The Rogue Sketch Pad

I've moved

2012-01-26T03:50:00.000-08:00

I've moved all my new posts to my website www.FleetingStates.com . If you would like to follow Numberism and art news, meet me there.

Best,

Sienna

Scratchboard Tests

2010-03-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

I recently drew a white on black numberism drawing for a client's logo, and it spurred a bit of inspiration for me. The white on black was dynamic and showed a whole new side to numberism, but the white pens were lacking. I have yet to find a white pen with a 005 tip or aything close to that. The pens I found just barely did the trick, but left me wanting more. I like the fine precision. I adore the detail.

So, the natural option seems to be scratch board. I went out to Art Media today and bought a few pieces of scratch board and drew my first test. I made my own scratcher tools, and they need a little perfecting, but the technique itself seems to be working, and I have to say... I LIKE IT. :)

As an added bonus, I can use watercolor to paint on the scratched numbers! There so much potential here.

This is the first test. It's rough and sketchy, but I'm feeling all the motivation to keep up with this new media.

I'm playing around with what numberism can do outside of it's usual routine. Mixed media, pen, ink, oil, watercolor, knives. I want to see what it can do outside of its comfort zone.
I'm also trying mixing numberism with some line design.

So many ways to play.

My model is Kenna Holman, and the photograph reference was taken by Ian Dawson.

Issue One Online

2010-02-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

It's true: Issue One, 'Always Keep A Gun Beside the Bed' is online. You can see it at it's SmackJeeves Location
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A Teenager's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

Life ain't easy being a zombie hunter. Max Miracle knows this firsthand: as the son of Melvin and Soli Miracle, Professional Hunters of the Undead, he's handled his share of mindless monsters - and that was just other high school kids. But when a case brings his family to the small town of Estacada, OR, Max finds more than he expected in Kara, the transgender girl next door. In between dodging the local authorities, fighting decapitated Bigfoot experts, passing Calculus, and working up the guts to ask Kara to prom, Max must figure out a way to stop the looming zombie apocalypse...before it's too late for us all!

Written by Rachel Mohr. Chapter 1 illustrated by Sienna Morris.

Issue One

2010-02-01T09:15:00.001-08:00

I'm happy to say that Issue 1 of "Teenager's Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse" is finished! I'm just going to show a little snippet here, because soon, the website will be up where you can see the whole thing for yourself at your leisure.
This was the first time I've drawn a comic book. For years, I've read them, and admired them, and re read them, despite the fact that there was probably something much more productive I could be doing at the time. So this was, needless to say, very exciting for me.

It was also nerveracking. As I said, this was my first, and I was nervous. Generally, I am a traditional artist; drawing or painting one image to tell a whole story, and I take a fairly long time working on just that one image. Here, I was telling a story with 12 pages with about 5 images each to tell the story. It was a new media for me, and it took a while to figure out how the media worked. I in no way have it all figured out after just this one issue, but I have a good idea, and once finishing the comic book, I am swelling with new ideas every day.

From the very beginning, I wanted to draw the comic book in two tone black and white. However, we decided to go with color, calling on the talents of my husband, Tab, to bring it to life for us. Due to time crunches and heavy work loads in our company (things Tab needed to do), we eventually sided against color, which was disapointing, because Tab's coloring is really fantastic. But I was also excited, because now I got to draw the comic how I had originally imagined it.

I want to tell you all about what's coming in the comic and what it's all about, but I have a track record of ruining the story by saying too much, so I won't... but damn do I want to!

Instead, I'll just post the link once the site is up.

Hoarde

2010-01-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

"Bad Day" :)zom

Issue 1 of Teenagers Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse doesn't have much opportunity for gory zombies, but I will soon. So, now I have a chance to draw some mutilated corpses. Sounds grotesque, but it's actually quite fun... for me anyway.
Anatomy is fascinating, and mixing moving (walking) creatures with the havoc of torn tissue, broken bones and muscle is just too much fun.

I will be doing these more often now. (being that more action is coming just around the corner) I'm referencing anatomy books and such, but will have to dive into some creepier studying too. Some of that is not as fun.

