Day 0 July 14, Yesterday, I went to the new art supply store in PG County, MD, looking for a type of watercolors that a friend recommended. They did not have them, but they urged me to test out the ones they did have, test station. I doodled a couple things.Today, I went back with a new recommendation. The people working there still had this and treated me like a rock star. It was really nice, but a little weird.
Month 1 starts here
Day 1 July 19 Just wanting to do a little bit of art each day.
Day 2. Point, Captain Marvel. I always figured that although Superman is a human solar battery, he is succeptible to kryptonite and magic. And Captain Marvel’s powers come from a wizard.
Day 3. Point, Superman. July 21. Still however, he’s only mortal. Gearing up for a bigger #comicart project. Practicing my #watercolors
Day 4 July 22 while waiting for pizza
Day 5. Lost my pencil so had to freehand more than I wanted. Oh well, still, unbroken streak of 5 days.
Day 6. For a looooong time, I made lazy excuses: “I’m a cartoonist. I don’t need to learn hands. I can just draw cartoony hands.” Then, while in Germany, I picked up an Asterix book. #Uderzo’s mastery of expression through hands inspired me. That was 1993, and I’m still not satisfied. But for my current commission, my vision insists on well-formed hands.
Day 7. Ashley Graham. A little “before and after.” Pencils, then inks. Wanted to draw a real woman; not a stick with boobs. Ashley Graham was the perfect choice. Va-voom!
Day 8. Getting Trumped. I make it no secret that a Donald Trump presidency scares me. This image helps me sleep at night.
Day 9. This Paper Sucks. Struggling with some paper I found in my attic. I thought it was illustration board. I think it turned out to be mat board, which isn’t really designed for this usage. Live and learn.
Day 10. Bat-Sizzle. July 28. She’s from a world of no men. He’s a loner who dresses up in tights and beats people up. They’ve both got baggage, but somehow, maybe they can make this work.
Day 11. The Drooling Imbecile. July 29. An old cartoon character whom I’ve revisited a few times. Droolie has no real powers, but always seems to accidentally save the day in monumentally stupid ways.
Day 12. Birthdayyy. July 30. When I was younger, I was a big fan of Get Smart. In the spoof spy series, Maxwell’s cover identity was that of a “greeting card salesman.” Something in me decided that was a viable career trajectory. And here it leaves me.
Day 13. July 31. Studies in drooling.
Day 15. August 2. GoodSquirrels (pencils). Missed a day of “a little art every day” because as I walked my dog (the last thing I do before sitting at the drawing table for the night), my dog discovered three abandoned, hairless squirrel babies. Long story short, I spent the night awake, immobilized, trying to warm the poor dehydrated creatures up so I could get fluids into them. (I later discovered their mother had been electrocuted on an overhead power transformer.) In any case, this all happened three days before my theatrical show, “The Heist” opened (a silent stage comedy about three gangsters and a pig), so that may have been somewhat influential as to the subject matter of this piece.
Day 16. GoodSquirels (inks) August 3
Day 17. The Heist doodle. August 4. Concept logo for “The Heist,” my silent stage comedy about three gangsters and a pig.
Day 18. Reservoir Goons. August 5. Concept logo for “The Heist,” my silent stage comedy about three gangsters and a pig.
Day 19. Goon Lids. Three gangsters. Three hats.
Day 20. Jailbreak. Concept of the opening scene for “The Heist,” my silent stage comedy about three gangsters and a pig.
Day 21. Lazy Jailbreak. Closing night of “The Heist,” my silent stage comedy about three gangsters and a pig.
Day 22. Love that Chicken. August 9. I’ve always wondered whether E.C. Segar would be turning over in his grave over the association of his beloved creation to the chicken-abattoirs bearing his name. Interestingly, the restaurants are named for a character in The French Connection, and only later obtained licensing to use the cartoon character. Me? I have no licensing. But parody is fair use.
Day 24 The Last Trump Voter. August 11. Just enjoying the flow of the pencil to the ink. Long been a fan of Basil Wolverton, who influenced R. Crumb.
Day 25. Charlie Snaps. August 12. Just enjoying the flow of the pencil to the ink. Long been a fan of Basil Wolverton, who influenced R. Crumb.
Day 26. August 18. Since it’s my project “A Little Art Every Day,” I make the rules. Though it’s the same piece as the other day, I like to think the coloring of it adds dimension and meaning. Also, I am enjoying this leg of my art education: I just splurged on some decent watercolors. OMG, I’m never going to that horrible waxy stuff you get at the drug store. I feel like I’ve grown all up. Of course, I’ve always felt that oil paints are real “grown up” art stuff. But ick: turpentine, oil, and they take forever to dry. I don’t have that kind of patience.
Day 27. Free Hugs. August 19. I’m a 13 year old boy. This makes me giggle.
Day 28. Whoa, Dude! August 15. Just wanted to see if I could. And I did. And it reminds me that I have had days that felt like this.
Day 29. Eternal Beauty. August 16. I so enjoy weirdness. I drew this during a poker game, sitting next to an ER doctor. She was quite taken by it.I hope she doesn’t get any ideas…
Day 30. Strategy. August 17. I think this sums up the respective campaign strategies of the 2016 election cycle.I’m thinking of making this a T-shirt, with some fixes for the half-dozen artistic problems I can see. Who wants one? (sign up for blog notifications, below)
Day 31. Truck. August 18. I’ve never felt competent at drawing machinery, preferring organic, natural characters to the cold, repetitive lines of machine-made objects. Thought I’d step out of my comfort zone a bit. Still, I had to put a person in there somewhere, otherwise the art tells no story.
I chose brush and ink because color can distract from a whole lot of structural errors. I wanted to be able to focus on the bones so I can see the half dozen or so problems with this, but I think at least my style shows through, despite there being (almost) no creatures involved.
This is another 365 project. This is the first 30; the rest are in my head, somewhere. In 2009-2010, I did 365 acrylic paintings in one year. It was grueling, rewarding, made many mistakes and produced some beautiful works of amazing art.
Now it’s 2016. I have just completed my first month of a new art project, #ALittleArtEveryDay. This is a bit simpler as some are finished pieces; some are chipping away at a larger piece, and some are “I just threw this Hail Mary off my pen under deadline.”
I hope you enjoy this journey as it develops … I’m still writing the rules!
