New resolutions

Maybe it's silly, a bit delusional even, but this past New Year's Eve felt like a fresh start. I celebrated with some very good friends, and maybe that's part of it - but I feel hopeful about 2011, I really do. Lately, I just haven't enjoyed drawing at all (which my lack of blog posts will attest to), so my new year's resolution was either going to be to draw more, or to quit drawing completely.

I've decided to let doubt be a thing I leave behind in 2010. If and when I draw, it's going to be because I want to. 2011 is going to be the year I take my artwork to new places, creatively and even geographically. On the other hand, if I do decide to quit drawing, I'll find a new pursuit and I won't look back. Whatever I decide to do, I will do it wholeheartedly. I'm barrelling full speed ahead towards an unknown goal, and I quite like it.

113

One of my pals, Johan B, is getting married next summer and he asked me to illustrate the wedding invitations. Considering that this is a day that will hopefully live in their memories "till death do them part," it was very flattering to be associated with this in some small way. Johan and Pia had a very clear idea of what they wanted, which was very liberating for me in a way, because that meant I could focus completely on making their vision a reality, to the best of my abilities.

108

Drew this a couple of months ago. Originally, I wasn't even going to post this, for two reasons.
One, well, it's just not very good, is it? Kinda sloppy, 10-minute sketch. Meh.
Two, super-heroes are already over-represented in this blog. In the last few months, I've read and enjoyed stuff like The Walking Dead (zombie horror), Scott Pilgrim (romance/alternative), Persepolis (autobiography), The Rocketeer (pulp adventure) and From the Ashes (post-apocalyptic comedy), just to name a few. It's just that super-heroes lend themselves better to this kind of sketchblog. Sure, I could draw Scott Pilgrim, but unless it's drawn in Bryan Lee O'Malley's idiosyncratic style, it probably wouldn't even be recognizable as Scott Pilgrim. Likewise, it doesn't make sense for me to draw Marjane Satrapi (from Persepolis) since I'm not Marjane Satrapi. Hence: super-heroes. Recognizable entities that I can give my own interpretation to.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is, I read a lot of other things too.
Sometimes books without pictures, even.

107

A friend of mine who is a photographer told me that a sub-par color photo will almost always look better in black & white. Presumably it looks more thought out and maybe even a little artsy. Interestingly enough, I find that for artwork, the opposite seems to hold true. Even a quick, silly sketch like this looks much more professional and finished with even the most basic of colors applied.

104

(click to enlarge)

Another quick sketch I drew at work when I had nothing to do. Might explain why he looks so miserable.

So I've been thinking about repurposing this blog a bit. I started this thing as a way to exercise my drawing hand and to advertise my artwork. Now, I'm gonna try updating a little more often, but unfortunately I haven't drawn much lately. So, I figure, I'm going to give it a shot supplementing the occasional sketch or artwork with regular text posts without artwork. Revolutionary, I know.

So there it is. If you have any input, don't be shy, post a comment. Whether you think "this is great news, can't wait to read more" or "just shut the hell up and show us more purty pictures", now's the time to let me know.

103

Okay, so I was out drinking with some friends tonight and I decided to draw something, as an experiment. Trouble is, by the time I got home I was no longer drunk but just slightly buzzed. So this is what I ended up with. It looks sufficiently different from my usual stuff that I thought it was interesting but I don't feel like it's completely successful. I was hoping for spontaneous and inventive but it just feels more sloppy than anything else. Next time I try this, I'm gonna be falling-off-the-chair-drunk. We're talking serious lack of hand-to-eye coordination; that ought to look interesting...

100

So... post #100! Should be something special, to celebrate, right? Well, this is in color... that's pretty cool, right? And what could be more special than... Santa Claus... oh, just go with it...
This was a last-minute idea - drawing my own little adress tag for my Christmas presents last year. Colored with color pencils (instead of markers or computer colors) to give it a little bit of that appropriate, old-timey feel.
And speaking of color, scroll down to post #86 for a special update.

099

My pal Ida asked me to draw her something for christmas last year. So I did this little thing for her on the inside of a gift certificate envelope. I was going for kind of a fish-eye lens effect with the peace sign there, which I didn't quite pull off, but that's okay. She said it was "AWEsome", so what more could you ask?
As for the comics story I'm working on, I've now got three pages roughed out and fully scripted. Still a lot of work to be done, but it's progressing nicely so far, I must say. Hope to have the whole story roughed out by the end of the week. Fingers crossed!
Next post will be post #100!!! This should probably be celebrated somehow... Hmmm.

086

I felt like drawing a few forgotten super-heroes. This fella's Atoman. He appeared in two issues of his own comic in 1946.

UPDATE: Some brazilian guy "borrowed" this picture for his blog. It feels kinda weird being pirated. No hard feelings, although I would've appreciated if he had acknowledged that I drew it or, at least kept my signature on it, which he removed when he colored it.
This is what it looks like in color:

(click to enlarge)