I was asked to design a sign to be used in fire drills. Since this would be seen by school kids, I decided to create a little flame mascot. I did several sketches and ended up with this little guy. Here he is in ink, initial color, and final color.
I Then added a logo and background and here is the final. Let me know what you think.
The topic this week is wings. I drew this in 05 as a Christmast gift for my late Father in Law Tom. I love Tom and miss him terribly. He was truly a second father to me.
I included a bible vs. from Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Truly the artistic order of creation speaks to the glory of the creator.
But more than this, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead means everything to people like me who have lost loved ones. Jesus said in John 14:19 because I live, you will live also. Since Tom had given his life to Jesus Christ I know I will see him again, and when I do there will be no more parting. God is worthy of glory because He has conquered even death in Jesus Christ.
Just got a copy of Tom Bancroft's Creating Characters with Personality. I am working through the book that was written by a former Disney Animator who was.among other things, responsible for designing Mushu from the feature Mulan. Bancroft includes assignments of designing characters for a western. The first assignment was to break down the main characters into shape designs. The second is to design the hero, a young cowpoke named Dillon. Among other things the main descriptions of Dillon are that he is young, tall, lazy, and wears hand me down clothes that don't fit well. Yet he has a heart of gold, is in love with the got it all together Polly, and is searching for lost treasure under his beloved town of Smithville in order to save the town and Polly from the devious Sherriff Brent. He also loves his horse Carrots, and is actually a talented gunslinger though he is too lazy to use his gift.
Assignment 1-- Sketch lineup.
Early sketch of Dillon.
Narrowing down Dillon's character.
So here is the cleaned up drawing of Dillon with a quick color version. I am mostly pleased with it. Would love to know what you think!
Fish are one of my favorite doodle subjects. They have a simple form, only a few basic elements, and there is an endless variety of shapes and colors. I doodled this little guy almost a year ago. Then about a month ago, it was one of the first doodles I colored digitally.
The beauty and variety of nature points us to the greatest artist ever. The One all other artists only hope to imitate. The creativity of the Creator is astounding. We glorify Him when we create ourselves. After all we are made in His image.
When I was a kid the only cartoons we got to watch were on saturday mornings. It was so cool to on one hand have no school and on the other the best programming of the entire week. It was really special in part because that was the only time we could watch cartoons. Eventually VHS became available and we could watch cartoons almost any time. Now my kids have like 4 channels that show cartoons 24/7. The magic is gone and we take for granted what was once such a special time. The major networks barely even show cartoons on Saturdays any more.
Its so easy to take things for granted especially is this country. Its easy to take people for granted though they could be taken from us at any moment. Our own life is not guaranteed for even another breath or another heartbeat. Let's cherish the time God has given us and not waste it. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves and love God our creator and Christ our redeemer with all our hearts, minds, and strength.
Saw the Hobbit the other day. I'm a big fan of the book and so was really curious about the movie. Overall I thought it was very good. Visually it was beautiful. I drew this doodle in early 2012. The pose is bad and the inking is pretty awkward but a fun doodle nonetheless. It was drawn from memory so its not exactly accurate (I don't think hobbits have pointed ears).
J.R.R. Tolkein was a Christian and though his writings are not a direct allegory like C. S. Lewis it is loaded with Christian themes. One of them is that God is glorified using small or weak things. So the Hobbit is a small humble creature yet is the hero of the story. Jesus Christ came as a baby laid in an animal's feed trough, from a poor family, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and finally crucified. Yet the great plan of God to restore a people to Himself was enacted this way. Christ's humility and weakness in the world's eyes is our great victory and salvation. In this way God is most glorified. He uses what is small and weak to show His great wisdom and power.
A little doodle of a running man I drew like 2 yrs ago. It was scanned at a low resolution so the quality isn't so great. I am experimenting with digital color on the right.
I am amazed at the lightspeed pace at which we live today. We have every conceivable device to make things quicker and faster and easier and yet all it has given us is a ratrace like our ancestors had never seen nor could have conceived of. One of the joys of drawing is that it gives us a chance to slow down and dwell on something for more than 3 seconds. I am also blessed by a restful worship service. I bet this little guy is running to church. Or as a forgotten praise song once said, "I will rush to rest at your feet Lord Jesus".
Topic: New-- Happy NEW year! This was a holiday decoration painting I did for the cafeteria of our elementary school. Their mascot is Indians so you have Father time with the little boy indian dressed as baby new year and not so happy about it. The little girl indian celebrates in the background. This was painted in acrylic on 5'x3' canvas
This is a repost from my old blog. Friday Mar. 2 was Dr. Seuss Birthday. All this week has been designated Dr. Seuss week where schools emphasize reading. I hope they emphasize art as well. What would Dr. Seuss' books be without his art. The man was a genius with words and his books would still be great. But his art is so unmistakable, so original, it has such a unique groove to it that it just takes on a life of its own. It works in perfect harmony with the words and has become iconic in our culture. One glance and you know its his.
His character was not perfect. He was a sinful human being as we all are (Rom 3:23). I don't agree with all his viewpoints. But I can't deny his craft nor would I want too.
I love the dynamic lines. How he builds form and creates value with them. The movement. His color was genius . So simple yet in perfect harmony with the drawing and the words. He used only 4 colors in Cat in the Hat, 2 shades of blue, 2 shades of red-- and it was just perfect. I love it that he cared so much about education. He worked hard to teach kids in an entertaining way. He served his country and used animation to educate and thereby protect soldiers in WW2.
But the best thing I can think we can learn from him is find your own voice, the voice God gives you. Draw, draw, draw, and draw some more unitl it's there. We emulate the voices of others because we want glory for ourselves. Seek God's glory and let Him use you how he wants. I hope to do that by God's grace and give God glory as my creator and redeemer.
God made all things and all things belong to Him. He made us in His image to reflect His glory by tending His creation under His authority. He made us to know Him, love Him and live for Him.
But we have rebelled against God. We don't want to live for Him. We have lived for ourselves which is evident when we lie, steal, lust, and hate. We have pretended to be god in His place. We have made ourselves an idol. We have failed to love others and we have failed to love God.
This is a horrible crime against the King of all creation. And a crime against an infinite and eternal king requires an infinite and eternal punishment in a place called Hell.
Even though this is what we deserve, God still loves us. He does not desire for us to perish but to be restored to living with and for Him. So God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life always loving God the Father with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength and always loved His neighbor as much as Himself. He lived the life we should have lived and did not deserve to be punished by God.
But Jesus was punished on the cross, not for His own sin, but for the sins of people. He died and was buried and three days later He rose again to give us eternal life.
Now He calls all people everywhere to repent, to stop living for themselves and live for the one who died for them. All the while trusting in His sacrifice and resurrection as payment for their sins. And those who trust in Him will be born again. His Spirit will come to dwell in them and they will have assurance of eternal life. One day, this world will pass away and God will make a new Heavens and a new Earth where God's people will dwell with Him forever.
And this is the story behind O-Boy: The Power of Light. Inspired by the Gospel, which is true myth and at the heart of all our great stories. So the works of John Bunyan and C. S. Lewis, I hope one day to put together a webcomic where the King of Light takes on the lowest form in order to rescue His people from the power of darkness.