May 1: Happy Anniversary Doodle Day!

Happy 1st Anniversary Doodle Day

I am very fortunate to have discovered the facebook group, Doodle Day. I've been drawing with this group since November 2013...mainly using the prompts listed in the files at the top of the page.

I've drawn things I love and feel comfortable drawing and ALSO things I am terrible at and I've improved. See January 2014: interior and exteriors, perspective, ugh.

So, I'd like to personally congratulate the founder Alison K. Hertz on her page's one year anniversary and thank her for helping me become a better artist and hopefully one day, a published illustrator.

This drawing is my thank you for you, Alison!

Follow Allison on her blog:
http://www.alisonhertz.blogspot.com

April 28,29,30: Last Character of the Month: Hannah, the Hippo Ballerina

Hannah was nervous, all the other 

ballerinas were much smaller.

Hannah surrendered to the music. Her love of dance overcame her anxiety.

With grace and passion, she earned the part.

Three days left in April, one more character to work on. I've chosen Hannah, the Hippo, an aspiring ballerina with an over-sized figure. I'm trying to eliminate the "black" line in my next few months work. Even though I love black lines, I've heard not all Art Directors do. I added 'titles' with each drawing to give more insight into what I was trying to convey.

April 21-27: Vampire Bat-Boy Character Study

Composite: Vampire Bat-boy

Another week of Doodle Day (a facebook group) doodles.  We're still working on characters. I chose a four year old boy with a baby sister. He combines a pair of fake vampire teeth and his bat-cape and becomes "VAMPIRE BAT-BOY".  Here is from top to bottom: Brian dons his vampire teeth and bat cape to become Vampire Bat-boy, Vampire Bat-boy hides, Vampire Bat-boy roars, Vampire Bat-boy leaps over tall buildings, Vampire Bat-boy frightens an evil invader, Vampire Bat-boy is sorry he scared his baby sister. Would love to do a whole book of this character....humm, now that's a good idea.

As I was drawing my character, I was reminded of the great Maurice Sendak's Max, so full of mischief and imagination.

April 14 - 20: Dr. Bird, character study

Character Study: Dr. Bird

I didn't have a bird in my portfolio, so I worked on this character, a cross between a bluebird and Maurice Chevalier (pictured below).

He's dapper, cheerful, compassionate and quite a flirt, just like Maurice was.

Maurice Chevalier

April 8 -13: The Flapper, a character study

The Flapper, a character study

This week's prompt from Doodle Day (a facebook group) was a character study. I started with the flapper in the yellow circle. I changed her somewhat as I progressed through the week. On to another character....

April 7: Hand Sketches From the Work of Hilary Knight

Hand Study from the work of Hilary Knight

I adore Hilary Knight's illustrations and often refer to them for motion & hand inspiration. His work is SO expressive. My hand sketches are modeled after his illustrations in The Circus is Coming.

 (One of my 

favorite books!)

April 3 - 6: More hand doodles

 More hands from a week long study. Prompted by the facebook  group, Doodle Day.

April 1,2: Doodling Hands

Pointing finger

This month's Doodle Day challenge is divided into weeks. This first week of April we're doing hands.
I haven't drawn from life for awhile, it's painful. I really have to concentrate. Think I'll draw from a photo next time. Holding my left hand still enough was a challenge.

March 26-31: More Interaction Doodles

At the Movies

Down the Bunny Trail

 The final six interaction sketches.

At the Movies: Watching a scarey movie is easier with a box of popcorn for comfort.

Down the Bunny Trail: The Bunny Band brings Easter sunrise to light by waking up all the creatures in the woodland with a joyous parade.

Windy Day: Yes, we've been having horrific winds this month. Almost every day. This is how I felt bringing home my groceries yesterday.

In Car Seats: It's been awhile since I used car seats but thought it would be fun to draw triplets each with a unique expression. I channeled the classic, See No Evil, Speak No Evil and Hear No Evil in this sketch.

Rockin' with Granny on the Porch: The one day of warmer weather reminded me how much I love to rock with my grandchildren in tow on my porch rocker.

In a car seat "See no, speak no, hear no evil"

Rockin' with Granny on the porch

March 25: Reading in Bed

Reading in Bed 1

Since I almost always read in bed it isn't surprising to find these images in my stash. Reading in Bed 1 comes from late night reading to a child who's a night owl. Reading in Bed 2 comes from loving to read in bed when I was a child.

Reading in Bed 2