Author: DStankowicz

I am a graduate from The Illinois Institute of Art - Schaumburg with a BFA in Game Art & Design. Video games both entertain and fascinate me and I want to learn everything I can about the creation of them.

Blackwing Review

Welcome to the first ever DSDraws Review! This is a series of posts in which I give my honest opinion on things such as art supplies, movies, games, tv shows, and just about anything else. I’ll break each one down by listing some pros and cons, then finish it off with my final overall verdict and recommendation.

For this inaugural post, I have decided to review Blackwing pencils. I picked up some a few years ago and have used them in many sketches and drawings. The Blackwing line of pencils include many varieties, but this review will focus specifically on the Blackwing Matte style that I have been using.

A fresh Blackwing Matte pencil straight from the box.

The Blackwing pencils actually have a long legacy that I was unaware of for the longest time. It began in the 1930’s when the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company introduced the original 602 model. They were quite popular during that time. However in 1998, the machines used to produce the pencils broke down and the manufacturer decided to end production of them instead of replacing them due to high costs and slowing sales. The pencil remained extinct and over the years developed a cult following that lead to some pencils selling for as much as $40! (that’s a lot for just a pencil) It wasn’t until the year 2010 that the company Palomino revived the Blackwing brand and expanded it to what it is today with multiple models.

I’ve been an artist for many years and I was painfully oblivious to this pencil and it’s legacy until fairly recently. I first discovered them from watching a fellow artist’s drawing video online. He was using it during some sketches and I thought to myself “hmm what is that pencil with the strange eraser end?’ I discovered it was a Blackwing pencil after some research online and became more curious, so I dove a bit deeper. It was then that I learned that some of the best artists at the time used the original 602 Blackwing, including animator Chuck Jones and Walt Disney and his nine old men! These guys swore by this pencil and it was then that I knew I had to give them a try myself. I needed to use the chosen tool of some of the best animators ever! Alright let’s get to the review.

The Pros

Let’s start with the pros. At first glance you might think this is just like any pencil out there but what makes them physically stand out is the unique ferule and eraser. The Blackwing ferule is longer and rectangular shaped with a removable and replaceable eraser. This is the feature that truly makes the Blackwing pencil unique as no other traditional wooden pencil has this to my knowledge. It’s honestly a pretty neat feature that drew my attention to it more. I try not to erase a ton when drawing, but having the ability to swap in a new eraser when needed seemed cool to me.

The first thing I noticed when picking one of the pencils up for the first time is how nice it was. It wasn’t heavy, but the wood felt dense and solid with a smooth black coating that gave it a super high quality look. After sharpening it many times with different types of sharpeners, not once has the the wood split, the graphite crack, or the coating peel away. I can see why these were the go to pencil for the best artists of the 1930’s. The pencils exude a sense of high quality that almost forces your drawing skill to level up just by using it. These pencils are also noticeably longer than other pencils, so that’s another thing that extends their life. I specifically picked up the Matte version because I heard it was softer graphite better suited for artists. It is indeed very soft (comparable to about a 4B pencil) and writes incredibly smooth. It felt like drawing with a stick of butter which I loved.

The Cons

Now let’s get to the cons. I mentioned before that the unique ferule and removable eraser is the Blackwing’s major calling card, but it has it’s faults. Because the ferule is so uniquely shaped, you cannot use a traditional pencil extender when it starts to get smaller. I’m one who likes to get the most life out of my supplies, so I’ve used pencil extenders for past pencils to get a bit more out of them before throwing them out. Blackwing does sell a dedicated extender for their pencils, but you have to commit to theirs only. I haven’t used their extender, but the shape of their ferule makes me concerned with how comfortable that would be in your palm while using the extender to get more life out of the pencil. The removeable eraser is cool, but in my experience I’ve found that it can be a bit stubborn or even impossible to remove. The first couple of pencils I tried had erasers that were completely stuck in the ferule. I nearly cut up my fingers trying to grip the edges of the metal holder trying to pry it out. Now that could have just been a few faulty pencils, but the fact I came across it multiple times when that is one of their big calling cards is definitely cause for concern and something to keep in mind.

The other thing is the price. These bad boys are not cheap. A set of twelve pencils right now costs $34, which makes the price for each pencil nearly $3! For me personally that is a lot for a set of pencils. I understand the quality bumps up the price, but oof that price hurts my wallet every time I see it.

