Sketchbook Sunday, Part the First

Well, it's completely over, and we slept until 11:30 this morning. I haven't slept in that late since I was a teenager, I guess the Babysitting Battle Royale took more out of me than I thought. Well, since today is quite literally a lazy Sunday afternoon, I hope you don't mind if I take it a little slower today.

One thing I always enjoy doing on a Sunday is sketching. It gives me a good, complete change of pace from what I normally get involved with and gives my brain a break from active thinking. one of my favourite things to do on a Sunday is sketch some weird character (or play pokemon) while Jess and I listen to either something church-related or a good old-time radio show (usually Dragnet, sometimes Our Miss Brooks). It gets me into a really zen state of mind and refreshes me for the week ahead. What kind of characters do I draw? well, let's just see here...

"How do I get out of this thing...?

This picture is a perfect example of what I like to do when I want to just leave my brain at the door. As you can see by the needles detail, it's kind of a half doodle, half serious piece. I also like just trying very different styles to change things up. This was my attempt at a widely-spaced-eyes style and I was quite pleased with the result (although it took me ages). I like drawing swirl patterns on clothes, you'll probably find this out yourself once I put more of these up. I'm glad I put those horn-things on her shoulders, they help pul the focal point back to her head. Any others?

"I've come for your hat..."

Someone commented that this looked like a LoL champion. I don't know about that, but I do know that that hand was a total fluke. I'm terrible at drawing hands normally, but for some reason this one just clicked. I admit the collar was a bit of a cheat to avoid drawing the facial features, but I like how it works with the collar. I'm also quite pleased with th shading on his hat. It's the weird little things with stuff you draw...

I really enjoy designing creatures and characters, but I'm somewhat crippled from doing anything professional with it by the fact that I have no experience or practice with anatomy. The creation gets exponentially uglier the further below the waist you get. Oh well. I might make this a regular thing and have a Sketchbook Sunday each week, since I won't be doing much else on the day. Sound good?

Movie of the day: Thor. Out of all the recent Marvel movies that focus on a single hero, I think I like this one the most, mainly due to the wonderfully bombastic direction of Kenneth Branagh and the effortless simplicity of the main character. Everything's just so BIG. The sets, the costumes, the acting... it really is just a comic book come to life in the best way. I also completely agree with Doug in that it is so refreshing to finally watch a fish-out-of-water story where said fish is actually nice about it. "Another!" *smashes cup* "what ar you DOING?" "It is tradition in my homeland!" "Well, we don't do that here" "Oh... very well." He views it a a learning experience rather tan a chore, and it's kind of disgusting how unique that is in this kind of story. Don't know what's up with all the dutch angles, though. A lot of them seem out of place. Here's hoping the new director does the sequel justice!

Song of the day: Everbody's Gotta Learn Sometimes by Beck. One of Beck's absolute best songs, and it's only available on a soundtrack. Hypnotic, haunting, poignant... It's just a great piece with an awesome string section. Not sure about that guitar solo, though...