The Sketchblog

Moved.

2009-08-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

I moved my blog. See the new one at joshferrin.wordpress.com.

Thanks!

Friday sketch

2007-06-15T16:40:00.001-07:00

Having a whale of a time.

This was a really quick drawing, I wanted to play around with my brushpen and watercolors.

Caricature of Hillary Rodham Clinton

2007-06-12T11:30:00.001-07:00

Another in my installment of presidential candidate, sand todays caricature is none other than Hillary Clinton.

Hillary has the most wonderful cheeks I've ever seen. How the heck did they get so round?

More watercolor sketches

2007-06-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been sketching almost exclusively with watercolors lately, and loving it. It's that fastest way I know of to detail a drawing and, with the discovery of water brushes, I don't have to worry about carrying water around. I'd like to do some plein air stuff when I get the chance.

This little guy might be familiar. I've also discovered a new sketchbook. I used to use Moleskines exclusively, but got my hands on the elusive hand•book and I don't think I'll be switching back. If there are any Moleskine addicts reading this, you should definitely
try these out.

This is where we went camping over memorial day.

These are called Khrushchiovii, named after the former soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. They are little 5-story apartment buildings that dot theUral mountains. I have an odd love for desolate urban areas and miss seeing the sprawl of siberia.

Gone fishin'.

An aristocratic dinosaur.

Caricature of Rudy Giuliani

2007-06-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

The man, the myth, the forehead: Rudy Giuliani.

Caricature of Mitt Romney

2007-05-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Todays closeup is of that fantastic mop of hair. I swear it must come from a mold, it's just too perfect.

Stormin' Mormon Mitt Romney

Caricature of Dick Cheney

2007-05-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

He's just too fun to draw. I think I could do a 'Cheney-of-the-week' and never get tired of drawing him. He's probably the least true to life of this recent batch, but still fun.

Caricature of Barack Obama

2007-05-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Geeze! Once I get started it's hard to stop. Here's a caricature of Barack Obama. I'm not sure who to do next, Hillary or Cheney. Probably Cheney because he is so ogre-ish.

And the close-up.

Curious George

2007-05-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun doing Jay Leno the other day I decided to do a caricature of George Bush too. Our Pres has great mannerisms and a face that just begs to be drawn.

Here's a closeup of his face. His lips always make me think of Woody Woodpecker.

Meetings, nothing more than meetings.

2007-05-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

On an average day I have at least two hour long meetings at work. More often than not I try to be too busy to have to go, but sometimes I need to know what is going on. When that happens, I try to sketch at least one of my coworkers. I won't post their names to protect them from public humiliation, but I'm sure they know who they are.
I was in a blue pencil mood that day. We'll call it my blue period.

Watercolor sketches

2007-05-23T11:15:00.001-07:00

A real quick watercolor sketch. It took me about 15 minutes and then I had to stop to watch the season finale of Heroes, which could have been better by the way. It's a cathedral in St. Petersburg but the name escapes me right now.

More random sketches

2007-05-23T10:47:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of my son (pulling faces, holding the baseball bat. People from church, random faces and even Jimmy Corrigan.

Nothing but cheeks

2007-05-22T16:42:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I did any celebrity caricatures so I think I might have had a little too much fun with this one of Jay Leno. I've been working on a more 'painterly' look and have had fun getting away from inked lines. This was done entirely in photoshop (a little freehand) for a story about headliners coming to the area, Leno being one of them.

Really, though, Jay Leno is probably one of the easiest people in the world to caricature. He's just eyebrows and chin.

Click on the picture above for a cheeky closeup.

Come on baby, light my fire....

2007-05-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished my new portfolio/blog for my illustrations. I'll keep my sketches here and put more of the illustration work at joshferrin.com. This familiar fellow is from that site and I thought I would post a larger version of him here. I've always wanted a rocket pack but I doubt the phonograph jets are anything but practical.

Random Sketches

2007-05-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Here's some quick drawings I did for another blog. I don't think I'll be able to use it as planned so I thought I would share it with you. I am trying to migrate all of my illustration stuff to another blog and keep this one for daily sketches etc. I'll keep you posted.

Sooooo tired....

2007-04-21T01:05:00.000-07:00

My marathon illustration run is almost over and it couldn't come too soon. I am so tired. Here's another one. Enjoy!

Too tired to type more, must sleep.

Getting there...

2007-04-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it doesn't make much sense right now, but I just started coloring so it's not supposed to. It's been too many consecutive late nights so I will leave this one undone until tomorrow night.

