Doodles and Comics

Sometimes it's fun to just let your mind wander and do some good old fashioned doodling--without any particular aim, or without paying attention to how "good" the drawings are. Y'know--just for fun. Here's some stuff I came up with while I was in the car traveling to Zion National Park this last weekend (I promise I'll post some of those photos soon).



Also, while we were in town, I noticed a local confectioner with a tantalizing window display (You may have know this, but I have a weak spot for chocolate--and that spot is about the size of Canada).

In other news:

The Pony Express of the Future!

The idea occurred to me that intergalactic space is measured in light years, but since the speed of light itself is such an abstract concept, the distance that light could travel in a calendar year is an unfathomable distance.
Now, if we measured how fast a pony could run in a year--that's a distance that I can actually compute in my teeny brain.
Therefore, I present you with The Intergalactic Pony Express: measuring intergalactic space at a speed that humanity is comfortable with (and delivering small to medium sized parcels across universes at a very competitive rate).

Fun

Just having some fun. You should try it.

Zion National Park

I took a short vacation to southern Utah from Thursday to Saturday with my father- and brother-in-law. Among other things, we got to hike to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Here is a 360 panoramic view from the summit. More pictures to come later!It seems silly to try and capture the immensity of this view with a handful of pictures, but I thought I'd try anyway.

Work and Play

So, I'm in a crunch to meet an illustration deadline, but I was recently really inspired by an interview with Pascal Campion on the Character Design Blog.
Following his advice, I took a moment out of my work day to do a creative sketch. And here it is

More Comics!

Sorry it's been so long between comics--I've been busy with work; and anyone that has experienced the freelance art lifestyle knows that having too much work is definitely a good thing (in certain respects). I haven't been posting a ton of finished personal projects lately (just sketches), mostly because I've been pouring all of my efforts into freelance illustration and storyboarding (like I said, it could be worse). Anyway, here are some comics about the adventures we've been having lately--enjoy!

A sketch walk...

So, we are kind of an exercising family; and tonight, when Allison went on a run in scenic, shady Rock Canyon (away from the scorching Utah sun), Sawyer and I walked through the adjoining neighborhood. Of course I had my sketchbook on me.
Although, I hadn't really calculated how short a sketch has to be before a baby starts to freak out, so these are pretty quick (5-ish minutes).

A house in the hills of Provo, where--quite unexpectedly--there are a lot of large and extravagant homes. We also walked by what I thought was a local community center/park that I found out is probably the house of Franklin Covey (a rich guy). This is one of the smaller but cuter houses in the neighborhood.
We also caught this cool view from our scenic sidewalk.

Out of the corner of my eye, I happened to see this strange shadow moving across a wooden fence...upon closer observation I realized that it was me--and that I must have looked pretty funny pushing a carriage with a baby strapped to my front-side, while sketching the mountains.
"Why would you have a baby strapped to your front when there's a perfectly good carriage to put him in?" you might ask (and you'd be justified in doing so). Well, Sawyer is very particular about his orientation to the ground, and he doesn't appreciate going downhill in a stroller...yep.


On a separate note, here are a few sketches from church.

Pictures of Cute Baby

Some people (who will remain nameless) have made comments regarding the relative infrequency of posts containing pictures of our cute baby. Well, now my cousin Adrienne has solved that problem by doing my job for me, and posting pictures on her blog.
You can see those pictures by clicking HERE.
Have fun looking at that cute baby! (More comics to come soon.)

Oh, and our friend Laurie who came to visit also snapped many a photo of that crazy baby--you can see her photos HERE.

More stuff from morning sketch/paint group-thing

The adventures continue! Here are the most recent sketches from our lovely town, Provo. I'm trying out a couple of different techniques, and so I'm meeting with marginal success. There are things I like about both of these, and there are other things I'd change, but hey, it's a learning experience right?
I figure I won't learn anything if I don't put myself out there, so here's to adventure and the unknown!


Couldn't really capture the stormy sky as well as I would have liked--it's rarely cloudy/rainy around these parts, so I wanted to make sure I got some of the coolness of those clouds. Oh well, maybe next time!

Morning Sketching

So, basically Jake and Jed are kicking my butt--we've decided to do some morning sketching around Provo a couple of days a week. Here are some of my results.

A local burger stand...
And even though we've been going out to paint architecture, I have this weakness for bikes from the 1970s. These two are Schwinns, even though I prefer European models such as my Raleigh import or a nice Bianchi. When torn between a love of bikes and sketching, what's better than sketching bikes?

Although, it is sad to see them in such disrepair--I want to adopt every mistreated bicycle I see, and love it back into working order, but our small two-bedroom apartment won't allow it.