Sketch Charlotte

Still playing around with ballpoint pens in my sketchbook. I put down a preliminary pencil sketch on this, but used a soft graphite. The paper in my sketchpad is pretty soft and toothy, too. I tried to ink on a windy day, and this brand new Uniball that I'm using just wanted to do little more than skip, skip, skip. It frustrated me, but I kept on. I fumbled with the idea of finishing the lines using a pen nib, and put a little bit of Hunt #108 in there. Then tried a fountain pen which I didn't know and which also had its own challenges. Today I went back to the Uniball, this time in a closed environment, and it flowed super smoothly. I realized I was going very slowly and just taking my time, two benefits of using a ballpoint pen. And sometimes those skips add a bit of character to the line, I feel, but I REALLY just enjoy putting down a solitary line slowly. It's kind of zenlike. At the end I realized my frustrations at the pen skipping also could've been due to my impatience and just not slowing down and enjoying the line.

~T

I wasn't intending for this to be a finished sketch or even remotely thought it should be something to submit for Illustration Friday. But as I kept going, and it kept groovin', I kept smiling. I originally started this as a test drawing, just to see how a Uniball Gel pen would work for me. I'd previously done a quick sketch using this pen and later ran it under the warm tap to see how waterproof it was (pretty dang good, was my finding!). But since the figure and a couple of props were going so well, I thought it should be added to my sketchbook. So I cut out the original sketch, glue-sticked it in and kept going. Since I was playing with the gel pen, I used it for spotting my blacks as well. All in all I'm pretty dang happy with the results. Since my materials were primitive, I thought this was a fitting entry for this week's theme in IF.

~T

Our last few meetings, as sporadic as they've been, have really been excellent. Last time out Joe put me on the Podcast spot and the group hammered at my sales pitch for the comic I'm creating and will unveil at the Heroes Con. I didn't even know I needed one (thanks, Nuri and Joe for the illumination). :) It was an awesome meetup. Learned a lot. I even took notes, hence the sketch paper. I uncharacteristically forgot to bring paper and pen. Fortunately a visiting Cat and Gina loaned me pen and paper to sketch. :) I look forward to the next round!

~T

Just playing around. I used a combo of light blue markers for my underdrawing, then "inked" w/a black marker, all on bleed-proof marker paper. The paper lived up to its name. It also took regular pen and white out quite well. I may switch to this so I can pump out the pages on my comics.

~T

Click for detail. Slowly but surely ... here's page 5.

~T

Click for detail. Finally, I managed to finish page 4 of this comic I've been piddling around with. Now onto page 5. :)

~T

Click for detail. Everyone, meet Linda, a lunch-sketch from work in my little sketchbook. I gave her Yvonne's hair and was going for cute and athletic, with big hips and a reasonably-sized bust (she needs a bigger bum to go with those thunder thighs for sure ... but I had fun drawing her). Also working on contrast between brush on figures vs. pen nib on props and background.

~T

Click for detail. A planter at work. I tried to draw the shadows rather than the forms themselves. Tangledy fun.

Click for detail. A sketch I worked on over a couple of lunches this week (along with others).

Okay, Herc made me this GREAT marker sketch for my 40th birthday last week. I love, love, LOVE it, and realizing that our fearless leader hasn't posted anything in a while, and listening to our first ever Podcast, I thought this was perfect for a post, and possibly for our group logo (it's got my vote!). :) [ Herc, I hope it's okay with you that I posted your awesome sketch online. :) ] I erased the birthday greeting and put our name in its place (in a Greek font, no less).

Now, DRAW, everybody and post some new stuff to the site!!!

(Click for detail.)

I managed to nab this sketch before leaving "The Farm" in Middlebrook, Va., childhood home of my painting teacher, Elizabeth Ross. Being at the farm I really got into field sketching and painting, and managed 5 nature studies in pen, ink and watercolor. I also managed a plein air gouache painting, my first in what I hope is a new series of abstract landscapes. I'll be uploading all of it and more at my website. Communing and actively drawing and painting with fellow artists really is invaluable. Let me know if anyone is interested in joining me on a weekend afternoon for a similar outing.

