Sketchy Thoughts | June 24, 2026
Documenting the week of June 17-23
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Sketchy Thoughts | June 24, 2026
Documenting the week of June 17-23
Sometimes we have to step outside of our comfort zone to put things into perspective. It is easy to find a rhythm that best suites us in stability. Once the engine is warm enough it basically shifts into autopilot. Though I prefer a smooth run, the process of learning requires us to push ourselves into new places and try new things. They do not always work out but we learn and grow through the events that unfold.
This week is heavily centered around using that perspective and working our way through the ruff patches and challenges it can generate.
Daily Art | June 17-23
Sometimes you wanna draw a head on a table. We have all been there, right? This is loosely inspired by a combo of “THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE” and Professor Orloff from the Netflix series “WEDNESDAY”. Throw in a bit of Bobby Hill and we have wrapped that up nicely.
Now that we have something started on the page its probably a good time to reevaluate what exactly we have, uh-hum, “a head” of us. In the previous steps I actually broke out the ruler to work on the table. This is something i rarely do but that set the tone for what would come next. No one wants to be left out in the elements so we are going to build a room around our stationary friend.
Establishing the lines and filling in the first wall was extremely time consuming. After stepping away for the evening the second wall was next. No one said this would be quick and painless, right?
Well, if we are going to follow the standard horror themed format, we have to have a lightning storm in progress. It is basically the trigger that signals all of the following events to unfold. Oh, by the way, we found a body!
There was a moment I thought this might be lost. It is hard to explain but it suddenly morphed into an absolute mess and nothing about the body shapes made sense anymore. Times like this are typically when someone can get frustrated and toss the whole thing in the wash. It feels terrible. The choice is ours. Abandon ship or keep sailing. The reward for digging yourself out is very satisfying. The dread of walking away feels the same at any stage so lets see what happens if we continue to scratch around a bit. Turns out, we found the way! That was a fun and uncomfortable segment. We kept our cool and forged, uh-hum, “a head”…
Now let’s get back into building this room. My first thought was to have large hand, perhaps with a knife, moving into frame but that would require some real time gore elements. They would fit. Certainly so but we can save that for another day. It is not exactly what I am feeling at this point. In place of blood splatter or some sinister element in motion, the perspective work was really keeping my attention so the decision to install a nice wood floor may be they way forward.
This was another moment that I almost lost the way. After all of this, will the floor installation be the thing that sends me to bed in disgrace? Let’s keep at it! There is a lot to do and a long way to get through it. Things can shift for the best as easily as they can go bad.
I was really looking forward to working on the flooring shades, lines, dots and dashes or whatever else may happen. It was a bit therapeutic, actually. After getting through the moments of stress and struggle in certain sections, getting to wrap this piece up with some filler was a nice treat for setting the mind at ease.
After tackling the perspective challenge over the last few days, it felt like a good idea to hit the cruise control for the next piece. Nothing in mind. Just ink on paper and see where it goes. Using that therapeutic burst from the closing of the previous work was exactly where I was headed. Scratch around a little. Maybe something messy will happen to remind us that it’s all about having fun.
This was a lot of fun. After a touch of simple circles and blobs, the crackle came back into the fold. Clearly it has made an impression on me. A piece like this would be fun to pass off to a kid with some crayons. Perhaps I am that kid!
LearnToDrawTogether Sunday Challenge | June 20, 2026 “Cats vs Dogs”
This week we were challenged to choose between cats and dogs or both. Though it was likely intended to push us into a more realistic work, it was irresistible to take the opportunity to sketch Scooby and Scrappy. It’s possible Scrappy may have been stung by a bee. Haha!
It’s funny to draw combination characters. Twice I have found myself struggling to keep them in relative condition. Size, angle, whatever. This should become a new task to work on periodically as we continue moving forward. A new hill to climb. A new challenge to accept. The next page awaits us and it does not care what muse we choose. In the famous words of Scrappy, “Let me at’em Uncle Scoob’!”
SketchDaily Challenges | Month 17-23
Until next week, take the lobster by the claw!
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…is this the end?