Octopus in a Convertible

Hello everyone. Today I have a rough sketch I started a couple of weeks ago. I did this sketch in a little notepad, with lined paper so you will see the lines there, similar to the previous character sketches I've posted. It's an ongoing series you might say. It definitely helps me keep my sanity day to day, these drawings help me to feel like I'm still a creative person at heart.

Today we have an octopus driving a red convertible coupe. Most of the time he is couped up un a drab office, but today he has escaped, enjoying a drive in the country on a bright sunny day. Traffic seems light, and his outlook is positive.

I consider this to still be a rough draft, as it is on lined paper. For a finished piece I would transfer it to clean white paper, and then shade it, and colorize it in Photoshop. Which I might do, because I really like this drawing and character. He has the lighthearted look and feel that I enjoy so much. This character is one of the "film noir" characters that I've been drawing for a book concept I'm working on, but I haven't written the story yet, I just have an outline. So while I'm at work I doodle characters. Characters that show promise develope into main characters, the others will be background characters.

I worked a TON of overtime the last month, so I missed posting in October. I'm really enjoying doing shaded drawings with ballpoint pens. I started doing this about a year ago, because that is what I had on hand all day every day at work. Also, I took some liberties by adding a couple of teeth to our octopus. I also purposely put two legs on the back side, because I felt it was getting too busy.

I hope you enjoy this one. This rough drawing was done on a small lined paper notepad with a Bic Crystal ball point pen, a black one, and then they gave me a red one at work for checking paperwork I had varified. So I promptly used that to color our octopus's convertible. I hope you enjoyed this drawing and my comments on it. Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message. Thank you for stopping by, may God richly bless you.

September 8th, 2026 Duckvertible

Hello my friends. I have another ballpoint pen sketch to share with you today. I did this sketch in a little notepad, with lined paper so you will see the lines there, similar to the previous character sketches I've posted. It definitely helps me keep my sanity day to day, these drawings help me to feel like I'm still a creative person at heart. Thank you for bearing with me.

Today we have a dapper looking duck driving a convertible. While drawing him I imagined his character was suave like Cary Grant. A smooth, fast talking detective who is hot on the trail of some criminal mastermind. Please remember these are rough drawings, if they were for a book or something I would do a "final" draft.

If I was going to do a final version I would make the tie flippping up and around his neck. He can't be zooming around very fast with his tie laying down the way it is drawn now. It's got a little bit of flap to it, but it should be exagerated.

One of my favorite site gags is to draw a large character sticking out of a vehicle, or object. So large that you KNOW that the rest of his body couldn't be there in the tiny car. When he screeches up to the curb where ever he is going he'll hop out and hit the ground running, as if he didn't dwarf his tiny car. I don't know, I find it amusing. I hope you have had as much fun with this rough drawing as I have. God bless my friends, until next time.

Racoon Thug

Hello everyone. Today I have a rough sketch I did a few weeks ago. I did this sketch in a little notepad, with lined paper so you will see the lines there, similar to the previous character sketches I've posted. It's an ongoing series you might say. It definitely helps me keep my sanity day to day, these drawings help me to feel like I'm still a creative person at heart.

Today we have a surly racoon. He is part of a gang of ruffians that must be dealt with. He's a loose part of a story I've been working on. It's a film noir inspired tale of a kid working on a mystery. I like his expression, and the way his skinny arms and legs come off of his body. That's one of my favorite things about cartoon drawing, you have a lot more freedom in how you do things. Please remember these are rough drawings, if they were for a book or something I would do a "final" draft.

If I was going to do a final version I would redraw the character's left foot, so that it is at a closer angle to his right foot. I feel like the right foot has more of a top down angle than the left does.

One of my favorite site gags is to make a very small necktie, or to have the tie curl up at the end. It's not an original idea, I know I saw it in a cartoon somewhere, but I could not tell you where now.

This rough drawing was done with a Bic Crystal ball point pen, on a lined notepad. I've been taking the color out of the drawings because of the whole film noir black and white concept. I hope you enjoyed this drawing and my comments on it. Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message. Thank you for stopping by, may God richly bless you.

Jeepy Gator

Hello my friends. Today I have a rough sketch I did a couple weeks back. I did this sketch in a little notepad, with lined paper so you will see the lines there. I cleaned up the lines outside the drawing because I found them distracting.

I have been working on animals dressed in 1930's - 40's attire. Suits and fedoras. This character looked like a tough guy to me, and a vintage Jeep seemed to be his kind of ride. I was going for a film noir look and feel to fit the detective story that goes with these characters, for a picture book. I was heavily influenced by Richard Scarry and his Busy Town characters. I loved those books when I was a kid. I've always loved the idea of animal characters walking around, looking like, dressing like acting like people. Other favorites of mine were: Stuart Little, and Ralph S. Mouse, Wind in the Willows. I loved those books.

