#016

Shake Things Up.

This week I didn’t draw anything new. Well, I did, but it was either thumbnails for the comic or doodles during Sunday morning ABF. Instead, I carved up a coconut. Yep, bet you didn’t expect that coming, did you? A few days ago I ordered three dried coconut shells for the sole purpose of using them as carving blanks. (Only like three bucks on EBay). The inspiration for the first shell comes from my love of anthropomorphic apes; I just love them. One day I would like to write a small story including them. Roughly a year ago I drew one such ape in a small pocket sketchbook I bring with me sometimes, and I will include his portrait here for good measure.

The Art.

To begin the process of carving then giant nut, I first had to remove the rough fibrous texture from the face of the shell, the part you think of when you hear “coconut”. To do this, I took a wire brush on an angle grinder to hog off the material. The shell is very tough, so it didn’t end up being too much force. Then I went down to my desk and went to work. I sketched out the desired image directly on the shell using a water-based marker, thinking it would come off easily (it didn’t, but I did get it off). My main tools were a half-inch very sharp chisel and a small whittling knife for marking and details.

The sketch was with ink and alcohol markers, and took roughly an hour. His folk live in a fantasy world where islands float in endless sky, some tropical, like India, others like the mountainous Nepal and Tibet. Also inhabiting this land are winged humans (not an original idea at all). Another idea documented for later use.

Progress for Progress’ sake.

Here I’ve been plodding away through the numerous and varied projects, from D&D to the short story, from coconuts to wooden flutes, I’m swamped. (A wife to murder and Gilder to blame for it). My intention is to continue plodding away until I finish a project. Life on earth is short, and I’d rather not fret about arbitrary deadlines for personal projects. I intend to finish my storyboarding for the short story by the end of February at least, then see what happens. I’m channeling my inner beach bum.

Farewell.

I hope you enjoyed the art, and I’m grateful for the time and effort spent reading this. (Virtually none, but that’s beside the point). I hope this week meets you with tropical weather and tropical attitudes. Sayonara, dudes.