Merry Christmas, everyone!!

It was a busy week, but I wanted to get something seasonal up on the blog. I drew this is a bit of a hurry, and kinda forgot to give Santa and the Elves legs beneath the table… oops.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (For those of you in the US, that is… for everyone else, have a happy, yet average Thursday)

Over on his blog, veteran animator John K. is explaining the mechanics of drawing cartoons. He then challenged others to try their hands at drawing this frame from a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon.  I think his challenge was aimed at animation students, but even though I’m neither an animator or a student, I decided to give it a try.

This drawing on the right is mine (in case you had any doubts).  It wasn’t until I got into the drawing that I realized how complex the original was– the distortion of Bug’s face, with one big eye and the other tightly shut, required some careful analysis… I think I did a decent job, but it’s not 100% by any means.  I feel like I lost some of the solidity of the head, not to mention the ears are kinda weird and I’ve got the angle of the neck wrong.   But it was fun… reminds me of when I used to copy characters out of comic books as a kid.

There is a post over at the Drawn! website featuring other artist’s versions of the Mona Lisa. Here’s my own interpretation… I drew her a little younger than Leonardo did.

When I’m working on an illustration, I usually do a few simple thumbnail drawings. They’re really nothing more than scribbles, but it’s enough for me to tell if the composition is working, if the idea is worth continuing.  It’s all about getting the idea out of my head and onto paper as quickly as possible.  And this process usually works really well. Until now.

Here is a sketch I did a few days ago, and then set aside.  And I have no idea what it’s of.  I wish I did– it’s got a lot of movement and some interesting lines.  Is that a person on the left there? Is that a fish in the middle?  Is this even right side up? Who knows?

So if anybody has any idea what I drew, let me know in the comments… it’ll be fun. Thanks.