My brother in law wanted a bulldog. Now I didnt realize before this that bulldogs are a prefab dog. Parts are ordered from all over the place, making me think that a bulldog would have been the perfect pet for Frankenstein. Which could explain the stitch marks around his neck, and his fetish with licking everything he sees.

But seriously, they ARE a prefab dog...they are not a natural byproduct of the coupling of two dogs. They have to be helped to breed, helped to give birth, then they are monitored constantly for birth defects. It was crazy what this poor dog had to go thru in order to get to my brother in laws doorstep.

From day one, I was convinced that someone in the lab missed a step, and forgot to put in a brain. He was cute mind you, but that quickly gave way to a drooling mass of excess flatulence. He eats and/or mounts EVERYTHING. God forbid someone leaves a stuffed toy laying around. I wouldnt be able to fathom the psychiatric bills that would be needed for the poor bunny.

But for all his drool, stink, and ugliness, he is a wonderful dog. He loves to play and wrestle. He loves going to the barn. He loves going in the truck (but make sure the windows are rolled down, or take a gas mask). He loves to hog the bed. And for the most part he listens when spoken to, which I can say is more that some adolescent dogs I have known.

Anyhow, here is Titus, captured in all his Frankenstein glory, in pastel. The drawing is about 24 inches by 6 inches. I exercised a little artistic freedom, and removed the lug bolts from the sides of his head.

Hey again, here is my newest attempt at a graphite dwg. This one has been a bit of an embarrassment (every pun intended) to me, as this commission is over a year old! Unfortunately, I got it during the "Time Of Madness And Darkness" so it got put aside and put aside. Finally, when I managed to break thru to the other side, I sat down and got it done. Im glad that my client was so understanding!
I was surprised at how quickly I was able to complete the bear, but spent so much time on the background. A comment was made about this dwg that maybe I should have tried to mute the background a bit to bring the bear fwd. I thought on that for a bit, but then decided that I WANTED the bear to be a part of the background, or the background to be a part of the bear...whichever way you want to look at it. Anyhow, it is done, and I took it in for the client yesterday. Im hoping to hear what he thought of it soon.

Well, a new year. When I look back on the last year, I realize that many of the personal issues I had directly effected my ability to produce worthwhile drawings. Everytime I picked up a pencil was directly related to how well I was feeling.

Finally I bit the bullet, and forced my way thru the webs of emotion and termoil to find my way clear to put pencil to paper, and it felt great!

I experimented with water colors, of which I am CERTAINLY NOT well versed in LOL. Here is an example of what I attempted...

What did I learn from water colors?

1. The amt of water you add effects the depth of color applied.
2. Work on a flat level surface.
3. Make sure your paper is held tight to prevent warping.
4. Dont be concerned about using the exact right amt on your mixing board. Even if it dries, you can apply water and mix your brush back and forth to disolve the leftovers.
5. Underpainting is difficult to do, as the upper level will disolve the lower pigments if you work them too long. I personally didnt try it, but maybe some fixative may help eliviate this issue.