Doodle 041 - Shapes and Ponies

I took a small break from more involved doodles today and decided to do a simple shapes exercise.

Since I rebooted this blog I have done more original, personal drawings than on the past 9 years combined. I did some drawing for work, since sometimes it was easier and more budget effective for me to create original illustrations than buying stock, but nothing as close as what I have been doing lately.

I can feel my mind and hands sort of starting to reconnect and communicate better with each other. I am not sure how to explain it, but I had stopped visualizing things and drew in a wanton half-hearted way. Hopefully with more training I will get more confident and remember how draw better.

This weekend's game gave me specifics and helped a lot. It was challenging, but a lot of fun.

One of the things I have been taught to do in order to draw inspiration, is to look at everyday objects, extrapolate their basic shapes, and then use those as basis to create characters.

I used random bottles this time and came up with these quick sketches:

Lady in Waiting 1 - Blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 5 mins.

Lady in Waiting 2 - Blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 5 mins.

Lady in Waiting 3 - Blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 5 mins.

Lady in Waiting 4 - Blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 5 mins.

After that I wanted to draw something silly for fun, I am a fan of the new My Little Pony cartoon. As you follow along you will notice I watch a lot of cartoons... and I do mean a LOT. Part of it is due to the fact that I really would like to work in animation, and the other? I just love cartoons and never quite grew out of them.

When I first heard that Lauren Faust was in charge of a reboot of the 80's show I was intrigued. I must clarify that I am by no means a girly girl, I am quite a bit of a tomboy, and to be sincere, I really didn't like the original My Little Pony, I was way more into He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, Silverhawks and Disney cartoons like The GummyBears, Gargoyles (that's more 90's though, isn't it?), Duck Tales, plus a bunch of anime since I grew up in Spain and they showed a whole lot more Japanese cartoons there than I have ever seen in the US.

So, when the new My Little Pony (MLP) aired its episode on the Hub network, I tuned in just to see if it was going to be a hot mess... well, I was surprised. I liked it, I really did like it.

Is it so adorable that you might need to check your glucose levels after each commercial break?
Oh, yes, yes it is.

Is it also cool, funny and totally watchable?
Yes.

Anyway, I recommend it and that explains today's second doodle:

Princess Celestia - Blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 10 mins.

 Hmmm... her legs look a bit stubby to me, but it is my first time drawing her.

I hope everybody's Mondays were kind, one day down, 4 more to go!

Update: yeah I drew the next doodle because I couldn't sleep... if you saw the latest Dr Who Dinosaurs on a spaceship episode... you'll get it. If not, well... it is just a dino learning it isn't going to be the Doctor's new companion.

"I'm not the new companion?" - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 5 mins.

 OK now I am off to sleep for realsies.