Wedding Invite! Bad Drawings #101 - #135!!!

Finally! Okay so it's now uploaded... And full of bad drawings. 35 to be exact!



All the drawings are mine, but it was Ar who colored them... So yeah... I can't begin to cut into it... there's just too many. But there ya go, 35 at one time! Bad Drawings #101 - #135!!

Bad Drawing #99 - "Wedding Character Designs That Never Were"

So I finished the drawings for the wedding invite last week, and will post something about all those soon. I guess it will fall under the "100th Bad Drawing!" milestone (or "Milly stoe nay" as I like to pronounce it)

Until I get to all that, here is a quick doodle I did at my desk today for shits and giggles. I was thinking back on what I had done for the invite, and thought that overall it was way too complicated for my drawing capabilities, and therefore the characters ended up looking like they came from a Vancouver film school animation project.

 So I tried to do the drawings super loose and shitty, and came up with this:

So looking back at what I've done, vs. what I could have done, this loose version probably would have taken a lot less time, and I wouldn't feel the need to make excuses for the shitty drawings in the final project... cuz they would be purposefully shitty.

Oh well.

 I probably would have over thought it any way and ended up with the same VFS looking project in the end.

Bad Drawing #99 - "Wedding Character Designs That Never Were"

Bad Drawing Update!

I've been crazy busy trying to get this wedding invite done, and will soon update with some more bad drawings, but for now, here is a nice little preview of what's to come...

I had to take individual photos of the drawings to use as place holders in my video edit while my Girlfriend, Arlyn, colors them... So much work... so many bad drawings.

CARDED at the Gallery Gachet!

So "A Million Bad Drawings" has finally broken into the art world. Last Saturday night at the "Gallery Gachet", Lot-O-Bots made it's way around a crowd, being traded for what I can only assume were broken dreams, wads of cash, or "You take this crap robot one, and I'll let you punch me in the cock".

Wow... Made it into print! it's like a real blog now.

So as you walk into the gallery all the cards are displayed, front and back, in clip frames along the walls. You can use these pieces as a guide to what cards are available for trade. It's also good to check out competition, or if you didn't get in, to say "WTF? THIS got in and I didn't?!?"

If you follow the giant pink arrow, you will find a furry pink box that you can jam your fist into and pull out a pack of cards.... and only for 5 dollars. That's a pretty good deal considering the part of town this show is in - most of the other furry box's you can reach into for 5 bucks will just get you AIDS.

Don't be shy! Get your whole arm in there buddy!

Vancouver's artsy crowd...

My parents came out to the show to check out my piece. I pretty much guilted them into it. They spent all that cash on my art classes when I was a kid, they should get some pay off. 

Mika doing some trading...

So my card wasn't the ONLY piece of brilliance that night... I had a few friends who were at the show as well, being awesome artists, as usual.

Jenn Brisson and Indy Astete piece! (I have TONS of Jenn Art around the apartment...)

Megz Majewski! (As well as Megz art...)

Peter Ricq! (We have two originals of this guy's stuff on our walls)

I don't know this guy... but I like the art...

And so the first ever art show "A Million Bad Drawings" took place in, happened. Now back to sketching. I still haven't hit the first 100 bad drawings after all...

look at those arty hands... like I never worked a hard day of manual labour in my life.

-EL

An honest to goodness Artist?!?! LOT-O-BOTS! Bad Drawing #96

So there's there's this art show in town called "Carded" where artists submit their work and, if chosen, their work is turned into a cool little trading card. The idea is that you go to the show - whatever night it is - and buy a pack of random cards for 5 bucks. You then walk around the show and trade cards with people... collecting the ones you want.

The people who put this show on do a similar show called "Hot One Inch Action" which is the same idea as "Carded" but with little 1 inch buttons. When Arlyn, Mika and I checked out the button show a few months ago, I thought it was a pretty good time and figured I would attempt to put art in on the next show.

Well the next show turned out to be this "Carded" show. I knew about it a month before the deadline, but I didn't actually sit down and draw anything until the last day (I'm lazy like that). The day before it was due I was sitting in a meeting, remembered the deadline, and I just started doodling in my sketchbook. I liked the doodle enough that I took a pic and sent it in. I actually tried to get Arlyn to color it for me, but she thought it looked fine black and white.

