So Much Art, So Little Time

Cari-CAT-ure #1

2010-03-25T10:30:00.000+10:00

Here's the first of what will hopefully be a few caricatures (send in your photos, people! I'm in sore need of practise in this area!). Done with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil and some very quick Photoshop colours:

I actually had another version sitting on my computer for a couple of weeks now, just waiting for a couple of finishing touches - I kept thinking that it wasn't quite right. Then last night I found myself thinking "buggerit" and whipped this one out in a little over an hour. The good part is that as I redid it, I also had my webcam running and made a quick sketch video to go along with it. I can't say whether or not anyone else would find the video interesting, but I certainly learned a lot from rewatching it a few times.

Many thanks to Cat for sending me photos to play with :D

YouTube take two:

2010-03-19T02:39:00.001+10:00

Yet another doodle-video! Let me know what y'all think:

And, of course, here's the sketch:

If you liked this post, check out the gallery!

Youtube Ahoy!

2010-03-14T19:23:00.003+10:00

I've nearly finished updating this site, I have the final layout of a book to finish up as well as updating the site of one of my clients, but I thought in the middle of it all I'll spend a little bit of time playing with my webcam. Let me know what y'all think!

and here's the finished sketch for y'all to gawk at:

I'll likely finish this one off in full colour, and seeing as I now have the software to do screencapture videos, I'll likely do a similar vid of the colouring process. So watch this space!

Back from Hiatus

2010-02-23T02:31:00.000+10:00

Whoo, it's been a while since I've added a new post here - don't worry, I haven't forgotten this blog, in fact I'm nearly finished a complete overhaul of my website, as soon as it's done I'll be uploading some new sketches and Train of Thought comics.

In the meantime, I feel like working on my caricature skills - which means I need some photos to draw from! If you'd like to see yourself as a doodle, just send a photo or two of yourself (big smiles, people!) to embie@embiearts.com and I'll have a bit of a play.

Sketchdump the Third!

2010-01-14T03:12:00.001+10:00

This week's webcomic is online here, let me know what you think!

In the meantime, Sketchdump Ahoy!

What to do when you can't fall asleep? Count sheep! Or, in my case, draw sheep. A little counterproductive, perhaps, seeing as how I have to get out of bed, turn on the lights and get out my sketchbook and so have no chance of falling asleep, but I still get a fun doodle out of it :D

Didn't have time to finish this one as I had to up and do chores (nothin' like shovelling horse manure on a warm afternoon!), so he's still a bit messy.

Also. wrinkles are FUN to draw! :D

Here's one from the vaults - I can't remember when I drew this, but I think it was around the time the Iron Man movie came out, so early 2008? The only thing I know for sure is that, like a lot of my sketches I drew it on the train and was getting close to my stop so it's a bit rushed. I certainly hadn't seen the movie at the time, as is probably evident in this image.
...wow my style has changed (and improved) a lot since then! Oh, the anatomy D:

That's all from me for now, back into the fray as I'm finishing up the illustration on one of the Eco Hero books.

If y'all liked this, check out the rest of my art on my website!

Train of Thought - webcomic launch!

2010-01-02T17:03:00.000+10:00

Huzzah, I've finally gotten past all the years of procrastination and started my very own webcomic!

The concept is simple: let both my mind and the pencil wander, and see the results! It's named for the fact that I always do this when I catch the train - it's usually when I do my very best and most random doodles, and stuff that's worth giggling at. I'll be uploading weekly, each Saturday, so to be sure you catch the next episode be sure to check back, or you can follow the feed of this blog.

I'd also love some feedback, so be sure to let me know what you think!

Sketchdump the Second!

2010-01-02T15:36:00.000+10:00

Phew, the holidays are over, it's officially 2010 and has been for a whole 39.5 hours (Happy New Years, btw!), and things can finally get rolling again. Just two sketches this week, as not only have I been feasting, quaffing and performing various celebratory feats, I've also been putting a bit of time and mental effort into a new webcomic which will be posted veeeeeeeeeery soon!

So, here we go!

What to draw when you're on the train and bored? Cute fluffy things, of course! D'awwwwww ^_^

Not sure why this feller came about. It was new year's eve, so maybe the idea of "old"? Or perhaps I was still thinking of Scrooge from Christmas. Who knows. It was a bit of fun and a bit different from my usual cutesy-poo stuff, and that's all that matters :3

And what the hey, here's a bonus one: It's not really a "sketch" per se, but it's new!

Jim Carrey, for those who can't quite make him out (whooee I've got a long way to go on my realism. That, and it's a weird-ass expression for a portrait) - every now I do realism to remind myself I actually can do more than cartoons. I was watching Bruce Almighty the other day, hit pause during the bloopers and thought "hey, I could draw that!" so I did. There's a larger version in my main gallery, for the curious.

Or you could, y'know, just check out my website and tell me what y'all think!

That's all from me for now, Cheers and a happy weekend,

EmbiE

And a Merry Christmas to all!

2009-12-25T20:56:00.000+10:00

Well, it's 9pm, and after much munching on Christmas goodies and quaffing of various drinks, I spent a little time with pen and paper (and computer!) in hand. The result? A Christmas Doodle! It's a little late in the season, but I scraped in under the wire - 'tis still Christmas for another three hours.

And to all a good night!

Weekly Sketch Dump the First

2009-12-20T03:24:00.001+10:00

Well, I've decided to have a bit of a play with this blogging thing, thought I might start with a weekly peek inside my sketchbook. I'm always drawing, but a lot of stuff never makes it past the initial stages, mostly because I just don't have the time to put serious work into every image. So each weekend I'll be posting up a couple of my favourites. I'd love some feedback, so feel free to tell me what you think!

...incidentally, I never realised I had SOOOO many sketchbooks lying around. I've counted 20 so far, and there's doubtlessly more hanging around that I haven't unearthed yet. And this is just recent history; I purge my sketchbooks every time I realise how crappy my old work is. That said, I have a very bad habit of only having maybe five or six half-decent drawings per book the rest being scribbles that wouldn't make sense to anyone but me and even then it's a stretch :B

ANYWAY, getting back on topic: here's this weeks bunch!

Firstly, an oldie. I was at my mum's place by myself, bored out of my mind, so I whipped out the sketchbook. The problem was I had no idea what to draw; until my eye fell upon her statuette of a majestic bald eagle coming in for a landing. At first I thought I'd try for realism, but five seconds in my cracked sense of humor took over and... well... this is the inevitable result.

Just a cute sketch I did on the train quite a while back. . Not sure what's going on here, but it was a bit of fun animal practise.

Just so y'all know I'm not cheating and only posting up ancient stuff, here's one from last night. This guy started out as a pair of eyes and the rest of him just happened. Every now and then I like to do a picture that evolves organically and this guy did just that - I had no clue what I wanted, my only real interest was playing with bold lines. Ten minutes later and he was glaring at me and I couldn't be happier! :B

Well, that's all from me for tonight!

If you liked this, have a peek at my main gallery and tell me what you think!

Blogging At Last!

2009-12-07T20:07:00.005+10:00

Whew! After days of futzing around with trying to figure out how to embed a blog into my website (and failing miserably) I finally stumbled upon a solution that might just do the trick. Stop trying to embed the RSS feed, just embed the whole freakin' page!

And so here we are. It's a cheat until I can strongarm my decidedly more PHP/SQL/WTF-literate friends into showing me the proper way to do it but for now it'll do.

Of course, now that it's up, I have to come up with something worthwhile to actually say...

...I'mma go bake cookies.