Sketchbook XI

As many of you probably saw on my personal blog, I finished my first graphic novel last week.  This lined up almost perfectly with the end of the semester at CCS, and as luck would have it, I also finished off my tenth sketchbook yesterday.  Since I'm officially on Winter Break now, I spent today building a new sketchbook from scratch.

As you can see here, I covered it with an old flannel of mine that was starting to fall apart.  I cut out the pocket from the shirt and sewed it on the front to hold pens and scraps of paper.  I did the same thing with my 9th sketchbook.  If you are interested in making a sketchbook of your own, check out my Flickr set with step-by-step instructions and links to all of the tutorials I use.  It's really fun and imbues your sketchbook with a lot of personality.

Probably my favorite part of making a custom sketchbook is picking the paper.  I chose some yellow copy paper that I have had lying around forever.  The cheapness of the paper frees me from being too worried about the quality of work that goes on in here.  I believe sketchbooks are a place to experiment and have fun.  In the back I put some nicer drawing paper, which I will use for quick brush pen illustrations.  I often do final work right in my sketchbook, instead of on loose bristol.

Next week I'll get back to posting actual art... maybe something from these very pages!  Happy holidays everyone.

Vermont Institute of Natural Science sketches

This week I am working on a big batch of one-panel gags, and my first full page comic for Nickelodeon Magazine. Unfortunately, because of contractual restrictions, I cannot post those illustrations in this blog. So instead, I thought I'd show a few drawings I did this week in my sketchbook.

One of the great perks of being a fellow at The Center for Cartoon Studies, is that I am allowed to sit in on any class. I can also tag along on field trips, as I did this week, when Steve Bissette took his Drawing Workshop class to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science to draw real live birds of prey! These are birds who have been injured and cannot be returned to nature. Some of them were quite large, and it was really amazing to see them up close. I also took some notes about some of the things we learned, so make sure to click on the images below to see the larger versions.

This American Kestrel had imprinting problems (it saw a human when it was a baby bird, so now it thinks it is a human!) It did a lot of squawking, and also it can see in the ultraviolet spectrum (?!) It was definitely my favorite bird.

I also really liked these owls. They made the most beautiful "WOO" sounds, and the Horned Owl even horked out a pellet while we were drawing it!

Next week I should be back to the watercolor challenge. Until then!