The Drawing American

Crappy Scan

2009-02-26T15:36:00.001-08:00

Okay, this is a crappy scan of the top half of the first comic book page I've ever sort of completed.

Mojo-vated

2009-02-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this amazing thing has been happening lately. I can't really explain it but for about a week I've been able to consistently produce alright artwork. I'm still working on my first comic book page but it's mostly done. Plus, I'm confident that I can do another; I don't think this is a fad. So, lo and behold...

The Resurrection

2009-01-18T16:32:00.001-08:00

The Drawing American is BACK!! Before you get the wrong idea and think I'm just some guy speaking in the third person, let me assure you that is not the case. The "Drawing American" is the pen name of my pencil. Actually, it's the Alvin "Tech" DA lead holder but years ago I decided that DA stood for "Drawing American" (obviously). Anyway, for years I used this pencil to do the foundation work for my drawings until it became unserviceable. By "unserviceable", I mean the spring mechanism just wore out, which led to a creative drought for me since I couldn't find a suitable replacement.

A few months and a cross-country move go by and I end up in Lincoln, NE which happens to carry the exact same pencil. Wow. So despite losing the majority of the useful art supplies I had, my main weapon was back in my hands. But (thank God), my wife found said-name art tools this past weekend and the mojo is back!

So, despite having finally winterized our motorcycles and bidding them farewell until the spring, I am more excited about drawing than I have been in a while.

Much more to come.

Sketches

2009-01-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

Alright, this isn't really my best effort but it'll have to do in a crunch. I vowed before my wife to post something by the end of the weekend so this is it. Just a study of the character trying to find a look I like.

I planned to do add some color and do each figure as a separate but ran out of time. Anyway, more to come. I should be a lot more active this year. A lot more...which isn't saying much.

2008-04-03T15:57:00.001-07:00

Okay, now that I've gotten that maiden voyage out of the way, I'm starting to think soberly. We still have to take care of title/registration, gear, and owners manuals for our bikes before I feel comfortable doing any more riding. It's also been brought to my attention that maybe my chain and sprockets need replacing. I took a couple of pics of them in hopes that maybe someone can tell me if they need to be replaced or just cleaned. It kinda sucks because now that I have a bike and the weather is getting better, I can't really ride. But hey, at least I have a bike, right?

A Bike Named Su

2008-04-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm back and better than ever...Okay, maybe not better but I have a motorcycle now so that's gotta count for something, right? My wife is telling me it's past my bedtime so I'll keep this brief for now. She and I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course last summer and got our motorcycle endorsements. Unfortunately there was no money in the wedding budget for a motorcycle so we had to wait until last week to get them. We found the bikes we wanted for the price we wanted and finally got on the road last Saturday. This is my very first ride on my GS500F and another pic with my wife on her Ninja 250. To Be Continued...

Elf Mage

2007-04-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Last (and least IMO) is an elf magic-user. I don't know that this one will make the final cut but it's considerably better than I remember it being. Still, it's not a waste since I actually applied something that I learned a long time ago but never bothered to use. I made a photocopy of the pencils and inked the copy instead of the original. Now, that meant more cleaning up on the computer but it also preserved the original (which, incidentally, was later ruined when my cat spilled water on it).

Gnome Druid/Ranger

2007-04-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

And this gal is a gnome who is intended to be a druid or ranger-type.

Paladin/Fighter

2007-04-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late but it was a really really really long weekend. Worked allll day Saturday and spent Sunday with my better half. But what about today, you ask? Well, everyone needs a day of rest, right? Anyway, to make up for it I'll post another picture after this one.

This is a paladin or fighter-type character from the D&D thing I'm working on.

Ranger Joan

2007-04-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm gonna make this quick since I'm pretty tired and feeling down in general. My recent regime of drawing two hours a day (or mojo-ing, as I like to call it) worked wonders for my time management skills but, alas, I've strayed from the straight and narrow path.

To be honest, I haven't drawn one line in about three days and it's throwing everything off. I've regressed to feeling bad about all the time I've wasted but no longer. Starting tomorrow I vow to return to a more disciplined mojo schedule. Why not start tonight? Well, two reasons really. 1) My fiancee is sleeping on the couch so I can't turn on the lights and 2) I'm really sleepy.

This'll be the last day of slacking (or as I call it, Cedricism or Shokhanism) for the Drawing American. Over and out.

Barbarian

2007-04-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know. I know. Technically, this is Thursday, but I ended up working a shift for someone so I haven't had a chance to post anything. That being the case, as far as I'm concerned it's still Wednesday.

This barbarian is one of the first character sketches I came up with for the book and is actually probably the one I like most, so I hope it makes the cut. With most of the other designs I've done for this project, I came up with the character's look and then redrew them in a better pose. However, with this dude, I can't bring myself to redraw him and add some "life" to the figure. Oh well. Hopefully people will be so distracted by the shrunken head pommel that they don't notice that he's just kinda standing there with bad posture.

All things work together for good...

2007-04-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

To those who love the Lord. Take, for example, my annoying idiosyncrasy of going to bed late but having to get up when my fiancee does. Sometimes it's because I have to take her to the train station but most of the time (like today) it's just because I need pitch blackness to sleep.

So today, instead of piddling around until I fell back asleep I decided to be productive and scan a few pics so that I could post them on this bad boy. Well, I ended up scanning just about all of them so now I can actually email them to the publisher.

So even though going to bed late and waking up early is usually a bad thing, if you have a posi-tude (that's positive attitude for the uninitiated) and that old American spirit, you can turn lemons into lemonade and start a lemonade stand. And then you can turn that into a franchise and venture into other business opportunities. Next thing you know you have more money than you can shake a stick at and realize that it's not all it's cracked up to be. So you start engaging in all manner of self-destructive behavior and eventually end up broke and in rehab...if you're lucky.

Yep, it's the American dream and the Drawing American is well on his way:)

Oh, and this is an elven monk for the supplement.

Assassin

2007-04-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

This first piece is an assassin I came up with for a D&D supplement that a friend is publishing (more on that in future posts). I don't know if this one will make the cut but I like the look enough to use it for something else. The characters are done (with the exception of one or two that need to be inked) so be on the lookout for a new pic every day (at least for the first two weeks of this thing--after that I'll probably get a new pic ever few days).

This one's for you, Ced (up yours!):)

Descent Into "Normalcy"

2007-04-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Alright, I've now officially entered the blogosphere and become an official member of the human race. Why, after all this time have I decided to join the blogosphere, you ask? Well really it's just a convenient way to display some artwork and (hopefully) gain a little accountability in the process. Ya see, I (not unlike many amateur artists) have a problem with procrastination. I figure that if I have a place to show my artwork then I'll have to get some discipline in my nasty little body and actually scan some of the crap I draw. Also, my good friend, Ced (MasterShokhan as he's known online), started a blog and I can't have him showing me up.