Final Verdict

After spending the last few years using these Blackwing Matte pencils pretty consistently, I can say with confidence that I would recommend them to any artist. They are high quality and write very smooth. Their longer length extends the life of each pencil and the unique ferule and eraser is a nice touch. Overall, I believe the pros outweigh the cons here and suggest every artist give the Blackwing pencils a try at least once. Not everyone likes using traditional wooden pencils these days, but if you do and don’t mind spending more for the high quality, then these pencils are definitely worth your time.

DSDraws Approved!

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How To Draw Books

So a few weeks ago I had my nieces and nephew over and they decided they wanted to do some drawing time with me. I of course loved this idea and was all for it. I gathered up a bunch of supplies for them to use and was ready for some fun. While I was rounding up those supplies, I started looking through some of my old things I had packed away and came across a collection of art books I haven’t used in ages. They were a bunch of “How-to-Draw” books featuring various cartoon and video game characters. As a wave of nostalgia washed over me, I thought these would be great for the kids to use and brought them out.

Turns out I was right because they loved them! Each of them spend an hour or two flipping through the pages and trying their best to follow along with the instructions for the characters they chose. I joined them as well sketching my own characters and helping them whenever they needed it. It really brought me back to the days when I was their age doing the exact same thing with those very same books. A pretty surreal full-circle moment for me.

After that day, I kept thinking back to the years when I would use those How-to-Draw books. I’m probably showing my age here because I think these are now like a relic of a time passed. I remember going to my school’s book fair each year and being excited because I knew there would be some of these books there for sale. If I recall correctly, I believe that’s where all of mine came from. These days you can just go online and find how to draw video and walkthroughs with ease. That actually makes these books pretty obsolete now, but I digress.

All of this lead me to wonder just how good and effective these books actually were for developing artists. I believe I’m at a level now where I understand the fundamentals enough to make a sound assessment of their value. The books I had specifically were ones for Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo Heroes and Villians, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Digimon, Mickey & Minnie, Donald & Daisy, and Toy Story.

What I’ll start off saying is the obvious here; All these books are definitely made for beginners at a very early stage of learning to draw. I don’t want to say they are made for kids (though many could argue the subject matter certainly is catered to kids) because anyone can start learning to draw at any age if they are determined. But looking through these books with a more refined artist mind I can see some differences and personal gripes with them. The Sonic, Nintendo, and Digimon ones were all made by the same two publishers of Troll and Scholastic. I read through the steps and looked at the images for most of the characters in these books and I was not a fan. I was personally not a fan of the way they were instructing how to construct the figures and work toward refining the details. The steps were pretty vague and the images demonstrating each one were very cumbersome and stiff looking. I can’t fault them too much for this because when these were made, there wasn’t a lot of references for the specific characters so they worked with what was available. However, I can see that these books specifically are geared for a more casual artist learning to draw for just fun or a hobby. Their breakdown of the character anatomy shows me that, so I wouldn’t recommend these for anyone who is older and serious about improving their skills.

The Disney ones, on the other hand, were definitely of a different and higher quality. These were published by Walter Foster Publishing. I preferred the breakdowns and instructions in these books much more, and that might be my bias talking because I learned how to draw studying a Disney animation style growing up. But putting that bias aside, I can tell these were made with the intention of helping artists who are more serious in truly understanding the fundamentals. The steps are more specific and the image for each one clearly demonstrates what you should be doing and why you are doing it. They do a much better job of breaking down the characters into simple shapes and showing how to add elements and details to bring the character to life. Now this is much easier in this case because the Disney characters like Mickey and Donald have been around for many decades which means the style in which they are drawn has been well studied and duplicated. It helps that these animated cartoon characters are more simplified, but these books give more detailed instructions for building out the forms than the previous books I mentioned. Another thing I really liked about these books is they had sections where they discussed techniques for drawing other parts of the characters specifically like hands and various facial expressions. This tells me these books were designed for a more serious beginner artist who has aspirations to take their skills higher one day. I would highly recommend these books for any kid or adult who wants to learn to draw characters with understanding, conviction, and aspirations to take their skills further.

It should go without saying that these are for people who want to draw stylized cartoon characters like me. I know that there are many other how-to-draw books for just about any subject out there. If realism is more your thing then that’s fine. I’m just talking about my personal experience with these specific books on the subject of drawing cartoon and video game characters. While I do prefer one style of book over the other, both can be helpful in whatever way you are looking to hone your own drawing skills. It all depends on your motivation to grow.

