Sketchbook Look: Curly girl

Untitled (Curly girl). 2013
Pigment liner on paper. 6 x 8"

I'll be finishing up my second retail job today and saying goodbye to packing, tagging, and merchandising previous seasons clothing at discounted prices for awhile.  Though clothing retail wasn't bad to work in, I am already taken in the home goods/furniture/fragrance retail.  I look forward to worrying about only getting to one job and actually enjoying my New York State summer.  Hopefully some tent camping, hiking, swimming, and running will be in my future in the next couple of months.

I drew this doodle (above) this morning while drinking my coffee.  The methods were the same as the last doodle and I tried to keep my thoughts free to the possibilites I was spontaneously creating in my small 6 x 8" sketchbook.  I'm not sure if I'll add to it, color it, or just leave it be.  As weird as it sounds, I sometimes like leaving my pieces unfinished as they are.  It's a unexplainable artistic fate for some of the pieces that I create.

Note: I hand draw these pieces and scan them (through an older scanner) to my laptop.  Sometimes the scans aren't perfectly ideal.  I didn't want to tear it out of my physical sketchbook and that's how it scanned with the spirals.  

Sketchbook Look: Celestial moonboy

Untitled (Celestial moonboy). 2013
Pigment liner on paper. 6 x 8"

Believe it or not I don't draw and doodle nearly enough for what I should be doing.  I should be doing it a lot more for my sanity's sake and for my developing career.  Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy and stop when I've started a drawing or doodle that really isn't hitting my expectations.  As silly as this sounds, I simply just need to let myself doodle more. 

I started this doodle in a small sketchbook that serves as both a place to write any new recipes I am inspired by off the internet, and any other various things I think of.  My sketchbooks have been holding more words than drawings lately, but they still serve their purpose in holding potential future projects and artistic pieces in general.  Gregory and I have been watching a lot of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine lately in the evenings (streaming via Netflix) and this drawing is a little inspired by of Odo, a shape-shifter on the show.  I'm beginning to like his character more and more as the series develops.  

When I completed the face (I always start with the eyes and then face first) I didn't know where to take the drawing....or what to make him into.  I decided to make him into a general "alien" looking man, though I thought about making him into a caterpillar or moth-looking man.  The moon was created with a little "Starry Night," by Vincent VanGogh, in mind.  I didn't have a "set" end result for how I thought this drawing should look like in the end.  I usually have an image in my mind of how I would like the pieces I draw or create to end, and sometimes I have no idea and "just go with the flow."  This was certainly a "let's see where this is going" piece.  

Now, the question comes down to color or not to color?

Sketchbook Look: lavender girl

There's a correlation between my blog absence and when I started working another part-time job.  Well, I've decided to leave that second retail workplace for a better summer, to find my focus with my art again, and for a little more freedom (even if that means a little less income to work with).  Honestly, I feel as though I've hardly created anything this year and it's almost half over.  I'm making the decision to change that.

I drew this doodle on a lavender piece of scrap paper (about 3 x 5" dimension) and a thin black marker.  I'll admit I started it stealthily between customers and sizing new merchandise at my second job this afternoon.  I need to draw doodles more without caring about the outcome of the doodle.  Sometimes that's when some of the most interesting illustrations start from.