is projected to rise to over 8 million by 2030. But this is by no means a guarantee. The Sustainable Development Agenda aims to reduce deaths from noninfectious diseases by a third. Diseases linked to tobacco are on the list, so if we hit the target, 2030 will be a year to celebrate (oh yea!)—not only for our health, but the size of our wallets. Your average smoker drops around $4,000 on cigarettes annually. Imagin

“simon the brain tumor gets the eviction notice” concept sketches (4/15/22) lol, if you guys ever really read my notes you truly know i cannot spell…and i’m ok with that, at least in my sketchbooks. some of you know where this idea spawned from, and for those of you who don’t, well that will just have to be a tale for another time… (oh, the suspense!) this is me trying to attain accountability here from all of you. i am going to give inktober another go this fall. i’m gonna do it! follow through, follow through! but this time, i’m more determined than ever. here is the plan…i am going to make “simon the brain tumor” into a comic strip…not sure how long or any of those things. i know nothing about any of the comic strip technical terms. but have been studying “calvin and hobbes” and other great strips to learn more about all of this. cause its magic right now. the first strip (or whatever it’s called) will be about simon getting a surprising letter in the mail, an eviction notice…(snick

gondola creature concept (pencil, ballpoint, brush pen) so, as it happens, i decided to pull out another old sketchbook yesterday and these sketches, this concept was in there...this is an oldie. not sure from which version of me it spawned. truly. i thought excitedly to myself..."hey, wait! i did a pencil sketch of this, the version i decided to use when i finally get around to doing the painting. um...hmmm. didn't i put that on the bulletin board?" pushing aside art receipts and tax crap, i unearthed that very sketch. "huzzah!" as anyone who knows my work knows that this is another style, i haven't messed around with in years. many years. i actually think it's quite healthy to have different styles to play around with. some might disagree, i don't know... for me it brings new opportunities to explore my creativity. gives me new chances to experiment. gives me new ways to have fun. all that is freedom i wholeheartedly welcome into my creative life.

meditating robot sketch (ballpoint pen) as i got back to my buddhist practice more recently this idea came to me. i thought, hey robots must really need to meditate, they think way too much! so this is my meditating robot. this image has a lot of buddhist symbolism (if you check my notes, you can see my thoughts on what i want to include in this painting). i was going to put him under the cherry blossom tree...where he could gain enlightenment...but looking at this sketch now...maybe this is a cooler layout...i don't know. maybe he hasn't gained enlightenment yet and so he wouldn't be under the bodhi tree...(hmmm). the painting will be more vertical in the end, and i'm thinking of adding floating lanterns around him to give a cool lighting effect. the candle he's holding in his left hand will also throw some warm light under his face, so we will be drawn to it. oh and of course a big ol' moon behind that tree (can you make it out in the sketch?) lots of stars. m

mammal studies (pencil) couldn't resist sharing some animals today, and so i chose some mammals. love them all, but you know i dig big cats, so i suppose i most enjoyed drawing the lions. as a dear friend once explained to me: "all animals are cool to me". and i concur. enjoy this day guys...it's fantastic outside and the studio windows are wide open! be well...

random kid studies (pencil) from the sketchbook of...me. these, like all other studies, are total fun for me. i definitely need to do more of these kid studies very soon. they are so very important for a children's book illustrator, and quite frankly i don't do enough of them! hope you find a way to revert to that wonderful child's mind, first today, but later...forever...be well.

  "the dalai lama" (pencil, 5x8") continuing on with these sketchbook challenge portraits. being a buddhist, the dalai lama was an obvious choice for me. the dalai lama was on my list and for some reason i instantly wanted him to be next one. not sure how i know what's next, but it's apparently clear to me at decision time. the dalai lama portrait took me a while. over two or three days. i had many distractions during the process and i kept wanting to get back to it when i had other things that just had to be done. it was simply killing me! (ugh, attachments) but sometimes that's just the way it is. it probably took like 2 or 3 hours all said and done. this is becoming a common time for me when doing these portraits. a great practice. (see what i did there? buddhist pun). i know who is next, but i'll keep that a secret for now...i'm planning on taking a more whimsical, caricature approach. i have a few reasons for this upcoming style change and i'

female head studies (pencil) thought you might enjoy some of my head studies, and today it's all women. i randomly see things on the internet or in books and i immediately think "i need to draw that!". always trying to learn from different styles, angles, perspectives, expressions...whatever it is, they catch my eye and i just know...

