Filling a cup, planting a garden, washing a kidlet...

So if we are buddies on Facebook, or you follow me in any way shape or form you probably know I just moved, and well, I'm a-aching all over. It took more than the usual few hours and a cup of steaming hot Joe to wake me up, because I still have a bit of sludge between the ears. Some days are like that, and it's good to just give in, and let whatever needs to heal do its magic trick.

Many people often say to me they wish they could do art. I also know people (adults even who are brave enough to admit) who love to color. It's a calming thing for them, and it's not the "stress" of having to create something whole cloth, yet satisfies their need to be creative. And yes, I think that's a creative outlet. In an effort to keep people interested in my site, draw a wide variety, I thought I'd try posting coloring pages. It's also a way to keep me drawing (and encouraging one form of it or another EVERY day) and accountable. If I know people like this and respond to it, I will continue to create them, and my other things as well. I will ask, if you decide to try my coloring pages that you leave a comment, let me know what you think of it, how well it's reproducing, etc., and any other thoughts, including things you'd like to see. No guarantees on that one, but you never know, and I'm always looking for fun stuff and ways to stretch myself.

Fluff and stuff, is what I'm doing today. This would amount to stuff, and not fluff. Fluff was frittering on FB mostly, but I did make some friends from the online class, "spoke" with a few others and that was more stuff.   I sketched out the beginnings of a coloring page, for this blog. If I get 'er done I will post later. What I decided to do was to post my Mermaid rubberstamp drawing from long ago, along with a few details from what I rerendered in Photoshop... you saw them earlier, if you're familiar with my blog, but why make you scroll if you don't have to?  I hope you enjoy (will post a few other drawings today and tomorrow for the idea of coloring, if you like).

This was the original drawing (originally for rubberstamps). If you know how to scan and share, I'd love to see what you do with her (nothing NASTY, you guys, I love my imaginary friends as well!) I will post a couple of older drawings tomorrow for coloring and a new original by weekend.
And...
Remember to leave a comment if you decide to download, or have a particular subject or image in mind. Hope you enjoy!

So I will share my "other" art for the next few months as most of the character assets will be under wraps at least until we publish the app. But I have other quick art to share along the way and I can still talk about the process and provide the resources and journey textually, right?

So the next couple of days I'm looking at PERSPECTIVE. I need to nail it down for my Duke Day For Annie as well as for the other projects (Whateverafter, Becoming and Lytee).  As a matter of fact as soon as I finish the post I'll be sitting through this one: Four point perspective, and later on review some videos on animating in FLASH.

When I say nail it down, that means at one point I'm going to have to get obnoxious about drawing everything I see. I've found if you do it so much you don't have to "think" about, have a REAL grasp, it has an immediacy and power and you become fearless. I had actually learned this in artschool. I had avoided hands and feet as a kid, because they were too "hard". Granted my then-drawing teacher Ed Douglas had the modernist mantra droning in my ear, but it was still a joke enough that when I would draw it I would also label it: "This is not a CHAIR!".

Even then with the text and image.

But we were to draw hands and feet for a week, and a strange thing happened. After a few days of frustration, I not only started concentrating on the relationships, but fell in love with creating their image. I did compulsively, obsessively, can't-sit-my-butt-down-without-drawing-hands-and-feet for a month. Now I understand their forms so well, I can "draw" a hand from memory, because I understand how their forms work and relate. Which doesn't take away from the best way to draw, LOOKING at what you're drawing. It all just adds to the image, I think.

I did the same thing with the letters "r" and "s", when studying calligraphy. They were my problem letters. So I did them ad nauseum with the same process. By gummy my "r"  have rhythm and my "s"es are downright springy!

In other words, embrace what you avoid, often times you do it because you KNOW you lack. So give yourself that spontaneity and power.

Last night watching a bit of the tube, I could only allow it if I were drawing. To my surprise, I'd drawn Oscar enough he fell off the tip of my Sharpie. Which is fabulous because it will be easy to create a number of images of him and more naturally animate him.  Probably to get a little freer with him as well. Now to give myself the rest of the characters this week. Today I think will be kingfisher, koala and if I have the time, Duckbilled Platypus, because I keep "seeing" him.

Till then, this is my current "Agy" project for my Cafe Press Store, Imagyne. I have another one that is more calligraphy and writer, oriented, Agy Shtuff. My sister had suggested doing a series of "eyes". I had thought about play on words (this means Snake Eyes, in case it's not clear, lol).