Pencil {October 2020} #4: Happy Halloween!

  

Comments: And, we made it to the end of the month. Happy Halloween! I know it looks a lot different this year, with Covid-19 and all, but I still hope to have a fun day anyway and I wish the same for everyone else. For today’s artwork, I was influenced by an old painting I did a few years back, which I’m certain I referred to as the “spider bride.” I wanted to redraw this character, and I finally got around to doing it. I tried to exaggerate the proportions of the character a little, because I wanted her to appear a little more ghostly (hence there are no feet).

Pencil {October 2020} #3

  

Comments: Adri and I recently watched Over The Garden Wall. I’ve been hearing about it for a while, and I wanted to watch it this year. So I picked up the DVD while it was on sale at Barnes & Noble. I really loved the series, and it’s one of my favorite shows from Cartoon Network to date. My artwork for today is partly inspired by the spooky and whimsical feel of Over the Garden Wall, but it’s not influenced by any scenes from the show—so you don’t need to worry about spoilers if you haven’t watched it.

Pencil {October 2020} #2

  

Comments: Today’s artwork is this pumpkin. It’s kind of a simple one, and it’s based off of a ceramic candy dish I got way back in early September. As soon as I saw the shape of it (a jack-o-lantern), I knew I wanted to draw it with a candle in the opening in place of candy. For reference, here is a picture of the candy dish.

Pencil {October 2020} #1

 

Comments: Last year, in October, I did a series of pencil drawings. I had a lot of fun with it, and I ultimately decided to break out my pencils and give it another go. So every Saturday in October, starting with today, I will be sharing a piece of Halloween themed artwork from my sketchbook. Today’s image is one of my favorites. As I was thinking of what to do this month, I made approximately three versions of this same scene. One drawn in ink, painted with watercolor, and finally in pencil (which was the image I was most satisfied with).

Happy Halloween + Pencil #3

Today is October 31st. So before I begin I just have to say Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a great day.

The last pencil artwork I specifically worked on for October was this one. It was, of course, inspired by a cupcake, and I’m calling it Be Careful with the Cookie. In the earliest sketch, I was planning to do a pretty basic cupcake with sprinkles. However when I started playing around with the composition, I noticed that it was kind of plain—which was the same issue I initially had with Halloween in a bottle for $5.99—which wasn’t what I was going for since I wanted the eye to be drawn to the cupcake.
Ultimately I kept the bat-shaped sprinkles, although they’re very small, but I added a cookie to the very top, as well as curls of smoke rising from the eyes and forming a skull. I like this one much better that way. The rest of my process mainly dealt with deciding what the cookie should be shaped like, and if I should add any color to it (you can see some of my thought process in the sketches). Being prepared allowed me to streamline the actual drawing process. Be Careful with the Cookie ended up being one of my favorite pieces to work on.

Pencil #2

The next picture I worked on was a flytrap in a flowerpot shaped like a skull. I couldnt think of a good name for it, so I guess it'll just be Flytrap In A Flowerpot Shaped Like A Skull. So it is what it is. As for the process for this one, it was pretty straight forward. My inspiration was mainly this air plant I have. It sits on the side of a faux skull. I had the thought “Well, I want a flowerpot shaped like this,” and the idea sort of developed from there. The final artwork doesn’t deviate much from the sketches I did for it. I’m happy with how it looks.

Pencil #1:

When I first sat down to brainstorm about what I was going to do, art wise, in October, I already knew I wasn’t going to participate in Inktober. I wanted to work in pencil instead of ink, and I wanted to get them done before October. And that’s what I ultimately decided on. Note: I’m not posting these in order, so I know the dates on the pictures aren't in chronological order.

The first drawing I worked on is called Halloween in a Bottle for $5.99. The idea behind it is along the lines of being able to buy a little bit of Halloween that’s, of course, in a bottle. You can see some of the early sketches I did for it. There are some pretty big difference between where the idea began, and where it ended up. Originally, there was supposed to be a bow, but then I scrapped that idea in favor of the box. And the box went from being simple and clear to decorative.

What are you working on this October?