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 whold 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.

Looking Through a God Lense

Hello my friends. Today I have a sketch from the sermon we had at Northside Baptist church last week. Joshua Pope delivered this message about how the Bible tells us we are to view ourselves, and how we view God. You can listen to the complete message here.

UPDATE:

I had time to do a quick color version of this illustration. The idea is that when we look through the lense of Jesus we see the world as it is, hence the color where Jesus overlaps the globe.

We want to get to Heaven and spend eternity with God. The first thing we need to do is be honest with where we are. You can't figure out how to get someplace if you don't know where you are. Be honest. What shapes your perspective? Is it the world? Are you listening for the call of God? Where are you? Who do you hang out with? Are they a good influence? Do they pull you away from Christ, or push you towards Him?

We are all seperated from God, because of the sin we choose. God cannot abide our sin. God had a plan to fix it though, He sent His son Jesus to pay the price for us through His death on the cross. We need to look honestly at ourselves and see the need we have for God's grace. Talk to God about it. Ask forgiveness, and then to live for Jesus, the instructions on how to do that are right there in your Bible. If you want to learn more about choosing Christ please send me a message.

In my illustration here we are looking at the world through a Jesus lense. Just as it should be. I wanted to add color to the part of the globe that you see through Jesus, but I ran out of time. Maybe I can knock that out quickly after lunch.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. Please go and listen to the sermon by Pastor Josh. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post, and that you will open your Bible and learn more about God and how much He loves you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, if I don't have the answer I'll ask my pastor and get back to you. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon John 2:13

Hello everyone. Today I have an illustration I started last Sunday in church. We find ourselves in the second chapter of John this time. In this sermon Jesus is in the temple for the Passover. You can view the full sermon here.

The people come to make sacrifices to pay for their sins. In order to do this because they had to travel on foot (mostly) to get to the temple it was more convenient to purchase your sacrifice once you get there. Because they were traveling for some distance some needed to exchange their currency. The trouble is they had the money changers, animals, birds inside the courts. Animals (doing animal things like pooping and peeing where ever they please) people yelling and haggling. They were also charging exorbitant prices becuase they knew the people had to have these things in order to observe the Passover. All of these things defiled the house of the Lord because it was taking place inside the temple courtyards.

Jesus makes a whip out of cords which took time. He thought about what he was doing, it wasn't a split second reaction like you and I make when someone cuts us off in traffic. He was not out of control. Jesus thought this out. It was a reaction based on how they were treating His father's. They were desecrating the temple. A holy place.

Using the whip Jesus runs the animals and people out, flips over the tables, breaks up the cages, saying to them (in verse 16) "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."(verse 17) One of the lessons to take away from this message is not to make worship convenient to you, lift God up, worship Him, remember it's all about Him.

Another lesson to take away is that Jesus is telling them (verses 18-25) that He is replacing the old system of blood sacrifice to pay for the sins of the people. He will pay our debt. His blood pays for all our sins, making THE way for us to get to His father.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. Please go and listen to the sermon by Pastor Ryan. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post, and that you will open your Bible and learn more about God and how much He loves you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, if I don't have the answer I'll ask my pastor and get back to you. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan