Today's "Colour Me July!" sketch is another colourisation of the 'Space Cats' from the `Sketch A Day In May Challenge'. 

You can check out the little speed drawing video here!

Hope you're having a creative day too!

​Davy

Today's "Colour Me July!" Sketch is a memory exercise, which I encourage you to try.

​Close your eyes and Take a minute to remember a place you've been in childhood. somewhere that holds a happy memory for you. Start with picturing yourself, then in your mind take a look around you, trying to remember where everything is placed. Who is with you in the scene? What buildings are there, if any? What colours do you see - of clothing, vehicles etc. Is it a sunny summers day, or a freezing cold winter? Any particular smells or sounds grabbing your attention?

Hopefully these questions act as a wee springboard to your sketch. And please remember that the object of this exercise is not to produce a finished work of art - be as rough as you like! I've popped mine down below.

In my memory sketch i'm back on Bruilin farm, during the summer holidays as a kid. Wimbledon has been on the telly and we were all going tennis daft. The only problem was that we didn't have a tennis racquets, so one of us had the bright idea of using my Granny's butter clappers instead!

I'm the one in the hat, my sister is in the foreground, and my brother is standing on the concrete box acting as the umpire.

As usual on Bruilinn farm there is a sheep munching away on the grass, and a couple of cheeky hens in the background.

This is how us kids rolled back in the early 80's before games consoles were invented!

I'd love see the results of your 'memory sketches' too. Leave a link in the comments if you're happy to show.

Have a creative day, and see ye tomorra!

Davy

​ps. At the moment the Wimbledon final is on telly and Andy Murray is winning! Go team Murray!!

Today's "Colour Me July!", sketch shows a science experiment gone a bit awry!

I've been trying to think up little cartoons aimed towards the science teacher market. This is one of the doodles so far, and i'll keep working on it until it's ready to sell on a greetings card etc. I'll post an update when the final version is ready!

I hope you're having a creative day!

See ye tomorra!

​Davy

Character Development - Father & Son T-Rex

Today's "Colour Me July!" is a brief example of how I developed a father and son T-rex team.

As well as sketchbooks all over the place in my house, I always keep a ream of paper in the top drawer of my desk. It means that I have easy access to it whenever inspiration hits.

I don't know about yourselves, but for sketching ideas I often find that the more expensive the sketchbook, the more 'inhibited' I am, and less likely to experiment with my drawings - it's as if i've paid all this money for a fancy book with really nice paper and I only want to put my best, 'finished' work in it. 

Hence the ream of paper. Just your normal photocopy/printer type paper that you can buy for a couple of pounds. That way I don't fear making a mess - I can draw as scrappy as I like, knowing that if I don't like it, I can always pop it into the recycling bin!

The picture at the top of the father and son T-Rex team, came about through scribbling around on the printer paper. I was just doodling..drawing anything, lots of little faces, until something started to appear.

It was the father T-rex that came first, then I thought "hey, i'll introduce a wee son character!", after that it was a case of where to put him - on top of the shoulders, and being carried through the snow.

As always happens, I have to draw the same scene more than once, refining as I go, working out how a T-Rex would hold his son as his arms are teeny compared to the rest of him, and, what kind of clothes would they wear, what would the boots look like, to fit a T-Rex foot.

Once I've got them positioned roughly where I want them, then i'll start adding colour into the mix. As you can see in the top image, i've got them wearing plain blocks of colour. I'll add patterns to the clothing, and accessories on each subsequent refinement.

I hope you find this post useful - if there's anything you'd like to see on the blog, then please feel free to leave a comment below.

See ye tomorra!

​Davy

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Today's "Colour Me July!" piece is of a little tiger!

When I'm trying to develop a character, i'll draw them a few times, refining as I go.

The line drawing on the left is the first version, and the one on the right is my second. I'll usually keep drawing until I connect with the character - there's that particular moment of "ah, I see ye now!" When it's no longer me conscientiously adding to them, but my hand getting into a rhythm of drawing, where I'm comfortable - it's as if they've been there in my subconscious, just waiting to emerge on to the page or screen.

It's actually hard putting it into words - it's more a feeling that it's going right.

Over the next couple of days i'll put up examples of the process. I hope you'll find it interesting, as I know that when I watch other peoples process to bring characters to life, I truly find it fascinating!

Hope you're having a creative day!

See you tomorra!

​Davy

Todays "Colour Me July!" piece sees me coming over a wee bit Dr Seuss.

In the 1970's I was given a Dr Seuss book as a hand me down from my cousins. It was called 'Green eggs and ham'.

I took an instant dislike to it!

I didn't like the storyline - I didn't like the art work. I didn't like the garish colours - I didn't like the pestering Sam-I-Am character.