Whether you are casual or looking to go pro, never stop drawing.
Keep moving forward!

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Shopping Spree

Hi there!

I wanted to talk about an exciting update I’ll be introducing to my site in a few weeks, and that is that I’ll be opening a full on shop section! It will be different than what I currently have now, which is very simplistic and limited. I’m talking like the kind of shop where you have a cart and checkout and can search for items and stuff. I’m hyped just thinking about it!

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while too. I have been afraid to go for it though because for the longest time I was very scared it would not work out and I’d fall flat on my face. Well we are in a new year and that signifies new beginnings, so I’m finally making this leap forward. “Go big or go home” as I have said to family and friends in the past. It’s high time I start doing it myself.

So this improved shop will have all the prints that I have previously sold at various art conventions I’ve attended, as well as stickers too. I even just ordered a handful of new prints and stickers that will debut on this new shop for the first time! But I don’t plan to stop there. I will continue to add new prints and stickers of art projects that I make down the road, so you can look forward to new things periodically. Wait there’s more too. I am also thinking of adding other types of products down the road, like buttons/pins, and comics (if I can ever finish it, but that’s a story for another time)

It’s all super exciting but also really scary. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m someone who has hesitated at doing things for the fear of failure. I would justify not doing something because the possibility of success was more alluring than the realization of failure. However a new year means a new me (pardon the corny phrase) and I want to start it off with a bang. There are still some things I’m working through, so I’m hoping to launch the new shop some time in February 2026.

I hope you are look forward to it as much as I am. Thanks for reading!
Keep moving forward!

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Welcome to DSDraws!

Hi there!

This is here is the newly rebranded and improved DSDraws Art Blog!
I’ve attempted at running an art blog in the past, but I honestly wasn’t sure what I wanted it to be and that made me pretty inconsistent with it. Well after much thinking and many brainstorm sessions, I’ve finally figured it out.

This is a place where I can share any and all thoughts I have about being a creative person making art. That will include me talking about my art making process and sharing the sort of things I think about when working on any given project. But that’s not all. I also plan on using this to share my reviews of various art supplies (and other products too). Whether any one actually cares to hear that is up for debate, but I wanted a place where I could voice my opinion on a variety of things and let you all know the things that I personally enjoy and would recommend.

The other thing I’d like to do here is share works in progress (WIP), first looks, and artwork not shared anywhere else for paid subscribers. Each post will contains some form of this content for just $3 a month. It’s just something extra for anyone who enjoys what I do and would like to support me. Don’t worry though, I’ll still post artwork to social media like Instagram, but supporters here will get to see these exclusives as a thank you for believing in me.

What excites me about all this is I am not restricted by any limitations here. I have the freedom to share whatever I like in whatever way. I have the ultimate freedom here that you just don’t get from any social media site. I don’t plan to show anything too outlandish and inappropriate but it’s really nice knowing I have the ability to do that here if I chose to do so. My goal is to have a new post every Friday so I’ll do my best to stick with that.

Thank you for reading is introduction to my new and improved blog. I want to turn the page and be more open about things and create more artwork to share. If even one person is moved and inspired by my art then it makes this all worthwhile. 2026 is the year I want to make a leap forward and this blog is one way to do that.

I appreciate you for supporting me in whatever way you do.
Thanks again and keep moving forward!

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Tabling at Wizard World Chicago

Jumping back into the Convention Scene, and I Met Mario!

It’s been a while, but I’m back to talk about a major event I attended recently. A few weeks ago in mid October, I had a table in the artist alley of a convention for the first time in two years. It wasn’t any convention either. It was at Wizard World Chicago and it was the biggest convention I’ve been to and the last one to use the ‘Wizard World’ name (starting next year it will be FanExpo). I wanted to write about this sooner, but other things and life stuff got in the way. But I’m here now to tell you about my experience at the show.

Back in 2019 I did a few smaller conventions that were pretty fun, but this one was the biggest yet for me. There were tons of incredibly talented artists and authors everywhere you looked. As I was setting up, the imposter syndrome crept up big time. I couldn’t help but think that I was way out of my league here, and I probably was. But something I’ve learned from many people is you don’t know how prepared and ready you are for something until you do it. You can plan and ponder these things until you are blue in the face, but you’ll never know if you are truly ready and able until you jump into the water with both feet. So that’s what I did here.

