Drawing for drawing's sake

As my commitments dwindle (which always happens near the end of summer), I find myself with a small surplus of 'free time'. This has allowed me to get back to drawing as an excercise. This usuallly consists of several pages filled with miscellany of all sorts. Some characters, some simple doodles of nothing, and lots of writing. Eventually, I stumble onto something that could stand alone. This little guy seemed pretty funny at the time.


These sketches hardly ever become anything more than random thoughts, the lucky ones end up being inspiration for something else. I find that it helps me to have a lot of sketches laying around because over time, their meanings change which allows me to see them differently. The silly drawings are important not because they are strong art, but because they can always lead me to something new.


Of course, sometimes I do start with the end in mind. I have embarked on a series of pieces (undetermined number in the series) that feature my artwork as a dominant element of the environment. These pieces have to have human characters in casual poses in order to work.


I drew this guy to have when it's time to finish the third piece.

I make real art too!

Typically, I contribute to different phases of short animations. They begin with a script, then are storyboarded, then the full color, moveable art is created, audio is attained, and then finally it is animated. There are other smaller steps as well that are involved in the process. I have done all of these tasks to some degree except animation. It’s all web-based, so when we finish, the animation goes to a developer to deliver via the Internet. All of this, for me, amounts to hours of sitting at a computer. It has become very rare for my company to use anything hand-made.

On occasion, however, I get to put a real pencil to real paper. I drew this in pencil first and transferred it in ink using a light table.



This is what it's all about. I believe that one can only be so close to his or her art without actually touching it or the surface on which it lives. I spent what felt like my entire childhood
drawing pictures. I still remember the first time I noticed the bump on my middle finger that would remain a permanent callus from the pencil rubbing into my skin. Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool drawing.