Well success! 150 people submitted, but "Lot-O-Bots" was one of the 50 to get in!

Take that you THREADLESS jerks.

Anyway, My ego is now through the roof, and will probably remain that way until the night of the show when I hear people walking around asking "Will you trade ANYTHING for this stupid robot shit card?"

My first official art show drawing outside of Highschool... "LOT-O-BOTS! - Bad Drawing #96

Check out http://hotartcard.com/  for more info on show night!

Kick Ball - Wedding W.I.P. Bad Drawing #94!

I came across this vid today, and while I'm not a fan of the song, I quite like this guys illustrative storytelling.

What I'm working on right now is a drawing based story, and I could only wish my drawings were as expressive as his. I kind of lose it on the expression bit.



I haven't exactly been updating like I said I would. I will tomorrow for sure. For now, here's just a small, shitty sketch I quickly did in my notebook that is part of a bigger drawing I will put up tomorrow.

It's a scene where I kicked a nerf ball into my GF's face.

Bad Drawing 94.


*As an aside, I'm getting grief about not updating with the sketch-a-day book I got from Jenn and Teen last year... I will start updating those to... soon.

So lazy.

Back to the BAD!... Bad Drawing #92 and #93

Welp, I took a little break from drawing... mostly out of anxiety over having to draw mine and Ar's wedding invite. However, pressure from the lady - and time running out - has forced me to pick up the pencil again.

THIS time, I'm going to actually put the project up in progress, drawing by drawing, until it's finished. God help me. I'm not a good cartoonist. I'm trying though... GET OFF MY BACK!

The previous project to this wedding one was a Christmas gift for my friends. I'm slowly going to leak pictures from that little project as well, starting today.

Now, last post (DECEMBER) I put up a single image from that Christmas project, Bad Drawing #91... Well in the final project it was colored... so I figured I would just throw that up!

That was colored by Arlyn, who the girl in the pic is supposed to represent...

This image is ALSO from that same project... Bad Drawing #92 - Myself, Hurley and Boomer.

Also colored by Arlyn, this is a point in the poem where I am looking out the window with our two dogs, Hurley and Boomer, who are Boston Terriers (they have been represented on this blog many times)

Am I happy with these drawings? Ehhhhh.... not really. I definitely don't hate them, and I wasn't too embarrassed to put them in the book and give as a gift.

So the deal is, the wedding invite I'm doing is also being done in this style. Since I'm not 100% happy with the style, especially the way I draw Arlyn, I figure I've got to figure out a better way to capture her on paper before I get fully going on the invite.

This was another of my attempts... unfortunately she looks 12. Bad Drawing #93 - Arlyn: 30+ going on 12.

I'll get it figured out! I have to.

Tomorrow I go pick up a sketchbook to get started. Funz.

Hey so how many more til a million?

Sour Arlyn... Bad Drawing #91!!!

I have this HUGE wedding project coming up, and it requires a LOT of drawing. A LOT. The worst bit is, I have to draw myself and Arlyn.

I've never been a good cartoonist. In fact, even when I DID excel at art (grade 12) it wasn't cartooning.

This wedding project is all about tooning things up. Luckily, before I even get at the wedding project, I have one other project that also requires tooning.

So here's one of the drawings from said project...

Not bad, not great. The nice thing is, I can SEE where the problems are, and I kinda see how to fix them. Too bad I can't fix that it looks REALLY film school... it's just where my skill set is at right now.

When this project is complete, I will put all the final drawings up on here, and explain how they all work together. The crazy thing about this last project, and the future wedding project, is my style keeps changing from drawing to drawing. I keep changing how I draw Arlyn and I.

I hope this little project that I'm just finishing up here on will be a good warm up for the wedding one... Hope...

Bad Drawing #91 - Sour Arlyn Knitting

SUGAR SKULL PAINT JOB! Bad Drawing #89 and #90!!!

Well I'm back from Mexico, and in full-on creative mode. I've been editing my friends wedding footage like a mad man, and starting on a few other projects. One of these new projects is likely going to be the most time consuming drawing job I'll ever have, and won't be able to reveal til January (where I will rip it apart in my own self-loathing way).

