The Alphabet Challenge | X

X is for XJ9 'Jenny Wakeman'

Nickelodeon's slightly less famous comparative to The PowerPuff Girls, 'My Life As A Teenage Robot' starred one robot girl, XJ9 who prefers to be called Jenny. I watched most of the third season since I discovered the show after it's time but it definitely appealed to me, especially the artistic aspect. I was originally going to be putting Xever Montez (Fishface) in this challenge but since I had Master Splinter for s, there was little point in adding another TMNT character.

I spent a day sketching Jenny Wakeman, making sure I got her proportions correct and making note of her colour scheme, a simple but effective choice. Most of the sketching was towards deciding on a pose for her to take. I've realised the beauty of making this amount of sketches prior to the actual entry, as now my poses are becoming more dynamic and the the poses used are the best of what I can come up with. In the end I actually merged two of my sketches to cease the Jenny you see in my final piece.

And now for the sad news. So I used watercolour pencil on this piece, which is fine. However to try and stay closer to home with the official style, I used a coloured pen for the outline, of which I only have in the form of pens not conventionally designed for art. The result is that the watercolour bled in most places. It was too late for me once I started, I had to apply water to the who,e thing and hope for the best. Luckily little damage was done and I was able to use my white pen to correct the first oils takes, these being in the mouth and one of her fingers. I leave the rest down to just being a case of wear and tear in her battles, perhaps it's been a busy day.

Only two more entries left for the Alphabet Challenge, to find out when you will be seeing those entries, check my post on the first of December, where I will include a section regarding what's to come over the next few months.

Have you seen the letter W? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for Y coming soon!

The YouTube World Of Artists

I should say right now, the piece does not imply that only those in this illustration are a part of such community, I am aware that there are many more artists, some which I would have included thus may draw in future. These are just the nine I knew of best at the time of creating.

So artists these days will probably know of the YouTube artists, which for myself are an inspiration and motivation. Months ago I did this style swap thing where I would draw the style's creator in Drawson style, but I decided in this case to just draw the artists in Drawson style and keep it at that.

From top left to bottom right we have DrawWithJazza, Mark Crilley, Kasey Golden, BayleeJae, LavenderTowne, DrawingWiffWaffles, Echo Gillette, Mei Yu/Fun 2 Draw, LeminaCrescent.

For all but one, this is the first time they've been drawn in Drawson style. So first I'll mention my redesign of LavenderTowne. Lavender is now based primarily on her appearance in her Q&A video, bar one rather obvious difference. Since her avatar's hair colour is pink in just about every other appearance, I kept her hair pink like how I originally depicted her. Her pupil shape also differs, as is the case with some of my OCs. Since a lot of her characters have stars in their eyes, literally, I made her pupil shape a four point star.

Mark Crilley was composed of two attempts. the first one would have a matching head shape of Jazza but it didn't suit Crilley quite the same. Since he is rather well known for his Manga novels,  I gave him for a look closer to manga, using my more realistic style of drawing heads, but the expressions remained Drawson style to he wouldn't be so alienated. Some die hard fans of Mark Crilley may also notice that I have given him blushies, you're welcome!

I wouldn't like to point out favourites but I definitely love how Waffles, Kasey, Echo and Mei Yu turned out. For Echo, it's life Butch Hartman said, she looks very much like a carton character. Waffle's just screams out her chirpiness and reminds me of Anne Natalie (if you don't know her, you can find out some more by looking at the page 'Droey and Co.').

Should the unlikely happen that one of the artists decides to take a look at this, I hope you are happy with how you turned out. What you're doing is great and it's those like you that make me only more proud to call myself and artist. If you ever want to see full body versions, then perhaps I can sort that out in the future.

Are there any other artsy YouTubers you wish to see in the Drawson style? Let me know and perhaps they can join in this collection very soon.

I Started My New Sketchbook | Phineas and Ferb Cast

Before I get started, I should address that I was not at my best on this particular day and was pushing myself through this so that the new sketchbook would actually have been started. Also expect my thoughts on this new book further down in this post.

So my intention was to give Phineas and Ferb a new look/style, particularly being more shape based than it previously was. However that intent seemed to get lost along the way. I was particularly pleased with how Candace, Ferb, Perry and Isabella turned out. The reason I didn't colour anyone else' skin other than Candace was because the ink was too dark. I definitely need a bit more work on Doofenshmirtz, sorry Heinz!

Thoughts On The New Sketchbook

Okay, I think I was caught in a web with this one. I'm not going to say that this is a terrible sketchbook, it just wasn't the best purchase for me. I think it's clear that what made me buy it was the canvas cover, giving me the chance to step into acrylic painting again and hold a sketchbook with a cover of my own (rather than sticking stuff onto the cover).

