Poodle Doodles

 

Here are some poodle doodles I've done recently.  I've been sketching poodles cause I'm working on a children's book that has poodles in it, so I want to get better at drawing them.

Its harder than you might think to find good pictures of poodles with classic haircuts.  These are based on the ones in a German story illustrated by Lothar Meggendorfer called Der Pudel.  If you're interested you can read it for free and in color here:

https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Der_Pudel

Its also included in a collection of short stories with the same illustrator which is available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/8027317959?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

It is a fascinating collection of stories although the pictures are low resolution to the point of being very pixelated and it is all in black and white.  I enjoyed looking at them very much even though I do not speak German so of course it is all unintelligible.

Anyway I'll try and keep you posted as I make further progress on my children's book.

More Yak-posting

 

 

A couple more yaks.

Reference images:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mutiger_Reiter_auf_Yak_Yama.JPG

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarlyk_Yak.jpg

I like drawing yaks. I've been using Kuretake brush markers for the color ones like in the bottom picture.  The top one is just drawn in with a Micron pen and I'm planning to color it.  I haven't decided if I want to color it with the markers or use watercolor.  The good thing is I always print my designs out before coloring them so I can always do it again if I don't like it.

Yakitty-Yak!

 

Here's a couple of yaks I've drawn recently.  I like drawing things with lots of fur.

Here's the reference images:

https://pixabay.com/photos/yaks-thukla-pass-himalayas-trekking-7696129/

https://pixabay.com/photos/mongolia-yak-summer-alpine-meadow-3807650/

There isn't really a vast supply of free stock images of yaks on the internet but it sure beats trying to find photos of wooly mammoths.  There's a fair amount of paintings and renderings and skeletons out there but they are somewhat hampered by the fact that they aren't around anymore.

7 Day Challenge, Drawing Animals And Leaves

 Just some things I wanted to brush up on learning to draw.  These were done with 05 Microns in different colors and the same size Uni Pins in light and dark gray.

These were all drawn from stock photos.  Here's the link list to the different stocks I used:

Lizard: https://pixabay.com/photos/lizard-sargantana-trunk-981252/

Salamander: https://pixabay.com/photos/animals-salamander-nature-1088057/

Rabbit: https://pixabay.com/photos/rabbit-mammal-wildlife-hare-bunny-5352643/

Frog: https://pixabay.com/photos/frog-rock-water-pond-nature-3903773/

Leaves: https://pixabay.com/photos/pile-of-leaves-leaves-fall-62808/

More Leaves: https://pixabay.com/photos/staircase-leaf-autumn-yellow-leaves-945888/

Songbird: https://pixabay.com/photos/nightingale-bird-tree-songbird-7167798/

There they are in case you want to draw them yourself, or see how they compare with my drawings.  I like linking to the stock photos.  It's good for the person who takes the picture and I think its interesting to compare them with the finished drawing and besides they're really good interesting pictures in and of themselves.

2022 And 2023 -- A Consideration

Stock Credits X and X.

 Art tends to be slow.  I don't fully understand why artistic endeavors tend to be slower than regular work but in a general way I think it tends to be the case.  One of the main reasons however is that for any given project we don't know how to do it until its done.  Of course we have some experience doing art already but it is never enough because a new art project always involves feeling ones way and finding a way to represent a vague idea that exists in the artists own head.  If we were merely trying to create content we could crank it out all day long on an assembly line, but since we have ideas of how we want it to turn out it usually takes a little longer and that's ok.  In fact its nice because the process of creating art is often enjoyable in and of itself and we'd miss it if it was over too quickly.

But why am I bringing up philosophical stuff that we probably know already?  Well its another year and I always like to start off the year with looking back at the old year and coming up with prognostications for how much I'm going to get done next year.  And its a lot easier to come up with predictions than it is to actually accomplish anything.  So first a look back at 2022.

2022.  In January I said I was going to share at least one short story on here and I still haven't finished any writing and I'm sorry.  Other than that I don't think I shot my mouth off too much.  I did get a fair amount done which is good.  I started sharing my art on Instagram and Truth Social so those are more ways for folks to find my artwork, which can't hurt.

2023.  I've been making progress on my coloring book which is great and I only have half a dozen more designs or so to go, not counting cover and layout and stuff before I finish it, so I hope to have it published sometime in 2023 or 2024.  I'm going to keep creating art and sharing it on social media as well.  I haven't given up on writing, its just a slippery medium and I can't make any promises.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you all have a good year and stay safe out there.

Some More Artwork

 Some more artwork I've been working on lately.

2018?

So apparently I did a ton of art last year.  This year I'm going to create more and better artwork.  But what does that even mean?

 Well here are the salient points:

1. My Celtic Knotwork Coloring Book has been doing really well, (thanks for buying it!), so of course I'm going to keep on coming out with coloring books.  So expect to see more coloring book pages in Celtic knotwork, acanthus ornament, and other elegant decorative styles.

2. I've been saying for years that I want to write and illustrate stories in my own medieval fantasy universe.  The stories I'm currently working on are about children who make friends with some goblin children and have lots of fun adventures even though the grown ups all want to kill each other.  So I'm sorry its taking so long, but I really think I'll be able to finish a short story or two to share with you this year.  I will upload them for your reading pleasure on this blog, and deviantart.

3. Miscellaneous artwork.  As always I will put up pictures of paintings and drawings I'm working on.  These are not always connected to a particular project but they help me grow as an artist, and hopefully you enjoy them.


4. You have a happy new year!  I'm glad that we finally finished the old year.

<3

:)