Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Undertaking of Project #756.4

In effort to remain productive, useful and utilize resources, I have begun a campaign to develop, learn and research an until-now unexploited potential gold mine: cartooning.

Sure, it's fun. Sure, it's easy. To do poorly, that is.
Sure, every church bulletin/sermon notes page since I turned 5 has been decorated.

Let's see if we can't use it for something more...
The premise:

Do free-hand drawing every day to build up skills with pen and ink that will benefit in the subtle storytelling art form of cartooning.

The rules:

10 - 15 minutes are permitted per drawing. This must include pencils and inks. It mu
st do its best to convey in the simplest shapes possible the point of the drawing. In other words: the goal is to maximize the economy of line in showing the viewer what is happening. Great cartoonists do this so well, it's uncanny. Us poor ones just slop ink on the page and hope something comes out of it.

Different types of tools will be used in experimenting with different techniques, attempts and style, etc.

Right now, the weapon of choice has been a regular Sharpie marker. The goal: to get a wider range of textures out of the felt tip beyond what I would scribble on top of a cardboard box. Then again, that might look cool. I should try that...

I will do my best to post a drawing here every day. (Ala The Creatures in My Head) to gauge reaction and hopefully see a side-by-side improvement as I muddle through this.

I give you the Carnivorous Parking Meter:

The Dude Who's Way Too Excited About Riding the Toy Airplane:


...and of course, Ugly Alien with his Rat-on-a-Stick:


Apparently I shall have to suffer through all sorts of torments in order to get this done. Most of them are technologically related (busted scanner, computer programs that can't seem to comprehend the simplest task I ask of it...) but through it all, I shall persevere to bring you my rendition of a singing toilet.

T.

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