Unlikely Hero

I had to give another shot at drawing Bilbo Baggins, so this evening I put on the audiobook and found some reference and drew this. Then I colored it in Painter.



Bilbo is one of my favorite (kinds of?) protagonists. He's pretty sure he doesn't want to have an adventure. When he does go on one, he's kind of the worst and everybody is telling him to shut up and stop sucking all of the time. Despite all of that, he maintains the role of hero of the story and he still has a really great, really believable character arc.

Some mountains and some oatmeal

I've got a large collection of mountain sketches, so here are a few to start with. Drawing organic land masses help loosen up the drawing arm! There's also a hobbit drawing in there and a bunch of characters.



The Daily Pattern Project is still going strong. I missed a chunk of days, but Lindsay and Chris have flawless records and I am amazed.
It feels really good to finally have a body of work that is both recent and of the size and caliber that I want it to be. It feels even better to know that once you've finished a pattern, you know that you've always got tomorrow to make a better one.


Teapot



Song Title


Instant Breakfast

lack luster

Some more sketches from a long time ago that I still kind of like. The boats and city are observational from Lake Calhoun. The un-syndicated characters are mine, the Totoro stuff is from Totoro, and there are a few things from that second time of watching the Lost finale, which I do enjoy, thank you very much.

I still take time to draw nothing

I haven't posted a sketch page in aeons, and my sketchbook is teeming with random bits, so I'm going to take a little breather from making stuff that looks finished to post some stuff that doesn't.
This one has a lot of drawings from coffee shops. Coffee shops are my favorite thing of the moment. There are a few character things in there, all of them mine, and the usual portion of animals. The frog was a daily pattern dud sketch.



Speaking of daily pattern, here are a few I like:


hairy


tires


summertime

I also drew this in Photoshop the other day, and I'm pretty fond of it as digital drawings go.

Harry Potter and things

I have a confession to make. I make this confession nearly every year. Well, I make it every time another Harry Potter film comes out. I sort of don't care about the movies. But it's okay! It's okay. I really like the Lost finale, and nobody likes that. Plus, I love the books. PLUS some friends and I are going to the midnight showing tonight.

Anyway, I've been super fortunate and took part in Ten Paces and Draw again. And it was Harry Potter themed! I love Harry Potter!
Here's my sketch, that was finished by Katie Turner.



And here's my finished illustration, that was sketched by Trevor Basset. I used the watercolors again, and that almost always makes me happy.


watercolor and ink on 190 lb cold press paper

I've been working a lot in Photoshop still and I like a lot of the stuff that's been happening. The possibilities are endless.


Here are some of my favorite latest patterns from the illustrious Daily Pattern Project.


mouse


wedding

Back to Work

I love listening to podcasts while working. Sometimes listening to music just won't cut it. Movies and shows often require too much attention (if they're good) or bore me to death (if they're not). Podcasts are the perfect thing–they update regularly, the talking is often conversational and easy to listen to, and you can learn/get inspired/be entertained for absolutely free.

That said, I wanted to make an illustration for my most beloved podcast, Back to Work. Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann are the hosts for this fantastic thing, and they do an extremely good job of making sure their listeners learn/get inspired/be entertained for at least an hour of the week.




Incidentally, the lastest episode "Failure is ALWAYS an Option" is one of my favorites. I won't say more. Spoilers, you know.

Art pile

I...just...One Piece. I made another One Piece art. This one is of Cutty Flam (which is the best name, ever, by the way).

I've been working a lot with Photoshop lately, trying to redeem it against the might and magic of Corel Painter. And it's working! Photoshop is pretty cool.
You know how your teachers (and parents) tell you things and you're like "yeah, yeah, whatever, okay." And then you figure that thing out by yourself someday and you're in this wonderful high of victory and accomplishment and everything is wonderful AND THEN you realize they already told you that. Years ago.
That's what this recent Photoshop revival has been like.




Patterns:


Minneapolis (day)


Minneapolis (night)


Independence Day