Coffee Scribbles

Year? What year?

2011-07-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this blog has been collecting dust for a while now. Going to keep my reasons pretty short because the less said about what happened the better.

Essentially last year, just before the hospital fun time post, life handed me a great big slab of chocolate cake. Only later I found out that wasn't chocolate...

After getting some help from a few peoples for various things, I've now taken a great big step back from the source of my problems (MUCH easier said than done) and am now picking up the pieces. Very positive things happening here!

That said I really wouldn't change anything, somehow I came out of it a better person.

I'm going to be switching over to Tumblr for a while to see if I get on better with blogging over there. The image hosting thing makes it much better for a sketch blog so unless we really fall out at some point this may well be my last post here. I'm going to keep this blog for nostalgia based reasons right now but I may delete it at some point.

If you're interested, I'm now based here: http://caffinescribbles.tumblr.com/
Some git has already taken my default name! *shakesfist*

Trees

2010-09-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yup, trees. Or to be more accurate, tree trunks. Aww yeah, I know how to party.

Warmup sketches.

Back from the dead

2010-08-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

Wow... Getting near to a year since my last post. What happened? Lots and lots of things, most of which haven't been too nice.

Firstly I got a job not too long after moving house! Not even close to what I actually wanted... A position as a trainee dental nurse. A nice solid career that can be taken anywhere with a high chance of employment whenever I need it. Great yes? Well.. kinda.. Aside from having the income and working with some awesome people there's the whole 12 hour shifts thing I have to deal with. Yes. 12 hours a day, sometimes even 15. And all for minimum wage. Thank you recession. But that said I'm now making enough to get by even if it does feel like I sold my soul and didn't get very much for it.

So, not much time for artings due to working all day long and crashing out at weekends. Some odds and sods but not much.

Then, just as we got some more solidly defined hours and the chance for a bit of time away from work my Dad went in for day surgery at our local hospital and still hasn't come out. He even died once last week and had to be brought round again. 5 operations later and he's finally in a position to actually communicate with us again even though the sedation has made him a bit loopy.

This on top of many other things has made me sit back and think about what's really important, I gave up on what I love simply because I couldn't make a living off of it. This in itself is a really crap reason. Life got me down and I gave up. This isn't why I started at all, I started because it was what I loved doing. Occasional praise was great but that wasn't why I kept going and I then let all the little things get to me. You know what? It's not worth it. Nobody thinks on their death bed "I wish I'd spent more time in the office".

Now I know what I want all I need is a plan of action. A good solid timetable I can follow to get me back in the swing and build up my confidence again. BRB.

Hiatus

2009-11-11T05:29:00.001-08:00

Well if you take a look at the date I last actually posted anything you can probably guess that things are on hiatus for the moment. I had to spend a week or two helping my parents to move house (seeing as I live with them this seemed like the sensible thing to do) as we had to do everything but the larger things by ourselves. Apparently you need exchange this thing called money in order to obtain these services. Yeah it shocked me too! Gotta get me some of that 'money' stuff. BUT we're in now and aside from the fact the walls have NO insulation and it's getting in to winter it's actually really nice! It's been a while since I've had access a huge garden.

What was that? You're not looking at my blog to hear about my home life? Fine... Arty things, arty things... Umm... Well here's the thing, I THINK I may have some artist's block. Why am I not sure? That would be because every time I've suffered with artist's block I usually have a grand total of 0 ideas and everything I try to draw goes wrong (or at least I think it's gone wrong). This time around I have a fair few ideas, mostly 4 panel comic strips for some reason, but every time I try to draw them I end up with a blank. I sit in front of my sketchbook or photoshop and stare at the blank sheet. It's like I've forgotten where to start or something. I'm wondering if it's a confidence crisis thing. I've been a graduate now for about 4 months (I'd like my degree now please) and I've essentially been told , indirectly I suppose, that no-one wants me or what I'm peddling. Nothing like a good kicking while you're down eh? Well OK not a kicking per se, everyone has been really nice actually, but I'm still jobless and that smarts somewhat.

I'm wondering if it's artist's block at all and instead it's a small dose of Atychiphobia (Don't worry, I had to look it up too. In fact it probably would have been easier to write it out normally but I wanted to use a long, confusing word :D Enjoy!).