In the mean time I will actually try and put up other stuff I'm doodling away at, in a sad attempt to sharpen my skills...

Anyway... This isn't so much a doodle, but while in Mexico I did do a little art project. I'm actually sorta happy with this (which is rare) so I decided to throw it up on the blog

I'm a HUGE tattoo fan. I've got a couple myself, and more planned for the future (when I'm super wealthy and can afford it). One of the tattoos I would like to get would incorporate Mexican Sugar Skulls. I've been into the design of these skulls for quite a few years, so when I ended up in Mexico for the first time last year, I hunted one down to take home.

See the little floaty skulls? yeah, like that

You can find porcelain sugar skulls in pretty much any shop in Mexico. However, I was a little disappointed with the designs. I was so used to seeing them in tattoos, I guess I sort of expected to see designs closer to what tattoo artists were doing here in North America. Not quite.

This is the one I eventually picked up...

Yeah, I liked it, but not really what I was looking for.

So this year, when we went to Mexico, I decided to try again, and again I found more of the same so-so designs... not quite what I was looking for.

However, at the resort we were staying in, you could paint your OWN pottery, and THEY had skulls as an option. Arlyn suggested we do that rather than buy a finished skull. I agreed. I decided to to sketch out my design the night before, and then Ar and I would go down and paint our own sugar skulls.

This was my design...

These were Arlyn's...

When we got to the table to paint our skulls, Arlyn changed her mind and decided to paint a fish. We sat at our table and got to work. I should also mention we decided to do this THE MORNING WE WERE LEAVING. This made the whole painting experience super stressful. I was swearing like a sailor the entire time... sitting next to a 7 year old girl (who didn't seem to mind the swearing, and instead just stared as I shakily painted a rose on mine)

There were guidelines already drawn on the skull that I didn't want to use, so they had to be painted over first. I felt rushed and stressed out, but I eventually finished. Arlyn and I left our skulls with the guy running the stand so he could add little details, and then varnish. This was really cool as the brushes we had were thick and unruly... and my hands were shaking the whole time. Stress.

Here's the guy touching up Ar's fish

When we came back after packing up our hotel room, and having our last lunch buffet, our art was done! Actually, I shouldn't say done, as the varnish wasn't dry yet. But they now had their little, fine line details, and slightly cleaner lines.

Ar's fish had new little details (which you can kind of see in this pic... little green spots, some black line touches)

Mine had little lines added to the green leaves (the little light green flecks) and the lines on the teeth (not sure I would have done that... but still looked cool)

We were worried about the pieces not being dry yet, so I went to the resort gift shop to see if they had a cardboard box. Like a bull in a china shop, I smashed into one of the gift shop shelves and smashed a painted porcelain plate of some sort. It was actually because I stumbled on something they had left on the floor behind me, but they made me pay for it. It was only 4 bucks, but whatever. I destroyed someone elses painted work while looking to protect mine. Awesome.

'

They gave me a receipt... souvenir

Anyways, we spent the entire bus ride to the airport trying to air out our pieces, and then mad the plane smell like varnish, but the pieces made it home alive.

Long story... long, that's how I now have Bad Drawing #89 and #90! "Skully McSugarVarnish"

UPDATED! Graffiti Request... Bad Drawing #78, 79, 80!!

As I was toiling away on my Thomas the Tank Engine editing, I got this message through our inter-office chat system...

(2:37 PM) Arlyn Bantog: Nana was asking if we knew anyone that can do graffiti

I thought a brief moment, then responded.

(2:37 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: nope... What does she want?

I wasn't getting an answer, so as I was now distracted from work anyways, I opened up MS Paint and got to work... as I worked, Arlyn responded.

(2:41 PM) Arlyn Bantog: a painting for Jode's birthday
(2:41 PM) Arlyn Bantog: i said either one of us could probably do it depending on what she had in mind
(2:41 PM) Arlyn Bantog: so she's getting pictures together
(2:41 PM) Arlyn Bantog: it could be a case of photoshop and print on canvas

(2:43 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: you can send her this...

I laughed at her response.

