I went monochrome with this one because of a friend of mine who mentioned he was making acorn-cap ink. I recently made a batch of walnut ink to play with and decided this would be a good time to open the bottle and give it a try. It’s a good thing I opened it when…

More splatter and a fun back-run in his hat. I like that the splatter here helps draw the face and the hands together. The glasses and the shadows they cast were fun to capture, as was the reflected light under his chin. I did this one on Sunday, so I thought a picture of prayer…

I really like the way this one turned out. I started using a toothbrush to give me a different pattern on the splatters. I also made a point to simplify the folds and focus on the larger shapes. It paid off. So far in this daily challenge I am using a very limited palette based…

I decided to go with a two-for on this one. An artist I follow on Instagram publishes periodic figure-drawing challenges. This was the challenge for the week, so I took it. More splatters here. I also tried adding some ink line work. I’ve got mixed feelings on the results.

I couldn’t resist the challenge of portraying this beautiful woman. I simplified the patterns on her skirt and apron (perhaps too much), but I liked the way I was able to capture the designs in her scarf. I also started to add more paint spatter. It’s interesting to me to see the way the splatter…

I really like the blurred effect on the top right of her head. I also like the way the fingers turned out. The white markings on her face were done with acrylic. After just drawing scribbles for the patterns on Day 1’s figure, I decided to be more deliberate with the patterns on her scarf.…

I wanted to improve my watercolor skills and my figure/portrait skills, so I decided to paint a watercolor portrait every day. These are posted, as I complete them on Instagram.

I painted this from a picture of my sons’s cat, Daisy. It was painted with watercolors on Arches rough-textured paper. I played with some back washes to get a couple “blooms” in there to indicate fur and used a little white acrylic for the whiskers. My favorite part of this painting had to be the…

I went with a full-on comic strip today. All pen, no erasing! (It took a few fails and I had to piece it together in photoshop, but I like it!)

For Inktober today I talked my nephew and brother to just hold still for me for 5 minutes while we waited for the girls to come out of Claire’s. I think standing still for Nathan was the hardest thing he did all day, but he did it very well!!

I’m working on a Christmas story book … I started drawing it last year and I’m hoping to finish drawing it this year. Here is Santa leaning on the North Pole.

A good neighbor friend of ours had a rough day today. She has two adorable, friendly puppies that we all love. I thought this might cheer her up a bit. This was done with a ball-point pen. 

My daughter asked me to draw this while we sat at the table this morning. She had one of her toy Ponies and sat it on the table for me to draw. I drew this with a ballpoint pen and then went over the final lines with a small Pitt marker.

Went a little steam punk for Inktober today. Still having fun with the ballpoint pen!

Today is the first day of Inktober. I’ll be posting a drawing a day all month. Please feel free to post your comments and encouragements! (I’m shameless!) This was inspired by a talk given this evening during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference. I drew this in a notebook my son,…

I was working on some gesture sketches when I caught this very cute scene. I continue to look for ways to simplify what I see so that I can capture the essences quickly, before they disappear.

I’m working on a new children’s book with apples! I did this on my Surface Pro 4 with Sketchable. I’m working on modeling the apples and establishing a unified view of the light source. I’m not the best at it yet, but I think I did a fair job. I started drawing the shadow more…

We sat down to watch a DVR’d episode of So You Think You Can Dance and I decided it would be fun to try and capture some of the dancer’s poses. I was able to get some quick gesture poses down. It was a fun exercise and the kids who are dancing are just amazing!…

One of the suggestions of my most recent how to draw book was to use a fountain pen to draw and then use water and a brush to add some washes to the drawing. I have a whole bunch of fountain pens and a cool watercolor brush that has water in its handle. As you…

Today was a day for quick sketches. Once again, I turned to my favorite model: my lovely wife! She sat on the couch singing songs with friends on the Smule app, so I took advantage of her relative stillness to capture some quick likenesses! This first one was intended more as a gesture sketch than…

I picked up a new book on sketching figures today. (Yay for 50% off coupons at Michael’s!) One of the items emphasized in the book is gesture drawings. The author gives some good tips about how to do them quickly. I liked it. Some of these very quick drawings really do give a sense of…

