Whip It

I'm late! Everything is busy busy plus the ol "brighthouse" cable internet is exactly as unreliable as you might expect. Can't blame it all on a busy social schedule because I've been up to playing Katamari Damacy. Still...

Let's jump to it.

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THE BIG PICTURE

I've done posts like this one before. Here's the over all sheet of doodling and I'll follow up with a couple or so details. I had thought I'd be spending this post with the remainder of my Halloween scarecrows but due to the busy busy I mentioned above, I just don't have it in me to weed the rest out. Some were better than others...but I won't go on about that. I'm sorry to say that this page of sketching has suffered some smearing which made scanning a bit troublesome. I couldn't easily clean up the smears without removing the loose line work. I tried to reach a compromise though. If you're like me (good for you, if you are) you'll immediately take note of the spray can head guy, the hamburger, the doll with a spike over his head and the robot fellow. ..and those hands. I like those hands. I was fairly "on it" when I doodled this page. It feels soooooo good when I'm not thinking nutty things and I can just let this stuff flow.

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SPRAY CAN HEAD!

So here he is. Ain't he nice? Got that grin/grimace/gnash going on, eh? Plus that crazy crooked spray comin' out his head!! Face it, he's good. The downside, for me, is that its been done. Its frequently hard for me to continue with some things, knowing that someone out there might think I'm just copying someone else. Makes me nuts and I need to get passed it. One day.... Meanwhile, this guy is good. Even I can admit it. I don't know why I don't do more graffiti ( or any ).

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LITTLE ROBO GUY

I knew you'd like to see him up close (but that smearing is awful and I apologize). The things I like about this little character are his arms and legs shooting out from him, his nice round eyes, big white teeth and that wonderful antennae. I wanted energy in this little guy and I got it. Big thumbs up for little ol me. And there I thought I had no self esteem.

I really need to create a short story for each drawing I post. Let's say this little fellow pops out of a chimney...maybe the stack on an old train. ..or a new train. In fact, he sits within a pipe of a futuristic train and simulates the sounds of an old train by saying "Choo" each time he pops up. He pops up more and more frequently until he finally spins around in the air, whistling.

..and farting.

Thank you all!! Good Night!

Go Go

Halloween is nearly here. I'm surprised at the low number of creepy doodles I've created. I have a fair number of these little scarecrow things but I got so caught up in coming up with a new sort of scarecrow for each drawing, that I forgot about the whole Halloween creepy theme. Oh well.

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Pumpkin Head

Here is a tiny thing I drew this morning, with the intention of getting some creeps back into things. Something was lost in the scan in regards to the pumpkin itself. I'm not saying it was the best drawn pumpkin, ever, but its much better than the scan lets on. This doodle began, as I just said, with the intent of making something creepy. Therefore, I drew a ghoulish head with a bit of a scrawny neck. The more I looked at the neck, the more I thought it seemed vine-like and from there, the pumpkin seemed obvious. Might have been a larger pumpkin but I was already at the bottom of the page so...

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Scarecrow Hellbot

If his appearance won't scare off the crows, then he just rolls up and bite 'em. From somewhere in my head, I ended up with the desire to make this guy fat and simple. He's got a big eye for lookin' and some big teeth for bitin'. If he weren't surround by wheat (or something) then you'd see he has some treads on the bottom for movin'. The drawback to this scarecrow is that he destroys the fields as he moves about, chasing crows. C'est la vie!

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Perfect Scarecrow

One day, I had the thought that a cat related scarecrow would be very good but now, I've changed my mind. A little boy would be better. Here we have such a scarecrow, waiting patiently for his next victim. There's snow in the air because I felt the composition needed it. No other reason. Likewise, I couldn't resist using a mix of ink pen and pencil simply because it works.

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A Good Foot

Stand in awe of this mighty foot doodle!! This is pure doodling. No forethought. Just a pen in hand, running wildly over the paper until something forms. Love it. Its not unlike gesture drawing (and I think I may have compared doodling to gesture drawing before if I'm not mistaken). Now tell me that's not a good foot. I dare you.

Wake Up

In the weeks and months prior to the theatrical release of the film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are, I came across a fair number of websites which were hosting virtual galleries filled with artwork inspired by that famed children's book. It was always the same basic theme: 'we invited artists to create work based on....yadda yadda.' After a while, I began to feel smaller and smaller. I know I'm only a speck in the world of artists and that I'm nowhere near the top of that rather large hill but it still began to wear on my fragile (or enormous) ego. I shrugged it off fairly well but still couldn't resist a few doodles on the matter. This week's post hosts a couple examples of that desire but my ego requires that I point out that these are not drawings that I spent much time on. These, as most of the images on this blog, are simple quick sketches and/or doodles.

Meanwhile (for those of you who don't know), the song you have heard in most of the film trailers for that movie, is not on the soundtrack. If you like that song (and don't already know) it is called "Wake Up" and is by the band, Arcade Fire. Here is David Bowie singing along with them. I like David Bowie very much. I'm sure you knew that because absolutely no one dislikes David Bowie. I also like this song and mean no disrespect to the band when I mention how I'd enjoy hearing Mr Bowie cover it by himself.