Spilled Ink

2010-01-13T01:49:00.001-08:00

A mistake on my part resulted in us losing thousands of dollars worth of ink for our printer. A sad day, indeed, but we quickly found a use for it. The trouble is that all the ink mixed together; magenta with black with yellow with cyan) so there was no saving them for any printing purposes as they were all contaminated with eachother. So we poured it all into this bottle for my own experimental uses. Being that it's the same ink I use to print on canvas, I'm sure I can use it on the excess canvas we always have laying around. The final color looks a bit like dark blood, and is admittedly a bit creepy.

For now, I decided to try it with a few brushes on a character sketch page of Kara. I've been told to try to use brushes for inking. I've been using a micron pen brush, but it dies out pretty quickly. It looks like I need to go pick up some more precise (smaller and better shaped) brushes and play with this more. I can also see a lot of texture I can get from this that could bring some nice dark depth to some of the later scenes.

Panel peek

2010-01-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting much lately. Mostly because most of what I've been drawing has been for the comic, which we're waiting to show until it's finished.... but.... I thought I'd give you a peek at a couple panels. Shh....

On news: Tabulanis Snow has been working on the color for the comic and I'm very very pleased. The texture and feel is perfect for what I had in mind.

Color teaser panels coming soon. He's a bit of a perfectionist, and won't let me show anything yet.

Flight of Fancy

2009-12-09T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, I've been doing a piss poor job of uploading daily drawings as of late, but hey, I have a good excuse... I just can't show it to you yet.

I drew these today, and while they're numberism,I think they qualify for today's drawings.

They are numberism trading cards and are either 3.5 x 2 or 3.5 x 2.5 inches. Can't remember which.

I was walking around Anna Bannanas today and saw a humming bird touching down on a bush in the alleyway. I was surprised to see it there, and couldn't help thinking how graceful it was. Oh, if only we could fly like they do....

Anywho, so I drew them.

The originals are available on Etsy, and prints are available at my Redbubble. I'll put up prints on Etsy and FrogFaith soon.

Rose Quarter Comic Book Show

2009-11-16T02:29:00.000-08:00

I sneaked out of work today for a couple hours to head over to the Comic book show at the Rose Quarter, and walked out with some good stuff to study. I'm sure I probably ended up being a bit of a nuisance, as I found a few artists that I really like and picked their brains as long as they would have me. They were all very helpful and very nice. Not to mention, patient. :)

Special thanks to Mathew Clark, Steve Lieber, Gene Ha and Jason Metcalf for the time and advice. Tomorrow, I plan on picking up the pens they all suggested. The only artist who varied from the recommended pens was Metcalf, who apparently uses an ink well. Then again, he's brilliant.

I also brought home a few comic books that I am very excited about. :) I think the first read will be Enemies Among Us, but I have a soft spot for Batman.

Moreover, I left inspired and couldn't wait to get back to work. Here are a few of my inking sketches. My favorite right now is this drawing, which I inked today and was originally a quick streetcar sketch of a woman that looks like she is in desperate need of a few more hours sleep and a day off.

It's all very messy, but right now, I'm trying to work out where I'm actually most comfortable with my pens so I can see the flow the comic will have. Until I'm done with these tests, all my pages are still just in pencil.

An Angry Man

2009-11-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

Need I say more?

From my sketch book.

Ed Pen Test

2009-11-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

I apparently feel bloggy today.

Quick concept sketch of Ed in pen.

Zombie Ed

2009-11-11T03:33:00.001-08:00

This is Ed. He has recently had a major life change. You can see tell tale signs that he is ever-so-slightly less human than before. He doesn't have the same passion for personal hygiene as he used to, his conversational skills have dwindled to that of a neanderthal (though he didn't have far to fall to get there), and his table manners are just atrocious.

Can his marriage take the pressures of his new lifestyle? echem...

Ah yes, I finished Ed's introductory pages today. :) This is a rough character sketch of him.

By the way, I had not mentioned it before, but the comic book I'm working on is called "A Teenager's Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse" by Rachel Mohr

Zombies

2009-11-08T23:37:00.001-08:00

I have recently been hired to draw a comic book, which excites me to no end, and which I probably will be talking your ear off about for the rest of the time I'm working on it... and possibly later too.

