Sketchy Thoughts | June 17, 2026

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Sketchy Thoughts | June 17, 2026
Documenting the week of June 10-16

It’s been a rough week out there for the unsuspecting. The poor pig has possibly seen its last beautiful day. As I see it lying on the green grass, with its cotton spilling out, the understanding that we are all destined for great things comes to mind. Be that in the waking world, behind the veil of sleep or the great beyond. While we are sharing this moment, let us also create and be at peace with whatever situations may stand before us.

 

Perhaps its the documentaries in my cue while sketching or some other pull of the cycles of earth, I have really been focused in thought about the way the universe is constantly swirling, and, though we feel that we are in someway the center of it, we are also hurling at an amazingly fast pace through this wild circulation of events. Where the evenings longer somehow? The builders of pyramids realized that during the day they had to utilize other means. How they mapped the stars is absolutely amazing to me. Their process all started with a single stone.

When we think about the fact that they utilized half of what we consider a 24 hour cycle to map the skies, it feels as though something must have reached out from the universe to assist. Be that an overlooking entity or some divine signal to connect to this beautiful world we walk upon. After all, the stars only share their time with us when the sun has set.

I can’t begin to believe that we are at the height of civilization when there are such astronomical achievements we are failing to decode. Monuments built that we can see, touch and reflect on. Yet we know so little of what they truly mean. Perhaps there was a tragedy from the heavens that we experienced. A striking down from the gods as punishment for our ignorant disgrace of our gift of life. Perhaps it was humanity’s own doing by not obeying the laws of nature. If that was indeed, the case who is to say that it wasn’t another touch of divine intervention? Perhaps what we know of as the heavens decided to place a burden upon us that was only survived by a few. The few who refused to tell the story in fear of somehow further igniting the wrath of the skies.

For those who may have survived, did we hear the warning of the gods? Did the universe speak to us and deliver its divine plan for our future? We may have all of the evidence in front of us and yet not understand how to decode it. Was it brought by something that we would represent as aliens or some other force that is beyond our intelligence? That is a possibility or perhaps we are an evolution of such. We might even say that we are a Devolution of such in our current state. Do we uphold the traditions of our elders? Have we forgotten them?

Whatever the reason for it all, we get to share in this moment. I recently heard the archeologist, Graham Hancock, say that to be born once is as much of a miracle as it would be to be reborn again. Let us take a moment to reflect on the beauty of what surrounds and continue to build in a way that helps those around us. Helps us to find peace within was a continuation of effort. Mine is a continued effort to embrace the darkness. Not only in concept, but in ink.

Continuing the theme of the universe and darkness, the idea of a melting planet or sun dripping over itself was the general concept where this began. A way for that darkness to contrast with light. I wanted to make something a little bit more psychedelic out of it, but wasn’t exactly sure where it was gonna go in the initial stage. Working on some hatching and some other pieces of crackle, this was starting to shape up. I really like the way these mountainous sections look sad with the dripping straight lines. I purposely left them as minimal as possible.

Watched another documentary about how our planet is constantly surrounded by objects that could potentially create an impact. It seemed like an interesting way to continue this workflow. Something we do not think about very often is how easily and quickly this could all end for everyone. We are all floating in a fragile universe of harmony. Don’t disturb the water, right? The idea that an outside force beyond our control could step into the equation at any moment without our ability to stop it is inevitable and has happened in the past.

So how exactly did mankind map the stars? So many questions of how, who, why? What purpose did it serve them in signaling toward and building earthly symbols of the sky? Humanity, in an analog state, found a way to look above ourselves and connect to the unknown. With only the tools that we walk upon in our landscapes, they spent an unimaginable amount of time to map and mimic the above. If you think about anything that’s happened in your lifetime, if you took away electricity would it cease to exist? Would it be wiped away in an instant? The monuments that were built before us still speak from a distant times. Times of the ancients trying to understand. Now mankind tries to understand their cycle unending.

So here we have a representation in stone showcasing the movements of a universe. Today this sits among something far beyond our ability to understand. Our connection to the universe. Something so vast we will never see the end of it in our personal lives. Something we cannot touch yet it surrounds us at all times. Perhaps the obelisk will be the explanation to a future generation. Somehow, I do not see a digital landscape moving forward into the far far reaches and distance. What does that mean for us? Again, when we take electricity out of our equation, we basically revert back hundreds of years. Suddenly, the great things that we have witnesses in our lifetime simply vanish and the remnants of what’s left are rendered useless.

 

This week we were challenged to make a bookmark! Great task, in my opinion. Something we could likely pull from the sketching world and drag into our physical realm. A gift for friends and family or perhaps a personal memento that we can look upon and smile every time we turn a new page.

This concept of the sun and moon immediately came to mind. A fun concept that the possessor of the bookmark gets to utilize it to match their emotion. How did that last chapter make you feel? If given the option to include color, i would imagine a black edge with a dark silver blending toward a bright yellow. Perhaps Black/Yellow combo with Silver ink.

It may be a signal from the universe to dig back into that long lasting interest in screen-printing.

 

Fish Fingers and the Free Draw Friday addition were certainly my favorites for the week. The skull is always a good task and can be useful in the bag of tricks! The ant perspective was interesting. It was also the one that required the most contemplation before committing to the work.

Shark Week was killer! (No pun intended) and reminded me that lettering needs to make its way up my list of important tasks. Cobra Commander was an exciting nostalgic challenge and may revisit it later. A few things jumped out to me when attempting to work on it but time was limited. As previously noted, most of these are sketched in under 10 minutes per my morning routine before leaving for work.

Speaking of, we closed out with office pranks and it made me laugh! There were a few solid submissions for that day.

 

…is this the end?

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