Changing course

2007-04-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

I had to take break from the other story for a day so I did this one last night. It goes with a poem about a guy who was in the shower too long and came out looking like a raisin, obviously. I had been working on it for about an hour when I realized that it looked more scary than funny, which isn’t such a good idea for a children’s book. I had to change course and am pleased with the final image.

Here’s what he looked like before I realized how hideous it was. Eek!

I change my mid halfway through illustrations all the time, I guess I’m just not the kind of person who sees the final product in my mind and I’m always surprised at what I end up with.

One to go!

2007-04-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

I timed myself again, and this one took about 7 hours total. That includes sketching, inking, scanning, fixing and coloring. Here 'tis!

This is the screenshot I did right as I finished it. And I even had three minutes to spare before midnight, just enough time for a celebratory burrito!

I had to do a closeup of the little kid because I thought he looked cute. I actually really, really like this page. Hopefully that will limit the amount of tweaking I do, besides, it is a huge file. I have one page left to do for this story, the preceding page actually, that I hope to post tomorrow, or more likely, Thursday. Hope you enjoyed it!

Whew, 5 hours later...

2007-04-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

So, I timed myself and it took longer than I thought! Five hours just to do the coloring for this page. That doesn't include the time I spend sketching up the idea and at least an hour to ink it. I would guess I would have to add two hours on top of that. That's seven hours before I start tinkering endlessly. Yup, I already changed the one I finished last night. I went back in to add some freckles. After I finished the next page I had to go back to yesterdays to add some more highlights to his hair. This is the last time I will post this page, I promise!

Okay, I'm done with this one. Really!

Next page. This one went quickly, and I'm really pleased with the way the water turned out. My initial sketch for this page was done a while ago and now I think the layout could be stronger but, well, one can only tweak so much.

Woo-hoo! Only two more pages to go!

Step by step

2007-04-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

I do these screencaps from time to time because everyone seems to love them.

Here's the inked drawing after I have scanned it in, bumped up the contrast to get rid of any stray pencil marks and fixed anything that I goofed up earlier.

Next I start laying down the base colors. I always get nervous during this part because it makes the drawing look terrible with all those flat colors. I choose mid-range tones so that I can add layers of color, both darker and lighter, to give it a lot of depth. That's why his hair looks so pink but, trust me, it will get better.

I create the painterly look with a by adding light 'washes' of color in photoshop. I am still expanding my palette to get a more realistic tone to my characters but I guess that is a never-ending process. Here you can see what it looks like after painting for a couple of hours. I erase endlessly and undo even more until I get it to where I like it.

Done! I tweak endlessly, making his eyelids smaller, etc. I use a lot of different techniques to get the textures for the road, clouds, trees, hair, etc, but most of it is done with custom photoshop brushes I have made over time. I try to do less detail work in the background to make sure it doesn't draw you away from the focus of the picture. I might go back and lighten the background a little more, but I'll let it rest for now.

Busy busy...

2007-04-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have had so much time on my hands that I have been sawing through the illustrations for my childrens book. I reworked most of the first few pages, (I need to get this thing done so I will stop tweaking with it) and finished two more, quite a feat considering how much dang time it takes to do one of these. Now I'm curious, I'll try to time myself on the next one.

Here's a big image dump to show you what has crossed my desk in the past few days.

You've seen this one before, I just reworked it a bit- namely I added a pattern to the wallpaper.

Again, just reworked a few details and layout.

Reworked the bug and the bear.

New asteroid and added the dreamy border. This one looks a little sparse to me but that should be fixed when I add the text.

New border and added some more trees.

This one was fun! I worked it up from a sketch and did the color a couple of days ago.

I just finished this one last night. I'll post a few screenshots to show how it progressed.

This is a brand new one, done for a different story.

Mmmmm.... Cake!

2007-04-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for a few days. We're always so busy whenever we go on vacation I feel like I need a rest when I get back home. The rest of the crew are still in Utah so I am being forced into bachelorhood for another week. But, at least I will have some extra time to get some of my backlogged illustrations done. Here's a sketch of something I am doing for my children's book. I haven't inked it yet so it's basically just a sketch but I added a little bit of a background last night for fun. I'll post the finished version tonight hopefully.

Some old, some new.

2007-04-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

I found a few more sketches in some old Moleskines that I never posted. I started scanning them in larger so you can see more detail when you click on the thumbnail. Some are downright huge.

I'm not sure who this is but, judging by his wardrobe I saw him in Reno.

Old guy at church. I think I had the Bangles song stuck in my head that day.

Random sketches and one memory sketch from work. Our new Editor has the most amazing hair, and I tried to capture his image from memory. He's the little one with the tie.

