Guess who's 10 weeks old already.

Can you believe it? Cute baby is 10 weeks old--and growing cuter by the minute. I haven't posted pictures of him in a while, so here is a handful.
At 10 weeks he's already sitting in the big-people chair.
And standing on the big-people desk (even though big-people aren't even allowed to do that).
We finally got the okay from his pediatrician to take him out into public places, so we went to visit Great-Grandma Stephens in Orem, UT. These two are almost exactly 97 years apart (Sawyer was born on the 20th and Grandma Stephens's birthday is on the 22nd of April). Plus, I realized that Grandma Stephens totally looks like the good sorceress, Fin Raziel, from Willow. Radical.
Yep.

Now, For Something...New!

Well, here's a small spread of exploration that I've been doing for an upcoming comic short. Hopefully to be ready in time for International Comic-Con in San Diego (less than a month away)!
Everything is sort of up in the air right now, but that's part of what contributes to the zany nature of comic-making that I appreciate so much. I like not knowing. Well, at any rate, this is the direction I seem to be heading in--I hope it turns out fun!

More Crazy Baby Adventures.

Just 'cause a baby is a cute baby doesn't mean he's not crazy too. Let me explain...

Superheroes

So I work at a Flash animation studio called Flash Potatoes here in Provo. We have a lot of fun. For a side project at work we're designing ourselves as superheroes.
Now, anyone that knows anything about me knows I know nothing about superheroes since I squandered most of my childhood reading funny books and not hero books so much. That said, this is by and large a foray into unexplored territory for me--even so, I think this is mildly successful; but more importantly, it's accurate.
I present: The Schnoz! Super powers include: Preternatural Olfactory Perception. Weaknesses include: Stealth and Charisma (-10).
Anyway, it was fun to try out something new. Usually when I draw me as a superhero I just draw regular me, since I feel pretty super most of the time anyway.
And that's today's important lesson.

The Cubscouts Just Sucked One Year of My Life Away...

They might one day go as high as five, but they really don't know what that would do to a person...

As of late I have spent way more hours of my life than I ever intended on...you got it, the Cubscouts. Tonight's offering is brought to you by a two and a half hour long Cubscout Health and Safety meeting. Well, one thing I can say for the Cubscouts--there are always a lot of characters at these things.
It's funny how sometimes when you start drawing in a crowd, people will ignore you or eye you suspiciously, as though they are wordlessly challenging you to some kind of staring contest. Occasionally people are interested in what you're doing and want to see your drawings. Then a crowd forms and everyone is looking at your not-so-flattering interpretations of them. The large woman on the right hand side of the third one down happened to love the picture of herself.
And that made my day.



As a sidenote, I don't typically go for likeness so much as for personality, but I'd like to mention that this guy is spot-freaking-on. I was very satisfied.

Oops (an apology and an invitation)

ADDENDUM: due to a gross misreading, I thought Sketchcrawl was on the 12th...but in actuality it's the 21st--which means we still have time to join. Provo-ites, let us unite and draw on the 21st! Where's a good place?

Impromptu Sketchcrawl

On Thursday, a group of friends and I went out sketchbooking--it was pretty great because the day happened to coincide with Worldwide SketchCrawl # 19! We had a fun time, even if the first hour or so was spent drawing each other (and making nerdy conversation in which we decided which superhero each of us was most like).
Oh yeah, AND it was Stacey Bethers' birthday! So I drawled her. Jake took care of her superhero self, here.
Then, because we are attached at the hip, Jake and I went to Sam Hawk where he ordered some mysterious Korean dish that he couldn't pronounce (when at a loss, you can always just point at the menu). While we waited, we drew--what else are you gonna do with down time like that?
THEN, I went to a Cubcouts meeting (I was recently volunteered as the Cub Master of our local pack--which is pretty silly when you consider that the extent of my scouting knowledge is limited to burning plastic grocery sacks over a fire and trying to flick the melty plastic bits at friends). But I did get some drawing done!

I saw these interesting folks at church. Can you believe the strange things some irresponsible parents try to feed their young?
Some sketches from earlier in the day--this is of my good friend, Jeff Call. I can't remember which superhero he would be.

This great moment in time happened at a local bus stop. Come to think of it, lots of great moments in time happen at bus stops.

Sick Day

Okay, so I was sick this morning. So sick that I didn't go to school--and not "sick" like when I didn't want to go to elementary school (or high school, for that matter). This was real sick--like, "I skipped out on my figure drawing class" sick. But being stuck at home doesn't mean I can't have a sketch adventure, it just means I got to spend all day with my cute baby and beautiful wife, which made an otherwise rotten day pretty great!

Family and (mostly) Dry Media

I can only imagine that this is what Allison thinks every time she sees me with Sawyer.

And in this week's installment...strange gestures...
Finally, some sketches from this week at church. Allison and I are on a rotation schedule where she attends one meeting and I attend the other. I've been going to the 11:00 and she's been going to the 1:00, but this week we switched so I got to see some new faces. I also thought I'd switch it up by trying out some color pencils. I hadn't touched my Prismacolors in forever, so I dusted 'em off and gave 'em a spin around the block.

Somehow a Kelly Loosli look-alike was attending church at this building today...
And a little inkwash...you didn't expect all dry media, did you? Well, I mean, I did drybrush, if that counts.

Ballet and Other Adventures (with Cute Baby bonus material)

Spring semester tends to be a lot more relaxed--having a leisurely snack and stroll between classes.
At BYU we have this groovy Foreign Language Lounge/Center where there is a kitchen and a social area with fireplaces. There are also a bunch of TVs showing stations from around the world. I like to watch NHK while eating lunch sometimes. After drawing this with my trusty Pilot Parallel pen (which I discovered a couple weeks ago doesn't react well with watercolor), I tried out some markers just to see what would happen. I like Copic markers, since they're not water-based--and lo and behold, the inks didn't run. Groovy.
Went and sketched dancers today. As a warm-up we (some fellow sketch adventurers and I) sat in on a modern dance group. Then we spent the remainder of our time in the ballet lab.
Ballet is also pretty groovy--and there were a bunch of characters in there, which was fun.
Mostly just some quick gestures. After spending so much time in a figure drawing class, I am reminded of how much more fun it is to go out and draw real life happening--even if that real life is also sort of a performance.


In other news, Cute Baby loves to dance. I know why you come here, and I try not to disappoint. Here's Sawyer getting down to one of his favorite tunes.

Sketches from Churches

Some more sketches from around the world (my world...which happens to be pretty narrow at this point--school, home, church on Sundays).





Today we had a church meeting at the Provo Tabernacle. I liked the line drawring so much that I didn't do a wash over it. This one was done with that same Signo Bit pen with the .18mm line. It's fun...