Lost Futureboy Drawing

Way back in 2009 I posted a couple of entries about Futureboy, a character I created in the late 1990s. You can read all about him here. 

Imagine my surprise when I was googling myself today, as one does, and ran across this: a vector drawing of Futureboy.

At least I think it's forgotten. I don't remember posting this one before, and it didn't show up when I searched for it.

I completely forgot all about this drawing. This is the first (and so far only) time I've ever drawn him in vector. It's definitely my work, but I have no memory of drawing it whatsoever, or even why I did it. It's kind of eerie seeing something I obviously did but don't recall. Like there's another version of me out there posting things and jet setting about the globe and generally having a better time than I am.

I suppose I'll have to chalk this one up to old age, as my once steel trap-like mind becomes more like a sieve. Next stop: adult diapers!

Hot & Cold Running Gremlin

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted an actual illustration here at Bob Canada's BlogWorld. Time to remedy that situation!

Hey, look at that Gremlin! His emotions run hot and cold! He's of two minds about things! He can take it or leave it! He's got a one-two punch! I have no idea what I'm saying!

Sorry he looks so small here. Click and zoom in to see all the overdone detail.

This illustration took forever! I think it's because as always, last year's Xmas card took a lot out of me, and I had to take a bit of time off from drawing to recover. Then when I was finally ready to start up again, it took a while to get back into the drawing rhythm. 

I drew the figure itself fairly quickly, but the gauntlets took much longer-- hard edged mechanical stuff always does. The hardest part was the flame and ice effects. I drew them over and over and over and over until I finally got them right. I'm still not completely satisfied with them, but they'll have to do. I don't want to spend a year on one drawing.

Originally I was going to color the flaming gauntlet a dark red, and the icy one a light blue. Funny thing about that-- there's no way to make a dark red mechanical glove without it looking exactly like Hellboy's Right Hand Of Doom. Whoops! So I made both gauntlets an iron blue color to try and avoid a lawsuit. 

Here's the original notebook doodle I did of the Gremlin. Pretty rough stuff. Note the very underdeveloped and barely sketched gauntlets.

Here's a much tighter digital sketch, with much more defined mechanical gloves.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet, on several thousand layers. OK, maybe not several thousand, but it was a lot.

Dino-Thing

For a while I was beginning to think this drawing was cursed. Everything was going along just fine, but when I was about 9/10 done with it I started getting this nagging feeling that it looked familiar somehow. I checked my earlier blog posts and sure enough I'd drawn an almost identical illustration a few years ago. Crap in a hat! 

I decided I could either scrap the whole thing or try and rework it somehow. I chose rework. Originally Dino-Thing was wingless and in a sitting position so I added a pair of wings and redrew him in flight. Problem solved.

Dino-Thing is a Photoshop drawing, done on the graphic tablet.

Here's the digital sketch I did for the reworking. I decided his neck was a little too skinny and fattened it up a bit. Other than that nothing much changed in the final drawing.

And here's the original drawing that was a little too close to the one I did a few years ago. I didn't finish it, but I put a fair amount of effort into it and it seems like a waste to just delete it, so... you will gaze at it for at least thirty seconds. 

And lastly here's the original pen & ink sketch I did of the abandoned version. It's quite a bit different, as it looks more alligatory than dinosaury here.

Murray From Accounting

Spare a thought today for poor old Murray. A typical cog in the corporate machine and a thirty year veteran of the accounting department. Murray spends his work days in soul-numbing terror, praying to any god who'll listen that he'll survive the next round of corporate downsizings.

Murray coasts through the days trying not to draw attention to himself, lest management turn its Sauron-like gaze toward him and replace him with a young graduate who'll do his job for a third of the pay, or worse yet, with an accounting program. At this point he's hoping to just run out the clock until retirement.

Murray is a quick little Photoshop drawing, done on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketchbook doodle of Murray.

And here's the tighter digital sketch.

I just stood back and took a good look at Murray and I noticed he bears more than a passing resemblance to prolific character actor Herb Vigran! I didn't pattern him after Mr. Vigran on purpose; I guess I was just going after that world-weary hangdog look.

Sol Glickman: Demon At Large

Sol just loved the spotlight. Too bad it didn't love him back!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted an actual illustration on my blog. That because last year's Xmas card took a lot out of me. After it was done I didn't even want to look at my graphic tablet for a month or so. Then there was all the job drama. Losing my job, getting a part time job, and then finally finding a good full time job... it's been an eventful few months. All that's behind me now and I'm ready to get back into illustration mode.

This illustration started life as a sketchbook doodle, as most of them do. And like most of my drawings, the finished product looks quite different from what I had planned in the beginning. It started out as a square drawing, but about halfway through I decided I wanted the demon to be under a spotlight, so I kept making the page taller and taller until it looked right. That's usually how I work; I get a better idea halfway through.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.I deliberately went with a washed out color palette, just because.

Here's the original sketch of Sol. Nothing much changed in the final drawing, except maybe his fingers.

Drawing A Blank

If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are) you may have noticed a definite lack of illustration posts around here lately.

Fear not, I haven't given up drawing. Far from it. It's just that last year's Space Dweebs Xmas card took a lot out of me, as those cards always do. Seems like I tend to start on them later then I should and I work on them nonstop for two straight  months. It's an intense period and when it's finally over, I'm just plain worn out. I don't even want to look at the graphic tablet for a few weeks afterward.

This year the "resting period" or whatever you want to call seems to be lasting longer than normal. Plus there've been a lot of changes in my life in the past three months that have keep me busy and away from drawing. Things like losing my job, getting a part time job, then finally getting a better full time job. It's been a big adjustment and there just hasn't been a lot of time for things like drawing. I'm starting to feel the urge to get back into the illustration habit though, so stay tuned.