I was unable to properly examine the paper since the book was wrapped in clear packaging to protect the canvas. The paper inside is smooth, which is it's best quality. However it's also rather thin and toned, but not toned enough for white pencil to show up. The thinness of the paper means ink can be seen right through even when the page is laid flat on the rest of the book.

On the plus side, this sketchbook is encouraging me to sketch more, since now to avoid ruining my art work, pencil is the best option of material when working on the other side. You'll most probably see more sketchy work in the future, including preliminary sketches for other artworks. However my work might look somewhat limited in this book, I'm not sure of how my watercolour pencils work on this paper yet and am quite nervous to find out.

If presentation isn't your highest priority in a sketchbook or you're after something to just mess around and experiment, this is probably the sketchbook for you.

He Went Home Very Slowly

I actually made this a month ago, I've been getting creative all over again and so with more content than I expected this one has been patiently waiting a few weeks for it's reveal, and here it is.

This is the final screen capture of the original episode from 'Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends', one that has always lasted in my memory. It felt appropriate to return to this scene and recreate it, simply because the future of the franchise is not looking particularly good right now. I applaud those who are staying positive or are sticking around for the new material, it'll take some guts to do so.

I will continue to watch, simply because I need to see just what Thomas is becoming, no matter how it is. We were able to sit through the early CGI seasons, I can imagine we'll sit through this for however long it lasts.

As for the artsy topic to this piece, it was inked with a 0.01 fineliner and coloured with watercolour pencils, in order to provide a close a result to the original scene. I looked at some concept art for this location to discover the camera is actually facing North East, and thus I considered changing the sky to fit with this geographical information. I inevitably decided against it simply so I could better replicate this scene. If I were to have changed anything, looking back on this, I would have done a better job on the fence. There is one point where the planks seem to line up unrealistically, I shan't say where.

You'll also notice that on the top right, written in the white space is a declaration that my first Droey's Draws sketchbook has reached it's end! There are still some pieces from this sketchbook that I can upload before all of it's content has been shared on this blog, and you'll have access by now to the front cover of my second sketchbook. Now don't expect anything like a sketchbook tour, at least not any time soon. Perhaps in the distant future when this early content is just a memory I'll work on it.

As you can gather, this piece is all about what has been accomplished and what's ahead of us. Let's hope the journey of Droey's Draws continues to get better, with every masterpiece, with every sketchbook.

The Jolly Drawson | Acrylic Painting!

I've got a new sketchbook! And this one came with a canvas cover that you could paint, so I did this.

Now for those of you who follow this blog, you'll know I have never posted any work featuring acrylic paints. In fact, this is the first time I have used acrylic paints in almost a decade!

To start off easy, I decided my acrylic painting would be a 'three colour challenge', and so three random colours were selected. It took me a couple of weeks to come up with just what I would use these colours to do and then I came up with the boat out at sea as the sun was setting. This had the potential for my three colours to be used to perfection. My three colours were Brown, Cobalt Blue and Vermillion.

Given how long it has been since I last worked with acrylics, I am satisfied with the results. The only thing I did with this piece that did not include the acrylic paints was the lettering on the boat as well as a few lines, also drawn with black lining. I did intend to mix the colours so I could also have purple but I think the colour became a bit muddy in all of the brown that was taking over.

The shapes are simple, the colour usage fairly simple and the story about this piece is simple, but it's that simplicity that helped me to accomplish this and see potential for my chances of stepping back into the world of acrylic paints. Will I return to these? Most probably, there is also a back cover on this sketchbook crying for some colour, just what will I do with it?

The Alphabet Challenge | W + News Regarding The Future

W is for West North

So I've ran out of pages in my sketchbook, thus the remainder of the Alphabet Challenge will be done of similar sized sheets of card to be kept with the sketchbook. But before I continue about the art, allow me to give a brief introduction to West.

So West North, middle name East, is a hip hop dancer that was formerly part of a hip hop troupe before choosing to broaden his horizons at dance studio 'The Next Step', also the name of the show he comes from. West has been around through the show's run and although I stopped following the show by now, I find it entertaining and enjoyed the character dynamics, which would change each season. West is without a doubt one of the funniest characters in the series and helped The Next Step to be the light hearted show I needed it to be (around the time of discovering this now, I needed a bit of uplifting). So with that out of the way, let's discuss the creation process.

One thing I noticed about my Alphabet Challenge entries is that they mostly are drawn to precisely resemble the character or to depict them in the 'Drawson style'. However very few actually are attempts at realism. I knew from the beginning of this challenge I wanted West to make me draw a realistic and relatively dynamic posture.

I reverted back to the methods I used when making my entry for the letter A, however using what I have learned since to see if I have evolved at all. This entry has the advantage of being put together on a smoother surface, the paper in the sketchbook would always leave little white dots where coloured pencils were used.

