Month: January 2014

30 Days of Drawing… day 20

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Bruce

30days-202/3 of the way done with the challenge and today gave me some time to catch up on a few things… including getting some neglected stuff together for some conventions I’ll have a table at – The INDYpendent Show and Indy Pop Con. Both look like they should be fun and educational (especially for me).

Today’s drawing is actually roughing out some ideas for the Circle City Aerodrome art show I have been asked to be a part of- another thing on my to do list that I need to take care of (deadline in 7 days).  I’ve always enjoyed the aesthetic of Steampunk, even going to the Lego Steampunk session at Brickworld Chicago last year.  I just need to decide what I’m actually going to do.  To use one of my favorite quotes “One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.”  So what do I give up to start delving into the realm of steampunk or cosplay?

This is, of course, a portrait of Sir Cecil. E. M. Ookington-Smythe KBE DFC on his faithful steed “Bernice” after returning from “abroad” (Sir Cecil never did explain whether it was forward or backward through his chronovortex.)  The original artist is unknown and presumed eaten.

30 Days of Drawing… Day 18

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Bruce


30days-18Today I attended a wonderful workshop today dealing with chemistry in classroom.  It was lots of fun and reminded me of an old character I created almost a decade ago- Dr. Roswell W. Gigabyte.  The silliest thing about this character is I really never drew him, I had instead created the character out of clay and he hung out in the Computer Lab of the school I worked at.  He ended up being something I placed in photos I took at school as kind of a “Where’s Waldo?” activity for the students… It helps a lot if the kids know that they are supposed to look for a character.  Roswell met a horrible end when I was teaching a class in clay animation one summer and left him (and all the other characters I had made) in the backseat of my car… yuck!

30 Days of Drawing… day 17

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Bruce

There are some days you just feel like a dinosaur…

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It has been a long week and I decided since I have a workshop to attend tomorrow I needed to quickly get my required drawing done and relax.  I started this doodle somewhere around 8:30 PM  I’m posting it at 9:15 (ish) 45 minutes for a colored doodle.  Not too shabby.  While the race is always won by the quickest, sometimes it helps.

30 Days of Drawing… Day 16

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Bruce

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This summer it’s MINI Takes The States again.  Again I’m planning on going (at least part way- curse you school starting the first week of August).  Over the years Cecil has created a following on these things, it started at MINI United and this merry little band has grown each year.  This year I’ve been designing badges for members each with a different MINIon.  So I sketched out this one for MINIon #1701.  I’m still working on a bunch of these, and hopefully will get them finished in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished work…

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30 days of Drawing… day 15

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Bruce

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What Ho!  It’s time for an adventure!  While I never played a fighter/warrior in any roleplaying games I decided a happy go lucky guy with a sword was an interesting doodle for today.  As for role playing in “Advanced D&D” my best character was an assassin (Lawful Evil). Sneaking around removing obstacles (and characters who got too full of themselves).  In College we played MERP (an off shoot of ICE) and I played a magic user with a lot of sword skills.  He usually wandered around with a katana (c’mon Highlander was big) looking like a low level adventurer until a fireball came rushing towards the unaware evil creatures.  That was one thing I did like about those games… we weren’t allowed to have evil characters since we were out battling evil.  When I tried WOW I ended up with a rogue and a wizard.  I stopped playing because it got pretty repetitive, and I don’t play well with others.  I’m looking forward to getting back into roleplaying sometime, just don’t know when.

 

30 Days of Drawing… Day 14

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Bruce

30-days--14Almost 4 years ago I did something scary… really scary.  I started this comic strip.  Today I again was told by the Professional review board for the San Diego Comic Con that after reviewing my work in their eyes I am a Professional.  I, once again, am in shock.  When I went out to visit my parents over the holidaze I was reminded that I tend to talk down about myself… It’s just the way I am.  I always know I can do better.  You just have to look at the beginning of this comic strip to see that.  To have some people look at my art and say “he is worthy” just blows my mind.