Assorted church sketches. I think everyone was falling asleep that day.

The color ones are from work. The two pencil sketches are from church.

This is an old one I did while my son was drawing all over the bathtub.

Some goofy-looking kid. Not mine, I think I saw him at the park.

From the sketchbook

2007-03-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just some random sketches. That's a quote from my favorite Todd Snider song. It's one we often sing before he goes to sleep.

I guess I felt like drawing dancing people.

More tourists

2007-03-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the other two tourists I did for a Business section story. I have a nasty habit of doing self-portraits in a lot of my stuff but I don't think anyone has ever noticed.

The original sketch

Stingy business lady

Original sketch

Final illustration.

Calender covers

2007-03-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

I get to do illustrations for our weekly calender/weekend publication from time to time and this one was on a fun topic. Merrie Leininger did a story on where to find strong drinks around the Reno area and we came up with this concept for the cover. Where do you go if you want to get bombed (get it, bombed?). I have little (none, actually) first-hand knowledge on the subject so I had to ask my co-workers all kinds of questions to make sure I got the drinks right. "Martinis aren't the ones with salt on the rims, right?"

I spent a couple of hours making this illustration and it printed well. The problem is that the paper we use in the newspaper is very much like toilet paper. All the detail I put into my drawings usually disappears. I suppose I should stop worrying about all the minor things like the fire and reflections in the glass but, I get too attached to how things look.

So, for my sake more than yours, here are a few detail shots.

Daily sketch

2007-03-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

More faces from work and church. The lady in the middle was in the ward choir and had her whole heart into the song. To the right of her is a very sweet lady that sings every chance that she gets. Her face is so animated that I have to look away whenever she starts to sing because I cannot help but laugh.

Tourists

2007-03-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak-peak at an illustration that we will be running this weekend on tourists in Reno. The idea was to have a picture of the average tourist, and this is what we came up with.

As I said before, I love drawing old people and assume you like to look at drawings of them so, here's a closeup of his cute little face.

People ask me all the time how I do these drawings. It starts out with a pencil sketch (8.5x11) with a little shading that I scan in. I darken up the lines to make them look more like I inked it and then color it in Photoshop. Viola!

Childrens books

2007-03-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

I have had a childrens book on the back burner for several years now. The biggest problem is that it takes me so long to make progress on it that by the time I have a new illustration done, I look back and want to change everything I did previously. So, this is the first incarnation of the first page and after collecting dust for a few years, it became......

...this! Much better.

I can't post the words, because, well... that would defeat the purpose of selling the book. Here's the second page. I'm sure I'll redo it next year.

This one's ok. For now. Maybe not.

I've recently wanted to redo this page completely. My wife is trying to talk me out of it.

I like this page, I just need to add some details to finish it off.

The rest are just sketches for a few of the remaining pages.

Eek. Needs to be reworked. His head gets bigger in the next one.

I'm actually excited to do this page. I love drawing water.

More to come!

And..... more sketches!

2007-03-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

Random people at Ben & Jerry's and the mall.

Lincoln fell asleep on Tara at church. Ward Conference can do that to you.

Random sketches and a caricature of a news anchor in Palm Springs- Matt Lomand, or something like that. He had me on his show to do caricatures and, he could, quite possibly, be the most annoying person I have ever met.

Missionaries at General Conference

I coloried a few church sketches in photoshop. Pushkin made his way in there somehow.

Few more sketches

2007-03-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Just a few more posts and I will have most of the images transferred. This is a sketch (wax pencil) of Lincoln running around the yard. He is being an airplane and saying 'fly air!'

Guy at church.

People at the airport.

Work sketch of Rick Green and Steve Silberman.

Matt Solinsky, a caricature of George Bush and a Stalin-cicle.

Recent stuff from work

2007-03-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

A fun little illustration I did for a story about how not to get dumped on Valentines.

This was a cool project. For five days, we printed huge sections of a poster that, once assembled, would make a nearly life-size Nick Fazekas, UNR's star senior. In the end the whole poster was eight-feet tall. Too bad they stunk it up in the NCAA.

Caricatures of the Gubernatorial candidates in Nevada.

Quick illo for a story on balancing stress.

Illo for a story on avoiding fatty foods. I had no idea drawing food was so entertaining!

Misc. Illustrations

2007-03-20T23:07:00.001-07:00

While visiting a library in Cathedral City (CA) I saw a massive painting of a dark, cloudy landscape that stuck in my mind. I was into memory sketching at the time so I went home and tried to recreate the painting from memory. This is what I ended up with.