I love comic books, even though I've been horrible and am back on pretty much every comic I'd like to be reading, and should by all accounts be whipping myself for still having not read Batman RIP. There really is no excuse. Anyway, I love a good graphic novel, and have spent many a time devoting countless hours gobbling up a new story. Some top faves: Kingdom Come (Favorite), Transmetropolitan, Infinite Crisis, Year One, Walking Dead, Dawn (guilty Pleasure),Astonishing X Men, Lex Luthor Man of Steel (amazing work of art, telling the story from the side of the villain. If you haven't read it, you should. This is what Superman Returns was missing). Wait, I'm rambling.. back to why I'm writing this.

I also love zombies. Zombie comics, zombie movies and zombie paraphernalia. Hell, who doesn't? You get to see people managing at their best when everyone is at their worst. Not to mention all the zombie fodder and general mayhem. (Side note: 28 Weeks Later has the best cinematic kiss of all time. Hands down. You know the scene). Each story has a different mode of transmission and different level of zombie effects, which is the fun part, and I have to say, I'm really really excited about how the zombie outbreak is spread in this comic. If I weren't working on this, and had heard about just how it is transmitted, I'd be on the freaking newsletter.

So what this is all leading up to is that, Yes, I've been hired by Rachel Mohr (as in someone is actually paying me to do this) to draw a comic book about Zombies. Needles to say, I am beyond happy about this.. possibly even giddy.

And for now on, I will be uploading sketches from my work on the comic

Meet Max. This past week, I've been drawing character sketches for the main characters of the comic. Below are some of the drawing stages for Max and his mother Soli Miracle.
I will be posting more sketches as I go along, and soon there will be a site where you can see the pages as they come as well.

Blue Noir

2009-10-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

On the way to the post office there was no one to draw except a very dark version of my reflection.

On the way back, it was crowded, but I had to finish the sketch.

"Smokin" Blonde

2009-10-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

I drew both of these while smoking. One cigarette each.

Kinda easy to see the inspiration here...

Oddly enough, I was originally going to draw a zombie... instead I drew her.

She's saying " Let's see.. 7, carry the 1... uh..Wait, no!... uh... um..."

For all we know, she's trying to remember her phone number... or maybe her bra size.

A "Feather" in Your Cap

2009-10-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

My hat was lacking color, and this leaf just seemed the perfect match... albeit more temporary than a feather.

Pinch

2009-10-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

I don't have it worked out just yet. Not really sure I ever will, but hey, at least I'm working on it, right? My anxiety about time has reared it's head again. I'm worrying about possible wasted time, about how much time I have to finish the things I want to accomplish. I'm always so very aware of how little time we have here in our one great ride through the universe, and it's never enough. It never will be enough for me, because I know that one day it will end, and in a limited lifetime, I just can't imagine experiencing all that there is to know in this world.

I'm not okay with that. People say they are, that they've come to terms with death, but I don't think I believe them. How can you? How can you look at all the possibility afforded us in this world, see all that we can possibly do, and be at peace with it ending? With all those possibilities completely taken from you?

Agh. The trick, I guess, is to live it as much as you can, to enjoy it, to live it to it's fullest. If I'm spending all this time dreading the end and worrying about lost opportunities or the unknown tomorrow, aren't I taking today for granted? Knowing that's it's so limited, you'd think it'd be a constant reminder to be grateful for each and every moment I have. After all, if I could live forever, it would be an infinite array of Now, of this moment right now, and I wouldn't know that it would last forever or end abruptly until it happened... or didn't.

I have a friend who is almost always happy. Not ecstatic for no reason at all, but generally enjoying life. I like having him around. He smiles at everything and reminds me that there is no reason not to. He works a lot, but likes to play, and when he does, he doesn't work. When he works, he still smiles, and laughs when he is busy. He takes great joy in little things like cookie dough or a good photo opportunity. Of course, he's not always happy, but life isn't always joyful. He seems to deal with that okay too. I should learn from him. I should smile more often and let these little worries roll off my back. Each and every one of them are trivial really.

