Sketch of A Sketch of An Artist

This is me, although I have been informed it is "not cute enough" by a friend who, while flattering me, managed to disparage my craft. I should tell him to go hang out with the Asshole Zebra.

I kid my nice friend. I am merely a sketch of an artist, my art is not so all-consuming that I wouldn't rather be better looking in three dimensions than in two. Besides, I can hopefully get better at drawing myself (among drawing other things) but I cannot get a new face (at least not unless / until my sketches make me rich and famous.)

I kid my nice face.

Graph 0

Graph 0 is the first in what I hope will be several graphs in this project (inspiration willing.) It is my nod to the brilliant www.xkcd.com web comic. May I someday have ideas so brilliant that they can be declared by stick figures with perfect propriety.

You'll need to click the graph to see it better but it occurs to me the leveling line on the "Today" graph should be shaky, both to correctly chart the strange fluctuations in my mental state caused by sugar and to document the shaking of my hand as I finished the sketch along with the sweet dregs of the coffee.

More or Less the Same

Blank

I have still been sketching, although I haven't been posting. I've thought often about recommitting to this blog and realizing today was the anniversary of my first attempt, I decided to take advantage of that fact. The trouble was that I felt completely uninspired today. I was working in a store surrounded by very familiar and very dull things. My one thought was of a blank canvas, so that is what I drew. It wasn't until after it I'd drawn it that I realized the parallel I'd created to my first every entry, Blank Slate.

A blank canvas demands an artist, and it didn't take me long to figure out where ours is.

I don't think she's even dreaming of how to fill the whitespace. I think it's more likely she's relieved by blankness and needs it to sleep more soundly. As for "art"- we'll have to wait and see what she does if she wakes up.

Merry with a Twist

Despite the fact that I haven't posted in quite awhile, please accept glad tidings from a very silly sketch.

Don't Wait Up

By now you've figured out that wordplay is a big part of how I get inspired, whether inspired to draw some all-too-literal take on a phrase (see the above and also Rabbit Rabbit) or to give my random sketch some cunning, punning name and then extrapolate from there.

Today I was thinking of the two divergent meanings of the phrase "don't wait up." Depending on context, the imperatives could not be more different. In the case where they are active, telling someone "don't wait up" means they are moving on without you. Or there is the opposite (more specific) case where you are active and the other person is told "don't wait up" so that they are content to fall asleep before you return. The only situation in which one could inhabit both contexts for the phrase? Being asleep on a horse (or, should the situation serve... a camel.)

I think about these things so you don't have to.

Rabbit Rabbit

Do you say some variation of "Rabbit, Rabbit" at the beginning of each month? I do! (err...when I remember.) For a brief history of the practice visit this link to Wikipedia (Wikipedia! When you don't need to know anything more than the other guy!) Apparently it's a British tradition that is especially common in Massachusetts. What I want to know is, who first told me about this, and more importantly why? It's kind of a fun idea but when you're five and six it's also pretty scary, especially since I always felt like it was an urgent talisman against bad luck as much as it was an easy-to-miss one-shot-chance at good luck; a lose/lose situation for a forgetful child.

My original idea was draw both a very cartoon-style rabbit and a more realistic one, but that didn't look right so I ended up with two fairly realistic rabbits of two seemingly different breeds. I didn't say "Rabbit Rabbit" this morning, so perhaps it's just my luck (and lack thereof.)