I think this story concept will make a great children's book. I have a lot of ideas that I either outline, or do a few sketches for, so that I can come back some day and I'll have enough to work with to create a finished book. I've got a lot of these ideas stored up, to create books from. Some day... some day.

This rough drawing was done with a Bic Crystal ball point pen, on a lined notepad. I hope you enjoyed this drawing and my comments on it. Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message. Thank you for stopping by, may God richly bless you.

Sunday Sermon Hebrews 2:1-4

Hello my friends. Today I am sharing an illustration from the sermon we heard from the book of Hebrews. You can watch the sermon and get the full lesson on the facebook page for Ark City Calvary Chapel here.

Here we see Jesus giving us the truth of the gospel. we are admonished to hold fast, cling to "the word". this is to keep us from drifting or back sliding. To keep from falling we should be aware of our condition, be honest with ourselves, and abide in... the word

This drawing is pencil on paper, done with a Pentel P207 .7mm mechanical pencil in my Pentalic 70lbs. (paper weight) sketch book. I hope you enjoyed this drawing and that this scripture helped you on your journey. May God richly bless you.

Free Time Sketches

Hello my friends. I haven't had time to post on my blog here in quite a while. Today I am starting a series of posts about the ball point pen (the good ol' Bic Cristal!) which I have been producing when I have downtime at my day job, I'm stuck in a meeting, or lunch break. Most of these characters are from a children's book concept I have. It is a film noir detective story, that's why all the characters will be wearing fedoras, and in suits and ties.

I had never used a ball point pen for shading until a few months ago. To me pens were used for inking comic book style hard line artwork. I was taking notes in a meeting, and began doodling a character off to the side(just like back in my school days). I found I was able to lightly shade, and build up to darker values similar to how I work when creating a pencil drawing(my usual method of operation). I was easily able to show a definite light source, and get a good range of values. It is definitely a loose style, in a sketchy kind of way. One obvious drawback though, there is no erasing. Once a line is on the paper, it's down there for good.

Since these are just character sketches and not intended to be final art to be published I haven't worried about cleaning up all the loose lines. It has been an interesting (to me anyway) method to investigate, in other words "It's Fun!" So these sketches have come from brief snippets of time I get, and are produced using the supplies I carry with me at my job every day: a bic pen and a little lined notebook. I have found that despite the pace of my life, creativity still finds a way to seep out. I think it helps keep me sane. I thank the Lord for the gifts He has given me.

This character is called Cornered Gator. Most of the characters are tough guys, caught in a confrontation with the main character. Gators are one of my favorite characters to draw (if you've known me for long you know I have a gang of usual suspects that show up on a regular basis).

I hope you enjoy this sketch, and the ones to come. I will try and post a new one every few days. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Chief O'Brien Freelance Work

Hello everyone. Today I have a freelance illustration I completed last month. I got a message from a friend I hadn't talked to in years about an illustration she needed and let me tell you it was definitely God's timing as I really needed the work.

Linda needed a drawing of the Star Trek Next Generation character Chief O'Brien for a friend's upcoming birthday. I tend to stay away from charicatures because they aren't really my strong suit. I know that may sound lame, but when I work for pay I always want to do my absolute best, and so I am a very harsh critic, and that always leaves me feeling like a charicature could have been better. ANYWAY, I took the job and got down to work.

The Chief needed to be in his wetsuit and kayak(which we see him with a few times when he is in the holo-deck on the show) that was the easy part. Getting it to LOOK like O'Brien was where I spent most of my time, and sweat bullets over the several klunkers that I scribbled out in my first pass. It took me 3 different drawing sessions (on my breaks at my day job) to capture him, but I finally got there. I get a lot of work done in the one hour of breaks i get over the course a 10 hour day at work(GE Aviation). Be on the lookout in the coming months for an illustrated guide to the Gospel of John that I illustrated almost entirely this way.

I think the step in the creation that took the longest on this illustration of Cheif O'Brien was the color work in Photoshop. Painting the color always takes longer than I budget the time for. I always try to create a dramatic, visually appealing black and white drawing that stands alone. This time though the color really helps to sell what is going on in the scene, I think it came out well. I like the way the purple kayak jumps out at you from the river scene. I went with soft, gentle colors and tones for the rocks and boulders. I love the round shape of the boulders, they remind me of the stylized hills I drew in the children's book The Little Leaf by Jairo Penaranda.

I finished this job up and my client was happy with the finished product (thank you again Linda!). I hope the birthday recipient enjoys it too. Thanks for stopping by and reading about this project, I hope you enjoyed it. God bless you.