This started off as a sketch for a new computer desk I may build from a solid core door and a sheet of three-quarter MDF. One thing led to another and…well, here you go.

The background was not completely fleshed out yet. Still in rough form. I was worried this would get a little too busy if I completed it. Besides that, I have to move on to the next sketch.

Well, it has finally happened. I missed a day for the Sketch of the Day. It gives me that same feeling I got when I scratched my truck for the first time. Now the pressure is off. I don’t have to worry about scratching my truck any more.

My computer was infected by the W32/Blaster.worm. Basically, some doosh invented this virus to act like an Anti-virus software program on your computer and exclaim, “You have a virus, quick, pay us fifty dollars and we’ll make it go away!”. I have to admire the thought behind it.

I really blended the heck out of this sketch. I wanted to give it a darker, more smoky look. I didn’t use a dog for a reference. Instead, I drew it from memory. It’s my buddies current dog, combined with the shitzu he had growing up. The dog I had, growing up, was not as cute, nor was it an inside dog, so this was what I came up with it.

I am no longer a “pet” person. I haven’t been for about two years. The concept of keeping an animal in your house – let alone buying special food for it – is so foreign to me now.

For the sake of time, I fused a lot of the bones together, so this isn’t an accurate skeleton. I leveraged my artistic license, like a pro and drew the cool, eye candy elements. The tarp background is sporting a cat tail (or “cotton tails” as my British friend, Grant calls them) pattern. The skull was my primary focus and was originally going to be “Day of the Dead Parrot”, but turned into what you see instead. I left the floral latinesque border but didn’t develop it anymore than just a first-pass sketch.

It’s the small victories in life that mean so much sometimes. I have a spot on my  counter that’s been there since I have remodeled the kitchen five years ago. It’s something I look at pretty much every day of my life. Up until yesterday, I thought it would be there until the day I die. I was waiting for the pot to boil and had a minute to spare. Then, the idea came to me…why not use rubbing alcohol? It worked, and no more spot. A five year old eye sore, gone with a couple of swipes with a paper towel. I have wiped that thing down countless times in the past five years and now it’s a mere memory. I will milk this feeling for at least the rest of the weekend.

If you look at this sketch and think, “aw, how friggin’ cute…” then I have succeeded. I really pushed the perspective here. There is no sky, just more water crashing around these guys. No worries, though, they can’t drown. This sketch will be a prime candidate for painting soon.

In my mind, the airship body is made of the same material that jumpy-castle-thingy’s are, only they are a lot more resilient and won’t pop. How cool would that be? Flying in a giant jumpy-castle-thingy. If I could live in the world of my imagination for a while, I’d do it for sure. I think that’s why we like books like Harry Potter so much, because it allows us to visit J.K.Rowling’s world and see how she thinks. Somehow, we are able to suspend our own reality and accept someone elses as our own. Even if that world has unspeakable evil. I guess that makes the adventure that much more exciting.

Anyhoo, I started this sketch with the scroll work in the bridge. I discontinued the pattern because it seemed to just turn into a complex mess and had no real harmony to it. I then created the ship to the left and that felt more fitting. The way I “bridged” the gap was with a bunch of ivy. It almost gives the illusion that the scroll work is falling away from the ship just after turning into ivy leaves.

I try to put a lot of thought into every line I put on the paper. Not to say, I pine over every line before making it, what I mean is each line has a relationship with the ones it touches. It conveys shape, density, depth, and even color.

If you strip away all the shading I do with the lines, this is what you get.

When Stephanie and I were first married, she had a Pug. I would wash that dog, and in a matter of a day, it would smell like a rotting carcass all over again. It had a bad hip, so it walked on three legs, even after hundreds of dollars of surgery, bad eyes and respiratory issues, so it got snot on everything it smelled or layed on.

God, I loved that dog.

I used the eraser to “draw” in the highlights. I wanted to create the illusion of fur on the dog’s head. I used the backdrop in this sketch a bit differently. By using the oval shape, I was able to round the corners on the background and create a more intimate setting. I will use this technique again.

When I was younger, my family would vacation in Myrtle Beach every year. Part of the routine was to go feed “Ally the Alligator”. No kidding, we would go to this park and walk up and feed alligators. We’d throw pieces of bread in their mouths and watch them clamp shut. What the hell were my parents thinking? We have video footage of it.

Flash again. Since the time I have been drawing every day, I have seen my techniques change and develop. I am really surprised how much I rely on those techniques developed, while drawing, in everything I create. Drawing every day is the gift I give myself and it gives me so much back.

Must get back to football now.

If I were to ever acquire a super power, it would be the ability to fly, which is quite ironic, because I’m afraid of heights. And if I did acquire the ability to fly, it’s just as likely that I would live in a community like this one. I originally created it for another anime test, this one involving flying insects. That explains the lack of life. I still may do it, just not any time soon. I have to catch up on requests and commissions first.

I tried to create an interesting angle and give the illusion of real height. I also wanted to add a bit of drama with the trench-looking structure running off the edge into the clouds.