The Line Game

From Anthony Browne, children's author, illustrator, and laureate:

My brother and I used to play a game that we thought was our own invention, until realizing that it is played by children all over the world. One of us would draw a shape and the other would turn that shape into a picture. I think all children should play it to encourage drawing.

I worked from home when my children were growing up so was lucky I was around to read to them. I spent time drawing with them too, and yes they played the game I 'made up' with my brother.

This struck me because, well, my three siblings and I played this game when we were little, and I too thought we were the only ones who played it. We called it "The Line Game," and would continually pass around the paper with each kid drawing a line until the whole thing turned into a picture. Or until it turned into a fight ...

Read the whole article here.

Save the Date - Inked

Portrait

Pet Portrait

Here's a commissioned pet portrait that I just finished.

Alien at Work

Sometimes I draw with a mechanical pencil for a change of pace. They have their limits and aren't a very high-quality medium for artistic purposes, but they can help me to concentrate on line, and no sharpening breaks are needed. It can be freeing to do casual sketching and drawing with crumby pens and pencils; it can even lead to experimentation that I wouldn't have done with my more expensive supplies.

This was a fun little drawing. I've been working on filling entire pages and paying more mind to backgrounds and detail (not always easy with my poor vision).

Cardinal Illustration: Christmas

Here's a Daily Cardinal illustration from the Christmas season one year. I think it was for a food article.

Cardinal Illustrations: Thanksgiving

Cardinal Shirt Design

The final design that we used is a little different, but this was one of my ideas for a Daily Cardinal t-shirt.

Daily Cardinal Illustrations

I drew a lot of non-editorial illustrations for the Daily Cardinal during my time there. Here are a few from 2004.

Market Inked

Animal Court Inked

This one is ready for color. I made adjustments to fit twelve animals into the jury.

Froggy Inked

Froggy Beginnings

Here's the unfinished drawing for a new watercolor, although not well-scanned because of the big watercolor block. It's much easier to splice the scans together when it's in color.

More Old Things

Three Blind Mice Part I

The inking is finally done for our beer label. Now the fun really begins...

Figure Drawing

From one of many figure drawing classes. I was sad to hear recently that all of my good drawing professors are retiring and may not be replaced by young people who appreciate the craft as much as they did. Performance, concept, abstract and film seem to be the bigger things in the department.