Cat thing

Another one drawn in pencil with digital color added.

Another monster

Here's another monster. This one is more bashful and awkward.

Girl holding a bunny

I did this one in pencil with digital color also. I don't really have a story behind it.

Monster

I've created a monster!

(specifically, I've drawn him using a graphite pencil and colored him in Photoshop)

Crumpled

There were some cool crumpled paper textures in a Macy's catalog we got recently. I used one as inspiration for this drawing, which was done with prismacolor pencils.

Dancing

This dancing woman was brought to you with the assistance of in-house art director Sean, who helped with the background and framing decisions.

Watering

Today's offering is a woman watering. This seems like it would probably be a very inefficient way to water a large hilly lawn. Maybe I'll put a few seedlings in that lower right corner.

Skating

Here's an ice skating little boy. It's based on a sketch I did a long time ago. I actually ended up making a felt version of him as well. I'll post that on another day.

Amy Winehouse

This is a sketch I did of Amy Winehouse. It didn't end up looking exactly like her, but I kind of like how it turned out.

Karen O

This is a portrait of the famously flamboyant Karen O (aka. Karen Lee Orzolek), fellow hapa and lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

A sketch of Michael Sheen

Today's post is a sketch I did of Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in last year's Frost/Nixon. It was from a series of photos in Esquire in which he is styled in a very exaggerated way and embodies a lot of different looks. This crazy and disheveled one appealed to me as a drawing subject.

Whale

I've always really liked whales, though the idea of actually swimming around in the ocean with them scares me. This one looks friendly.

Here's another dog

He's a maniac, maniac...

A pencil sketch with some digital color, posted with fewer than ten minutes to spare.

Illustration Friday - unfold

Robot Robert was very happy when he got the chance to climb out of his box and unfold his long limbs.

Another Shorpy sketch

This face was inspired by one that I saw on Shorpy.

Getty Arm

This is another sketch that I drew while I was sketching at the Getty with Sean a couple of weekends ago. I really enjoyed working with colored pencil and I don't think I do it often enough.

Dog!

This is a sketch I drew from a magazine photo. I thought he had a charming face.

Mt. Tam

This is a sketch of Mt. Tamalpais, the beloved mountain in Mill Valley. This view is from my parents' deck.

Fuzzy bandmate

This post is of a bandmate of the guy I drew in this post. Whereas the first prompt was "fuzzy music" this character's was "squishy." I drew it in pencil and added some color in Photoshop.

Detail

I almost forgot to post today! I have only minutes to spare. Today's post is a detail of an image for a project I'm working on. I sketched it out and then drew it in Illustrator.

Wallpaper

Today I designed a wallpaper/desktop in Illustrator. It's 1152 x 864, which is my default proportion but may not work for you depending on what your display size is. You can click on the image to download the desktop for yourself, but if you want it in a different size just let me know. (Click on the image, then save it, then apply it as your desktop.)

Beach Day

I drew this up in Painter based on a sketch I found that I'd drawn years ago. Click to see a more detailed texture.

Another prom portrait

This was from the same prom photo series as the sketch I posted a few days ago.

Snow boy

Craving (Illustration Friday)

This week's Illustration Friday theme was "craving." This little character is sort of an alter ego for my younger self. I am slightly obsessed with avocados and this image is sort of a fantasy :). I am in a state of near-constant avocado craving.

Still Life

I don't think I'm going to have time to create a new post today, so this is a section of a watercolor I painted a rather long time ago.

Bride's Brain

Jenn commissioned me to create a graphic for her blog, A Bride's Brain. We're still working out the type design, but here's the stylized image I created of her.

Swimming with Jellyfish

I drew this in pen on regular printer paper a long time ago and have now created a colored version using Photoshop. You can click the image to see more detail. The swimsuit is loosely based on one I had when I was little.

Deep bodies of water and underwater creatures both scare and fascinate me. I highly recommend the documentary film Deep Blue. (Note: this is NOT to be confused with Deep Blue Sea, one of the worst movies I've ever watched all the way through.)

The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

This is another assignment that Sean gave me. I sketched it out awhile ago and created a digital painting of it tonight in Painter X.

For those of you who might not know this, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is a pangram, or a phrase that contains all of the letters in the English alphabet. This is why it's often used to display fonts. Pangrams are also referred to as holoalphabetic sentences. An alternate version is "The quick fox jumps over the lazy brown dog," which actually makes more sense, since foxes tend to be reddish and dogs are often brown.

Other pangrams include:
Two driven jocks help fax my big quiz.
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
A very bad quack might jinx zippy fowls.
Kvetching, flummoxed by job, W. zaps Iraq.
Watch Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game.
Wolf zombies quickly spot the jinxed grave.
My girl wove six dozen plaid jackets before she quit.

Family Blog Love and a Cupcake

My mom, the very talented Ellen Blonder, has just started a blog of her own! Click here to check it out!

Because it's Monday, and on Mondays everyone could use a cupcake, here's a chocolate cupcake topped with a pile of vegan chocolate buttercream frosting and some yummy sprinkles. Email me if you want a copy of the recipes!