Inktober Day 22: “I May Be Old…”

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102214-I May Be Old-color

It’s been a busy month so my participation in Inktober has been pretty spotty. Today I found time to do another sketch from my free list of Inktober ideas based on the Pose Drawing Sparkbook. I chose a line of dialogue: “I may be old but I could still whip both of you!”

I usually work digitally but every once in a while I use good old pen-and-paper to remind myself not to rely too much on the “undo” button. For me at least, it’s easy for it to become a crutch that dulls my thinking as I draw.

In hindsight I should have roughed in a few bricks behind him. The suggestion of a brick wall might have hinted that this was a back-alley situation, which would give a bit more character to the piece. Oh well. If I’d have worked digitally I could fix that. Hmmm…

EDIT: I Couldn’t help myself. Here’s a digitally-colored version:

102214-I-May-Be-Old-color2

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

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ALS Ice Bucket Challenge-Cedric Hohnstadt 2014

My friend Troy Wetzel challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Instead of soaking myself in water I decided to make a fun little sketch and turn it into a drawing video.

I also think it’s important to give money to help those fighting ALS so I’m making a donation. I am pro-life which creates a bit of an ethical dilemma for me. Obviously it’s important that researchers work as hard as they can to find a cure, but some people are reporting that most of the major organizations that fight ALS also use embryonic stem cells in their research. In other words, an embryo is killed in order to do the research. We all started out as embryos so for me that’s kind of a problem. So, I’ve decided to make my donation to Team Gleason, an organization started by NFL player and ALS patient Steve Gleason to help make life better for those currently battling the disease.

Anyway, here’s my sketch video:

[youtube_sc url=U2MGmHjyebA width=450]

Sketchbook Update: Snake Oil Salesman

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Snake Oil Salesman - Sketch by Cedric Hohnstadt

Here’s a sketch I did recently based on a drawing prompt from the Pose Drawing Sparkbook: “Snake oil salesman giving his sales pitch in an old west town”.

 

Sparkbook Snippet: Acting With The Entire Body

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(This excerpt is from the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, a super-charged sketchbook designed to help you put more life and personality into your drawings. Think of it as acting exercises for your sketchbook.Read other snippets here and here.)

Don’t limit your acting to just the face and hands. The head makes up less than ten percent of a person’s body. You’ve got another ninety percent of your character to work with. Don’t let it go to waste! Is your character crying? Don’t just add a tear; hunch the back, droop the shoulders and bend the knees. Is your character feeling joyful? Don’t just smile; arch the back, raise the arms, and get those toes a-dancin’.

As an example, let’s travel back in time to the year 1800. Two southern gentlemen are having an argument. Insults fly and tempers flare until finally one of them shouts in a furious rage, “I challenge you to a duel!” How might you draw that pose?

Duel-1

This first attempt is generic and boring. There’s nothing special about it. Other than the facial expression, it tells us almost nothing about what the character is feeling. To illustrate, look at what happens when I simply change the eyebrows:

Duel-2

Suddenly it turns from an active, angry pose to a passive, worried pose. One subtle difference has completely changed the pose’s meaning. Why? Because the pose was weak and generic to begin with.

Here’s the same emotion with poses that use the entire body. Notice how much more clearly the attitude reads:

AngryPoses2

Here’s another example of the power of body language. I’ve purposely left the faces blank to show how much you can say with just a pose.

Poses-NoExpression-Layout2

Before you get caught up in a detailed drawing, start by simply roughing in the pose. Use stick figures if necessary. If the pose doesn’t read clearly at the beginning, no amount of detail will fix it later.

Read two more Sparkbook Snippets: “Action Reveals Character” and “Personality and Emotions”. The Pose Drawing Sparkbook is now available for pre-order. Also, don’t forget to download your free list of 100 Sketchbook Ideas as my gift to you.

Mother’s Day Sketch

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Mother's Day sketch by illustrator Cedric Hohnstadt.Thought I’d share a card I sketched for my wife on Mother’s Day. She’s much prettier and slimmer than this, and usually not grumpy at all. But when you have young children there are definitely mornings that feel this way.