Sketchbook – Page 46

SKETCH EVERYTHING IN SIGHT

Monday, September 10, 2007

Advice from Frank King in the 1926 book HOW TO DRAW CARTOONS by Clare Briggs:

“There is one thing I tell students who want advice about cartooning; that is, to carry a paper pad and a pencil and make sketches of everything—people in every attitude, chairs, animals, boats, buildings, automobiles—literally everything. Make hundreds and thousands of them. It will help in every way when they get to doing cartoons. If persisted in they can build a fine foundation for any sort of cartooning they undertake. The beginners will find themselves becoming skillful at suggesting a face or an attitude directly and simply. They will forget all the sketches of things they have made, but they will find many of them coming back when they need them. Get some fun out of it and the beginner improves rapidly.My advice to the beginner or the advanced student—sketch everything in sight.”

THE TINY SCRIBBLES THAT NOBODY MENTIONS

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Why post only the good stuff? Why not post the crappy little doodles that make up the majority of a sketchbook?

Today I started my new job (!!!) as Electronic Publishing Specialist for UT’s Law school. (That’s a fancy title for web designer.) It’s a great gig, everybody in the department is awesome, and I’m genuinely excited about it. I’ll be doing most of my work under the webmaster, a guy named Adam Norwood. Adam is a really talented designer, artist, and great guy, and his site is worth checking out. He’s a lot better at the technical web stuff than I am, so I think I’ll be able to learn a lot from him.

The only bummer today was sitting through UT’s 4 hour orientation session. Like I told my new bosses, it was “15 minutes of readin’, 4 hours of sittin’.” Luckily, they provided free ~~stationary~~ stationery:

It feels so good to have a job…

BETSY 2 LIVES!!

Monday, August 6, 2007

My car is sitting in a tow yard in south Austin. The side of the driver’s window is messed up from the break-in, the ignition has been torn out, and the windshield looks like somebody threw a bottle at it. The thieves ate our Chex-Mix, took our Ipod adapter, but left our cowboy hats, umbrellas, and flip-flops. They took it for a 100-mile joyride (I know, because I had just got gas, and flipped the odometer) and dumped it in a parking lot.

Tommy-the-Tow-Guy and I, we put in the clutch, stuck a screwdriver in the ignition, and she fired up like nothing happened. It’s totally drivable, but we have to get the insurance company out to assess the damage before we can drive off with it and get it repaired.

So add this to the news that as of tomorrow, I will probably be employed, Meg and I are very happy. Here’s what I doodled last night, thinking I’d never see her again:

Even taking into account the car theft, we’re having a really fabulous time in Austin. Here’s the sunset over Lake Travis that we got to see last night: