On the Floor

My son, genuflecting before the television, same as us. Not shown: around 11,000 Legos in various heaps on the carpet.

Pokemon Player at Rest

My wife is the only one of us smart enough to learn how to play Pokemon, so she occasionally indulges my son in a game or two. It is around this time that I began to tire of the stale, dry rendering I was adopting with an HB #2 pencil.

Last of the Winter Hair

A week or so ago. Me making use of available faces at my house.

Confessions of an Ink Addict

Pushing myself to use the pencil these days, trying to lay aside some inking instincts and re-learn what a pencil can do.

Captivating

Another one of the heir doing his homework. As you can tell, I'm captivated by his thick, unruly hair. I hope he keeps it, but if he doesn't, I hope I live long enough to see it so that I can laugh like the Jamaican guy in those 7-UP commercials. I've also recorded the goofy way he holds a pencil accurately.

The Heir's Profile

A week or so ago, keeping myself off-balance with a 2b pencil. Now that I look at it from a distance, I'd have paid a little more attention to the heavy-handed shadowing on the hair. The even band of dark is not doing the composition any favors. And while I'm whining, some of my preliminary search lines give the suggestion that his neck is pretty thick. My son'll look at this when he's older and wonder what kind of bruiser he was. If his hair thins out like his old man, he'll weep at his helmet of hair. I'm happy enough with the rest of it though.

Bend Sinister

Sketching opportunities abound when I accompany my wife as she volunteers at a local mental hospital. By accident, a reasonably tight rendering with a regular 2B pencil.

My Advisor at Miskatonic U.

A drawing I did to help pass the time and entertain my son while we spent a Saturday morning waiting on an oil change.

Possum, Playing

A rejected rough of a mascot for a relatives vintage baseball team. One of the advantages of being trained and educated in the "fine ahts" is that one is always available to provide clip art for friends, relatives and co-workers. This was a tricky assignment; making a possum look cute. Whats a possum known for? Being Ugly. So I tried making this guy cute- in an ugly sorta way. Too ugly. I'm going back to Guns 'n Broads.

Christmas Swag

Day after Christmas, my son playing with his new X-Box what-not. Occasionally, the spirit of Egon Schele invades my pencil and I draw a reasonably controlled contour drawing. This happens only sporadically, but the look is consistent from drawing to drawing, year to year. Supernatural possession is the only logical explanation. Just as quickly, Schele's spirit looks at the drawings and flees.

Mother Q

Day after Christmas, the person who's had to put up with me the longest. It doesn't do her justice, but I like the way her expression came out, as though she can't quite believe the horse-poop that's sure to have been tumbling out of my mouth as I was drawing her. I took a lot of days off over the holidays this year, and I drew like it was all I wanted to do.

Portrait, not so much

Done earlier in December at a family gathering around the table. As portraiture it falls flat, believe me, but I enjoyed the pencil work. At some point one can quit on the likeness and have fun makin them little marks with a pencil.

The Son-King

A quick sketch of the heir, earlier this month. A great way to get children to sit for a portrait is to have them suckle at the TV for a while. A child without this kind of distraction will soon want to talk to you, share their thoughts, ask to spend time with you, etc., -no no no- take my advice and avoid this by leaving the TV on most of the day.

Ancient Technology

Our niece surfing the "inter-web" in a tiny apartment in New Jersey, 2001. Back then, phones were hard wired into peoples homes and this is also how people received the Internet. A computer system typically consisted of several components: the hard drive, the keyboard, speakers, and a "mon-i-tor" ( not the creature from mythology!)- can you imagine?! Why I'll bet she's waiting seconds for her "X-Files" related searches to yield results! Seriously, it's prismacolor on toned paper.

First Communion

My Mother-in-law, circa 1940's Bolivia. Pen and Ink with white prismacolor.

Happy Anniversary!

The worlds seems to have gone crazy these last 2 decades .... terrorism, economic upheaval, Glenn Beck, etc. The gods are truly punishing us. It's my fault, I'm afraid! 18 years ago today, through guile, trickery and deceit, I snatched one of their own. What hubris! By marrying someone way out of my league, I've caused decades of suffering for my fellow mortals. It was worth it. Thanks, Carol and sorry everyone else!

X-Mas '06

Our family Christmas card from '06- again I'm exploiting my son for personal glory. As I recall, I hadn't inked in a while and I was nervous about finishing it.

For th' Holidays

Well, if you can't tell, I'm rummaging through my old scans in my picture file on my computer. This is the inked stage of our X-Mas ('07) card I scanned before coloring. I think I had more fun on this card than I did on almost any other. For a day or two I got to pretend I was actually working on an old comic book cover. See if you can spot some of the gaffs I later took out in Photoshop!
Thematically, producing an annual Christmas card got a lot easier after we had a child. As in everything, I either steal my son's ideas, or make him the butt of the joke!

Man of Vision

My brother-in-law in May, at a family gathering. As you've noticed I've fallen back into using blue color-erase pencil. I have a surplus of these pencils and they don't burn down as quickly as black Prisma-color, something to consider in these trying times. A little trivia: if you try on this man's glasses, you'll vomit within 2 minutes!

Homework

My son, at his homework, miserable, sometime in April. The sound of any cartoon character muttering angrily to themselves would be appropriate for this picture. He's in a much better mood from June through August compared to Sept. through May, (with a slight bump in late December) .... Strange.