There was however, something that compelled me to return again and again to it, and each time Sam-I-Am would be there asking if Joey (who I assume is supposed to be the reader) would like green eggs and ham. 

And on each visit I would warm a little more to him and his 'delicacy'.

Eventually Joey does sample some of Sam-I-Am's wares, and he really likes them.

Which I guess is what happened to me, as it became one of my favourite books.

So, in honour of this magical book, here is a little dinosaur of mine as I imagine Dr Seuss would have drawn him.

You can find out more about Green Eggs And Ham here.

Have a creative day, and see ye tomorra!

Davy

"You may take our cabbages, but you will never take our FREEDOM!"

Today's "Colour Me July!" piece comes from a childhood memory of mine.

When I was a wee boy in the early 1980's, my brother, sister and I would get trooshed  onto the bus to go to Skipness and stay at my Granny's farm for the summer holidays.

To earn our keep (and get out from under my Granny's feet), we were all given tasks to do - chopping kindling, tidying the coal stack, cleaning the dog kennels, etc.

One of my wee jobs was to go into the garden and pick the caterpillars off the cabbages and blackberry leaves.

Well, don't ask me why, but one day I decided that I would collect them all in a matchbox and leave it on the mantelpiece for my Grampa. I probably had it in my mind that he would pay me something for each one, and I could go and spend it at Tarbert Fair. I'd had my eye on some coasters commemorating Prince Charles and Lady Diana's engagement, and I could win them by throwing darts into 3 large playing cards. Anyway, I digress.

In an earlier blog post I told you about my Grampa's ritual of cutting the tobacco, popping it in his pipe and lighting it (check here). It was a relaxing process, from which he would eventually settle down to enjoy a good puff of his pipe.  So you can imagine the scene...the tobacco pouch is opened, some of it is cut off with his wee penknife, rubbed between the thumb and forefinger, and sprinkled into the pipe. All that was needed was to light the pipe.

Thankfully I was having dinner at the kitchen table when he opened the matchbox expecting to find matches. I think I would have been launched clean over the cowshed roof if I'd been at arms length, judging by the amount of Gaelic cursing and swearing that was emanating from the living room! I did run through and keek through the crack in the door jamb, and there was my grandfather standing looking at all these wee caterpillars crawling out the matchbox, one by one in a wee procession ambling along the mantelpiece.

Luckily he had a good sense of humour, and had calmed down by the time my dinner was finished.

I did go to Tarbert Fair with a pocket full of pennies, but being useless at Darts, I never came home with the Royal Engagement Commemoration coasters. The lady on the stall however liked my wee freckly face, and instead gave me a 'gonk' for my efforts.

I carried it around like a trophy for a day, until one of the sheepdogs ran off with it thinking it was a rat.

Anyway folks, see ye tomorra!

​Davy

Daisy, Sam, and a very nonplussed pug appear in today's "Colour Me July!" sketch. 

I'm using the brushes in the Procreate App on my iPad Pro to add colourful washes to these sketches from my 'Sketch A Day In May" challenge. 

When I worked in Borders Books, I would sometimes be relegated to the kids department at night, to tidy up after the daytime mayhem.

Now, there is hardly a soul who ventures to the kids dept after 8pm, so it was a great chance to study different illustrative styles of the children's picture book section.
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It was during one of these 'studies' that I came upon the work of Edward Ardizzone. His delicate watercolours for his series of books starring the eponymous 'Tim' are a treat for the eyes, and I'd urge you to check them out.

This is a wee link to a wikipedia page about Ardizzone.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Ardizzone

Have a creative day, and I'll see ye tomorra!

Davy

To be honest, I was actually drawing a cat today - but I'm on the ferry from Ardrossan to Campbeltown, and well, it being a wee bit rocky, the pencil is going up and down with each wave that we're hitting! I've decided to colour in this wee character that I drew last month for the "Sketch A Day In May" challenge.

So here he is - wee dracula.

I'll still put the cat up, hopefully...when i'm back on dry land!

See ye tomorra,

​Davy

Welcome to the second of my "Colour Me July!" pieces. A fine orange Pumpkin!

I've been testing  some more of the brushes in the procreate app on my ipad pro. 

This pumpkin has been painted using the gouache brushes. I'm really liking the old time illustration feel to it, harking back to 1950's Americana. I'll be fine tuning this design to add to my halloween shop online, and hey, it could also be useful when Thanksgiving comes around too!

And yes, I know it's still summer, but I'm already working on Christmas designs also! I get myself into the yuletide spirit, by sitting inside the fridge for an hour in the morning before starting work.

I'm off to get warmed up and have some eggnog.

See ye tomorra!

​Davy