Tag: moebius

Inktober 2020 days 26-31

Day 26: “Hide”

Black and grey ink drawing of a tabby cat partially hiding in a basket

Having drawn Gizmo the day before, it was only fair to draw Jedi 🙂 She hides in the new old basket that I got from my friend Nico’s mum.

I used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent (still almost out of ink), a black ink Brushpen by Pentel, light grey ink Brush Writer by Kuretake, and white acrylic 0.7 mm Posca pen for the whiskers.

Day 27: “Music”

Black and grey ink drawing of an Indian young woman holding a sitar, and their reflection on a shiny floor.

An abstract-ish theme with ample choices to draw from. Perhaps too ample! I spent a lot of time researching the best subject for me since none was obvious.

This is a sitar. I drew an Indian woman holding it. I found it crooked and too small, so I added a reflection underneath.

I used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent and a light grey ink Brush Writer from Kuretake.

Day 28: “Float”

Black ink drawing of a group of people on a boat approaching a giant woman asleep in shallow water. This is in Venice. There are a couple of sea gulls.

Ah, another favourite! This is after a drawing by Moebius. The original is in colour and the woman floats in lilac water. She has a longer nose and her head is tilted slightly more upwards in the original. But I am not after “identical”, I am after “proportionate”.

I only used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 29: “Shoes”

Black and grey ink drawing of the feet, legs and dress of tango dancers.

Midway into the month I saved a photograph of a woman trail running and her gorgeous running shoes, taken from close to the ground. But on the day “shoes” came up, I had lost interest. Or I grew more ambitious with my drawings. In any case, I put my love of running shoes on the side and looked for tango shoes and the legs of the dancers.

I used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent, a black ink Brushpen by Pentel, and my light grey ink Brush Writer by Kuretake.

Day 30: “Ominous”

Black and grey ink drawing of a desert scene where a levitating object looking like a giant egg or thick immense petal, being approached by a tiny-looking helicopter.

I suppose I was still under the influence of the “float” prompt! My options ranged from drawing ominous clouds, to ominous things. And having tried clouds without much satisfaction on the kind of paper my artbook is made of, I recalled a movie, “Arrival” that featured ominous alien objects hovering in various places of the world, that looked like giant eggs or thick immense petals depending on the angle.

I used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent, a black ink Brushpen by Pentel, the light grey ink Brush Writer by Kuretake, and a water brush pen in places.

Day 31: “Crawl”

Black and grey ink drawing of a leopard climbing up a tree trunk.

Leopard crawling up a tree. Love this!

I had saved a few reference photographs of big cats but had thought it was too difficult, because of the spots in particular, or the stripes, or the mane. But today’s prompt reminded me of those, and I thought I should at least try.

Oddly, today I felt confident enough to forego any pencil sketch and draw directly with the Pentel black ink Brushpen, and it went all right! I then used the light grey ink Brush Writer from Kuretake for shadows.

(Watch the 40-second time-lapse)

That concludes Inktober 2020! I am thankful to Virginie G. for nudging me and a friend of hers, the day before October 1: that coaxed me into action. I had almost decided I was not going to, but I was immediately glad she made me change my mind 🙂

And now that November is upon us, I am hanging on to my drawing tools for… another go at Drawvember!

Inktober 2020 days 11-15

Day 11: “Disgusting”

Black ink drawing of the face of a man whose eyes are covered, wearing a helmet from the top of which are short tentacles

Third abstract prompt. I resented it a little bit: the entire year has been disgusting –Give us a break!

I chose to reproduce part of a Moebius character and arrange a bit the tentacles.

Done with a black 0.05 mm Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 12: “Slippery”

Black ink drawing of a series of penguins gliding on their bellies

I wanted to avoid drawing the common “slippery when wet” sign that is found in public restrooms, or the banana peels, but really liked how some of the artists I follow have executed their version of the prompt.

I went for penguins sliding. I love penguins, they’re super cute.

Done with my black 0.05 mm Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 13: “Dune”

Black ink drawing of a man wearing a pointy helmet, seen from behind next to his leather case, standing in front of a levitating crystal within which is an odd smiling creature with the lower body of a worm. The scene is at the foot of a large dune.

I loved doing this one!

Major Fatal, an iconic Moebius’ characters (albeit a chunky version that I didn’t intend, but without sketching first, such things happen), standing in the desert in front of a tall levitating crystal, observing a wormlike figure within. I drew a dune in the background. I noticed afterwards that I got the shadows exactly wrong.

Done with my black 0.05mm Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 14: “Armor”

Very detailed black ink drawing of a Japanese warrior in armor carrying a sword and wearing a war helmet and metallic face mask.

I loved loved loved doing this one!

I initially wanted to draw an armadillo but went for my other favourite theme instead, and drew a samurai in armor.

I used the black 0.05 mm Graphik line maker from Derwent (it’s nearly dead now). I spent 45 minutes between the contours, refining them and adding layers of black.

Day 15: “Outpost”

Black ink drawing of the great wall of China slithering in the distance, with three outposts.

I wasn’t very much inspired by the prompt until I remembered from my visit to the Great Wall of China in 2016 that it features outposts at almost every section!

I tried a minimal approach, leaving out the surrounding mountains, much of the vegetation and even the structural details, and like how it came out.

Done with my black 0.05 mm Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Inktober 2020 days 6-10

Day 6: “Rodent”

Black ink drawing of a saddled squirrel at the edge of rocks, mounted by a tiny character wearing a helmet.

No mice or rats, and not even gerbils could rival with the itch to interpret a Moebius piece! And since the prompt that day was not giant lizard, I drew a giant squirrel mounted by a desert traveler, using a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 7: “Fancy”

Black ink drawing of Audrey Hepburn wearing a flowery white dress and black high-heel shoes

Ah, the first prompt that was abstract. I don’t mind them too much but they are a bit of a challenge, giving me a “deer in headlights” feeling. So I looked in my library of saved images and searched something striking my fancy, ha ha. Audrey Hepburn in a fancy dress! I noticed that I drew her head too wide, or her body too small, but couldn’t correct it. Oh well. I used a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent and a black Brushpen by Pentel.

Day 8: “Teeth”

Black ink drawing of a screaming gorilla

I initially wanted to draw a laughing horse. Or the smiling shark of “Finding Nemo”. I settled for a roaring gorilla that I did in a few minutes, because I could block only little time, and used once again a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent.

Day 9: “Throw”

Black ink drawing of two judokas, one in black and the other in white. The one in white is throwing the other one to the ground.

I found a beautiful reference photo of judokas and quickly drew it, straight with ink like the others in the series, and botched the left arm of the judoka being thrown, as a result! I used again a 0.05 mm black Graphik line maker from Derwent, and filled the large black areas with the black Pentel Brushpen.

Day 10: “Hope”

Black ink drawing of a dandelion shedding its seeds in the wind, which turn into birds the farther they get from the flower.

Second abstract prompt! But this time there were several themes I considered: a message in a floating bottle, a plant growing out of dry caked desert soil, people of different races holding hands (although I had no idea how I was going to draw this). Finally I chose to draw dandelion seeds flying away as birds. It was more meaningful to me than the other themes, because a friend of mine once told me this was the tattoo her sister had gotten around the time her eldest daughter left home. Children are our hope.

Video: Time lapse of “Cat”

This was fun to paint!

I used leaf green Holbein Artists’ gouache supplied in the November 2019 Sketchbox and a black ink 0.05 mm Graphik line maker from Derwent.

40-second time-lapse of my hand painting a black cat sitting at the center of a spot of light.

This was part of a Moebius series I did. See the other four.