Doodle Practice

adventuresinartrage: doodlepractice: I took screenshots at...

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:12:09 +0000

doodlepractice:

I took screenshots at various stages of the creation of the neon in my last post. I’ve posted them here, just in case anyone was interested. :)

The background was created by laying down marks of paint with a fully loaded oil brush and blending and blurring them together with the palette knife.

The sketch was made on a separate layer that I used until I’d roughed in the body shaped and fins.

This is wonderful!

Thanks - I’m glad someone liked it. I almost didn’t post because it wasn’t very detailed. :)

I took screenshots at various stages of the creation of the neon...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:27:00 +0000

I took screenshots at various stages of the creation of the neon in my last post. I’ve posted them here, just in case anyone was interested. :)

The background was created by laying down marks of paint with a fully loaded oil brush and blending and blurring them together with the palette knife.

The sketch was made on a seperate layer that I used until I’d roughed in the body shaped and fins.

I just realised that I didn’t post last weekend’s...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:22:00 +0000

I just realised that I didn’t post last weekend’s practice piece… a picture of a Neon Tetra I did for my partner.

I was pretty pleased with this one. :)

ArtRage using the Oil and Watercolour brushes, the pallete knife and a bit of airbrushing at the end.

It’s the weekend again so here’s my practice piece...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:16:37 +0000

It’s the weekend again so here’s my practice piece for tonight.

I decided to go for something completely outside my comfort zone. I don’t like doing messy drawings - it doesn’t feel natural to me so I thought I’d try a quick gesture drawing with ArtRage’s pencil and chalk tools.

The result of one squiggly line led to Lady Tiggy taking her pampered dog Fifi for a walk. Isn’t art fun? :)

This was a practice piece in ArtRage (I’m trying to get...

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:13:34 +0100

This was a practice piece in ArtRage (I’m trying to get used to the tools in ArtRage).

I’ve never been able to paint clouds so this was a challenging piece for me. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out even though I didn’t really start with any particular aim or reference photo.

Painted solely using the Oil Brush and the Palette knife.

Imagine if you looked at a certain popular breakfast-confection...

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:17:24 +0100

Imagine if you looked at a certain popular breakfast-confection and feline hybrid through a telescope as it streaked across your meme-filled world. What would you see?

Thanks to my financeé being obsessed with all things meme, it was inevitable that sooner or later she’d suggest that I create something like this.

Created in ArtRage.

A cautionary tale of honey and razorblades

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:33:59 +0100

Once upon a time there was a little shrew called Bob.

Bob was a very concientious little shrew and was always careful to have a shave every day before he left for work. It wouldn’t do to be seen with morning stubble when one was such an important shrew at the acorn exchange.

One morning he rose a little late from his comfortable bed of dried leaves and had to hurry through his morning ritual of washing, shaving and breakfasting if he was to catch the seven-thirty hedgehog to The Great Oak.

As he was late, Bob quickly ate a honey and earthworm sandwich before he rushed into the bathroom for his morning wash and shave. As he began to shave he realised that the blade was dull so he quickly opened the box of fresh blades with his furry little paws. Unfortunately his paws were still sticky with honey and the blades went everywhere!

Bob tried his best to pick them up but each blade he touched became as sticky as the last. Soon, instead of being a clean-shaven shrew-about-town he was a razor-festooned bleeding mess.

Bob was never seen at The Great Oak Acorn Exchange again but I’ve heard that if you frequent the Hedgehog Station late at night, you might encounter a bedraggled stooped character weighed down by an immense sticky beard of metal and honey.

Beware gentle reader and heed this tale of caution! Don’t shave after a repast of earthworms and honey or this sad tale of woe could be a sad tale of you!

This strange little story started life as an empty blog post. I’m not sure what possessed me but I found myself typing the tale of an unfortunate shrew instead of the pointless drivel that I’d been thinking about. I guess this was more interesting to my subconcious. :)

I’m trying to get my 100 themes attempt going again. I saw...

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:12:00 +0000

I’m trying to get my 100 themes attempt going again. I saw “Kick in the head” and thought of a wildlife documentary I saw once. It showed the reason why lions don’t often hunt giraffes. Nobody likes a kick in the head. Giraffes are so cool. :D

Coloured ballpoint pens on bog-standard photocopier paper.

I decided to ditch some of my earlier attempts at the 100 themes...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:35:06 +0000

I decided to ditch some of my earlier attempts at the 100 themes challenge and pretty much start again. I’ve been struggling to get drawing since earlier this year so I needed a mental kick up the ass.

Here’s my piece for “Dark”, with a generic retelling of every child’s irrational fear of what lurks when the lights go out. In this case something couldn’t wait.
Everybody loves a good tentacle, don’t they? ^^

I deliberately didn’t worry about getting the lines straight as I was just enjoying doodling.

