Random Sketches!

While cleaning out some old notebooks from work, I discovered a bunch of sketches that I had done during meetings and trials, a few of which I share here:

Cheetah and gazelle

Hyena

Shakespeare

Zombie elf

Gorillas

Furry and unicorn, inspired by the Bristol Renaissance Faire last summer. Even unicorns would be freaked out by people who get their kicks by dressing up as anthropomorphized animals, right?

Jesus, from an early sketch for a Bible study my aunt was publishing.

Exhibits

Exhibit A: Ring-Tailed Lemur.

Exhibit B: Sifaka.

A New Site!

Hello, people. I'm now a contributor to an Animation Mentor student sketch site, Spike's Sketch Squad. You should check it out! My first drawing is pasted below:

Chimpanzee: "Orang you glad I didn't say banana again?!"

Today At Work...

We had a really, really long meeting, from 9:30am until 2pm. Blech. I had to be there but wasn't much a part of the whole thing, so I drew pictures. I'm on a major Byzantine kick right now, which led me to do some sketches of Justinian, upon completion of the Hagia Sophia, declaring in awe: "Νενίκηκά σε Σολομών!" ("Solomon, I have outdone thee!")

Random Drawring

I drawed this today. It's actually a figure/light study for the cover of a Bible study that my aunt is putting together. It in no way reflects me at the moment (that is, I'm rather happy right now, unlike the dude in the sketch).

Yesterday At The Art Museum and Sculpture and Stuff

Yesterday was the last free day at the Art Institute of Chicago for the month, so Emily and I went after work. It's always a pleasant place to be, though since they remodeled it, everything kind of throws me off.

Whenever I go there, I really enjoy sketching sculptures. It's a great chance to play with light and shadow and to be able to understand how a figure's different protuberances change as you walk around it. In the past, I've enjoyed the Lincoln in thought by Daniel Chester French and Nathan Hale by Frederick Macmonnies. This time around, there were two that I had either never seen or never noticed, which is disappointing, since they are both amazing. They are called "Saïd Abdullah of the Mayac, Kingdom of the Darfur" and "African Venus," both by Charles Cordier.

I really enjoy sculpture in which a character is brought out. It's a very subtle art--the tilt of the head, the slight variations of the mouth, or the angle of the eyebrows are just a few of the hundreds of tiny tweaks that carry a figure's attitude. Too often, sculptures become boring classical relics:


The work itself is impressive, but there is no feeling to it. The figure is certainly figure, but it isn't alive. Now, the Romans advanced over the Greeks by making people actually look like people instead of idealized versions of people.

Greek (boring, idealized):


Roman (interesting, realistic):


But the Romans still weren't big on giving an attitude to a sculpture (the po'ed old guy above notwithstanding). That's why I like the two in the Art Institute so much. The bust of Saïd Abdullah is so proud, do dignified. He looks like he's staring into you, ready to speak. The African Venus is proud, too, but she doesn't look like she's going to speak. She just seems to be looking down on you. It's awesome.

So, I drew Saïd Abullah. I really like how both pictures came out, even though the front view doesn't look very much like the sculpture. The expression I got in my drawing is more inquisitive than challenging, mostly because of his eyebrows looking less furrowed and his head being tilted to the side, unlike the original.

Anyway, enjoy!

Meeting Doodles

More meetings, more doodles, including Catiline from Cicero Denounces Catiline, a rather confused Santa Claus, a pseudo-self portrait, and some mood poses...

Trial Doodles!

So, a few weeks ago we had a trial. I spent much of it (especially defense counsel's never-ending cross examinations) doodling.

Lead prosecutor, a mouse

WALL-E, EVE, and contour drawings of attorneys and judge

Backs of defense attorney, prosecutor, agent

Kerfuffled defense attorney

Back of prosecutor, front of lead prosecutor, back of defense attorney, profile of defendant, kerfuffled defense attorney, back of guy's head, some lady

Lead prosecutor

Meeting Doodles

Daily Doodle!

Haven't done one for a while. Today was a witness interview at work, which for some reason inspired me to draw a caricature of myself dressed as Simba from The Lion King on Broadway wearing the headdress that my girlfriend made for me a few Christmases ago. I put myself in my (former) muscly swimmer body. Those were the days. Le sigh.

Self Portrait

There are some things I'm trying to figure out right now-personal, professional, spiritual-but the caricatured me comes across as much more desperate than I am at the moment. Oh, well.

Now Comes a Cheetah

An Elephant!

Title says it all.

Why Do I Keep Drawing Lions?

I need to prep myself for going to Africa in two weeks, so I'm trying to hone my animal drawring skills. And I'm going to start taking malaria pills. And I need to think about packing.

I keep drawing lions, though.

Doodle

Not a meeting doodle, since I didn't do it in a meeting. I did it at lunch. From a photo...

Meeting Doodle

Meeting Doodle

Today's meeting; subject matter simply a continuation of yesterday's.

Meeting Doodle

None yesterday, since I didn't have any meetings, but today's was early...

Meeting Doodle

Belated, from yesterday! I did this one in court, during a fact witness's testimony.

Meeting Doodle

My boss, my boss's boss, one of the attorneys, a guy with a mustache, and Boba Fett making an omelet.