Out with the Old, In with the New

As I prepared to post the first sketch-to-finish piece I'm going to do on this blog, I realized I don't want to take the time to go to someone's blog to find just a single post—that's like checking out a web site in which every button leads to a declaration of "Coming Soon—Under Development!"

I'd prefer to see a blog with several posts on it already, so I'm going to post a couple more character pictures here before tomorrow's "first sketch" goes up.   And going with a New Year's theme, I thought I'd show two pieces, done a long time apart.

First, an old piece, from one of my art school sketchbooks (circa 1986-87):

The 1967 Spenburg sees that cute Porsche again. . .

This is Prismacolor black pencil with Dr. Marten's Dyes.  I liked the intense colors of the Dr. Marten's, but the colors are notoriously fugitive.  A test sample of all of my colors on a sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper in my studio for several years all but disappeared with exposure to daylight.  The only reason this isn't just a black-and-white drawing now is that it's been hidden in a sketchbook for more than two decades.


Then a more recent piece, done a year ago:  a pair of unfriendly skater gophers:

I never did like passing that corner.

I liked the squinty look of the guy on the left.  He seems like the mean one to me, the brains of whatever operation they might have, and the bigger one is likely his enforcer.