Doodle 071 - Vampire Kitteh and Necomini Brainwave Ears

You know that feeling in between exhaustion and euphoria? It normally happens to me when my body has been running for so long on little sleep and adrenaline, that I can't quite tell if I am tired anymore or if I just want to go on ahead and stay up until my brain gives and then I can sleep for a couple of days to make up for lost time.

Right now I am nearing that feeling, haven't had much sleep/rest so far this week... sure I probably shouldn't have drunk that one giant pumpkin spice latte... the doctor did say "No caffeine!"... but... but... OK... fiiine, I have no excuses, I was just being bad and now I am paying for it.

Anyway, I managed to be in a good mood anyhow, why you ask? Well, first off, we scored spots to go to the pre-opening of the New Fantasyland expansion at Walt Disney World thanks to my D23 membership (it is an official Disney fan club, yup, I am a Disney geek, I could try and hide it, but... it would be embarrassing to do so, really).

Also, Andrei gifted me these:

Behold! Every other cosplayer and otaku's dream!

I kept looking at them during DragonCon and I guess he got the hint, overall when I kept repeating: "I soooo want a pair!" to what he would reply with an eye roll on time to time, because he is into practical gifts, but after 12 years of marriage he has learned... I am into silly ones, so he humors me.

He ordered them from thinkgeek.com, I love that store and I might just buy every single birthday/Christmas gift my geeky friends get from there... yeah, I love my geeky peeps.

The package got here today and I could hardly wait to get them out of the package:

Easy peasy instructions right on the top as you open the box.

Earsssss!

Ears on the headband.

So, according to the instructions I really didn't read... yup, that's how I roll... two sensors, one on your forehead and other on your earlobe, pick up signals that tell the ears how to behave.

Do they work? Yes, at least on me they do. To do a test run I wore them while playing Skyrim... because apparently that's my other all consuming hobby nowadays, Andrei took video... be warned, it might be overly long, boring and like 98% of the population, we both dislike how our voices sound when recorded, it's all a matter of perception I guess.

Yes, that's the top of my head... you can tell I have played the game a lot since my character kills bosses like it's no big deal.

After all that excitement I managed to come up with a couple of quick doodles:

Halloween Kitteh! - red and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 7 mins.

Several of my friends have shared a cute (photoshopped) photo of a vampire kitten, so I thought I would draw my own version.

Also, I did a quick gesture drawing, it really has no back story, maybe it is a house keeper going over to see what her neighbor needs across the way:

The Neighbor Calls - red mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 4 mins.

OK, and now I am off to bed.

Doodle 070 - Warrior Princess Bubblegum and a Self-portrait.

Lately I have been wanting to just draw strong female characters, I guess it is because at the moment I am battling my own demons and trying to get better while recovering my drawing skill.

I still feel my drawing hand is rather stiff, but thanks to drawing every day I have started to be able to sit here and try for longer periods of time. Soon I will start simple character design exercises and see how I do. I have a couple of ideas for interactive Fridays that will challenge my imagination.

When you try to shut off a big part of yourself away it takes a while to coax it back out into the light, and in a way you could say it is similar to working out again after not doing any exercise for years, it is painful at first, but after a while it becomes easier, and eventually it is second nature. My poor imagination is so rusty and filled with cobwebs and blocks that it is hard to come up with interesting things sometimes, so bear with me as I delve into my own crazy mind and rescue my inspiration.

Today I drew Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time, she has been a rather strong princess for several of the past episodes, she is made of sugar, but she sure can pack a punch:

Warrior Princess Bubblegum - red mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins.

Then I tried my hand at a self-portrait... I am bad at them, I much rather draw other people/things, but it is a good exercise on time to time, still, I am not sure it really looks like me that much:

Self-portrait - red mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 10 mins.

Doodle 069 - The Message and more mail!

Today I want to share more reader artwork. Like I have said before, I do read your e-mails and each of your comments and it means a lot to me when I get artwork from you guys.

Amanda sent over an awesome set of drawings she did for her children, she said that she used to draw and even taught herself to paint during college, but life got crazy and she forgot about it. She was inspired by my daily drawings and got to drawing.