~TomD.

I finally finished this sketch I'd started this spring. Every now and then I’d go down and sit down on the bench at our condo community backyard garden, ink well and pen nib in hand, and enjoy some ink time. I forgot about this lad with a butterfly face until a while ago, then finally finished it up. It’s got its rough edges, especially the swirls in the sky, which failed me as I attempted to ink them in in this odd-sized sketchbook. Don’t be afraid to dream (or post), even if it’s rough. Just work it. I hated the background sky, so I whited it out and went back in. First I consulted a bit of George Herriman, who steered my in the right direction. What a master he was.

~T

Here's a sneak peek of a cover I just wrapped up for Comicopia, my take on Dr. Fate, a character I've always loved (especially after Bruce Timm gave him due justice on the Justice League cartoon -- that was the best!). The gray patterns on the genie creature are Zip-A-Tone (remember that grand stuff?). All others are done by hand. I was thinking of a former teacher of mine, Jose Delbo, who drew many "Wonder Woman" comics, who always referred to me as "Mr. Dot". Anyway, it was fun to do some long underwear types for a change.

~TomD.

Well, below is my latest comic. What, is this the first-ever comic-story uploaded to Sketch Charlotte in its entirety??? ;) My simple tale is inspired by the Seneca story titled "The Origin of Stories". I created this over the past couple of weeks (inbetween fulltime school and work) for a project in American Lit. Native American writing has really made a huge impact on me as a cartoonist. Given my time constrainsts, I opted for a minimalist approach to the cartooning, but was amazed at still how much work it all was. I also tried my best to make it as "sexy" as I could. Now, onto issue #3. :)

~TomD.

I worked up these two as part of a "his" and "hers" gift card design. I really had fun with a Hunt 106 nib, and of all things, Aquabee marker paper (which truly didn't bleed, much to my surprise). I had to really double-up on my line thicknesses since the work was gonna be reduced so much. Here they're at 50% of the originals. We'll see how they go over in the design meeting Monday afternoon. :) I'll be finishing them off with mis-registered blue and white color spot colors.

~T

Hey, anybody up for driving down to Athens, Ga., April 7 to swap mini-comics, drink beer and talk comics? What? Well, yes, I'm talking about FLUKE.

Which has me thinking, why don't we just plan and have our VERY OWN mini-comics con right here in Charlotte, organized by SketchCharlotte, maybe call it "The Queen's Mini's" or somesuch? YES, it's ambitious. YES, it'll be cheaper and funner than Heroes Con (mini-comics + zines + beer = good times had by all). And YES, we can do it ... maybe in the early fall? Whaddy'all think?

I did this yesterday for the APA I'm in called Comicopia, based in Canada, for its 100th issue. I really had a ball drawing and inking this sucker, breaking in a new Niji waterbrush (hope you're enjoying yours, Tess ;) ). I finished the night with a celebration, watching Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride". Anyway, I think I might also have my new business card in this. Whaddya think?

~T

Hey, gang. It was awesome meeting tonight. I know most of you saw this when we shared, but for the sake of the others I'm posting. Plus, I think we ought to post more sketches. Let's do more!!!

~TD

Sorry, but it had to be done -- Tess' longstanding pump had to be bumped. :) Well, I finally got over my trepidation about inking this project and dove in. I'm working in this smallish book, and the paper is decent though not spectacular, especially when it comes to inking. Given the size of the original, and the fact that it'll be a 1/4-page mini when it comes out, I dove in with brush, even on the lettering. I let it sit for a while because I wanted to give it grays but was afraid to muck it up. After finding inspiration from Osamu Tezuka, I went in during a slow moment at work yesterday. I was really relieved to see that the grays worked out just fine. In the past I've had this tendency to go overboard with graytones. But my experiences in printmaking have really helped, too, when it comes to spotting blacks, whites and grays. I tried to make the foregrounds grays darkest, getting lighter as they go into the background, on panel 3. Let me know what you think. :)