I had a family member die recently, and all his little worries or trivial problems, well they measured up to what they were: just about nothing. I'm sure he had his own little stack of them, but I doubt anyone even knows to pick them up to keep worrying about them for him. Seeing his body brought me closer to death, seeing someone who was a part of my life muted so quickly scared me. It wasn't difficult for someone to die. It's so easy, and for the simplest of reasons. And that's that; you're dead. End of story.

So that didn't really help my anxiety about the whole thing, but it did help put things in perspective. It helped reaffirm that I should keep doing what I'm doing, and continue focusing on what's actually important to me, and that all the little obsticles in the way are part of the story, but not all that scary or difficult. Not when seen from a certain perspective.

So that's what I'm focusing on right now.

I guess this is a bit of a moody blog. Probably my most personal blog yet. Tonight I spent some time alone, which hasn't happened for a while, and when I drew this came out. It felt good, and it kinda helped. I can see my anxiety in it, and until I drew this, I wasn't all that aware that it was there.

I might do something more with this drawing later.

Jameson, Fat Cats and Ankley st.

2009-10-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Oops, okay, so I'm not used to uploading images daily yet it seems. I'll get better at it. The important thing is that I did, in fact, draw something everyday. I also almost finished my huge numberism drawing, but more on that soon on the other blog.

Here are some drawings from the past 4 days.

Sunday's sketch of the corner of Ankley and 2nd right by where our booth is at Skidmore Market. It's actually rather difficul to draw without people around you taking notice. I will have to get stealthier.

My fat, lazy cat makes for many good opportunities for quick sketches.

These cat drawings were from Monday and Tuesday.

And this, I managed to draw last night at the Moon and Sixpence. I absolutely adore the music they play there and the vibe always makes for a good night. Of course, after drinking the jameson in my drawing, there wasn't much sketching going on.

My favorite part of the night was actually the very begining when my friend, Chelsea modeled for me for a painting idea I am planning on working on. My friend, Ian, took the photographs for me. Really, I just told her how to sit and thought about how cool it will look in oil paint.

I will be sure to post that as well once I have it on canvas.

You Punch Like A Girl

2009-10-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

I drew this late late last night from a photo I found of a bad ass chick that I found at Anna Bananas. In retrospect, I probably should have written "You hit like a Girl", but oh well.
I had a lot of fun with this one.

Red

2009-10-17T20:02:00.001-07:00

I lost my nifty pen, so I used this erasable red pen to sketch today instead. Saturday Market was very wet today and a bit slow, so I found a good excuse to bring out the drawing pad.

I drew this waiting for the streetcar today. Tried to keep all the shapes very simple.

Pretty little comic book chick...

Sketching and The Art of Sneaky Life Drawing

2009-10-17T18:26:00.001-07:00

Lately I've taken to carrying around my drawing pad again and have been drawing every chance I get. Generally I get at least one out a day, so I thought I'd start this blog to update them, and possibly keep me doing this.

A couple weeks ago, a woman approached me about drawing a comic book with her, which I'm really excited about. To get into the vibe, I started drawing all the people I see around me and sketching more from my ha, attempting to keep it simple. With my numberism drawings, I get very technical, so I sort of had to re-acclimate myself to the technique.

I ride on the Portland Street car all the time, and have not a lot to do in between stops, so I've started drawing the people on the bus to pass the time. It's amazing how many kinds of facial shapes and body types you see on the streetcar. A lot of these people, I never would have just come up with from my mind, so this has been really helpful. However, when I do this, I tend to miss my stop.

I don't think everyone likes the idea of me drawing them while they're dragging themselves back home after a long day at work and vegging out on the train... so I've gotten sneaky.... I draw their reflections on windows.

As far as they're concerned, I'm drawing what's outside, and they're never the wiser. One man noticed me drawing and kept looking from me to the window. "What the hell is she drawing? She keeps looking at the same spot out the window, but we're in a moving vehicle!" I could almost hear him say. He was very animated. Anyway, I'm simply loving this, catching people in their comfortable day to day routine... as long as they'll stay still long enough for me to draw them.

These are just quick snap shots with my camera, so they're not really that great. I will take better pictures from here on out. After this post, I will be uploading daily. This is a backlog from the last week or so. I will be uploading these to my new Flickr site too at Flickr.com/photos/roguesketc