I’m glad I did too. Overall, the show was great and quite successful. I had some new prints available and tried some different thing out at this one. What’s weird is that all these convention shows are super unpredictable. I thought many of the new things I brought this time would do really well and that didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, many of the older prints that didn’t garner much attention at other shows sold better here. Also, the day that was supposed to be the biggest day of the show turned out to be my slowest. I’ve learned now to expect the unexpected and nothing is predictable. I never know how these shows will play out, and while that is really terrifying as a selling artist, it’s also part of the appeal and enjoyment.

Let me get to what was easily he highlight of the weekend. As you may or may not know, these conventions usually have celebrity guest show up for all or a few of the days. This being a very big show meant that some big names showed up. People like Rob Paulsen (voice of Yakko from the the Animaniacs and many others), Paige O’Hara (voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and William Shatner (no introduction necessary) all appeared. I usually don’t try to make time to visit any of these people because I’m usually busy trying to market my work and network with fellow creators. But there was one guest who I had to make and exception and meet…Charles Martinet was there! That’s right, the voice of Mario himself was signing and taking photos all weekend. Being that a huge part of my love and passion for video games, art, and animation came from Super Mario and hearing his voice, meeting Charles became a top priority. I have a bunch of Mario related fan art I’ve created over the years and I had to capitalize on the opportunity to have the voice of Mario sign one of my original Super Mario art prints.

I try not to show my face too much because I’d rather let my artwork take the spotlight, but I have to show off this picture to remind myself that this actually happened. I don’t get star struck, but this was certainly a surreal experience I’ll never forget. You can be sure that print is getting framed and hung on my wall. A massive thank you to Charles Martinet for this moment. He’ll probably never remember this, but for me it will forever be a highlight in my life. I only wish we didn’t have to be wearing masks, but it was a small price to pay for this priceless memory.

Before the show wrapped up, I made sure to go around the show and meet some of the fellow artists around me. Everyone had amazing work and were very kind and friendly. I stopped and chatted with many of them and made quite a few new art buddies. What I did notice is that many artist had their own published comics shown off at their tables. That reminded me how my own comic project has been put on the backburner for far too long. It’s long past time I dust it off and continue development on it. That will be a top priority going into the new year.

So that was my time at Wizard World Chicago. It was a fun and memorable weekend for sure. I learned some things and made some new friends. While I may never attend another convention the size and scale as this one again, I’m definitely going to look back and remember how fun it was as I continue my artistic journey at future conventions.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: Artist Alley, Comic Con, comics, Fan Art, Potato & BimmTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Knowing When to Take a Break

Sometimes its ok to walk away for a bit.
Just make sure to come back at some point.

Being an artist isn’t as easy as many people make it out to be. While on the surface it looks like all we do is just make pretty pictures for a living, there is more to it than that. As strange as this may sound to a bunch of you out there, it actually takes a lot of work and a ton of time. Even though it’s super fun and incredibly rewarding, the weight of all of it can be too much to handle at a point. When you pick up a pencil or stylus and it feels like a burden and a struggle, then you need to make a change. It’s a little thing us artists like to call…a break.

*gasp*
Taking a break from the thing I love and am passionate about? What blasphemy!

I know, it sounds crazy and absurd doesn’t it? But all joking aside, it really a necessity that many artist can easily neglect. Even if they are well aware that a break is needed, it can be difficult to distance yourself from you work. I fall into that group all the time. Which is why I bring this topic up here. This blog I started was supposed to be a weekly thing that I kept up with for the foreseeable future. However, after about a month of it I began to struggle with what to write about and it starting feeling like a hassle to force something out. Now a huge part of that could be that I’ve never been a writer at heart and always preferred to showcase emotion and feeling through visuals. I’m an artist, it’s what we do. Anyway, I reflected for a moment on what I wanted to accomplish here with this. I reminded myself that the purpose of this was to be a way for me to express my thoughts on various art/artist related topics and not worry about being struck by the almighty hammer of the internet overlords.

