More Routine

Another day, another post. I'm totally not feeling well and chances are I won't feel well again for another two weeks. Hopefully I'll be getting drained before the weekend but if not I'll have to wait until Monday. I'm getting some routine surgery Monday and they'll have to drain me in order to perform it. Anyway, let's get right to the art. One more update, two more pieces.

Masks

Bat

Alright, so the first is my usual graphite and Sharpie Marker mix. I had gotten so used to the Sharpies and had so much fun with them. They don't smear and they have very little bleed out although they do bleed through. Unlike other markers I've used, Sharpies were cheap, permanent, and were great with regular smooth paper. They're not easy to work with and as far as markers go they're really not the best but they still provided what I needed, color. The second is a sketch of a bat. It's pretty self explanatory. A sketch of an animal to increase my creature design skills and dragons, a very common creature in fantasy art, has bat-like wings. I just used pencils for this. Anyway, that's it for this post. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

If You Prick Me, Do I Not Bleed?

No update in a while because I fell ill again. It's really not that big of a surprise as I am chronically ill and so these things crop up quite often. Today I'm feeling well enough to post so I'm doing just that. I'll try to keep posting as long as I feel well to make up for the time lost. Anyway, here's two sketches/pieces for your enjoyment.

Bleeding Jersey

Shark 2

The first is a simple red sharpie drawing of New Jersey (my home state) as if it were shaped by dripping blood. I love New Jersey and sometimes I imagine if I bled enough it would end up in this shape. My blood courses with New Jersey pride. The second is another sketch of a Shark and yet another in the long line of animal drawings I've done. I don't like this one as much as the other and I almost considered not uploading it. It was a fun sketch though and was probably one of my first animal drawings so I thought I should show it. It's done in pencil but that should be obvious.

I've got a buttload more pieces to share and finish a couple more every day. Stay with me and keep reading. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

My First Strathmore and Moleskine

I never really paid attention to what paper I was drawing on until this past August when I decided to take a more deliberate and serious approach to my art. I was in the hospital and you can only watch so many movies and TV shows, play so many card games and board games, and sleep so many hours before you feel you're going to quietly die of boredom in your sleep. I had some ideas I wanted to put to paper and asked my parents for a notebook, a sketchpad, a pencil, and a pen. They came back with a Moleskine notebook and a Strathmore 400 Series 6"x8" drawing pad.

The Strathmore 400 Series drawing pad is great. Spiral bound so it lays flat and pages aren't easily removed. It's the perfect pad to take with you everywhere. Amazing with pencil drawings and India Ink. I've used it for markers (crayola because Prismacolor and Sharpie will bleed through), color pencils, and charcoal. I find that 6"x8" is a great size as it's not too small but small enough that it's portable. I also have pads of other sizes for less portable applications. I've bought other drawing pads and sketch books but the weight and texture of this paper is my favorite.

Now a quick note on the Molskine brand notebooks. Moleskine pads and books has several great aspects to them that make them worth their elevated price. They have usually have a built-in book mark, an elastic band attached to the cover that helps keep it closed, it always lays flat, and it has an expandable pocket that is useful for storing scraps of paper. I only possess a ruled notebook but I've seen and felt their watercolor paper and I have wanted one ever since then. I use Strathmore Windpower and 400 Series for my watercolor and mixed media works but the Moleskine watercolor paper seems a little heavier and smoother. I'll let you know more about it when I purchase my own.

Gesture Dragon

BONUS SKETCH
Did this from a picture in a magazine. I used a graphite stick and didn't erase. If you've never tried it, don't erase at all in a sketch or two. I find that it's a good exercise in building confidence.Thanks for reading about my Brainsplosion.

Links

Strathmore

Moleskine

Sharpie

Prismacolor 

Getting Into The Groove

I have two more pieces for all my readers out there just as promised. I've been determined to stay away from updating every day as I'm afraid my huge backlog will disappear and then I won't be able to keep up with the demands of this blog. I'm right on schedule with this post even though I was in the throws of medication side effects for the passed couple of days. I won't go into details but even though I've discontinued its use I'm still feeling its effects. Anyway, here are the two pieces I've promised.

Catch Yourself

Iguana

The first piece is a mixed media piece. I used pencil to sketch the hand and sharpie markers to color the blocks. This was around the same time I did Brainsplosion and a lot of the other pieces I'll be uploading. The second is a sketch of an iguana from a picture I found on the internet. This and the previous brown-headed skink sketch are from a series of animals I drew to try to get the hang of real animals in an attempt to bolster my own creature design. That's it for this post. I'll keep you all updated and hopefully no more medications or medical disasters will keep me down. Thanks for reading about my Brainsplosion.

Something Old and Something New

I've got a considerably large backlog of sketches. I've filled several sketchbooks and continue to do so. My plan is to share with you at least one old sketch and one new sketch each post. So here they are. First is something old, then something new.

Brainsplosion

Brown-headed Skink

The first piece, "Brainsplosion," was a pencil drawing that I colored with sharpie markers. I have quite a wide array of sharpie marker colors and a lot of my early color work is done with them. The second piece is a sketch of a brown-headed skink. It was from a picture I saw in an over sized book on reptiles from the clearance section of my local Borders. It's probably one of my favorite places to sketch. Thanks for reading about my Brainsplosion.