Monday, September 2, 2013

Halloween Doodles or 'Hoodles'

I've dubbed these my 'hoodles' or Halloween Doodles for short. I tried to pick simple things to help everyone feel confident in tackling them. I'll also share the order in which I drew the parts, because that might be helpful. Of course you can draw yours in pencil, and then ink them later, but pencil won't show up well in photos, and I prefer drawing in ink. These are all done with a Sharpie Ultra Fine point marker.

When I took the photos right in the sketch book, the lines of the next drawing showed through, so I airbrushed it out. Please excuse the slightly mismatched white backgrounds from the editing process.

First practice drawing your basic punkin. Outer shape first, then stem, then ribbing lines and lines on the stem.

Three Jack-o-lanterns

First I drew the middle pumpkin, then one on each side, carefully overlapping them.
Next I added the faces being sure to add detail lines to show dimension.
Then I added the lines matching the curves of the pumpkin. Try to get a different facial expression
for each one.
Add the horizon line on the ground.
Add dots to indicate soil.

This type of drawing makes a good 'color yourself' Halloween card. You can color or paint it in with crayons or watercolors or felt markers. Make sure you draw it on a thick enough paper to handle whatever media you plan to use.

Aliens are a lot of fun to draw.
The simple lines of this alien make it a great candidate for carving it as a rubber stamp, and then stamping it on Halloween treat bags or fabric or signs.

Batty
I've noticed whenever I draw a bat like this, one wing ends up longer than the other. Since the design is basically symmetrical, I could fix that by just drawing half a bat, then tracing each side onto a new paper by flipping it over for the second half. You could cut some out of white cardstock, bend them in the middle, and hang them as mobiles around the classroom or bedroom.

The girl in the bunny costume was a challenge. In the first drawing I explored the idea but I knew I could do better. The second attempt is cuter, but the girl looks older than I wanted her to, and I ran out of room for the legs. The third one I liked a lot, but redrew some bad lines that were too fat or whatever.  Then I put a clean paper over it, and could see through it well enough to draw the new and improved bunny girl. If your drawing is in pencil you'll probably have to use tracing paper to draw the improved version, and then graphite paper to transfer the design back to a new paper. Don't be afraid to 'try try again'. People rarely come up with a drawing they love on the first try.

Girl in Bunny Costume
Version 2. Still not quite what I wanted, though I might trace the face for another application.


Another try at the Girl in the Bunny Outfit.
Final version after tracing the previous Bunny Girl
In the third version, I finally had what I wanted but the right arm was too fat and the foot needed improving. So I drew in the corrections and then I traced it on a clean piece of paper and made the corrections. I added the freckles. This would make a great doll.

Cyclops Boy

I'm definitely going to use this one for a monster doll. At first it was just an outline for the mummy boy, but it was too out of whack so I rejected it. Later, I came back to it and decided I liked its quirky shape.
So I turned it into a horned cyclops boy in his t-shirt and jeans. These "Ugly" dolls have been popular on Etsy for some time now. Us misfits can relate to these 'less than perfect' shapes. They make us feel safe and they make us smile.

This is my standard ghost that I've been drawing since I was a child.
 This is my 'go-to' ghost that I learned to draw as a child. I think it would make a great cookie cutter and the cookies would be fun to decorate with white icing and black candies for the eyes and mouth.

Ghost in a graveyard. 
 This time I drew the ghost first. He seemed lonely alone on the page, so I added the tombstone. Then I added the graveyard fence. Then I added the moon and clouds. If you want, you can trace a coin to get a better circle for the moon. I added the ghost shadow, but then I couldn't decide if it worked or not. Better to find out things like that on a small thumbnail sketch than on a full sized painting.


Mummy Boy with Dark Doorway
Doorway filled in.

