Sketchy Thoughts | November 4, 2026

November 11, 2026

Explore daily comics, hatching practice, ballpoint sketches and other drawing challenges. Halloween horror, and our ongoing adventures in art are all here!

Substack: https://monumentsinruin.substack.com

Sketchy Thoughts | November 4, 2026
Documenting the week of Oct 28 - Nov 3

It feels like we have a lot to cover in this weeks edition. Halloween jams, comic ideas, creative selfies and colorful skies. Not to mention a birthday note and some new elements in our daily art universe. Let’s get into it!

Daily Art | Oct 28 - Nov 3

This is slightly out of place but there is an explanation. When I woke up to start my daily sketch before work, the prompt had not been updated. I took a minute to investigate elsewhere and found the Drawlloween prompt for that day was “Creature in the Isle Seat” (which you will see in the Sketchy Daily section further below.)

Later that evening I decided to check back in to see if things were up to date and noticed it was now listed. “Trophy” or the alternate theme from the Birdtober list “Bearded Vulture”. Oh no… Wrong prompt! haha!

Ladies and gentlemen, if you will direct our attention below, I present to you the Bearded Vulture.

With the Halloween prompts in our rearview mirror, it was fun to spend the evening with the ballpoint pen. The next two pieces are simply, fun, and felt very low pressure. Instead of starting a new page I used up some blank space on this week sketch daily page.

This poor creature felt lackluster to me. It seemed like a healthy task to jump over to this side of that same page and clean up some of the landscape below it. Can’t have it standing on an unstable surface. Remember last week when I discussed a deep focus on hatching? That is starting to find presence in the works now.

This is new and it is really fun! Sadly, I can not remember the woman to credit who shared this idea via Substack. At the time I felt so excited and inspired by their concept that my mind simply drifted into creative mode without my following or making note of their page to share later. She sketches a panel or two from her day every evening. No pressure, simple, no rules and basically go for it! My mind was immediately on fire to try this. Can I work it into my routine? Can i sketch every day plus work on real life comic panels too? Well, the answer to that is no. It will likely be one, the other or one within the other somehow. Still, I plan to try finding a balance, shuffle it around or find my way through it in some way.

Comic 1: When Pig Flies (and yes, it does share elements of Pink Floyds Animals album cover!)

Pink Floyd - Animals (1977) / Cover designed by Storm Thorgerson, Concept by Roger Waters.

Playing fetch with Floyd (the pig) is one of our favorite daily activities. This and the unstoppable Red Ball. It helps us get outside, move around, stretch our legs, breathe some fresh air and see some green grass and blue skies. This is a real life reenactment of Comic 1.

Note: It was a real task to work in all of the original comic elements into one selfie!

Comic 2: Sands of Time / This is not a real life daily draw. The first panel had me so excited that I wanted to work on another one right away. Not having an idea in mind at the start, I had to rely on my imagination to eventually get me there. Where to start? Lets draw a hand and see what happens. There it is! A Halloween horror panel arriving in time for the seasonal event.

Comic 3: Pumpkin Attack / Speaking of Halloween, it’s time to celebrate! This panel is based on the evil and greedy, candy goblins who haunt our neighborhoods in search of easy prey. You can see were the additional hatching really brings this to life. There are also some additional brushes used in this piece. Another moment of experimenting and a touch of pushing outside of my comfort zone to use those. Really happy with this one.

Wanted to unwind and work on some hatching. The entire piece was intended to lower any stress of “showcasing a finished piece” and simply offer some random shapes and angles to apply hatching and cross hatching. It is fun to look back at this one today and see so many things I had forgotten. Perhaps my mind was on autopilot!

Comic 4: Book and Ball / Instead of a sketch and catch afternoon, I decided to try Book and Ball. As noted in previous editions, the red ball is unstoppable. Truly one of this kids favorites. A big, red, slobbery ball that feels gross every time it is A: Handed over to me or B: Pressed against my arm or leg. Yuck! Either way, the joy it brings to the table is impossible to describe.

LearnToDrawTogether Sunday Challenge | Oct 25 and Nov 1

October 25 / Drawing Challenge #59: Draw Your Perfect Avatar / Profile Picture

Not exactly sure if this is “perfect” but it basically taps on a few major elements that circulate around my identity. That is what an avatar is, right?

November 1 / Drawing Challenge #60: Redesign a Book Cover!

If only my ability could match my internal vision! (Likely mumbled by ever artist to ever scratch a line on canvas) Haha! Hopefully it translates. Moments like this bring forward another reason to start working on text. Ugh… I know, i know… I typed the text. One day, maybe, I’ll focus on text, ugh… Either way, this is a great book in the Stephen King universe.