Hello July!
But first, a recap of June!
I spent most of this month working in my sketchbook! Unfortunately I don’t have a lot ready to share, since it was mostly preparing for my comic book!
I haven’t done a lot of character design work before, and this is A LOT of character design work! As an extra challenge, I wrote a science fiction book… which means I now have to design science fiction characters! Eek! 😦
It’s been fun though to make up the right kind of scifi costumes, and hairstyles and extra details. But it’s definitely more involved this way! I’m having to do a lot of research and expiramenting to figure out what makes sense, looks the best, and goes together for this story. The good news is that I’m halfway done with this part! I have six main characters in my story, and three are now ready! Yay!
I can’t wait to introduce them once they are all done! (But obviously not there yet…)
For little breaks, where I can still draw but NOT do the heavy-lifting of invention and design, I did a few studies. This time I just drew fun stuff from Pinterest and playing with my style! And paint markers! (So fun!)
Banana! (done with alcohol markers!)
Done in paint markers. I thought it turned out really cool, but was too detailed for cartoons.
So I did it again! I actually don’t like it very much this way, I would do a lot differently. But I’m still not sure how exactly… oh well, it happens! Still good practice!
I also thought I’d try my hand at “life journal” sketching as well. It’s where you draw every day with like personal prompts about your life (especially the day-to-day). Like, where you went, things you saw, what you ate, etc. My day-to-day is a pretty solid routine now, and I’m still very much a homebody. So yeah, that got old quick! 😂
I did like three days before I gave up and went back to drawing whatever sounded interesting or fun. Or sometimes focusing on things I need to practice intentionally. Like robot things. (see above!)
However, it did help me get a bit braver? about my sketchbook. Using nice supplies. Not worrying about it being like super involved or “perfect.” It reminded me it’s about study and play. And to focus more on the process rather than worrying about the result! (I can worry about that plenty enough for illustrations and my book!)
Lastly, I did a little fan art doodle for The Division 2. It’s my all-time favorite game, and I started playing it again after taking a loooooong break from it. One of my favorite parts is the rich environment, and I love all the graffiti and murals on the buildings in the game. But also, there are a bunch of food trucks on the streets and there’s one for dumplings that’s just sooo cute! So I did a quick little doodle of it!
The Division 2
It’s so cute!! (I know I know, it kinda looks like it says DiviZion? I don’t know why and I haven’t drawn bubble letters like that in probably a decade so I’m not going to worry about it. Haha).
My favorite thing about this drawing was working on it while my two puppy dogs were just hanging out! They can usually be pretty darn nosy, but this time they were completely disinterested and let me work from a little lap desk on the couch!
Mostly.
For July…
I’m looking forward to a lot more drawing, more characters, and working from the couch with the dogs more often?! I also am going to try one of those surface-protector things for my iPad. I’m hoping it will make working on my book on it a lot nicer. I don’t mind the glass, but it’s definitely not my favorite. And also I really really don’t want to draw a whole 140+ page graphic novel on paper. I mean, working in 11×17 is actually super cool. But I don’t want an industrial-sized scanner! Haha… (unless someone knows an alternative?? I would love to do this all by hand for the drawing part. I just have no idea how I could EASILY digitize it for coloring, letters, etc?)
Anyway, time to get back to work!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. – Don’t forget! You can support my work (and get cool stuff!) by shopping prints, shirts and more at INPRNT and TeePublic!
Bee Sauls Art 