Hello, all!
I’ve found myself with a bit of extra time this week outside of work, so I decided to dedicate some of it to working on my drawing skills – hence the above sketches. Those of you who have been following me for some time may recognize these characters as Funchy, Punjee, and Bob – cartoon characters co-developed by me and my brother when we were younger. Punjee is the one in the red cap, and Bob (blue shirt) is shown talking to Funchy in the bottom left.
I was actually inspired today by an online tutorial about drawing cartoon eyes. Here’s the link. It got me thinking that I should try experimenting with how I draw my characters’ features. This was the first attempt – but it quickly turned from intentional experimentation to just having fun with poses. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, to be sure. 🙂
While I typically prefer to work with pencil and ink on my drafting table, these sketches were made digitally from start to finish. I use a drawing tablet (Wacom Intuos Pro, medium-size). Sketching with a tablet used to feel awkward to me, but I’m beginning to get the feel for it. It’s sure nice to be able to hit “undo” to erase an errant stroke. No eraser “stubble” to brush away. 🙂 Still, it’s not quite the same as the tactile feeling of working on real paper..
On a completely unrelated note, we’re entering the season of Lent. Is anyone giving something up? The purpose of fasting, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, is to worship God through the act of self-denial. It exposes dependencies on material things – whether that’s food, coffee, or entertainment – whatever is your own achilles’ heal. The void we feel when we go without something for a time serves as a reminder that nothing on earth is sufficient to satisfy us forever.
Fasting is not about toughing it out just to see if you can do it. Nor is it just about nutrition – or even self-improvement, for that matter. Pardon me for sounding macabre, but It’s not going to stop us from dying, either. As a Christian, if I choose to fast, it’s because I want to be reminded that nothing I do or consume on this earth will ever be enough. But Jesus offers me the free gift of eternal life (John 3:16, 4:7-14), and He alone is sufficient for me.
And… I’ll get off my soap box now. 🙂 Sorry for the hard left turn in this post. I felt like I needed to say something. Going back to my original reason for posting, stay tuned for more sketches like this in the short term. It may just be a phase, but I’m really enjoying this gesture-drawing thing right now.
God bless, and good night!
-Daniel
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