A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I have a few sketchbooks that I’ve drawn in over the years. I’d love to scan in an upload here. As a way of keeping this site fresh with new content, I’ll be queueing up pages from my sketchbooks. One page from my Big Sketchbook on Sundays and four from Little Sketchbook on Wednesdays. This makes 1 page for the first day of the week and 4 for the fourth. I think I should be able to queue up a steady stream of artwork to share with you all. That’s assuming my attention span doesn’t short out; or something else hogs all my focus.
Today we’ll be kicking the queue off with some pages from the little sketchbook.
Since my output is a bit inconsistent due to work and other obstacles, I don’t really have year-to-year sketchbooks. I started this sketchbook near the end of 2017; but I was actively drawing in it from 2018-2019. Hence, why I’ve been naming them quantitatively rather than by date. This would be Little Sketchbook #4. I’m considering queuing up sketchbooks older than this for Thursdays as a “Throwback-Thursday” kinda deal.
Without further ado:
The Icebreaker Pages: Marker Color Swatches, a Web, and a Ches Star!
Faber-Castell PITT Pens, Micron, Graphite on Moleskine; Winter 2017
Nothing says don’t overthink it like marker swatches! Here, I’m using Faber-Castell PITT Brush Pens. These are the markers I used in middle/high school before becoming acquainted with brands like Prismacolor and Copic in college. FC offers a smaller selection of colors than those other brands. This is actually advantageous for me because it forces me to be more selective with my color choices on sketches. Without writing a full review of them, I can safely say these are my prefered sketch markers. However, I try not to be too picky when it comes to my art supplies. Like any art marker, the ink inside doesn’t really match the color on the plastic casings. These swatches are my reference for accurate color-picking.
The remaining doodles here are a spider-web with a black widow on it; and a teary little Ches Star.
Maybe try not to look at that Spyral Eye directly for too long.
Timmy (Death?/Life?), Chaos City Map, and a Clawed Ches Star
Ink, Watercolor, Graphite in Moleskine; Winter 2017 / Spring 2019
Ironically, after the icebreaker page, the left side of this next spread remained empty for the next 2 years. When I began putting this post together, I decided to fill it with a little doodle. Of course, I got a little carried away and went ham, adding a bunch of color and tiny circles. It was fun!
The masked figure holding the weird lamp is my interpretation of a personification of Death. In this case however, this being is responsible for signaling both the beginning and end of a life. They’re meant to resemble a vaguely human shaped cloud of dust, draped in a cloth cut from the night sky? Along with the lamp they use for guiding souls, they also carries a bell (which I neglected to draw here). My bestie and I initially named them Timmy as a placeholder for discussion purposes.
The map on the right was my attempt at mapping out the country Mage Punk is set in. Unfortunately, I lost interest in the sketch before getting very far beyond the walls of The Great Chaos Megalopolis. The reason being that it was too similar to how the USA is laid out; both geographically and city-wise. It’s not really super important to the story as of now, so I’ll just revisit the idea later.
Then, there’s the Ches Star. She’s just there to fill out space. The inclusion of her claw in this particular doodle is a reference to Maneki Neko. I’m sure she’s bringing in the luck. Is it good luck? Who knows! Either way, I want to revisit this idea for her design in the future.
That’s it for this little sketchbook today~
This smaller format makes it easy to attain the satisfaction filling the pages more quickly and easily. Additionally, the little sketchbook is so much easier to carry around. This means that I have a little more flexibility in how often I can draw in it. Unlike with my big sketchbook which can be more cumbersome to break out at times.
I’m excited to show you all the neat ideas and visuals I’ve cranked out in this little book so far. There are at least a two art posts queued up now. They’re taking me some time to draft because I don’t want to just drop artwork in the blog without commentary. It’s hard work but I’ll continue trying my best to get more content posted on here.
Be sure to look forward to them!