Photo Manip of Mummy Boy

Inspiration comes from many places. The mummy boy design was originally a bread dough art doll I made years ago. I fell in love with his charm. Part of drawing is deciding when to quit. One of my art teachers said, "You are done when there is nothing else you want to do to it." So I decided to color in the background to make it look like he was coming out of a cave or a pyramid. I only had one pen with me and coloring it in was very tedious. Try to keep a bigger pen handy for filling in large areas. You'll be glad you did.

Remember even if you don't love your drawing, a lot can be done by manipulating it on a computer. So I put my mummy in Picasa and did a one button edit that made it look like the colored design above. Cool.

Skully


I've been drawing some version of this skull and crossbones all my life. If the crossbones are hard to line up use a ruler to lightly draw some guidelines. You might ask yourself what your iconic symbols are; things you draw over and over again.

Trio of Owls by Fayme Harper
 A few weeks ago I drew 3 owls on a branch for an embroidery project. Then today I drew these 3 owls by a knot hole in a tree.  Remember, you can turn your drawings into many things. Simple drawings work well for embroidery. Maybe you have a favorite drawing from a child that you could turn into an embroidered keepsake.

Turning a drawing into a keepsake.

Don't be a scaredy cat. Try something new.

Zombie leaving the castle.

Photo manipulation makes the zombie lurking in the dark.
Make sure you step out of your comfort zone and try new things. I don't recall ever drawing a zombie before. Thanks to some Picasa editing, now he is a night zombie.

To make the zombie I drew the detached eyeball first. The more you draw, the more you learn which things overlap and have to be done first. If you draw all the features first, it is easier to get the head big enough to go around everything. Next I drew his plain shirt and pants. Then I added rips and tears and the plaid shirt.

I decided I wanted a castle in the background so I drew the hill first to see how big to make it. I added a castle with 3 towers. Then I drew the horizon line and a path to help with the perspective. I added a tree and a moon to give it more interest.

I hope you enjoyed my Halloween doodling inspiration. Comment below and link me to your doodles. I'd love to see what you made with this lesson. Toodles.

Facelift

Hello there,
It's not that I haven't been drawing, it's just that I moved and don't have a scanner hooked up now so I haven't posted much. But I can take photos of my drawings with my digital camera, and we are back in business. So I gave my page a facelift with a new banner. I think a lot of people are looking for Halloween inspiration so I'll see what I can do about that. Leave comments, and share you own drawing blogs in the comment section so we can have show and tell. Thanks for coming by.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

No They Aren't Pumpkins


People often wonder what inspires artists. The brooms were inspired by a broom maker who posts to my Facebook stream.  Next came the ankhs, my current obsession, then my eye fell upon the coyote gourds sitting on my piano, that were a gift from my boyfriend years ago.  Somehow those reminded me of the desert and paleo art, which reminded me of geckos. The bow tie shapes on the geckos were a Celtic rune, but once I filled them in they reminded me of geckos with bow ties. Then all I had left was one big empty triangle which seemed a logical spot to draw more triangles.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Seven Trees

Last night's impressionistic painting was based on a doodle I did on the train coming home yesterday. It was scenery I saw along the tracks between Simi Valley and Chatsworth.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Snakehead

Another face.  I never know what is lurking in my creative mind.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Doodled Border

Ballpoint Pen on notebook paper
A border design I could use on stationary, a painting, or to frame a photo.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Friday and Saturday's Doodles

I just scanned Friday and Saturday's Doodles. Where does the time go?
Saturday's Doodle '4 Stars'

Friday's Doodle
This was another Lab from my Drawing book by Carla Sonheim.  I believe it's called Doodling on Steroids.  You pick 10 or 12 different drawing utensils and keep drawing until the paper is full.  Finally my sketchbooks are starting to look like the ones I've admired all these years.

Drawing Tools Used:
Black Sharpie
Old Green Felt Marker
Red and Purple Prismacolor Pencils
Silver Metallic Marker
Pencil
Blue Ballpoint Pen
Gold glitter gel pen (clear with gold flecks)
White gel pen
Double pointed green Sharpie marker