Sarah's Sketches

It's probably a good day to hug a kitten. Thanks to writing group last night, I had time to do a couple sketches while listening to other readers. And then thanks to insomnia later last night, I had some time to paint them. :) I'll post a drawergeeks painting tomorrow too. This one is for last week's Toon Club topic.

Since I haven't had a chance to do any new blog art lately, I thought I'd post something from one of the projects I have on the go. Here is the first penciled page of a four page short story. There will eventually be a title above and to the left of the pirate ship, I just have to come up with a title I like.

Wolverine is the topic for Drawergeeks this week. He also seemed particularly appropriate to draw while flying home from Canada.

For Drawergeeks today. I did this without much reference so I think it ended up less Carrie Fisher and more me dressed up for Halloween in tenth grade. I still remember being really ticked off after some kid said "Thanks Luke Skywalker" after I gave him some candy. Luke? I had buns! Buns!

Yay! I actually got some sketches done for this week's Toonclub topic. Yay me!

Exciting news! Flight Four caught the eye of the New York Magazine, and the first half of my Flight story, The Forever Box, is being featured on their new comic blog. ( Go here! ) Check it out and be sure to also check out the whole Flight Four book when it comes out July 10th :)

Thought I ran out the door to writer's group without a sketchbook, but then happily realized I had a notebook tucked in my bag from writing down house paint colours earlier. You can see all my scrawly notes I jotted down while listening to another reader. Since I finished most of my studio unpacking and computer plugging in-ing tonight, I threw some paint on this to celebrate. Yay!

Just realized that I never posted the finished version of this, so here it is! I'm spending a lot of time on the graphic novel right now, which is why I'm not posting as much. I have a self imposed summer deadline for finishing all the rough layouts. We also closed on our new house yesterday. Not only did we get a cool first home, but we also snagged a free backyard trampoline. Yay! Best house ever! Now if only I could snap my fingers and be magically all moved in...

Yay! My story "Above" for Parable is colored and done! Can't post the whole thing, but here's a little excerpt from it :)

Dragon Girl is nearing the end! I know it's been a while since I posted anything from her story, so if you're confused be sure to check out the Dragon Girl link on the right :) As always with these, click on the images to see larger versions.

Yay! My little animation gig is done, so I'll be able to post more frequently again :) This is for a Toon Club topic. Also, I thought I'd mention that the Flight Four pre-order is now up on Amazon ! Whoo!

On Friday, Stephen's band opened up for the Toyko girl band Gitogito Hustler . I'd never seen Gitogito Hustler before and knew nothing about them, but I'd have to rank them up there with Horrorpops as one of the most entertaining concerts I've ever been too. Definitely go check them out if you get the chance :) Anyway! I sketched the band members from memory today at work. I tried to visit their site to get some reference on their guitars and who has what earrings etc, but apparently all myspace pages are blocked by a filter at work. I think it would look neat coloured with flat line-less colours, but I'm all computered out for today. In the mean time, here's the rough!

Ha ha, no I'm not dead, I've just been busy animating for the cool people at ReelFX and also in the stressy/exciting situation of buying a house. Needless to say when I have a couple quiet moments I pretty much just want to collapse in front of the TV or pick up groceries so Stephen and I can eat something other than peanut butter sandwiches. Anyway! Here's a couple drawings I did last week; the beginnings of an official model pack for my graphic novel. I figured since the character's costumes often obscure their body shapes, it would be best to draw them without costumes first. The first guy here is the main character in the book, the other two are a brother and sister he helps/hinders throughout the story. I'll be back to regular updates soon! :)

Just a quickie tonight! Click the image to see it bigger.

March is shaping up to be a crazy busy month work-wise and life-wise, so I may not post or comment much. Things should return to normal in April :)

Here's a page of sketches from writer's group last night. I forgot to bring a pencil sharpener, so I was trying to make my one sharp pencil last as long as possible. Some of these ideas are for drawergeeks this week. Oh and I mentioned a while back that I was trying to figure out how to read my graphic novel to people at writer's group. I've read twice now from the roughs, holding it up while I kind of pitch it to the people there as if it were storyboards. Seems to work pretty well :)

The topic over at Toon Club this week is Gladiator. Stephen suggested I do a lady Gladiator and I'm pretty happy with the way she turned out. Huh, makes me want to go play Titan Quest too.

Thanks everyone for being patient with me, it's been one of those other-stuff-in-life-busy weeks where I'm neither checking other people's blogs as much as I'd like or posting on mine :) I really appreciate everyone who has been taking the time to stop by and apologize for not responding much.

(Click on the image for a bigger one!) Sorry it took me so very long to get up a second post this week. I kept painting this little by little everyday, but wasn't able to devote a huge block of time to it. Here's a detail of the faces too!

I don't think I will ever get bored with using Albert Racinet's work for inspiration. If you are interested in character design, I recommend hunting through your local used bookstores for the big size-of-a-coffee-table book he wrote on costume history. It's probably the most helpful reference book I have.