A sneak peak into my work

Ever since I was a kid I have loved to draw and write books. I have boxes and boxes full of little drawings I've done over the years. I just doodled for fun for myself and didn't really show much of my stuff. No one really knew how much I loved to draw throughout high school. Now that I'm in college, whenever I tell people I am an art major, they always get excited and want to see what I do... well I have always been extremely shy about showing anything to anyone probably because I don't think it's "perfect". Well, I'm a way off from perfect, but after looking through my sketchbook today, I realized that in fact the more I "doodle" and practice putting ideas on paper, the better I become. I noticed alot of my artwork getting a little better as I went through the sketchbook. That's the cool thing about sketchbooks is youcan go back and see the progression after time. SO, today I finally decided to post a few sketches I've done. I haven't completed most of them, they're just rough ideas, but I actually got excited about a few of these characters and I hope to someday create a really good idea for childrens books with some of these characters. Eventually, with the help and idea of my brother Marshall, I may just create a blog just for my work and maybe get people to see it....maybe. In the mean time, it's mostly just a hobby. Here are a few of my favorite characters from my sketchbook.

This was my idea for a character for a project last semester. I had to include him because I thought he was so cute! Maybe I'll use him for some kind of Easter themed book or something. He needs a name though... ideas?

Meet Jo. I created him during my religion class last semester. He was inspired by a patient I met at work who dressed quite similar to him and had a cane. When I saw this man, I just HAD to create a character out of him!! The name is acutally the name of our intern... I might change it but we'll see. I thought about maybe doing some kind of comic strip out of this one, or maybe a book...






This is Lep! He is a leprachaun! I was just fooling around with this one... he'd make for a clever window painting for St. Patrick's day.









I don't really have an explanation for this one... but he's kindof funny. I was thinking of creating a character that expressed how he was feeling just with his eyes. Eyes are in truth the windows to the soul. He actually somewhat led to another character design I'll show later named Grimm.









This is RALLY!! He is one of the characters I got excited about because I think he'd make for a fun book. I named him after another patient I met at work named Ralston, we called him Rally. I thought it'd make for a cute name for this dog. And it sort of sounds like RILEY which is the name of my adorable dog whom I love. Anyway, I think he'd make for a fun book... it's just coming up with a story line that's the hard part!




This is the lovely Cleo. This summer I have been trying to work on my head drawing skills. Honestly I have always hated drawing people because we've all looked at millions of people and we know how they are supposed to look. And I have struggled with making them look right. So, I always did cartoons of people that look silly on purpose. I have been trying to force myself to combine the two. Realistic with cartoon. I'm still working on it, but I got excited when this little lady came along. She's kindof inspired by the character Beyonce plays on Austin Powers. Cleo is short for Cleopatra. And I named her this because she's a diva, like Beyonce! We'll see where this goes. I doubt it'll go into a book but perhaps some kind of ad or something would be fun.


This little guy doesn't have a name, but I created him for my Dad actually. My dad has alot of funny ideas for a kind of comic strip you might say. One of which is a list of "You might be an donkey if..." lol! I loved some of his ideas, so I made this fella. We'll see where this one goes too. I've always wanted to illustrate my dad's jokes. He's got some good ones.










This is Victor, and I have no idea what I'd do with him. He could make for some kind of villain. Personally, I think he looks like a gay hairdresser. Haaaay!









This is Vanessa. She's yet another practice head drawing person, but she

turned out cute. Again, I don't really know what I'd do with her but I like her!




Meet Little Willy! He's a character I liked for a book. There's a little room for improvement, but if I could think of a good start to a story I'd love to use him!

So all of the above pictures are of one character named Grimm. He is the most recent development and I am really excited about him! I definately want to create a story out of him . There's still alot to do, but I want to make a story out of him. Grimm is a Grizzle who lives in the jungle. He will eventually have a friend/sidekick named Grover, but I haven't found a character I like yet. Anyway, I really think I might be onto something with this one. I also think I might end up doing like some kind of book of limricks with this. Either all one story or a few short ones in limrick. That'd be cool!

This last one is a little dedication to my little brother Parker!! I did a little doodle of him the other day and I think it turned out kinda cute! Maybe I'll do a book about Parker too. haha!

That's about all I have for now. I hope it wasn't too much!! I think I might start to turn my sights towards finishing some of these characters instead of creating more. I never finish anything I start so I hope that I actually do this time. I hope you enjoyed these! Give me your comments!