*cough cough* Facebook and Twitter *cough cough*

Once I remembered that, I realized that I was literally burning myself out. I exhausted all my ideas I had in mind, and I was trying to force out new ones out of thin air just to hold to a schedule I made for myself. While it’s great to set a goal and adhere to a scheduled path to reach it, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way you wanted. I can’t speak for all artists, but that’s certainly the case for me when it comes to my work. I can’t force it. I need to brainstorm an idea and way to make it a reality before I can start it. I can’t just tell myself, ‘I will paint an elaborate portrait every weekend’. That’s just not how it works for me and it never has. It feels like a very rigid and corporate approach to this line of work. If it starts feeling like that for me, then all the fun and enjoyment is sucked out. I need there to be a bit of openness and spontaneity to my artwork so that it feels organic and not manufactured. When I try to manufacture something and it feels forced, the result always looks like shit. Then when that happens the demoralizing feeling creeps up and I begin the downward spiral of demotivation.

That’s just not how it works for me and it never has

So why take a break? I’m willing to bet there are many artists that don’t take a ton of breaks. That might be fine for them, but I can almost guarantee that those artists are already well established in the industry. Once again, I can’t speak for all the artists in the world, but I feel like I can say with at least a bit of confidence that taking a break from your work isn’t as hard when you know you have the audience and the income to get you through that gap in productivity. Breaks are hard for me to sit through since I’m still at the lower stages of my career. Whether a break is just a few hours or even a couple days, for me it always feels like an eternity. That’s because I’m not at the level I want to be and every moment I’m not working to progress forward feels like wasting time. I also know that sitting down and forcing work out when it just isn’t working is more of a waste of time and counterproductive.

When you feel like you’re burning the candle at both ends and you’re running out of wax, the best option is to step back and take some time to rebuild the figurative candle and maybe even reinforce it. Burn out is real for any profession. I felt some major burn out with this blog and some of my work. So I took some time to gather myself back up and resume with some fresh and exciting ideas. So take a break before your candle burns out completely.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , ,

How I decided to turn my idea into a Comic

It all starts with a concept.
Creating a comic is an approachable creative medium to make by yourself.

When I began taking art seriously as a career, I did not think being a comic artist would be in my future. I always envisioned I’d be an animator. I hardly ever even read comics growing up. It was just simply something I never grew attached to and put to the idea to the side. I always saw comics as something strictly for superheroes. I mean, when anyone mentions comics it’s usually their first thought. Color me surprised when I found out that comics can be so much more than that. Once I had that revelation, I saw that comics can be a really approachable way to bring a creative concept to life.

So I’ve had this idea concept in my head for quite a while. I think it’s been over ten years (yikes!). It revolved around my original characters I created named Potato and Bimm. Once I created these characters I knew I wanted to make something more with them. Being a game art major, I had plans to make a video game starring my characters. I was always a big fan of platforming games and drew lots of inspiration from games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. However, I had always been more interested in the creative artistic side of gaming and not so much the technical side. I didn’t know much about coding and learning it to the point I needed to achieve the level of gaming quality I envisioned seemed like it would take too long. I was also afraid that all that coding I would be doing would take a huge chunk of the fun away. I tried doing some simple coding in the past and it felt like a chore to me. I didn’t enjoy it so I tried to avoid it. I suppose if I was really serious about turning this idea into a working video game then I could’ve brought in a coder to help out. But I was being selfish with this project. I wanted it to be something I could be proud to say was all mine. It became my baby and I wanted to preserve the creative decisions I made.

I wanted it to be something I could be proud to say was all mine.

I took the idea of making this into a game and put it away to move on to a different medium that really excited me; Animation! Being incredibly influenced by all kinds of animated films and series, creating my own animation seemed to fit all to well. It was great timing too because by this point I had begun creating more characters and a whole world for them. But once again, I ran into a big problem when my dumb brain decided to be too ambitious for it’s own good. I wanted to make a Disney quality animated short film, and being that I was the only one working on it, the project would’ve taken me an eternity to complete. Again, I could have hired help to share in the workload, but I wanted to do all the work. For many years I’ve had people tell me what to do and I’ve helped others bring their ideas to life. This time I wanted my vision to become a reality on my terms. I NEEDED to do this myself.

Fast forward a bit more and I now have begun developing a story around these characters and world I made. Having put making a game to the side and determining that an animation would just be too much for me currently, I had to look to another medium to bring my idea to life. That’s when I arrived at comics. My narrow minded thinking still saw it as a place mainly for superhero stories. By doing just a little research, I learned that comics can me more than just superheroes. Then it clicked in my head. I could make a comic! Even though my heart has always been with animation, something about the concept of taking my idea and turning it into a comic made me even more excited than before. This felt like something I could do all myself within a realistic time. What made it even better was that making a comic is very similar to making storyboards for animation, which I’ve take a great interest in recently. I also learned my lesson and tempered my ambitious goals a bit. Instead of making a large graphic novel, I plan to make it more of a short form comic. But it won’t be too short; I plan to make it a two part comic with each one being twenty four pages or more! Hey, I said I would temper my ambitions, not get rid of them totally. Old habits die hard I guess.

