Who Watches?

Just a quick post. Since it's been weeks, I figured the best way to return was by barely posting anything.

Here's a quick sketch I did back at a drawing session at Sean's. I'm not sure what else I drew, if anything. I remember being really frustrated at not having any ideas, but this came to me. It's not much, but vaguely amusing. Even vigilantes need to eat, right? The one red shoe is a (now-intentional) accident of painting. Oh yeah, I'm posting this in honor of the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Watchmen- and if you go to Best Buy, you can pick up special edition packaging in the shape of either Rorschach's or Doctor Manhattan's head. Possibly the most disturbing, yet sure-to-sell, packaging I've yet seen. Oh wait, they did do the Ape head for the complete Planet of the Apes series. Nevermind.

Apologies for the lack of posts, especially to those of you who check the blog on anything approaching a regular basis. Things are... things are fine, but the past few months have not been very kind to my desire to draw. I feel like I don't have the time I once did, and there are so many things to do, sometimes other things have to get put back on a back burner. Right now, drawing is one of them.

I'm hoping the next couple weeks will change that. I'm not going to say more, but we'll see if history is kind enough to repeat itself.

Music: 'Desolation Row' - My Chemical Romance (after Bob Dylan)

"Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?"

In honor of this weekend's viewing of Watchmen, I thought I'd post a picture of one of my favorite characters, Nite Owl (II). And, in honor of the fact that it takes place in 1985, I thought I'd do it up a little retro. I drew this entirely with the line tool (except the moon, obviously), which is how I used to draw on the computer way back in the day (1987-1988) with my Apple IIc. I guess to be really retro, I should've done this in greenscale, but you can't have everything.

And yes, I think I'll be writing some thoughts on the movie, but not until I've seen it at least once more. But yes, it is good.

Music: "Hallelujah" - Leonard Cohen

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Crimebuster

I'm back.

So, here's the second part of my attempt to 'loosen up' my drawing. At this point, Sean had seen what I was doing/not doing, and told me to really loosen the drawing- to not try to hit the image right away, but to just let the pencil draw what it will, and find the shape in it- like a cloud(Sounds very Zen, I know). This time, I actually took to heart what he'd said, and so I think the results came out much better. After trying for more of the same with the first cloak, I really just let myself start drawing with the second... and ended up drawing a cross between Nite Owl and, in my opinion, myself. First, Nite Owl is a character from The Most Influential Graphic Novel of All Time, aka Watchmen, and second, it's a pudgy guy with glasses. Combine the two, and that's what you get. I'm really pleased with how he turned out, especially since I didn't know it was him until I was partway through. Somehow, I think I managed to capture a fair bit of emotion in him, through his pose and posture. Anyway, it was cool. Finished with a quick sketch of some superwoman-type and a REALLY vague sketch of a face from a DVD case. There's definitely more to come from this loosy-goosy style, to be sure.

The weekend was excellent, as always. Delightful company, wonderful weather (hey! No hurricanes!), fantastic food, unexpected and awesome conversations, and kids- who can ask for more? I also got to draw, if only a little bit. Which is fine, as I wasn't in the mood for much drawing. Also got to take plenty of pictures with the new phone, some of which I'll post here soon. There's probably some commentary to be had on the weekend in general, but we'll see what happens. I will say, that I was very fortunate to be able to get caught up with some good friends who I haven't seen since leaving- it did my heart good to see them, and made the mad dash to get down to MD by Wednesday night more than worth it. If only I could drive down there every other Thursday... Anyway, it was great to be there, and I can't wait to visit again.

Okay, so there was a little commentary on the weekend. Sorry.

More to come!

Music: "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" - Nina Gordon