(2:43 PM) Arlyn Bantog: did you just make that now?
(2:45 PM) Arlyn Bantog: haha
(2:45 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: no I had it on my desk top for months... heh
(2:45 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: just waiting... and waiting... for you to ask
(2:45 PM) Arlyn Bantog: that's amazing
(2:45 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: thnx
(2:46 PM) Arlyn Bantog: i'm emailing it to her

(2:53 PM) Arlyn Bantog: your bubble letters are so 1988
(2:54 PM) Ellery_Vandooyeweert: I know, eh! You know why? 'Cuz in Grade 7 I was EXTREMELY Jealous that girls in my class could do them so well, that I spent hours trying to learn....
(2:55 PM) Arlyn Bantog: bubble letter envy.... i remember that feeling

Later, Arlyn got this response from Nana...

Thanks for the graffiti Ellery, I was considering something to do with final fantasy that he plays CONSTANTLY...hes got a character or whatever you call them and i was sort of thinking of that character in a graffiti art setting...its really hard to explain and it doesn't have to be EXOTIC...i don't know anything about gaming so i cant ask him anything else as I just texted him and asked him what his game was...i wouldn't even know how to get to his game although I know his character wears a hoodie... I really don't know what it is this is getting so confusing...i thought about a med/small in whatever medium...need to know the cost as well. materials and artistic compensation. xoxo i have been looking online and there's too much, but if i come up with a style? xoxo

I knew from that e-mail EXACTLY what she was wanting.




*Update.

Apparently Nana took a Banksy book out of the library and said she would mark out what stuff she liked as a guide what to do... I'm not sure how Banksy's art would work with Jode and his obsession with hooded characters in Final Fantasy...

Before she could send me anything I took some initiative on my own...



You may now all exit through the gift shop....

Bad Drawing #77! Valentine's Day Robot!

Okay, so this is REALLY reaching counting this as a drawing, but hey, if someone asked "can you draw me a robot?" and I drew this, then it would count. So here it is, Bad Drawing #77!


I did this at Boston Pizza. At BP they have these hearts you can buy for a dollar and then write whatever you want on them. I was eating at BP the night before Valentine's Day and decided to buy one. It's for charity you know...

BTW, I'm "Rutty", "Peanut" is Arlyn's nickname.

I didn't just get her a 1 dollar Boston Pizza heart though, I also got her this monster named Wayne...



Wayne has 4 roses, cuz I gave Ar a rose just before valentines 4 years ago in my attempt to woo her (didn't work... at least not right away) and then added one every Valentines since.This seems a fine idea now, but I can see it backfiring in 20, 30 years...

TAKE THAT, SKULL! Bad Drawing #76!

Arlyn bought these little pot/egg things at Ikea the other day for 5 bucks. They fit together like those russian doll toys... the ones that fit one into the other... yeah those.

Anyways, she bought them saying "We can paint them like sugar skulls!".

So while at work yesterday, I kinda sketched out how that might look... and then for no other reason other than I love Ewoks, I drew an ewok poking it with a spear.

"Ewok Poking Skull"! Bad Drawing #76!!!

Another Bad Project - Pay it Forward 2011! *aw crap*

Around the beginning of this year, this messaged popped up on a couple of friends Facebook status:

First Five - Let's hear it:Pay it Forward 2011~

I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here~ They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status~

~The rules are that it must be handmade... by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime .........in 2011~

Well this just seemed an awesome opportunity to get some free stuff from people who I think make awesome art.

The only problem is, by jumping in and commenting, I'm left having to make 5 people something handmade.

Well I did it anyways, I commented both on Meeka Stuart's and Karen Francis's status, and then reposted the message as my own status.

I'm not entirely sure WHO I have to do stuff for, I have a rough idea. I THINK my list is:

Meeka Stuart

Well she sent me stuff, so it's only fair I send something to her... but what?

Charlene Havelchuk

Charlene wrote this on my status:

I officially comment!

I retract my comment? I realized I can't make anything hand made that's actually cool.

Okay, yeah I guess cookies are home/handmade. Ok you can count me in again. But I warn you, my oven has a hotspot and don't blame me if they're a little too crispy.

So I guess she is in... Not sure I saw her repost the Pay it Forward though...

Geoff Manson (maybe?)

Geoff wrote this on my status:

Can it be a print of a personalized digital painting? Last time I made anything with my hands was when I did cross-stitch as a kid, and no one wants THAT.