I can't really tell you guys how happy it makes me when someone starts drawing again thanks to my silly doodles, because you are part of my daily inspiration to never skip a day, so if I can inspire you guys as well it really makes me feel good about this project.

Elmo, Clifford, Arthur and Abby by Amanda K. using crayons.

Ninjago characters by Amanda K. using crayons.

I think she did an awesome job and if I were her kid I'd have been stoked to see these. Keep on drawing Amanda!

And now, for today's doodle, I used a red pen to switch things up a bit.

The Messenger Rarely Brought Good News - red mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 20 mins.

I imagine she is a young queen who has been sent away for her protection during times of war and she dreads the bad news that always come with the messenger birds.

Doodle 068 - Interactive Friday Animation Doodles (part 2)

I had my work cout-out for me today. All of you suggested characters are from some of my very favorite animated movies, so it was a ton of fun to keep on drawing and studying.

To be sincere, I ran out of time and I still wanted to finish the long list of suggestions for the weekend... blame it all on Skyrim, I decided I wanted to finish "one" quest and ended up finishing 3 or 4 instead... it never fails... damn you Skyrim! *shakes fist*

Anyway, here are today's requests:

 Marebabe: "How about Sebastian (the red crab) from Disney's "The Little Mermaid"?"

Sebastian from character sheet and photo references - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins.

 He looks so happy, probably singing "Under the Sea".

Next up, Susanna King: "Would you be willing to take a stab at the unicorn from The Last Unicorn? It's my favorite animated movie, and I think the animation style matches your drawing style."

It is one of my favorites too!

The Last Unicorn from photo reference - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 15 mins.

Andrea:  "How about Sulley and Mike from Monsters, INC?"
This was a tough one, Sully was easy, but for some reason Mike came out all wonky.

Mike and Sully from photo reference - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 25 mins.

 Aleksandra Robinson: "What about Totoro or the Catbus? Miyazaki is definitely one of the masters. :D"

Miyazaki is indeed a master, I am a huge fan of his, and the cat bus is one of my favorite things in the world.

Catbus from movie still - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 20 mins.

 I had to draw him while sprinting about. I also drew a quick Totoro:

Totoro from photo reference - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 10 mins.

charissa:  "Any of the cats from The Aristocats!"

Sure thing! I drew Duchess and Marie:

 

Duchess and Marie from character sheet references - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 15 mins.

 That does it for today, I might pick up the rest of suggestion tomorrow or during the week. Thanks for playing along for yet another week, I really enjoy waiting to see what you guys have come up with for me to draw and then putting some effort on the weekend drawings.

Doodle 067 - Interactive Friday Animation Doodles

Wow, so many awesome suggestions from everybody, you guys absolutely rock.

I was outside for a long time today, it was very hot, but we had fun and ended up going to watch Frankenweenie. We pretty much had the whole IMAX theater for ourselves, which was awesome. The movie itself is hilarious, perfect for the Halloween season as well, I highly recommend it... also I was so happy that they had a trailer for The Hobbit at the beginning, I am def. going to the midnight showing for that movie!

Anyway, since I was out most of the day I only got to three drawings, but tomorrow I'll probably work on way more. In order to draw these I did a lot of research and found a bunch of character development sheets for Cinderella, I love those, it helps me figure out the structure much faster.

I wasn't so lucky with Geri and Fiona, but I made do:

Heather T.: "Cinderella - more in the style of the original movie, not the "prettied up" version Disney promotes now (she wasn't a blonde!!)"

You know, Andrei said the same thing while watching the movie the other day lol.

Cinderella Sketch from development sketch reference - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 15 mins.

 I went ahead and drew her in the outfit the mice and birds did using her mom's old dress :)

Anonymous said: "Could you please draw Geri from Geri's Game (animated Pixar short)? He was my first ever FAVE-orite animated character :)"

That's so cool, I never would have thought of drawing him, after a lot of googling... hehehe, I ended up with this:

Geri from reference screen caption - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 15 mins.

 And finally for today, Anonymous#2: "Fiona! You want strong female characters, well, who's better than Fiona? Take THAT, rescued princess stereotype!"

Right on! I even went ahead and drew her on her warrior outfit.

