Sketch Bomb. Wherein I Show Art and Muse

The past week or so has been filled with sketches and ideas.  I’m still trying to improve my skills, and that means drawing as much as possible.  Unfortunately, there’s always the interwebs, and that means distractions galore.  I spend a lot of time on Etsy, the Regretsy forums, miniature wargaming websites like Privateer Press, and illustration/art blogs.  However, I still have some images to show in today’s post.

I’m finding that I can get a little bit more work done when I’m away from my laptop altogether, and so I’ve occasionally been heading to Panera Bread in the early mornings to grab some coffee and sketch.  My wife often works an early shift, which means I can be at Panera from about 6:30 to 8:30 or 9am, when I catch public transit back home.  Panera Bread is a great venue, because they allow free refills on their coffee, and a small coffee is less than two dollars.  I’ll grab a coffee and then drink maybe 2 or 3 cups total over the time I’m there.  Not too bad, and right now it’s the only little pleasure I’m allowing myself when it comes to treats.  I know a lot of people grab coffee/lattes every day before work, which seems like a crazy amount of money to me, but I feel like $2 every week or so is worth the quiet sketching time.

What I’m currently working on is a storyboard for an idea I had regarding dwarves.  I have a few small thumbnail sketches worked out, and those will be posted below.  I’m playing with the idea of a greedy, out-for-gain group of dwarves holding a town hostage by blocking off the only exit roads.  It’s just a basic idea for now, but I’d love to explore it some more.  I’m not sure what direction I’ll take the final pieces in.  Karl Kerschl does a webcomic called The Abominable Charles Christopher, and he inks his works and then adds grey toned washes in Photoshop.  I lack Photoshop or a scanner, so I may have to do everything on paper.  We’ll see.

For my Etsy, I’m toying with the idea of doing some Halloween-themed items.  Unfortunately, everybody and their grandmother is jumping on the same scheme… which means it might be hard to jump out of the pack and get noticed regardless of what I do.  I did get a bat in a creepy mask painted up, and that will probably get photographed today.  I also have another small crooked house in the works, with a new roof design that I managed to stumble across on Pinterest, on a kid-sized gnome house.  I’m going to paint it up in fairy/dark colors and list it soon as well.  The hand-cut tiles look really great on it.

And now…. pictures!  Enjoy.  🙂