#inktober - Days 25-28

So these were all drawn on the 28th... but... they were posted the 29th... So I'm still down by one.  And have til Friday to finish the last 3.  I think it'll be done.  Again, mostly done with PITT... didn't get to experiment too much.  Though the Maleficent uses the White Sharpie Paint Marker, and regular Sharpie for the eyes.   The Freddy Krueger is a bit of a disappointment.

The animals turned out pretty cool though.  More to come!

#inktober - Days 20 & 21

2 more today... and it's EARLY today... so maybe more will be posted later? Maybe...

Switched back to the PITT pens for these today... I think they're my favorite, cuz they give that brush quality with the control of a marker...  Try them!

#inktober - Days 14-17

Playing some catch-up today.  4 new entries, puts me at presently down by 4.  I'm pretty sure I'll make it to 31 on/before the 31st.  Though I think, I might cancel the 30 Characters Challenge in November this year.  We shall see.

These entries show another media swap-up.  I hit up the art supply store this morning and picked up two different sizes of Faber-Castell PITT Artists Brush Pens.  It still uses india ink, but it handles a bit more like a marker... so there's some more control, and less bleeding.  I also bought some better india ink, cuz the stuff I bought earlier this month I feel is not as opaque as it could be... and while that has some advantages, it isn't what I wanted it to be.  So I'll experiment with that later.  I also bought a Sharpie Water-Based White Marker, which I thought I would experiemnt with, but haven't really got the results I was hoping for... again having to do with opaque-ness.  I've had better luck with White-Out in the past (and it was cheaper).

#inktober - Days 12 and 13

Today is the 19th, and I'm on #inktober drawing 13....   That's no bueno.   What's with the lagging?  Actually most of it comes with me trying to bust out a fairly impressive commission.  Which I just finished... I'll probably post it here.  But the point is, I now have a little more "free time" (what's that?) to DRAW!  So hopefully I can catch up before Ol' Hallow's Eve.

The drawings above of Hagrid and Joker are mixed-media ink.  A combination of a pen, and brush work.  I'm beginning to enjoy some of the spontaneity of the brush.  A lot of my "normal work" has become a bit too smooth with the computer ironing out some of my idiosyncrasies, and polishing them.  So it's kinda fun to dip the brush and deal with whatever it gives me once it touches the drawing surface.  I really seem to like it for hair.  *shrug*

#inktober - Days 8-11... ZOMBIES!!!

Once again, found myself falling behind in this challenge.   To be fair though, I've been working on a pretty awesome comission (which may be posted later), and have had little time to squeeze in any other artwork  Anyway, this brings me up to... negative 1.  So, that's better than the negative 5 when I woke up this morning.

Anyway, I wanted to see the premiere of 'The Walking Dead' tonight, but felt guilty about not keeping up with this challenge... so... yeah, decided to combine the two... draw zombies while watching the walking dead.  This is what came out of it.  Again, mostly india ink and brush... though I added some details with a pen.  So mixed media ink?

#inktober - Days 3-7... kinda... (aka, 'Fun with Brushes')

Okay, so... I fell behind a bit on the challenge.  Part of this was "Artist's Block".  The other part was I really wanted to try this challenge with a brush...  And I had to go out and buy some ink and brushes.  I felt like I was kinda cheating using a pen... though there are no actual rules per se, other than "draw in ink".  But I wanted to go old school, with brushes and ink.  The above 5 (which put me back on track with the challenge) are done with brushes.  It was fun... there were some hurdles, and I could have been using better paper... but all and all, I live, I learn.

#inktober

Damn, I really need to update this thing more often.  I also need to branch out into other social media.  But that will come later... what I really need to do, is increase artistic output!  And I've found the best way for me to do that is.... ARTISTIC CHALLENGES!  Like the '30 Characters Challenge' I do in November, or "Ape-ril".  Well, this year, I'm taking up #inktober.

What is #inktober you ask?  Well, you can find out by asking Jake Parker.  In short, back in 2009, Jake Parker decided he needed to work on his inking skills, so he challenged himself to do a drawing a day, in ink.  Other artists decided to take up the challenge, as well, and it's continued to grow with each passing year, with more artists taking up the challenge.

This year, I'm giving it a shot!  The above is a quick doodle I did with a dying micron pen.  I think I might pick up some brushes and India ink after pay day, and experiment a bit.  It'll be a nice break from all the "digital" inking I normally do.  And again, it'll increase artistic output.  Which is what I need.  MORE ART!!!

30 Characters Challenge - 2013

So in addition to not shaving the manly beard I can sprout from my face, the month of Novemeber also brings the "30 Characters" challenge.  Hosted by Tyler James of Comix-Tribe.  I participated back in 2011, but I was having some computer issues in 2012 and could not compete.  So this year, I had a newer computer that wasn't giving me issues, and I figured I could give it another go.

My first time around was just to try it.  And it was fun.  This time around I wanted to deliver a certain level of "Quality" with the output.  So, I made sure that every entry was created using the same techniques and tools, which I think kind of unified all the characters, even though they're quite different from one another.

If you want to check out my characters, check out my author page here.

I've got some ideas if I do it again in 2014.

30 Characters in 30 Days... MEGA POST!

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog... little bit of artist's block, combined with "day job" energy drain, equals... less drawing.   AND I HATE THAT!   But, I haven't been NOT drawing per se...  Infact... I recently began the 30 Characters Challenge!

 The 30 Characters challenge, is a bunch of creative types, artists, writers, etc.  To create 30 characters in 30 Days.  Nov. 1-30.  So... A character each day... there's no real prize, or penalty if you fail.  But it's just good artistic muscle exercise.  So far I've been able to keep up.  I told myself I'd post one character a day before midnight (in my time zone), and so far I've done that...   I plan to post them all on here (prolly in batches of 2-3 or so at a time).  But today, you get seven!  If you want to follow them on the actual 30 Characters site, you can find all my entries right here.  Or just come back here, where they will be re-posted.  However, to drive business/traffic to the 30 Characters, I'm only gonna post the name of the character and the picture here... if you want to read about them... read them at the 30 Characters site.  :D

#1 - Bob the Bowling Pin

#2 - Braaains

#3 - Chiang

#4 - Blarglflarp

#5 - Tigraax

#6 - Killjoy

#7 - Tiffany