Anyways I'm hoping to get this blog back up and running soon. Just need to figure out how one can actually kick themselves up the arse (or I'll give up and get someone else to do it. I think there's a queue outside). Once I have that down things will pick up.

Day 12, 13 and a surrender

2009-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now lagging 2 days behind schedule for this challenge, this is due to a combination of factors but I've decided to abandon it as I'm going to be moving house starting Monday. I actually thought it was going to be nearer the end of the month but either way it will most likely have a huge impact on what I can produce, especially as I'm already lagging behind, so I'm gonna drop most of them (I say most of them because there are still a few that I want to do regardless of me dropping the challenge). I guess it wouldn't have been much of a challenge if I'd managed to sail though the whole thing no problem XD Curse you real life *shakesfist*.

On a side note I'm planning on joining a critique forum(s?) again so I can actually get feedback and so insight into where and how I can improve. But there shall be more challenges in the future (hopefully a bit longer lasting than this one).

EDIT: and on a side not I really should start uploading my pics to photobucket or something, these Deviantart things really don't go with my layout ^-^;

Anyways, here are the last 2 pics of the challenge, Chibis and monsters (chibis are from Skies of Arcadia and the dragon is from Twilight Princess. Enjoy!):

Day 13: Skies of Arcadia by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

Day 12: Argorok by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

Day 11: LZ

2009-10-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Todays challenge was: Under used OC (again)

So here are some sketches of my under-used OC LZ. Known as Zee to his friends and Elsie by everyone taking the piss (that's pretty much everyone) he's a ladies man wannabe and all around coward. He can also be grumpy and sarcastic which usually makes the situation much much worse.

I'm currently developing his story (planning on trying my hand at comic making once I've finished developing a few characters) but I can tell you that at some point he does spend some time stuck in a duck pond.

Day 11: LZ by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

LZ © Me

Also some really old pics here if you're interested:
Original college design
2nd college design
Clay model

Day 9 and 10

2009-10-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

To make up for the fact I had a bit of a lazy day yesterday I went ahead and did both yesterday and today's sketch challenge. First here are a few neatened doodles from my absolute favourite Disney/Pixar film Up:

Day 9: Up by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

I really want to do some more for this, I kinda left out Russel as for some reason I just couldn't get him to look right and I didn't have time to sort it out. This film hit me on so many levels I can't even begin to describe it. Absolute. Love.

And for my day 10 sketch (theme was Mythology) I drew my interpretation of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec deity. It's a feathered serpent :D I love Aztec art, dragons and reptiles so this was triple win for me!

Day 10: Quetzalcoatl by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

I decided to keep a fair bit of the original designs in this. Here's some ref I used:

Wiki page
Ref 1
Ref 2
Ref 3

Day off

2009-10-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah no sketch post today. The daytime was a bit packed full of essential things that needed to get done and then my parents took me out to dinner (which was really nice! Not been out to dinner for a little while). When we got back I kinda ended up dosing a little in the living room with a cup of tea soooo... Yeah. I've decided to go for a double post tomorrow and actually try and do a good job with things rather than a half asleep attempt that I'll want to burn the next day.

Still, managing 8 days in a row isn't too bad (so I keep telling myself XD).

Day 8: Meet the Zippo

2009-10-08T17:20:00.001-07:00

I decided to move the UP sketches to tomorrow as that is the official release date of UP in the UK :D I'm gonna go see it in 3D this time, sooooo awesome!

Anyways, here's a short strip dedicated to my recent addiction to TF2:

Day 8: Meet the Zippo by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

I really should start doing these during the day, I always seem to end up rushing them at the end of the day!

Day 7: Rabid mushroom

2009-10-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Todays theme was revisiting an old idea. So here's a rehash of this guy:
Craptacular original!
Look at him! In all his glorious rainbow gradient-y ness. Old picture is seriously old!

Day 7: Rabid mushroom by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

TBH this isn't even close to what I had in mind, I'm pretty tired right now (this time due to actually working on a commission) and I guess this is another one I was reluctant to submit and probably wouldn't have if I didn't care about the challenge. Another thing to revisit when this is all done.

