Some Star Wars & Quick Miyazaki Sketches in the Car

Without having watched any of the movies yet, my six year old nephew has already developed a liking of Star Wars thanks to Lego sets mostly.

Not surprisingly, troopers and droids tend to be popular subjects for many kids his age.

I keep a spare sketchbook in the seat pocket of my car at all times, so that I can doodle when I'm stuck waiting in it for any length of time. Got a few Miyazaki inspired sketches in my current one, and Mateo has taken to copy some of them while riding in his car seat. Thus his version of "Haku" from "Spirited Away" is shown above next to mine. I think it is quite good considering that he drew it in the moving car while I drove him home after school.

He also added a couple of Kodama to this sketch page. Keep sketchbooks and pencils handy at all times to foster regular sketching habits in your budding artists. I keep a leadholder in my glove compartment since it does not require sharpening and it is always ready to be used. Unlike pens and markers, a graphite tool can withstand the extreme summer heat without adverse effects like drying out.

Some sketches drawn at the auto shop waiting room

While waiting for a couple of hours at the auto shop, managed to complete this set of assorted characters with a Sakura Pigma Sensei 0.6 mm pen. Then continued drawing on paper and card stock just to keep busy. Remember grasshoppers always carry your sketching kits with you, so you can make the most of time spent in waiting rooms practicing your drawing skills.
For the most part I used a few leadholders to sketch fantasy subjects and some of the other customers in the waiting room.





Spending a bit more time and practicing some shading on these imaginary objects. Remember doodle and sketch whenever you can: it will help you ward off boredom while improving your sketching skills.

Cartoon Sketching at Children's Museum Birthday Party - Photo Journal

Did some cartoon sketching for the double birthday party at the Miami Children's Museum this past Saturday. Turned out be be a great choice of venue especially since it was a rather rainy day, and the staff did such a great job setting up and decorating the reserved classrooms for the event. Any gig where you do not have to worry about battling the elements is off to a great start.
I did not know we were going to have such a large dry erase board available at the party venue, but luckily I had one of my black Expo markers in my rolling case (leftover from my after-school manga classes). Thus I quickly doodled a few more cartoon samples on it as a demonstration of my sketching speed.
Ta-da!
A few colored samples and the two blank templates available were shown on my side easel.
Birthday girl Nicole and a friend stopped by for the first time at the cartooning corner once we finished setting up.The little guests starting looking over the pictures in display to figure out what to ask for in their own souvenir party sketches.
The very first drawing request of the afternoon was for a forest ranger from the single sketchbook that I brought along to the party.
Once we got started, there was a steady line of guests watching and enjoying the creation of several cartoon sketches while patiently waiting and deciding their own drawing requests.
Not surprisingly, most girls wanted to be drawn wearing mermaid tails or butterfly wings in their cartoon versions.
Several boys in a row wanted to be drawn as the "Caped Crusader: Batman" which luckily happens to be a favorite childhood hero of mine.
Nicole managed to stopped by for a second visit to the Cartooning Corner as the other birthday activities started winding down.
Most boys requested the always popular themes of superheroes or dragon sketches, but Mikey (tallest kid in the crowd) surprised me by asking just for a drawing of himself without the extra fantasy elements. Thus I went with a fairly straight cartoon portrait approach. Unfortunately my helper did not manage to document the finished drawings given the deluge of requests towards the end of the party and the fact that we had to pack up in a bit of a hurry. It was a lot of fun, and I estimate we managed to complete 20-25 sketches in the second half of the party.