swing things.

I decided to try and finish my swinging dude so I can put him in my showreel opening. I don't have a bulk scanner so I unfortunately have to scan in each page one by one. TEDIOUS!
Anyway. Here are two clips. One is  a rough line test and the other is a cleaner version I attempted with photoshop.

Hopefully I can add a background and colour him soonish.

Ben 10 aliens - Four-arms

Another quick sketch I did. colour was done with markers but had to be enhanced in photoshop because my scanner is so bloody awful.

He must be great at opening jars.

Ben 10 aliens- Upgrade

So i'm a BIG Ben 10 fan. Understatement of the century (He does share my name you know). I love the original series but alien force (while entertaining) kind of disappointed me. Thankfully ultimate alien causes a tingling of hope within me.
Since I love Ben 10 and I have re-awakened my love of sketching, I have decided to try and sketch as many of the aliens as possible. They may be pencil and pen or they may be digital. Heck I might even sculpt one or two.

So let us begin our alien adventure in no particular order. Ladies and gentlemen I present Upgrade! *insert applause here*

Quick marker sketch with fake glow courtesy of Photoshop. 

Yes that is an upgraded lawn mower...

Slap yourself awake!

Well yeah...

 A new year it is. For a multitude of reasons (Family and malfunctioning computer equipment mainly) I began the year feeling both unhappy and tired. I slipped into that patch of lethargy we so often find ourselves in during certain periods of life. That period where you know you should be doing something, but you'd rather not. I can safely say that period is now over.
The cure? Just do something. Pick yourself up and slap yourself in the face! Most of us who whither away into nothingness blame the world, our family, our friends and even random strangers. But no-one ever notices that we whither willingly. It's not any ones fault but yours!
You are the key!

I started slowly. Sketching little doodles in a tiny book found within a Christmas cracker. That's all it took to open the flood gates. Just do it. Do anything.
I now sketch everyday and if I don't feel like it, I slap myself awake. The more I do the more I want to do.

So yeah. That's my advice. Like so much in life it's up to you. Very important but easy to forget. And if you ever forget about it and slip into lethargy... SLAP YOURSELF AWAKE!

As a prize for reading this I present you with one of the afore mentioned sketches. A mash up of my favourite animated show Ben 10 and another awesome show Phineas and Ferb. Lets get this ball rolling!

The first sketch I doodled

The inked version of the sketch

Flat colours have been added

Post Christmas ramblings

Well Christmas has come and gone. I was required to spend Christmas with the family and I performed dutifully. Flying down to the coast for Christmas eve and day. As much I enjoy observing people splurge on useless items and listening to racist relatives, I found myself remembering an episode of  the animated series 'Invader Zim' by Jhonen Vasquez. Indeed the image of a humongous Santa attacking a domed (and quite possibly doomed) city pleased me greatly, and I dutifully produced this sketch over breakfast on Christmas morning.

Now that Santa was in my mind (a horrible thought indeed) I could not resist sketching another attack on the dome while waiting for relatives to sort out their quarrels. I did some quick marker colour on it. Yes die hard fans, the dome should be purple. I didn't have the colour so sod off...

Lastly, as Christmas drew to a close. I sat in the airport terminal waiting for my flight home. I started sketching some creature thing. To keep in the Christmas theme I added the obligatory fluffy hat. I have now decided that everything creepy looks better with Christmas props. I may have freaked out the people sitting next to me in the terminal but hey, what ya gonna do?

Happy holidays to everyone!

I stepped in a poodle!

I'm part of a doodle project with a few other people. A word is given roughly every two days and people make sketches or paintings to represent it. I'm very thankful for it as it slaps me in the face and reminds me I need to draw more often.

This is from a recent one. The word is (you guessed it) poodle. I liked the twist of the old joke: It's raining cats and dogs outside! I accidentally stepped in a poodle!

Wordplay is fun!

Kung fu and a field of moose

I recently became obsessed with a certain practice movement I was shown in Kung fu. Probably because I couldn't get the arms right when I tried it (It's harder than it looks).

It then occurred to me that it is a perfect example of arcs in movement. Indeed one of the martial arts main principles is using the natural arcs of movement to defend and attack. So I did a quick line test thing to try and capture the flow.

The smoke was for a bit of flair. You GOTTA have flair!

Then there is this. Ummm... It stems from a conversation about the cliched 'run across a field to embrace your lover' moment in films.
The friend who I was having the conversation with is a huge fan of moose (Yes that is the plural) and insisted the scene would not be complete without it.
So I did a quick speedy paint thing. Well...um... here you go.