So books, y’all. I dig ’em.

I picked up the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett a few months ago and read the first four books before I realized what was happening.

When I found out that there are approximately 40 books in the Discworld series I slowed my roll just a bit. That is not a financial or literary commitment I am ready to make right now. Like, I think I need a little space and to maybe like, read other books, y’know…

I enjoyed Mort, though it wasn’t my favorite of the Discworld books so far. (I hope the Luggage returns. I miss him…) So yah— in this one, Death, (you know—the Capital D, Proper Noun skeleton in the hoodie with a scythe-that Death—takes on an apprentice, a clumsy ginger kid conveniently named Mort. Hi-jinks ensue. I think it might’ve ended weird, but honestly I’ve read another book since I finished it; I don’t remember it very clearly…

I drew up covers for the other book too, still in progress. That’s my new thing now, I do bookcovers. Bookcovers are cool.

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YASSS QUEEN

I saw this random cat from the internet—I liked her expression—so gave her some accessories… and maybe there’s a bit of a backstory developing. Her name is Petunia. I think this might be my new journal challenge for a while.

I’ve been doodling animals drinking in bars a lot lately. It amuses me and I don’t know why so I’m just going to embrace it and call it my Thing.

Other projects lately include my Halloween costume, which got completely and ridiculously out of control.

Turns out, wiggery is not to be entered into lightly. More about that later.

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Naughty or nice?

Cats will do what cats do. by Angie Brown

 

A Seasonably Appropriate Cat

The holidays are approaching, and quickly. I’m up to my eyeballs in projects and things to do, so here’s a quick little sketch from the books… Cheers!

Top 3 Looks Rocked Last Week

I’ve been having tons o’ fun this week with my new drawing challenge, in which I render myself rocking out on the air guitar in whatever I wore the previous day. I’ve started calling the project *Rocked That Look* and it’s become a vital part of my daily coffee-and-Pinterest morning ritual. This week, while researching new pose reference images, (Hello Eddie, Jimi, and Jimmy,) I learned that the facial expression is an integral part of the guitar solo. One simply cannot play the air guitar without a proper Air Guitar Solo Face®. Other project parameters: Always vary the pose, and always push… push the media and materials, push the technique, push the movement and energy. Always keep it interesting, and above all else—no matter what—Rock. That. Look.

Also, I’m probably gonna need more boots in my life for this project to be successful…

Self Portrait with Air Guitar

Sometimes I get in a doodly mood, but can’t think of anything to draw. I’ve always thought illustrator Gemma Correll’s What I Wore Today project looked like fun, and with the hallowed advent of boot weather, it seemed like the perfect time to start a similar project of my own. Besides, I really need to work on my people skills… as in how I might draw them n’ stuff. I tend to draw lots of animals and plants, architecture and such, but not humans very often. I also want to explore movement and action more, something a bit more dynamic than the ol’ flat and frontal. And somehow all that landed me here… playing the air guitar. I’m not sure where the idea came from, but it amuses me quite a bit. So far, I have four such renderings of the past week’s fashions, and in all of them, I am wailing away mid-solo on my imaginary Les Paul. This is my favorite. Rock on, y’all.

Workspace

I’ve been chained to my art table for the past few weeks, putting the final touches on the last items for my BFF’s wedding. My studio (pictured above) actually looks nothing like this right now— I haven’t seen the top of that table in *months* and my poor sewing machine has probably forgotten what I look like. After next weekend though, I hope to finish up the Lovely Summertime Riverfloat illustration I’ve been working on before it’s so completely out of season, and I’m also hoping to get in some nice travel sketches while I’m in the mountains.

So sad to see summer go… flip-flops, barbecues, rivers and beaches and above-ground pool parties… good times.

The Salad-Eater

This is a fun little sketch of Jenkins, my little salad-eater. Jenkins turned a year-old this spring. Her hobbies include parkour, extreme napping, chasing feathered things, and sampling the potted flora.

(Said flora has been researched for potential toxicity issues, and anyway the plant has been moved outside for the summer and is thriving. Everyone is fine.)

Her head is ironically large in this drawing. She’ll grow into it though.

In other news, I spent all weekend on a 3-piece wedding invitation suite, which I’ll be test printing/proofing today and then posting here soon. It’s all hand-lettered and watercolored. Get excited.

Illustrator Crush

‘Scuse me while I fangirl. I discovered artist/illustrator Oliver Jeffers recently. I’m fascinated by his work, his Irish accent, and his adorable hipster mustache in this video.

Just a little pen/color pencil doodle from le sketchbook in which I play with marks and fields of color.

Humans and other Sketchy Peeps

Other proposed titles for this post included:

• And now for something totally different: people!
• I’ve been doodling humans.
• I don’t always draw people, but when I do, I just draw the heads.

So I thought I’d branch out a bit from the usual cats and dogs, and add a bit of variety to my repertoire. I have noticed that men are easier to draw in this whimsical style, which is a total 180 from my historical stance on gender rendering.

I rather like the two guys at the top. I think they might be in a band. The one on the right is obviously the drummer, and Iggy, on the left, is probably the bass player. He’s my favorite. But that’s no surprise– I’ve always had a thing for bass players. I think they might also be British, which is another demographic that I currently fancy. (I blame you, BBC.)

I had a lot of fun inventing faces, but I’m not really sure where I’ll go next. Women? Children? Portraits of actual humans? Or maybe even people with– wait for it– bodies under their heads?

Maybe. Stranger things have happened.