Last night I was laying in bed working through another bout of insomnia. Guess I was still pretty excited about Sketchbook Month. Anyway, I started thinking about caffeine and coffee beans…and then I thought, “If I was a coffee bean I’d probably never get *any* sleep.” Hence today’s Sketchbook Month entry (well, it was funny at 1:00 AM)…
Wow, I am totally overwhelmed by the response this little idea of mine is getting. I decided to declare March to be Sketchbook Month. I’ve committed to sketching something in my sketchbook every weekday in March and posting it on my blog. A lot of my artist friends liked the idea and have decided to join in. The first day of Sketchbook Month isn’t even over yet and already about a dozen talented artists have sent me their first sketches, with many more expressing a desire to contribute.
In order to keep things manageable I’ve decided to give Sketchbook Month it’s very own blog:
http://sketchbookmonth.wordpress.com/
Here’s how it works…
Anyone can take part as long as you commit to creating at least one new sketch every weekday during the month of March (yup, you can have weekends off or use that time to make up for missed sketches during the week). You can jump in at any time but everything shuts down after March 31 so the sooner you get on board the better.
To join simply post your first sketch online (i.e. your blog, flickr page, etc.) and then email the link to sketches@cedricstudio.com. Every day or two I’ll update the Sketchbook Month blog with everyone’s new artwork along with a link back to your page. Unfortunately I won’t have time to check in on everyone to see if you’ve posted anything new so each time you post new artwork you’ll have to email me again. Otherwise your work won’t make it onto the blog.
More rules and info are posted on the Sketchbook Month blog. It’s still “under construction” with tweaks being made but the basic info and first few sketches have already gone live. There’s even an RSS feed if you’d like to follow the blog that way.
Questions? Leave a comment and I’ll try to answer them. Or you can email sketches@cedricstudio.com.
Thanks again to everyone for your interest. Happy sketching!
Here we go! To kick off Sketchbook Month I thought I’d push myself to do a little study of human anatomy. I found this muscle pose on the internet (should have bookmarked it—for the life of me I can’t find it now to link to it). I’m not nearly as familiar with the anatomy of the human back as I am the front. I basically faked my way through the shoulder blade area and backs of the thighs by studying the light and shadow in the photo. If you asked me to describe what was going on underneath the skin in those areas I couldn’t really tell you. Guess I need to beef up on that (pun intended).
I’ve been getting an overwhelming response to the idea of Sketchbook Month. I’m in the process of building a separate web area to house all the submissions (UPDATE: Check out the official Sketcbook Month blog). We are only a few hours into sketchbook month but already I received some sketches with pledges of art to come from a long list of artist friends who’ve emailed saying “Count me in!” Here’ the links so far:
It’s not too late to join in! Just post your link in the comments and I’ll add it to the site later. Find out more at the Sketchbook Month blog.
Well, not officially. But it will be on this here blog. At least for this year.
Care to join me?
Life has been crazy busy lately with no signs of anything slowing down. As a result it’s been a real struggle to keep anything resembling a regular sketchbook. I still draw quite a bit but its always to please a client and meet a deadline. Rarely am I able to draw something I *choose* to draw for practice, to push myself, or just give myself a creative breather. As I’ve said before, I feel kind of a like a professional athlete who plays hard at every game but then never has time to come to practice.
Character designer Stephen Silver does absolutely brilliant work and one reason is that he’s a ferocious sketcher. He’s fond of saying, “A page a day keeps the competition away.” So that’s my goal for March. Do a page a day for an entire month. (To make it more manageable I’m going to limit myself to weekdays only, otherwise I might get discouraged and fall off the wagon.)
As an extra motivation I’m pledging to post at least one drawing from each day’s work here on the blog. Not because I think my work is so wonderful—quite the contrary, I can be very hard on myself. No, I’m primarily doing it because frankly I need the accountability.
Of course knowing that whatever I draw will wind up here in full public view leaves me tempted to play it safe and only sketch things I’m already good at drawing. But that would defeat the whole purpose. If I’m going to continue to grow and improve I’ve got to push myself to try new things and master new skills, whatever the results may be.
If you’d care to join me in this unofficial “Sketchbook Month”, leave a link to your blog/website in the comments section you can do so by visiting the official Sketchbook Month blog.
March is a month of new beginnings when the snow melts away, the grass turns green, and the birds start to sing. What better time to shake the dust off my sketchbook and start turning over new pages?
There’s a lengthy slide show over at NBCNewYork.com showing aging rock stars “then and now”. It’s a fascinating study in how the human face ages over time (years of drug use not withstanding). Great reference material for artists.
(Note: You may have to view a short ad before getting to the slide show.)
If you’re looking for any last-minute Christmas ideas you might want to browse through my Amazon.com store, Cedric Hohnstadt Recommends. It’s a collection of books, DVDs, and other resources related to art, animation, and freelancing. Each item is something I have personally owned, used, and found to be especially helpful and/or inspirational.
Full disclosure: If you order any of the items from Amazon after clicking through my store I’ll receive a tiny percentage of the sale as a kickback (you won’t pay any extra). So you’ll not only be filling someone’s stocking but you’ll be helping me support my iPhone app addiciton.