A wax pencil drawing of Lincoln.

One in a series of illustrations that I did for the company postcard.

One in a series of illustrations that I did for the company postcard.

A caricature I did for a silent auction.

Celebrity Caricatures

2007-03-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

More caricatures from the Bob Hope celebrity golf tourney. Here's Mike Eruzione and Marky-Mark Wahlburg.

Caricatures of Maury Povich and Michael Bolton.

Caricature of Roger Clemens.

Caricature of Rush Limbaughs good side.

Caricature of Matthew McConaughey. Dude looked greasy.

Best outfit on the block goes to Burt Rutan. He looked like he had been spending too much time in low orbit.

Caricature of Justin Timberlake.

Alice Cooper as he appeared at the tourney.

Alice Cooper as I saw him at the tourney.

Caricature of Samuel L. Jackson.

Caricature of George Lopez. His outfit needed some work too.

Editorial Cartoons

2007-03-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have a blog and not have a link to all of these beauties. Some of them are good, most are OK and some make no sense to me whatsoever. But, I did them so I guess I should be proud. I'm sure you all know the stories about them so I will spare you the details. Click the picture below to see an unedited, comprehensive (almost) collection of my editorial cartoons.

Dusting off the sketchbook

2007-03-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

Another sketch done during a meeting while I still worked at The Desert Sun. No, they didn't fire me for drawing my coworkers.

The one of Matt Solinsky, Sports Editor in Palm Springs, was one of my favorites for a long time. I don't think a successful sketch is one that looks exactly like someone. A sketch is only successful if it resembles someone but makes them look bad.

More work sketches.

Some sketches of Lincoln and one done at church. His name escapes me now but he was the most energetic conductor I have ever seen in my life.

Work sketches. The girl above (Julie something) now works for Marketplace on NPR. The other is another take on my old boss, Rick Green. The first one was happy Rick, this one is angry Rick.

Marvelous Roy

2007-03-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

This was a comic strip that I started and then seriously neglected. I had dreams of syndication by my lack of dedication probably killed it. That and the inconsistent drawing.

Anyway, it's been almost two years since I did these so I thought I would share them with you all. I can't stand the sight of them now (it's amazing how much your taste changes in two years) and I'm pretty sure I could do a thousand times better now.

Now that your expectations have been lowered, click the image below to see all 30-something strips.

Marvelous Roy

Work Sketches

2007-03-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Every day I have two meetings that can often stretch an hour in length. I am needed for all of about 10 minutes so, naturally, I draw a lot. Here's one of my old boss, and hero, Rick Green.

The boss of my old boss, Steve Silberman.

Features Editor at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Barbara Lowell.

More sketches of people from work. Theres also one of Lincoln and his train table too.

Art for a living

2007-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I consider myself very lucky to be an artist full time. I actually get paid to draw (not too much, but hey it's something!) Here's a few things I did at work and felt like sharing.

This is from one of those "how fast can you draw' kind of days. Went with a story on fashion.

A sketch of Anthony Anderson done at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tourney.

Alice Cooper at the same tournament. He didn't even bite anybody!

Anytime I get to draw people screaming, I take it.

3-d rendering of a water canal. I know, woo-hoo! I just like the way the 3-d rendered water looks.

Church Sketches

2007-03-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have a nasty habit of sketching people while I'm at church. I know of no other time when you get so much time to digest peoples faces and explore how to draw them. My wife's greatest fear is that someone will discover my notebook and see how I've skewered all the elderly and overweight people in my Ward. I have nothing against elderly or overweight people, they're just more fun to draw.

This guy looked way to angry to be a Mormon.

He had a magnificent nose.

His eyes were really far apart.

I love it when kids sing at church, they look hilarious. The guy on the bottom is actually a secret service agent. I won't name him because I really don't feel like taking a vacation in Guantanamo.

Sketches- the reason for blogging

2007-03-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

The idea for this blog is for me to have an outlet for my constant sketching. Over time, it became something else entirely. The original site is now out of commission (I got sick of paying for it) and it has taken me a couple of months to get this one going.

So, there is a huge backlog of images I had posted before and that I now need to move here. It might take me awhile to get them all posted but I will try to condense them all.

Sketches from work. Upper right is an old colleague and friend of mine, Nick Bolland and the girl is another college Kate Spillman.

Church sketch, Andy Hendrian.

Random sketch of a nerd and a gorilla.

A woman at IHOP. She was chowing on her pancakes!

Finally.....

2007-03-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

I know, I know! It's been awhile. Forgive me while I move all the old stuff to this new location. Hope you enjoy!