As for today’s comic… If you’ve ever seen me at a Comic Convention this is how I tend to look.  This drawing is basically “who me?”  Which was how I felt after getting the email today, reading it over and over again.  The shirt is actually a scan of the shirt I have, because anyone can wear a Hawaiian shirt.

30 days of Drawing… Day 13

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Bruce

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So today was the first day back to school and things went well.  Tonight was the GiG (Girl’s in Geocaching) monthly dinner, this time held at Gramboli’s Pizza.  Being a geocaching event, that meant it would go long because there are a lot of friendly people and because we as a group would overwhelm the waitstaff.  This means that I don’t have a lot of time for my daily drawing.  As you know I regularly draw on the whiteboard at Gramboli’s so to help people know where to go for the event I drew a quick drawing of Cecil and when the event was over I drew the famous Gramboli’s dog again.  Both of which not my best work, but I’m reminded that a fellow artist said over the weekend that his goal was to speed up his drawing, I think I really need to work on slowing down mine.  Who knows?  Maybe some day I’ll be able to take a day and work on just one drawing… nah! never happen!

30 Days of Drawing… Day 12

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Bruce


30-days-12Today was a day of meetings, so instead of relaxing and getting mentally prepared for the first day back to school (Weather Permitting) I bounced around planning meetings.  One of these meetings got me thinking about this challenge and how to best address some things that I know I fall into.  Instead of drawing an action pose, or something interesting, I draw a guy… standing… looking awkward or cool or something.  You see the Indy Webcomics Group is planning on a session for teens on drawing comics… and we talked about adding emotion and facial expressions and life to your drawing.  So today I decided (after getting home for my next meeting  & dinner) to in the short time I give myself for these things, draw something not just a character standing… my solution- three monkeys standing!  Still working on some things and hopefully in the next 18 days and beyond I will continue to work on creating more interesting images.  But for today, this will have to do- I’ve got to get ready for what the day will bring me tomorrow- and yes, I’m afraid… very afraid.

30 Days of Drawing… day 11

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Bruce


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I’m brushing up on some old character designs for future use… Thanks again to Mike Altman who said I wasn’t allowed to draw Monkeys (for some strange reason) when I was in a drawing workshop he ran.  After I vetoed llamas (under the excuse that they couldn’t tell me the difference between a llama and an alpaca) I was given raccoons- which led to a lovely raccoon filled arc.  Who knows I might try a Rocket Raccoon doodle before the month is out.

Today, I finally was able to pick up this week’s comics (still need to actually read them)  Sadly, I have gotten to the point where I’m not reading as much “mainstream” stuff.  With the “New 52” at DC and the current destruction of the Ultimate Marvel Universe (I know it’s going to come back in a few months, but still could we do without all the world ending drama and just tell a good character driven story.  SO what was in my comic stack this week?  Invincible Universe #9, The Walking Dead #119 (Since I don’t have cable anymore, this is how I get my zombie fix), Manifest Destiny #3, The Shaolin Cowboy #4, Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #3, Earth 2 #19, Hinterkind #4, and Fairest #22.  None of these are all ages, none of these are really geared towards kids.  4 Image titles, 2 Vertigo, 1 Dark Horse, 1 Marvel, and 1 DC.  I know Vertigo is DC, but still…

Tonight I had the chance to try out Marvel Legendary… If you didn’t know I’m not into Collectible Card Games.  I’ve tried a few and really just never really go into them much.  I did the whole collectible miniature game thing starting with MageKnights, and moving to Heroclix.  As the rules kept changing I finally stopped playing them.  So what did I think of Marvel Legendary?  Interesting game play, but I still need to work on actual game… I don’t think it helped that we decided to go against Galactus, that would be like sending Miles Morales against Galactus- Oh, wait, that’s what’s going on in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.  Will I play it again?  If that’s the game chosen I’ll try it again.  Will I go out a buy it?  I don’t think so.  I bought Ticket to Ride, Quarriors, Boss Monster, and a bunch of other games after playing them once, Marvel Legendary just didn’t hit me like those other ones did.  I may grow to like it,  but I’m not sure.