Playing off my apple from yesterday and using my Surface Pro 4 and Sketchable again, I did this drawing. I’d like to get a little more contrast between the branch and the sky, but overall, it was a satisfying experience to paint. I started with the sky. I used the spray paint tool and a…

This was a fun exercise on my Surface Pro 4. I started by firing up my Sketchable application. I took a picture of myself using the Surface camera. Then, using it as a reference, I drew the free-hand sketch in blue. After Sketching in the main elements in blue, I moved my sketch over the photo…

I spent a little time working on ears today. Most of them were copied from a book, but a couple were from live models. I’m getting a better feel for their shape. I also spent some time today working on my lines. I’ve practiced straight lines and small circles before. This’s time I focused on…

We had a wonderful day today at the butterfly museum in Houston. And I was very glad I brought my notebook! I’ve done paintings of butterflies before, so this was an opportunity to revisit the anatomy of these beautiful, wildly varied creatures. The butterfly museum was wonderfully done. It was very informative and the area…

I decided to play with a fine point pen today. Even though there isn’t a lot of variety in the width of the lines and it takes a lot more strokes to fill in dark areas, but I like the variety of squiggles I can get with it. I also like the way I can…

I played with a smaller pen today. I’m trying to get a better handle on the forms of the nose. The nose vexes me, in particular when I try to draw from memory or just making it up. I am kind of excited by the pen, though. I bought a package of 3 for $1…

I’m practicing a little more with the fat pen today. I like the variety of lines I can get from it. I tried using it to do some shading here. I’m not so happy with the way the shading turned out on her face, but for a freehand drawing, I think it’s pretty good. I…

I’m on a trip to Texas this weekend and found myself with a little extra time on my hands, so I broke out the “fat” pen. I like that I can put down a lot of ink quickly and get a variety of lines out of this pen. It’s a number 10. I started by…

I’m still working with the flat-edged pen today. I really do like the variety of lines that I can get in a very short time. This little sketch was requested by my 6-year-old. Our dog, Maggie, loves to perch herself on the back of our couch. We’ve put down blankets to protect the couch from…

I wanted to start sketching again today. So, I picked up Jack Hamm’s book on drawing people and found a lot of great information about proportions and ideas for drawing practice. One suggestion was to work with a flat-edged pencil. It allows you to easily vary the line and create quick suggestions of eyes, lips,…

This week was my wife’s birthday. So, I wanted to give her a picture that would make her smile. She has a lot of affection for llamas and does a great impersonation of one. (If you ever get to meet her at a party, ask her to make the llama face for you. It is…

When we hear about thing like the terrorist attacks in Paris, we can be struck by a severe sense of helplessness. What can we do? Sometimes all we can do is express sympathy and support. That’s what this is from me. It is sympathy. It is support for the people in France who now have…

  I wanted to find some way to honor those who serve us today and those who have served us so well in the past – those who put everything on the line to protect our freedoms, our way of life, our families and our country. THANK YOU doesn’t do it justice.  

This is the first year I heard of InkTober. So, if you haven’t heard of it, you are not alone! It’s basically a great excuse for artists to stop procrastinating and start drawing. The challenge is to draw (and post) a new drawing every day for the month of October.  It was a fun challenge…

I took the day off of work today to run a little illustration workshop at the Boyden Library in Foxboro, the town were I live. This was my second year running a workshop for up-and-coming youth illustrators. What a fun time we had! I thought I’d publish some of the things I shared with these young…

I didn’t spend much time drawing today, but I did manage to put this little sketch together. This is an idea for one of the many drawings I need to do for Two Young Captains. The simplicity of the drawing along with the spareness of the table highlight the need for proper study of a…

This was a 5-minute diversion at work today. (At least it seemed like only 5 minutes to me. I have been known to lose my sense of time when I start to draw. It’s one of the reasons I do it.) I started with an effort to draw a nice set of lips. Notice the…

I didn’t have a lot of time for drawing today, but I did manage a couple of “shady” items. I thought it would be good to practice my shading today. Shading can make a two-dimensional line drawing “pop” out into three dimensions. It’s a great illusion. I like practicing spheres because they contain all of…

I’m working on a pencil portrait of my son for graduation. This was my first attempt. I always imagine myself sitting down to draw and everything just comes out right the first time. All the proportions are spot on and all the shading and line thickness just flows. Somehow that drawing nirvana continues to elude…