With my entry for A, the character is wearing gloves and clenching his fists, so you don't get to see much out of the hands. Additionally he is wearing boots. West here has both of his hands and feet exposed so I'm drawing about a much human body as possible, before jumping into near nudity! Hands I'm somewhat okay with, they're not easy but I've drawn them a lot.

Feet however are a lot more challenging, down to the lack of having drawn feet (especially compared to hands). I did my best to find references matching the angles necessary but I was suffering technical difficulties at the time and with a deadline to meet, I had to make do with what was available. I honestly think they're some of the finest feet I have ever drawn, so maybe I'm starting to get good enough to draw feet without a reference? ...nope. Well below are the sketches that led me up to what you saw at the top of this post, along with a sneak peek of some content being posted in the future.

Have you seen the letter V? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for X coming soon!

News Regarding The Future

So things may be slightly changing around Droey's Draws over the course of the next few months. This is partly because the Alphabet Challenge is soon to end, but mainly due to the fact that my supplies are rather awkward at the moment. More about that will be explained in a future upload.

I have laid out what I'm going to be doing over the next month, news which you will be receiving on the 1st December, and then after that most of changes should be applied to the scheduling and content of this blog. That's all for now, rest assured I will continue to provide content as scheduled in the meantime.

Justice League - High School Students?

I am aware that there was an intended cartoon called 'Gotham High' in which the cast of Batman would be reinterpreted as high school students. It probably wasn't going to be much good, but hey it would have been a possible laugh.

So in light of this I have taken the Justice League themselves and redesigned them to look like high school students (and unfortunately a snooker player in Hal's case).

This took me a few days to create, spending about a day on each of the three stages (sketching, inking and colouring). Throughout all three days I had a lot of fun working on this one.

The main goal was to make each member of the Justice League maintain a resemblance to their superhero costumes while clearly dressed casually as teenagers. Admittedly I took advantage of the 'Bruce is a billionaire' as an excuse for his unusual clothing and hairstyle, and regret what I did with Barry's hair.

This started with the famous trio, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. For Batman, as I already explained, his clothes would be of his own design (or at least belong to a division of his fortune). Superman's was an easy change. I gave him shorts since he wouldn't be wearing his underwear on the outside, and replaced his cape with a Jock jacket.

Wonder Woman is the pride of this piece for me, I had already set in stone what I wanted to do with her costume design and I believe it works perfectly. She still has her bracelets, you can only just see them and additionally I have given her hair a gradient that turns into the blue used to highlight black hair in comics.

Aquaman was next, and I decided to make him the Waterboy, given his theme. The Aquaman logo is now a badge that sits on the strap holding his giant water butt. I've also got him doing some charity work, saving the whales.

Green Lantern was a struggle. While he does not resemble a teenager like the rest of them, the look I was going for was that of an unconventional teenager. I can imagine him being one of two things, one of those works really hard and dresses to show it students or perhaps those with the green lantern are a uniformed group within the school. It just so happens that to best compliment his costume design, I had to make him look like a snooker player, oh well.

Martian Manhunter had two designs as I went about including him into the picture. I was originally going to add Cyborg instead but given that there was no room to fit another full body view of a character, I decided to depict the traditional Justice League. Maybe if I interpret the Teen Titans as (casual) teens, Cyborg can feature. Manhunter was originally going to wear a leather jacket, but then I discovered a hoodie with a collar exactly like his cape's and it was settled. The red x is just a print on his shirt and then the rest of his clothes (bar socks) are coloured in blue.

Now the Flash is one I feel I didn't do justice. I had his body costume decided and that was fine, but trying to style his hair to resemble his headgear overcame me. I was going to have his hair red, bar the lightning strikes on the side (which would be blonde and more wavy), in the end I settled for ginger hair to keep it between the red of Flash's headpiece and the blonde of Barry Allen's hair. I was stupid however and when I realized my mistake, I went back to redesign him and so below is The Flash as he should be.

These are the clothes I originally had in mind for Flash, since the yellow lining resembles the lightning patterns on his costume, and it's genuine sportswear which would allow him to continue running as he likes. The shoes were always intended to have wings as well, you'll notice his lightning strikes are replaced with wings everywhere but on his logo. The hair is now fully blonde and he is wearing a red woolly hat, seriously why did I not think of hats?

Well that's it for these seven designs, I hope you like them! How would you have designed the Justice Teens? Be sue to let me know, and possibly how you would interpret other DC Comic characters in teenage form!

The Cloud Dragon

First of all, I would like to thank those who checked out my Halloween web-comic, 'Sbookies', one of the most viewed masterpieces on the blog! If you're new to the blog or haven't seen it yet, you'll find it in October 2017 in the archive, I highly recommend you give it a read.

I watched Echo Gillette's video on how to draw dragons and found it rather useful. I decided to take a shot at it myself and used a prompt generator to come up with what type of dragon I would be making.