Fiona from photo reference - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil. Aprox 15 mins

OK I am off to play some video games and rest, tomorrow... I DRAW!

Doodle 066 - Warrior and Interactive Friday Time

Yay! The weekend is here, I am so happy, this Saturday we will be very busy though, for some reason every single festival seems to fall on either this Saturday or next, so we'll try to hit up as many events as we can just for fun.

Here are today's doodle

Warrior - non-photo blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 10 mins.

Just a quick warrior sketch, partly inspired by Moribito, one of my favorite animes. I gravitate toward stories with strong female characters, I recommend it, it is based on a series of books that I have on my to-read list.

And now, for this Friday's interactive theme! I need to practice character design and study from the masters of animation, so this weekend it will be all about animated characters from movies. Think Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, etc.

First 6 get drawn for sure, anything else I might or might not get to depending on how I feel over the weekend and how much running around outside I end up standing LOL.

Ready? Go!

Doodle 065 - Ice Princess and Agent of Mischief

Another week that is flying by, to be sincere I barely know where the whole year is going, I am enjoying October to the fullest and the weather is finally starting to cool off, slowly, but surely.

Today I drew a couple of things, first a Snow Princess:

Snow Princess - Prismacolor non-photo pencil and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 10 mins.

She is cool, calm and calculating, but at the same time rather shy.

Then I drew this:

Agent of Mischief - Prismacolor non-photo pencil and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins.

I imagine this is an agent of mischief, his job is to create chaos and confusion.

Doodle 064 - The Guardian of the Forest

Alright! Half the week is over, we can do this! Hehehe.

Here is today's doodle:

The Guardian of the Forest - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins.

Just a random mythical/fairy tale creature that protects the forest it resides on.

Doodle 063 - Loki and Thor... bunnies

Remember how I said that sometimes I get these odd ideas and I just go along with them?
Well, it happens a lot, so I first drew this:

Loki Bunny - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 10 mins

 Yup... it is Loki as a bunny... he isn't very thrilled about it either, but hey, things happen, right?

So, since I had sorta drawn Loki I decided to give Thor a try:

Thor Bunny - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins.

Thor doesn't care if he is a bunny, he is still bent on being heroic and well... Thor-like.

Hehehe... ah, my mind is quite an interesting/dangerous place to live in.

Doodle 062 - Geese, Clouds and Inspiration

A new month, a new week and a new set of doodles.

When I first began drawing again I did so for me, to regain the dreams I had lost and try to hang onto what little sanity I have left (or display hehe), so it was very surprising to find that I had inspired people to try and draw as well.

One such person is LeAnn, I read each of your comments and e-mails and try to keep up with answering, so when I opened my e-mail one day and saw that one of you guys had actually sent me one of your drawings it made me very happy.

You see, for a long time I thought I was alone, sure, I had Andrei, but when you keep things to yourself and muddle through life it can start isolating you in many ways, so now that I have all of you to share my journey it is a rather nice feeling to know that my silly doodles have helped you, afterall, you have helped me so much with your encouragement.

I asked LeAnn if I could share her drawing, she said yes. She wrote that she used to love drawing, but after a while she stopped and lost confidence on her talent, all that sounds very familiar to me, since I find myself on the same boat. Now she is just re-starting after reading and watching my own doodles day by day:

Olive the pug puppy by LeAnn

 I want to encourage everybody who has ever lost confidence to keep trying, it is hard, I know, but once you start your own journey and keep on at it, you will find yourself learning new things, wanting to figure things out and creating things you never thought you had the skills for.

And now for today's doodles; first I just drew something very simple and silly... yes, it is a calf sitting inside of a bag... I don't know, sometimes I start things and decide to just let them be. At least it is cute.

Calf in a Bag - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 3 mins.

After that I kept trying to figure something else to draw, this is what turned up:

Goose King - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine, aprox 5 mins.

I think that's what geese around town see themselves since they pretty much rule the roost.

Finally after drawing some random lines I ended up with this:

Shaping Storms - blue and mechanical pencil on plain Moleskine notebook. Aprox 15 mins. (Click to enlarge)

It is a storm shaper, she uses a special paddle to create storm systems.