Art:

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MAX SCARECROW

The scan of this little drawing turned out a bit brighter than it truly is. Or perhaps I think so because I like drawing in dim light. Obviously, this is another little October Scarecrow doodle of mine but with a Where The Wild Things Are theme. I might draw this again because of some troubles I had in the production. Sometimes, some of my markers don't like to get along with other kinds of inks. I quickly discovered that my ball point ink was at serious odds with the markers I chose to use here. It sucks because I just had to use that particular orange-ish. I had to! I also wish I had thought to include the tail in the costume. Shame on me!!!!

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QUICK MAX

And then there's this doodle. I nearly didn't include this one because I'm ashamed at the lack of patience I had when creating it. Sometimes, I need to take a deep breath and slow down but its difficult for me to subdue my excitement when I want to do something so badly (or know I have precious little time to work on it). There's little more to say about this than what you see. A stylized version of the main character, with moon above.

That's all I have to share this week, in regards to Where The Wild Things Are. ...but I have been trying to work out something else and I suppose it could appear here in the future.

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HARLEQUIN SCARECROW

If Zombie Liberace had a scarecrow, I think it could look a little like this. Maybe I should draw Zombie Liberace some time. This drawing began with a little desperation as I was trying to come up another of these scarecrow sketches (I think I've got about 15 or 20 now; some not as nice as others). I didn't think this would be a winner but by the time I put the little spirals in, I liked it. Go figure.

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SIX ARMED, MONSTER CYCLOPS, KITTY SCARECROW (with Fanged Belly)

The title says it all, I think. After realizing that a good scarecrow would be a big crazy cat, I drew this. I have one or two others but this one is the best. Its hard not to imagine his arms waving wildly but if I think that way, then I tend to lose sight of him being a scarecrow. Instead, I chose to believe he's a scarecrow version of the real monster which does, in fact, have six arms that wave about in a wild manner.

This is blogging while angry (minus the expletives). Suffice it to say that Apple does NOT make computers which are free of bugs and their web browser, Safari, may be the buggiest piece of crap on the planet.

As there are no expletives in this post, I haven't much to write.

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Here's an image.

Another scarecrow. When I drew it, I had planned on mentioning Judge Dredd, Nemesis and Strontium Dog. Now I'm too angry to do that. Perhaps, if you are a fan of those comics, you can see some influence.

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Another image.

I created this coloring page and then I colored it. With crayon. Its alright, but I'm still too angry to write.

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Third and final image before my iMac decides to crash AGAIN.

Another scarecrow. Another pumpkin headed one but with a different style than the previously posted one. Lots of places for a crow to land but he might get skewered.

Apple owes me a new computer.

This Mortal Coil

October has arrived and I'm loving it. The leaves are changing and that melancholy air is settling around me. Thinking is so much easier for me at this time of year and under these circumstances. I'm pensive. You could print that on my headstone.

Another wonder of October is, of course, Halloween. I've been waiting for what I felt was the appropriate time to start doodling a more spooky sort of doodle and with October 1, I hit the ground running. I pulled out the ol ball point pen because, as I think I've said before, I find it to be a good medium for me to create a nice creepy atmosphere in a drawing.

This post is all ball point and largely Halloweenish but honestly, the first two drawings are of a sort of Xmas theme.

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The Ghost of Xmas Past

It wasn't quite October when I created this, and the next, drawing. I was thinking about past, present and future and contemplating the percentage of time I spend on each in my head. That led to my thinking of A Christmas Carol. Without actually illustrating each ghost from that story, I was wondering how I might illustrate a representation of each. Get it?

Well regardless of whether you do or not, this image that is not of the Ghost of Xmas Past is what I drew to represent the Ghost of Xmas Past (or just the Past in total). That's why there are lines which sort of fall from the figure. Loosely attached and easily lost. Floating around the figure and just barely holding together. In flux. It might just as well be the Ghost of My Thoughts. I scanned this in and kept it fairly large in size. Larger than actual size. I couldn't bring myself to shrinking it down because I just really liked how it looked, all blown up. (Click on the image for the blowed up version)

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The Ghost of...what now?

Here is what I had originally thought would be the Ghost of Xmas Present but it looks like it should be the Past as well. That's a young me there (and looks nothing like me) but was my hopeful idea that I'm maintaining my youthful energy and outlook. Maybe not realistic of me but I don't care. A good bit of this really was influenced by film versions of A Christmas Carol, though it may not seem so. The life(foliage) around the central figure is what I'm referring to. Its a "New Year".

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ScareCrow #1

Wooooooo! That'll scare away the crows, right? Or who cares anyway because I just like the way it looks. Must have been tough on the more artistically minded farmer who couldn't help but forget the purpose of his scarecrow and ended up creating something which considered form over function.

Not much to say here except that I wanted this guy to have a Jack O Lantern head. Mission accomplished!

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ScareCrow #2

This one seems to have a little bit of an 'ax murderer' feel to it. I put the wisps of hair on there to help create the idea that there might be a real head under that bag/mask. Scared yet? I would hope that even if you're not scared, you can see the creepiness in the drawing. I certainly tried to put it there!

With this doodle, I think I'll end the post. I have more ScareCrows but I don't want too lengthy of a post and my back hurts from sitting in front of the computer.

Thanks for looking!