Well, I tweaked this an additional 4 times, adding more lines here, taking out extra deep gouges there, and all the while learning to use a wonderful new tool. As it turns out, Florence, the 80-some-year-old lady who's endowed the printmaking studio, showed me how to make a tarlton out of an old pair of pantyhose. No, I didn't use any of my own. Instead, Yvonne was kind enough to lend me a stocking to the effort. I filled it with old cotton rags, and it became the most wonderful tool outside of the hand to wipe ink off a copper plate with. This image is my artist's proof, and I'll be editioning this plate out. This will be the promo image to my December art show, "Demons and Dreamscapes".

I know this is a bit more than a sketch, but since it's unfinished I thought I'd share it. I came up with this image on a plate that had undergone major metamorphosis in its life. First I put a random pattern down, then I etched a mishmash of faces, heads, monkeys, trees and hands into the plate. Then I saw an overall unifying face in it, and put that on the image. Then I put down another gray pattern so I could burnish all of the previous stuff back so that only "ghosts" of it would remain if any, and hopefully pull the face forward more. After burnishing some more this morning, I went in with drypoint, gouging directly into the copper with a sharp tool. But I found that with drypoint you can make a wide variety of lines and actually have soft pressure lines which don't result in lines but etchy grays. Overall I am really happy with this piece. I added a few more tweaks and am excited about what the final proof will look like. I feel like spirit of the artist I discovered in the past week -- Odilon Redon -- has seeped into my pores. This piece is gonna be in my December show at Beet Gallery. I'm tentatively calling it "Demons and Daydreams".

This whole printmaking technique certainly has me thinking about skritch-skratching over and over and over again using pen and ink even more. I'm enthused about my current comic, which is coming along in nice big abstract black and white chunks. But I think at some point I will definitely just get lost in hatching, grays and built-up blacks as an effect of my printmaking experiences. Redon, and many others (Gorey, anyone) certainly had it going on.

I nabbed this after our meeting tonight. We were chattin' about all things sketchin'. So, here's another. I guess this is where I'm headed regarding my "cartoon sketch" approach. It's definitely a way to get things down quick 'n dirty. But it's also fun! Should I go for some graytones or color splashes? Maybe so.

My kitty cat has no idea, while she stretches during halftime as the Panthers play on the tube, that I'm considering adding a third cat to our household. One of the feral kittens our condo unit has become caretakers of has really melted my heart. Anyway, cats 'n kittens are definitely great sketch subjects!

I nabbed this quickie at school this morning. It's of a video stand. The wiring was maddening. But I figured that was good enough reason to sketch it out in the first place. The few DVD's that are there sat awkwardly in the video-rack. A fat girl with a hoodie sat on the decrepid 1973 furniture. Her butt almost went to the floor (but not as much as I show it here). I'm experimenting with a thick and thin approach of sketching to get values in line down quickly. I gotta do much more!

~TomD.

Hey, everyone. I love this. Thanks for setting up the blog, Rich. Great first post!

Thanks to everybody who showed up at my art opening last night. It was rockin' seeing all my sketch-peeps there. The support was wonderful, and the feedback quite useful. And if you couldn't make it, no sweat. There'll definitely be others. I'll keep you guys posted.

By the end of the night, seven pieces had sold, including my most expensive one. Different people loved different types of my work. Everyone seemed jazzed by the color, but only 2 color pieces sold and the rest were black and white. One buyer happens to own a big local restaurant and bar uptown, and said she definitely wanted me to have a show there soon!

Looks like I'll be a busy cartoonist.

What I learned: get your artwork out of the dusty desk drawers, and mat and frame those suckers. At least you'll have great decor for your own pad, and maybe the essence of an art show. :)

~TomD.