Wow - it’s been a while. After a family death in January...

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:34:53 +0000

Wow - it’s been a while. After a family death in January my drawing hand lost its mojo and I haven’t drawn anything since.

I finally drew something and, rushed (and therefore tat) though it is, I thought I’d post it to celebrate. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t fit into my 100 themes list anywhere.

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is “Fairy...

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is “Fairy Tale”.

It’s a tribute to all those poor frogs that were sat minding their own business before being set upon by crazy princess types obsessed with the idea of finding their prince.

I spent about ten minutes on this on a random notepad with some cheap coloured ballpoints from WHSmiths. Totally minimal effort, I’ll admit.

A slight diversion Although I created this blog to follow my...

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:46:00 +0000

10 minutes test doodle of some new pens

Practice portrait

Silly 15 minute doodle

A slight diversion

Although I created this blog to follow my progress on the 100 theme challenge, I thought I’d post three pics that I’d done since ‘Waiting’. I think it’s a sign that the 100 theme challenge is working for me because I created these with no reference to the challenge at all - I’m actually drawing again without the motivation of the challenge.

I’m not abandoning the challenge - I really want to complete it, but it’s no longer the driving force behind my creativity. I’m going to try to pick a theme and draw something for it but if I draw something else - that’s cool too. The purpose of the challenge was to get me drawing, after all! :)

All three of the drawings here were done in ballpoint pens.

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is...

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:02:41 +0000

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is “Waiting”.

Every tadpole born spends every day eating as much as it can cram into its oversized mouth, waiting for the day that it can finally leave the water and pop to the shops for a pie.

Bic, Steadtler and Zebra Ballpoints on cartridge paper. It took about 60 minutes.

Inspiration finally hit me today after I finished work. :)

Black Bic Crystal Biro on cartridge paper. Time : Around 90 minutes.

Doodle #7, Theme #6 : Breakaway Continuing the 100 themes...

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:52:00 +0100

Doodle #7, Theme #6 : Breakaway

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is “Breakaway”. I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to do for this one so I deliberately left it for a few days until inspiration hit me.

Inspiration finally hit me today after I finished work. :)

Black Bic Crystal Biro on cartridge paper. Time : Around 90 minutes.

Here’s the story I made up to go with the pic :

As the nights turn darker and the temperature falls, the Elves of the North Pole become ever more nervous.

Soon, without warning, Santa’s press gangs will raid their little villages, rounding up slaves to make gifts for all the greedy little boys and girls of the world.

The wise ones watch Santa’s factory for the first hint of activity and when the furnaces begin belching smoke from their mighty chimneys they breakaway from their homes and head for the hills.

After Christmas they will return and discover how many of their loved ones survived the slave pens beneath Father Christmas’ home.

Doodle Theme #72 : Mischief Managed Continuing the 100...

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:40:00 +0100

Doodle Theme #72 : Mischief Managed

Continuing the 100 themes challenge, today’s theme is “Mischief Managed”. Strictly speaking, this is only the 5th doodle but I’ve used theme #72. :)

After Labour’s administration of the British government, it’s now the Conservative Party’s turn (with a little help from the Liberal Democrats). So far it seems that the new Prime Minister’s goal has been to undo all of the perceived mischief that the last government got up to so I thought this title was perfect. ^^

Put it this way - there was absolutely no way that I was going to do a Harry Potter themed doodle. The Internet is already saturated with fan art of that ilk.

This was a doodle at its purist - totally scrawled for fun with no consideration for accuracy. :)

About an hour - black ballpoint on cartridge paper

Finding my style

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:46:33 +0100

Yesterday I drew a doodle that was so bad that I had to remove the post about it. It made me cringe every time I saw it. I’ll keep it so I can cringe at it in a year and be able to say, ‘I’ve improved.’.

I think the reason I’m in such an artistic slump is because I don’t feel I have my own style. When I’m drawing I can’t seem to let go like I used to and just let the pen flow. The last time I felt that happen was when I drew an Ostrich in 2007. Since then something inside me got lost and I’ve not been able to reach that place where the pen becomes an extension of my mind.

I guess that’s the purpose of this blog and the daily doodle thing. I’m trying to find that spark again. Until then it makes me sad knowing what I once had has been lost.

Doodle of the day 1 - Thursday Thursdays are a weird kind of day...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Doodle of the day 1 - Thursday

Thursdays are a weird kind of day for me. They’re past the middle of the week (which is good) but they don’t quite have that ‘it’s almost the weekend’ feeling of Friday. As a result Thursdays can actually feel worse than Wednesdays. Weird.

Black ballpoint pen - about 5 minutes.