So I don't know if he is in... I guess?

Karen Francis (maybe? cuz I clicked on hers?)

I'm not sure I have to send her something just cuz I commented on her status...

Anyways, I will figure out something to do for all of them, I suppose, and post it up on here when finished. However, the real point of this post is that my Pay it Forward from Meeka Stuart already arrived!



The Sock Monkey is for me, the little red guy went to Mika, and the gnome was claimed by Arlyn.


The Sock Monkey has a "Rutty" tattoo (which is my sometimes nickname). It is awesome and my first sock monkey.

A.... Horse? Bad Drawing #41!!!

6...7 (?) years ago I worked on Dreamworks Animation's "Spirit: Stallion of the Cinnaron" as an assistant animator. For a year straight I drew that damn horse in every position imaginable.

That sounds perverted.

Anyways, last night Arlyn, Mika and I went to Montana's with my parents for my mother's birthday. As is always the case at Montana's, we had a paper table cloth and crayons to draw with.

I decided to draw a horse.


I have no idea what happened. I assumed I could remember what a horse looked like, how its head is structured, but as I put crayon to tablecloth, I drew a blank.

Even as I lied to myself and told myself "Self, that's gotta be sorta close..." I knew it was bad - nay, Terrible. (ha... "nay")

I looked up Spirit when I got home.


Ouch.

Well whatever. I'm not a 14 year old girl! I'm not just supposed to know what a horse looks like.

I'll do better.

Snake Eyes Doll by P-Nut Gallery! (Based on Bad Drawing #16)

So, Arlyn of "The P-Nut Gallery" has finished the first of two dolls for friends of mine from Calgary. Both these childhood pals recently had younglings, and I thought it would be cool if Arlyn could make them dolls of their favorite G.I.JOE characters.



CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL POSTING!

This is "Snake Eyes" for little John Swingler.



You can check out more P-Nut Gallery HERE.

Next up, STORM SHADOW!

A Bad From the PAST! Drawing #23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 - HANDS!

A while back, Ar and I got all inspired to start drawing more, and challenged each other with weekly assignments. Week #1 was "HANDS". We got super excited, bought sketchbooks, erasers, pencils, and then sat on the couch every night that week, drawing away...

My shading isn't the best, but I held my hand out in front of me, and went for it.



No, these are not a girls hands. These are hands that never work hard labor.




Yes, I did a shocker pose. I'm 13.

Never got around to a "week 2" assignment. We got inspired to watch Veronica Mars on DVD instead.

Pumpkins! Drawing #20, 21, 22,

Okay so they're not exactly "DRAWINGS" in the traditional sense, but they started out as drawings... these would just be the final renderings...



This would be the first pumpkin of the year, and the second pumpkin I've ever carved. It's also the only pumpkin where I took a picture of the original drawing.



And here it is, lit up, with Arlyn and Mika's pumpkins... pretty sweet.



This is the "Jenn Taylor" Pumpkin and next to it is the "Teen Chan" Pumpkin. Jenn and Teen are in Singapore, and pumpkins cost about 30 bucks there, so Arlyn and I carved a couple for them. I did the worried Taylor pumpkin, Arlyn did the Happy Teen pumpkin.



The final pumpkin I did for the year was for a Monster Factory competition. Monster Factory is a Toronto based company that makes wicked monsters.



You can check out their monsters at www.monsterfactory.net. I recently bought one for Arlyn for our 3 year anniversary... pretty awesome.



But back on topic...

So Monster Factory had a competition to make a monster pumpkin - bonus points if you did a design with one of their monsters. I chose to do EMMIT.



This was the final design...








Next post... some truly, TRULY bad drawings... ones that will live up to this blog's title.

UPDATE

So turns out I won the Monster Factory contest!

"And
the winner of the Monster Pumpkin Carving Contest is Ellery
VanDooyeweert! Ellery's incredible Emmitt pumpkin, with its light-up
tattoos, really impressed us. But we also fell in love with all the
many other great monster pumpkin entries! Thanks to everyone who
entered for getting so creative for this contest. Hope... you had a fun and festive (and spooky) Halloween!"

These two monsters will be coming in the mail soon...



Well then... Maybe "A Million Bad Drawings" will have to enter MORE CONTESTS!!!