So here we are now where I’ve committed to creating this comic. I’ve been sitting on all these characters in this world I’ve created and I really need to show it to the world. This creative itch in me needs to be scratched and making a comic has felt like the best way for me to tell the story of my characters right now. I still have great ambitions of making a video game and an animated short film. Those goals with never go away. Whether I adapt this concept into an animation and video game down the line remains to be unseen, but right now my focus is on making this comic a reality. I’ve had many ideas in the past and I have never followed through with any of them. This comic idea is the first one that feels like I have a real shot of bringing it to fruition. I’ve already taken it farther than any other of my ideas in the past. I can’t wait for the day when I can show it off. It may not be the best comic in the world, but I will be proud to call it mine. That is enough for me.

Here is preview of one of the first pages of the comic that I’ve completed. Still debating if I should color it.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: comics, Potato & BimmTags: , , , , ,

Don’t Look for Your Style

An artist needs to have their own style, but I think it’s crucial they don’t try to find it.

Every artist has a style that is uniquely their own. Just look and any famous creator’s work. You can tell who created it simply by the style of the work. A Glen Keane drawing is easily distinguishable from a J. Scott Campbell drawing. Each one is amazing, but with different styles that are attached to that artist. You can tell what is a Stanley “Artgerm” Lau illustration simply by the style he uses. What is so great is that no two artist have the same style. Or at least, they shouldn’t. I’ll get in to that in a bit. One thing I’ve learned though is that if you are struggling to find your own style, it is best not to focus heavily on figuring it out. Instead, you need to let your style find you.

How do let your style find you? Well, you do it by simply creating. That seems too simple, But allow me to explain further. If you are an artist or trying to become one, chances are you have some that you admire. Take a handful of those artists and analyze the parts of their work that you’d like to emulate. Maybe one draws great hands and another shows facial expressions well. Combine all these aspects and meld them into what you make. The fun is that you can experiment at this stage. Play around with different things and find something that works well for you. Truth be told, It’s how I developed my style. I took inspiration from artists that I admire and molded all those different ideas and techniques into something that I felt was unique to me. That may not work for everyone but it definitely helped me starting out. I experimented with many different approaches and even had a anime feel for a time (yikes!) I figured out what I liked and ditched the aspects that just felt off to me.

Let your style find you.

Don’t take this concept too far however. It can be very tempting to just copy verbatim a very appealing style of an already established artist. Its important to be your own artist and not just a carbon copy of another. There is already a Tom Bancroft. Don’t be another version of him. Play around and have fun with the process. You’ll know when you find that one style that fits you because it will just click. Not everyone is going to like your style either, which is a tough pill to swallow. I constantly struggle with that to this day. Every artist wants the entire world to like what they do, but that isn’t realistic. You can’t please all the people all of the time. So don’t stress on that or else it will eat you alive. Just create what you enjoy and those likeminded people with hopefully come one day.

So the moral here is to not beat yourself up while developing your style. Try to let it come naturally. Consume many different types of content, gather inspiration, and utilize that in your drawings. I’m not saying it’s an easy process, but it is a rewarding one. Just keep at it and don’t give up. Let your style find you.

Here is a progress shot of Pauline from the Mario series in my style.

Keep Moving Forward

by Categories: IllustrationTags: , , , , , ,

Doodling and Sketching

How I approach the process of creating a sketch and the difference between a sketch and a doodle.

Sketching is fun. It is often the entry point to learning to draw and there is no expectation behind it. They can be as messy or as clean as you want and neither is right or wrong. It suits whatever style and approach you wish to go with. I will go into detail on how I approach my sketches personally and why I never ever doodle. There is a difference between the two and I think many people conflate them. So lets talk about all that.