Day 6 Evangellion

2009-10-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Got another paid commission today so no epic doodle! Work comes first. Just did a quick sketch and coloured it (most of the shading was done in pencil). Here's Eva Unit 1 from evangellion:

Day 6: Eva Unit 1 by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

Day 5: ruins

2009-10-05T13:26:00.001-07:00

Backgrounds are something I really need to practice to that's actually WHY I set todays challenge. It WAS going to be a speedpaint background but that didn't work out so I had to start again. Aaaaand then it became too epic to do in a day, so It's now in my to-do pile to finish off later.

Clicky here

Pffff, landscapes are harder than they look dangit!

Day 4: Pokemans

2009-10-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to colour todays entry. It has... umm... Tentacles :D

Day 4: Pokewrong by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

I know for a fact this is what Gary would use bulbasaur for, hence why I never picked squirtle!

Day 3: OCs

2009-10-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

One day I'll get to do this when I'm awake and have energy I swear! OK been over some old designs for the hell of it :D For full descriptions and where they all come from click the pic, it'll take you to my DA page:

Day 3 OCs by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

POKEMANS tomorrow :D

Day 2: Dino Day

2009-10-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Why is it that as soon as I commit myself to a challenge like this life just seems to creep up on me and everything gets really busy? I'm so tired... Although admittedly that may also be due to the fact that I'm playing TF2 for the first time and not realising it's 1am and I should probably be sleeping. I am also now with the English of speaking good...

Here's pic number 2:

Day 2 Dinos by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

I drew the detailed Velociraptor from this pic: RAPTOR-TASTIC to get a feel for the construction and whatnot.

Also featuring Little Foot and Cera from the Land Before Time. Loved that movie as a kid!

Did better than yesterday at any rate XD Must draw more dinos when I'm not so tired.

October Challenge Day 1

2009-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Never EVER leave filling in important forms til the last minute, it's almost guaranteed to cause a massive pain in the ass and make your day far more complicated than it needs to be :S

So today's pics aren't nearly as good/there aren't as many as would like but hey, it's a start. ENJOY!

Challenge Day 1 by *Coffee-Shakes on deviant ART

Gonna try for more tomorrow. Also might do some more work with the red and white characters, they were pretty fun to draw!

October Challenge

2009-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

I think it's well and truly time to get the sketch blog on the road! Firstly I want to get back into the habit of drawing and sketching on a regular basis (got out of the habit thanks to various real life things I won't bore you with here) and also to draw faster, better and just generally more! Here's the plan:

I've set myself a sketch a day challenge for the whole of October with a list of things that I either want to do, currently suck at doing and things I've just never got around to doing. That's at least 31 sketches! Some are one word suggestions, others are more specific and/or refer to games/film/STUFF. The list is very flexible and is mostly there in case I can't think of anything to draw on that day, if something else hits me then I'll do that instead and shift the list around, I'll also show the edits in this post.

If anyone feels like joining in feel free (a link would be nice too if you do, I'd love to see the results)! Also feel free to customize the list to things that you like/want as this is something I made specifically for me and most likely won't suit everyone.

October daily sketch challenge:

1: ~~Polka dots~~ Done
2: ~~Dinosaurs~~ Done
3: ~~Under used OC~~ Done
4: ~~Pokemon~~ Done
5: ~~Ruins~~ Kinda done
6: ~~Eva (evangellion)~~ Done
7: ~~Redraw and old pic/character/idea~~ Done
8: ~~TF2 (changed due to recent obsession with TF2)~~ Done
9: ~~Up (shifted as this is the UK release date!)~~Done
10: ~~Mythology~~Done
11: Under used OC 2
12: Monsters
13: Chibi
14: Kung Fu panda
15: Sonic
16: Hands/anatomy
17: Jak and Daxter
18: Bunnies
19: Bats
20: The wierd and wonderful
21: Anthro
22: Robots
23: Donald Duck
24: One Piece
25: Myst
26: Steampunk
27: Cute and creepy
28: Ratchet and Clank
29: Sonic Adventure
30: Professor Layton
31: Haloween