T.G. Studios :: Sketchblog

Thursday, February 16, 2012
"X-Men" or "Beast"
Illustration My warm up drawings of the day seem to be of X-Men. Here's Beast/Hank McCoy checking out a book in the library.

Saturday, February 11, 2012
"Bio Pics" or "Dynamic Duo"
Illustration I have been collaborating for several years with Sunstone editor, extraordinare, Stephen Carter on comic booking out "between the line" stories from the Book of Mormon. It has been a hugely rewarding creative partnership.

We have decided to take things to the next level and take those stories from the pages of Sunstone and start making them available for download via the iphone and ipad.

Today I have been working on some drawings for our bio/statement page. I'm rather pleased with how they are coming out.

Monday, February 6, 2012
"Week 26" or "Separation"
Illustration My partner is gone all week with Outdoor Ed.

Thursday, February 2, 2012
"Happy Groundhog Day!" or "Only the Shadow Knows!"
Illustration

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
"Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit" or "Too Late"
Illustration It's the start of a new month!

Monday, January 30, 2012
"Week 25" or "Mighty Ducks"
Illustration I start out every week doing a drawing for my partner who teaches school. Each week I remind her what week she is on in the school year. It's always fun trying to come up with fresh ideas.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
"Truman" or "Teardrop Restoration"
Cartoon My partner and I just bought a 1947 teardrop to restore. (We named it Truman, after Harry S.)

Thursday, January 19, 2012
"December" or "Futility"
Illustration This is one of the favorite months I drew for the Claire Lilienthal fundraising calendar.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
"The Boxman Lecture" or "Learning to Draw"
Cartoon I have a lecture/demo I have done for everyone from my mother to the random waitress who brings me my cheeseburger. This demo is usually done in response to someone looking over my shoulder, seeing me doodling in my sketchbook and saying, "Oh, I WISH I had your talent!" (Like I was smacked on the head by the talent fairy.)

I have come to believe that the only thing "talent" is, is such a love for the thing itself that you want to spend all your waking time on that thing...to the point you eventually get better at it than anyone else. I've been drawing a LOT...every day... since I was six years old. Of course I'm going to be a pretty decent artist.

We all start OUT as artists. Give a 4 year old a pack of crayons and step back. We scribble, we draw, we experiment, and eventually we really start trying to draw things that actually look like THINGS...and most people by the time the are 11 or 12, get frustrated and simply quit drawing. Their things do not look like the things they want them to look like. Of course they quit!

But again, I think *everyone* can learn how to draw! We just don't know how to really properly teach ourselves. Some kids make a natural intuitive leap...some of us just stick it out and eventually things start to click. Most people just haven't been taught how to learn to HOW TO LEARN to draw.

Does that mean I think everybody should be a profession artist? Heck no! We NEED accountants and firemen and roofers and politicians. Well, maybe not the last one... but we need people to be things other than artists.

I think though, that learning to tap into one's creative side will help balance out a person's life and with that said, I think there are some things people can do... children and adults alike that will help them draw things that look like THINGS...and maybe they won't get so frustrated and simply stop.

Hence, my little demo/lecture. I tell people after they have wished for my ability to draw that I can make them a better artist in two minutes. I tell them to watch what I do, and if they start doing it, they won't be able to HELP becoming a better artist.

I call it BOXMAN and I've done it literally hundreds of times. When I got an email from a friend of mine asking for a copy of it, I started drawing and then stopped. I have always done this demo LIVE.

To send it off to a friend, to make it "idiot proof" so that *anybody* could read it and understand, it would take a bit longer than the average 2 minutes it takes to do the demo.

I started drawing it tonight and figure an hour a night and I should have it done in a week or so...and then hopefully I won't have to keep drawing and drawing and drawing it. I hope that it will spread and hopefully somebody, somewhere sees it...and it helps them make it over that 13 year old hump!

Friday, September 2, 2011
"March Quilters" or "Before & After"
Illustration Plugging away on the school calendar. Many, many times I actually prefer the quick sketch to the final product but overall I am rather pleased with how each month is shaping up.

TLG's school does a massive fundraiser in March selling, among other things, quilts the kids have made. I used that as a springboard idea for that month.

Monday, August 29, 2011
"Calendar Wolves" or "February"
Cartoon I have been working on a fun calendar as a fundraiser for TLG's school. The mascot is the timberwolf.

I'm having a great time working on this...when I was on the yearbook staff in Junior High I was tasked with drawing dozens of little huskies doing various activities all through the book so this is bringing back some fun memories.

I have 7 months done and just put February done. I may make a few revisions to it, but overall I'm fairly pleased.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
"Papa Birds" or "Sunstone Request"
Illustration One of my favorite things being the go-to illustrator for Sunstone Magazine is I am constantly being pushed by the editor to create illustrations that are generally out of my comfort zone. I never know what to expect but I'm always pleased with the opportunity to push myself and play around to create various looks.

I just finished a series for the next issue (in COLOR!) that I'm really pleased with. Here's the first with mama bird flying off to work:

Saturday, March 19, 2011
"Pandering" or "Charity Auction"
Illustration It's time of year when I get roped into creating some art for my partner's school's charity auction. In past years I donated some of my figure drawing but this year I thought I would lighten things up a notch.

After perusing through my sketchbook she informed me I should expand on a little doodle I had done of a hippo playing tennis. Which I did.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
"Adventures in Microfilm" or "Sounds boring...kind of awesome."
Illustration I did some illustrations for a client for his personal memoirs. He used to travel the world and photograph old records...birth, wedding, death etc the world over and has some amazing stories to tell.
He recently got a hold of me to tell me he was just about done with the project and would I please do a few more cartoons/illustrations for his book. I was happy to oblige.

At one point he was in Syria and had to arrange all manner of clandestine meetings in order to pass the film off to a military officer who would get the film out of the country. "All this for old parish records?" he would laugh...and they wouldn't laugh back. Ahem.

I did this first one to show a remote, tension filled handoff...

However my client said that since all of the meetings and handoffs happened in busy urban settings would I mind giving it another go? Sure! This one is a bit more action packed.

Not quite done with it...I want to get a bit of texture on the road and some speed lines on the van but I'm quite pleased with it for being a quickie illustration.