When I first started drawing, I would sketch very rigidly. I’d hold the pencil very tight and near the tip and try to make sure every stroke was perfectly placed. That might work for some, but for me, it resulted in stiff and motionless characters. I’ve since learned to approach it differently. When I’m ready to sketch, I grab the pencil (or stylus) farther from the tip and grip it much more loosely. I also stretch out my arm because I use the my whole arm when sketching. This is all to achieve a much wider range of motion with each stroke. I want to use long, quick pencil strokes to get the gesture down. The key for me is being light and messy here. Once I find the right line then I’ll go a bit harder with the pencil. I also try my best not to use an eraser. Its very easy to fall into the safety net of that eraser (or undo for digital) and by not using it at all, you train your hand to find the right lines quickly and fluidly. Sometimes it can look like it’s going all over the place, but there is an appeal to that. At least for me it is. I believe that is because it is very much an animators way of drawing. Look at many professional animator’s drawings and you’ll notice how rough and loose it is. Those lines exude confidence. Each one feels fluid and full of life. That might not appeal to everyone, but I’m someone who has fawned over animation for a long time so that rough and messy feel really grabs me. There is no better example than one of my art idols and animation legends, Glen Keane.

Glen Keane’s drawing have so much life and energy that you can feel how alive his characters are in their movements. I sense that on a visceral level. He is an animation god, and I’m going to commit a cardinal sin and compare myself to him. Every artist out there is screaming at me right now because that is the fastest way to head into a downward artistic spiral. But the point of this is just to show how my sketching style has evolved into something similar to his.

I used Ariel, one of Glen’s most iconic animated characters, for this. It feels absurd to mention myself in the same sentence as him, but you can see how my approach is loose and quick like his.

Now about doodling. I don’t doodle. Some people like to and to each their own. But I just can’t. I’ve tried many times and the end result just doesn’t do it for me. In my eyes, it never looks right. A doodle is defined as an absentminded drawing, and I can see how that can be beneficial. Just letting your hand go wild with no care can result in some interesting new ideas you’d never think of before. But for me personally, I need to have an idea first going into the drawing. I need to have a general idea of what I’m going for in the drawing with a some kind of plan on how I’ll achieve the end result I want. That’s just me though, so if you like doodling then have at it. Do whatever you find works best for you. Now you might be thinking, “wait, isn’t a sketch and doodle basically the same?”, and my answer to that would be an emphatic no. They are not the same. A sketch, while loose and messy, has a perceived end. A certain look and feel that the artist is searching for from the start. A doodle, however, has no endgame. There is no plan, no approach when doodling. The artist just sits down and draws whatever. I need a game plan in my mind, so for that reason I’ve never doodle.

A bit of a tangent here, but something that irks me a ton is when I see artists labeling something they did as a doodle when it is clearly anything but a doodle. Not sure if they think it is a form of a humble brag, but it annoys me. Don’t label a painting that took hours to create as a mere doodle. It may not be intended to be perceived this way, but to me it comes of as a bit arrogant. It is insulting to call what many would see as an amazing piece of art as a simple doodle. Whether intended or not, it downplays the amount of work and the level of skill and talent involved to create art. So that’s all I have to say on that. Mini rant over.

For the purpose of this post, I went against my normal process and tried doodling. I put down a few strokes and just made a random character connecting lines. Here was the result.

What even is this? A confused 90’s trucker dude with a mullet?

So there is a bit of insight into my approach at sketching. It may not be perfect, but it works for me. That is the point though. Every artist needs to find an approach and process that works well for them. My way may not work for you and someone else’s may not work for another. But that is the beauty of it. Each person developing their own process results in unique styles. No one wants to be the exact same as someone else, and that is what makes art so great.

Keep Moving Forward

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Rolling with the Punches

I had other things planned, but sometimes you have to adapt on the fly.

Life is unpredictable. No matter how much you plan and prepare, you never know when a curveball will be thrown your way. My family was thrown a major curveball this week. I lost the time needed for my planned topic so I had to improvise. I thought about skipping this week, but I made a commitment to myself to keep this ongoing no matter what.

There was a time where such a thing would throw me off and I could not recover. But my experiences this last year have shown me what is important. I know now that when you hit a large bump in the road that you need to brace for impact and adjust speed. You don’t stop and turn around, you slow down and maybe change your approach. But you keep moving forward.

If there is one thing I know its that I can take a punch. I’ve been hit left and right many times and I’m still standing. I’ve been beaten and bruised but I keep fighting. There is too much at stake to lie down and take it. This post is short, but it needed to be given the circumstances. I’ll return to my original idea for next week. And if something else happens then I’ll adjust. I’ve been in this fight long enough that I know how to roll with the punches.

Never give up. Fight on!

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