Sunday, April 11, 2010

Lookit my doodle! (No.1)

Thanks to all who commented on my previous (and first!) post. Your compliments and enthusiasm are inspiring! The whole point of this blog is to share what I am doing with others and obtain feedback, constructive or otherwise. I have an ongoing list of creative projects, currently numbering over 40, that I am hoping to bring to fruition. As time permits I hope to present you with such things as; Pickled Pirates, Plumpsy Daisy, Lint Farmer (a type style), Brain Book and many others.

As a regular feature on this blog I will be sharing with you a doodle from my collection of rough sketches and drawings. I've always found it encouraging to see the rough sketches of my favorite artists. To see what they started with, knowing what they become in the finished product, helps me to realize my own potential.

And for now, here is my doodle...





This one is heavily influenced by the work of one of my all-time favorite artists, Greg "Crayola" Simkins. His work is bizarre and breathtaking, but not necessarily for everybody. This doodle was done with a black ball-point pen on 1/4" grid paper. I highly recommend the ball-point pen for doodling. It is excellent for quick shading and can be gradually built up for strong, dark line work.

6 comments:

  1. Pretty extremely freaky. But incredibly CREATIVE.

    So here's a question: my daughter LOVES to sketch and doodle. She's even pretty good at it - she recently did a sketch of herself and her brother that actually LOOKED JUST LIKE THEM! No idea where she gets this stuff.

    Anyway - how does it help you to use grid paper? and... did you use pencil first? Thought I might pass that info along.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The title of your post scared me a little. I was thinking something along the lines of chat roulette...haha! I kid. Sorta.
    But, the sketch. Reminds me of a cross between Gollum and Davy Jones. Very imaginative.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jennifer - it is only a personal preference, but I like doing rough work on grid paper. There is something about making that first mark on a pristine sheet of blank white paper that I find a little intimidating.
    Give your daughter the opportunity to experiment. I used to use pencil but find that it is better if I can't erase my mistakes, it forces me to make less of them. I prefer sketching with a regular ball-point pen and doing finished line drawings with a fine point pigment liner. There is also chalk, pastels, markers, pencil crayons, etc.. The more she tries different mediums the stronger her preference will be for the one(s) she is most comfortable with.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, I came over because your wife told about your blog. I'm mightily impressed by you "doodle". I'm looking forward to your next posts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the tips. I will pass them along to Claire and I'll say "thank you" for her, too.

    (that's an interesting idea: forcing yourself to not make mistakes... we could wax philosophical here and stretch out an analogy, but I'll refrain!) :)

    ReplyDelete