The result was themed around clouds. Although clouds are generally shapeless, they are associated with being fluffy so that was what I aimed for designing this dragon. Following every step provided was fairly simple, though I might have broken the conventions of body shape by making his upper half fluffier rather than streamlined. I excluded wings from this dragon since clouds are airborne, it seemed redundant to give wings to something sharing the traits of a cloud.

If I was to have gained anything from this, it would be that I have learned dragon anatomy, much quicker than I have learnt human anatomy I suppose, but then that would be years of learning against one video! In hindsight I could have been a bit more adventurous and might add to this design in the future, or even branch out into multiple designs. If that's the case then you'll be seeing the cloud dragon again, perhaps very soon.

The Making Of 'Sbookies'

Earlier this week, to coincide with Halloween, I released a full page comic strip titled 'Sbookies', about Madge the witch and her cat Silverside. I'll say no more, you ought to check it out! There's a link just below this paragraph.

http://droeysdraws.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/halloween-treat-sbookies-by-droey.html

For those of you who have seen it, you'll be interested in this post. I put a lot of work into that comic strip to make sure it was made to decent standards, and do with that comes preparation of which today I'm sharing with you.

Script

Since the two designs I favoured were the witch and cat, later to be named as Madge and Silverside respectively, I wanted to make my strip focused on them. I wanted to create an in-between from the spooky Halloween genre and the slice of life style comedy, so for the story I focused only on subjects that we could experience outside of Halloween. I chose the 'Cat in a tree' trope and that habit of animals bringing in dead wildlife. This would lead to the creation of 'trees name' and 'Parrot'.

Sorry if the text is hard to read, since text was liable to change I used a pencil.

The script itself had to be kept simple, so that I would have no problem with making too many or too small panels. This challenged my writing skills, as while I am experienced in story writing, I haven't had to write such a short story up until this point, at least not one that consists of more than one character. You might notice some faint text where the original dialogue would be erased in order to keep any panels from being too wordy, while saying everything they needed to. I originally had it in mind that Madge would have formerly experimented on or even dated the Parrot that Silverside invites home, the idea being debunked for a simple hatred of repetition.

The other half of the script, again I apologize if it is hard to read

Concept Art

The front and side profile of Madge, as well as a sketch of the full strip

Madge was not first seen in 'Sbookies', for she is one of three designs that was actually shown on the blog around September. It was a week after her creation that I went full out and created more designs, which would include Silverside and the tree. You'll notice other creatures being designed, but for the same reasons are not featured in this strip, however could be seen in future.

The rought draft of the script, original sketch for Silverside and finalized sketch for the Tree.

For simplicity's sake, I stuck to one location, one background. I made a sketch of the background so that I could refer to it when drawing the comic. Every detail was intended to be in the exact same spot, from the stones in the wall to the clouds in the sky. I do regret that I drew them all in each panel, rather than just draw one background and edit in Photoshop, but I had plenty of time on my hands and was able to manage it (it would be the digital stage that took up the most time).

The previously mentioned background, with profiles for Silverside and concept art for the Parrot.

The digital process consisted of cleaning up the lines as best as possible, applying the text and colouring in the comic. Now of course I had to do art work that I could post on this blog as is routine, additionally there is a life outside the art blog I have to keep up with and thus I gradually became concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish this before my deadline! However with a couple of weeks to spare it was done.

Sketching the logo, first pannel and Madge's hat; with more monsters being brainstormed.

That's just about everything I can provide for the behind the scenes of 'Sbookies'. I hope you enjoyed the comic, but please don't expect masterpieces of that standard to be a incredibly common thing on this blog, give me time. However I am happy to continue 'Sbookies' in one way or another if you wish to see more of this spooky world. Let me know if you do and what you would like to see as their world expands. Maybe by next Halloween there could be more than just a few comics!

The Alphabet Challenge | V

V is for Vanessa Doofenshmirtz

I had little access to Americanized television in my younger years, only getting to watch what Freeview had to offer. Regardless I was able to discover Phineas and Ferb and watched almost 2 complete seasons. It certainly was one of the greats and so I couldn't not feature one of their characters in this challenge. Since I've never drawn her before, it's time to give the spotlight to Vanessa Doofenshmirtz.

I wanted to make a more dynamic piece than the typical 'I don't care' sort of look in most of her promotional artwork. The best source for what I was looking for would be her musical number 'I'm Me'. While I would have to improvise from the knees down, the rest would just be a matter of drawing what I saw.

While taking my own spin on the art style, most of Vanessa remains exactly as it does in the show, two definite differences being her nose and hairlines. This includes the grey outline around her jet black costume, I doubt there'd be any other way I could ink her clothes and do them justice. If only I had shaded her costume like the rest of her, perhaps it might have looked alright.

Have you seen the letter U? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for W coming soon!