Therapeutic drawing

It's not the best photograph of the pencil work, not at all. But I wanted to get it up before I inked it or anything.

I was (or rather, "am") feeling particularly down when I drew this. I indulged in some surprisingly heart breaking music and felt inclined to draw something with crisp, simple lines. She came out. Her face and hair was right the first time. Her body was a bit harder to imagine, but it works now.

But because I felt so down, and drew her out, I feel a lot better. It feels so good to empty myself out onto paper like this. It's very therapeutic. Very healing for me.

I wish you could see it even closer-- all the fine lines add so much to her...

UPDATE:

Added the inked picture (colored soon to come)

Character Sketches

Getting used to drawing characters is important. REALLY important. You have to know them through and through because you know that everyone's past shapes them. They will become who they want to be based off of what their past is. And you need to know it. And you need to practice drawing them until it's second nature. I practice drawing my characters nearly every day.

Illustration in Writing

So for the past few years, a friend of mine and myself and have been writing a story. Well, more like, he found out I could write and asked me to write his idea. He claims he can't write and gave me all the info he could think of, which wasn't much, and I went to work. He wanted a fantasy story about the elements and powers, water and fire and wind and such. He also told me, in a rather embarrassed fashion, that he wanted the main character to be like him. Name and everything. So, I started it. I thought of an idea, he loved it, and we expanded it. I bought a sketchbook and filled it with scenes and characters. It actually belongs to him now, but he went on a two year mission for our church, so I'm holding on to it and using it for the story.

So I took some of my favorites out of the book for you all to see! These are old, but are marvelously useful for the story. See, whenever one is writing a story, I believe it is a good idea to sketch out as many ideas as you can. The sketchbook may be full, but I'm still drawing stuff out.

Commissions

I have decided to start taking commissions regularly. I can paint surf boards, skateboards, paintings, do drawings, and probably other things. I think it'd be good to do, if anyone is ever interested. We'll see what happens.