weaponized proboscus

I got some free time, what with getting some more snow courtesy of Fickle Mother Nature, and sketched a 3-part progression (a tryptic if you like, but it's nothing so artsy as that makes it sound) for the amusement of anyone who chooses to take a look.

I fixed the left leg on the female here, along with a couple other, subtler alterations; it just didn't feel right before.

The proportions in this drawing are a little outta whack, but whatever, I didn't feel like re-drawing it.




And here is the original version of the first pic, which I had colored before I decided to changed the actual drawing...

busy, buzzy bee bemoans monstrous, trusting supplicants; stings up "le cannes"

i have been very busy lately doing mostly non-art things, hence this blog has been a bit neglected. By day i have been coaching several aspiring young actors as they work to perfect their performances in skits for competition in the next level of the Fine Arts Festival, and at night I continue working a 40+ hour job on 3rd shift, and try desperately to get sleep where i can. In lieu of an actual post, here are some recent sketches of a somewhat random, doodling nature, bon apetit.

the wasps again...
a thumbnail sketch of same, with my thumbnail for comparison...

a bunch of super-quick caricature-sketches i did 2 sundays ago...

and some other random stuff...
if you don't like these, here is a sample of what is in store for you when i see you next.

that Sync-ing feeling

I'm definitely a procrastinator- I haven't gotten any further on my animation, at least as far a finished frames go, but i have done a bit of doodling trying to come up with appropriate mouth shapes to fit the short bit of dialogue that the squirrel has. I had drawn some ideas before, but now that I've listened to it about a billion times, I am beginning to pick up some of the nuances of the expressions, hopefully this means that the end result will be more believeable cartoon acting- the goal is to have it look like that cartoon is saying the words, not doing a shoddy Britney Spears Lip-Sync.

The first pic is of my initial impressions, along with some unused ideas for funny actions during the squirrel's coughing fit. The second pic is of my most recent interpretations. and as an added bonus, here is a revised color scheme for my wasp characters.

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en

EDIT: this evening over dinner, I scribbled out some poses to go with the Shakespearean dialogue.I was thinking as I drew these characters that it might be fun to use them to animate some dialogue from shakespeare. In particular, I was thinking of this passage from Taming of the Shrew, between Petruchio and Kate, from Act 2, Scene 1:

PETRUCHIO
Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.
KATHARINA
If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

PETRUCHIO
My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
KATHARINA
Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies,
PETRUCHIO
Who knows not where a wasp does wear her sting? In her tail!

KATHARINA
In his tongue!
PETRUCHIO
Whose tongue?

KATHARINA
Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.
PETRUCHIO
What, with my tongue in your tail?
nay, come again,Good Kate;
I am a gentleman!
KATHARINA
That I'll try!

She strikes him.

buzzed

i have a tendency to draw things small, then when i try to go over them with ink, i lose all the subtlety of the lines and forms. I took the drawing of the wasp i drew saturday, blew it up this afternoon and went over it again in pencil to recapture some of those more subtle lines, and to improve the forms that make up the character. then i took another drawing i did this morning of a female wasp and did the same thing with her. i think they both look much better now.

Get the Lead Out

Today I will attept to answer the decades-old question, "What happens when 3 cartoonist have to share a single sheet of paper and one pencil and pen?"

This happened yesterday- I, my 14-year-old brother Jake, and our friend Elijah (17) all contributed to this cartoon Melee. We took turns with the pencil, adding to, changing, and building on the drawing you see here. Then we used a pen in similar fashion to clean up the drawing.Oh, and here as a bonus is another drawing that just kind of "happened" yesterday as I sat at the kitchen table doodling. The pencil version was better, because this type of paper seems to have some kind of aversion to ink.