  hand studies (pencil) since i posted some dragon studies yesterday, i thought i'd post some of my hand studies today. again, the originals aren't mine, but drawing from other, more experienced artists is how i learn best, so there ya go... hands are a true challenge even in a whimsical style. when i do these studies, i almost always leave the experience understanding better how hands work. that's important to me. i love doing these studies...but i'd have to say that my favorite drawn hands are from disney's sword in the stone. such a great style. i should probably already know that artist's name, or the other artists who drew for that movie, but i don't...

dragon studies (pencil) as you probably know, i love dragons. a dragon study is always pertinent, and time well spent so this is one of mine. i should have written down which dragon belongs to what artist...but i guess i'll just have to do that next time! i don't think i recall what these studies were for...a painting, a finished drawing, or just for the simple pleasure of doing it...who knows? i don't think a real reason is ever required for some good ol' dragon mayhem...

"poe" (pencil, 5x8") still working on my sketchbook challenge, is this day 5 or 6? i can't flippin' remember. anyway, it's a daily thing now...which is what i probably need more of... i couldn't resist doing another portrait, it might be apparent that i'm diggin' portraits and pencil right now. i do have fun with them, i especially love drawing hair. clothing is fun and so are faces, and, and...and... have a better day than most of poe's...truly. poor lil' poe. aw. i think he's probably having much better days now tho (um, yeah...oh dear)...

  "the samurai lion" (pencil sketch, 8x5in) i made a sculpture of this samurai lion, my spirit animal. he's situated in a place on my drawing table where i can look at him frequently when i am thinking. he's a very calm presence in the studio, and that's exactly why i created him. why a lion? i love cats, and the bigger the better. why a samurai? cause they are disciplined, contemplative, strong of spirit, and fierce when they need to be, like a lion. i thought it perfectly fitting that this should be my spirit animal...

i was just messing around trying to figure out what a hyperlapse video might look like so i recorded myself sketching this lil mechanical dude. i actually liked that way the doodle came out, so i taped it to a page in the sketchbook that i'm using for this challenge. ( finder's keepers )

"leonardo da vinci portrait" (pencil - 5x8in.) i have always been a huge fan of this amazing individual. but then i found this fantastic audiobook the other day, "thoughts on art and life by da vinci". i listened to it twice as i cleaned my studio that afternoon and i was simply blown away. i knew he was a brilliant man and a true creative genius, but what i didn't know was all the things he thought about and later wrote down...wow. i'm not sure if he considered that people might someday read his words, or later study his works with quiet amazement like they have and still do today...but, yeah...man! so, i obviously highly recommend this book to you, even if you aren't an artist. the man was a profound thinker...at the very least. he changed the world because of the way he perceived himself and the world around him. he also had the foresight to share his genius with mankind, so cool...

i spent my morning with mark twain! the prompt was comet...(Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835—two weeks after the perihelion of Halley’s Comet. “I came in with Halley’s Comet,” Mark Twain commented in 1909. “It is coming again next year. The Almighty has said, no doubt, ‘Now there are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’” He died on April 21, 1910—one day after the comet had once again reached its perihelion. - laphamsquarterly.org) ha! i just learned that yesterday and when i saw that the prompt for this morning was comet, well...the choice was obvious!

[prompt: flower] i just started my sketchbook challenge to finish a small sketchbook in one month with a daily prompt. this image was based on a picture pam took of a flower in our park yesterday. she discovered later that it looked like there was a tiny face in the middle of the flower, so i thought that would be a perfect thing to draw for the first day of the challenge.

Alice in Wonderland - a portrait of my mom's cat, Alice (original pic)   this was the mother's day gift i made for my mom this year. it was going to be a card, but then i decided it should be a print so she could frame it if she wanted to. i'm thinking based on her reaction that she kinda liked it. (aw, ma)

a 3 hr. morning study of steve hogarth, the lead singer from marillion. i always wanted to draw or paint his portrait, such character in that face of his!