Did I show you these GHOSTS!?!?

Little late for Christmas but not for sketches!  These 2 pages I did over, Christmas Eve, Christmas Night and the Day after Christmas.  Not a bad start to a sketchbook I'd say!

The tale of a Green Lantern and a Sea Hag

More absurdity from my sketchbook.  This time a Green Lantern and a Sea Hag enjoy!

Sketchbook Ahoy!

It's been a while since I've posted and it's been for good reason.  Life has kept my brain busy elsewhere but as things are getting leveled out I'm finding more time to jump back into a brand new sketchbook!  Here's a 2 pager based on the Adventures of Buck Rogers.  A friend gave me a collection of the old comics and it has fascinated me!  So much so I put pen to paper, enjoy!

Aquaman from Drink & Draw

From last night's Drink and Draw Cleveland, a warm-up sketch for a possible larger piece.

-Tim Switalski

Gauntlet 4 & 5 - Tim

Hey look, I finished drawing something that I said I would (only a little bit late)!

Gauntlet challenge #4 (Refugee, Chef, Templar Knight) & #5 (Invincible Hero, Seafaring, Father):

RBMC Gauntlet #4 - Refugee, Templar Knight, Chef 

RBMC Gauntlet #5 - Invincible Hero, Seafaring, Father

Gauntlet #3, Tim

Gauntlet #3 ...See! I'm doing this! I really am ...I swear! The third gauntlet challenge was "Young, Outlaw, Mad Scientist".

Gauntlet #3 "Young, Outlaw, Mad Scientist"

Yes I am actually doing that Gauntlet thing too - Tim

"Yes I am actually doing that Gauntlet thing too" - Tim Switalski.

Famous last words....so I'm a little behind. The Gauntlet was thrown last week...and I didn't post anything. Well, here are a couple this week.

Gauntlet #2 - the Reckless, Marooned, Sensei  

Gauntlet #1 - Armed, Evil Mentor, Space Marine

Hopefully I will have 3 more in the next few days.

-Tim

The Warm Glow Of Family

Holding Babies, watching TV, and pro wrestling. Draw what you know I suppose. Stay tuned for a color version in the near future. 

Your Pal,

Randy Crider

Erin's Instagram year!

As certain monsters like to remind me, I post to Instagram a lot, but don't often share my work here on the blog.  Whoops.

Here's a quick recap of a few of my favorite doodles you've missed this year!

The Devil Loves Life Drawing

Sometimes you put something in your sketchbook that sums up your life perfectly.

Your Buddy,

Randy Crider

Give Up

Hey there rust belt homies! Here's some more stuff happening in my sketchbook, this ones a double page drawing (note the seam) and has lots of lines. Lots of tiny tiny little lines that make my hand hurt by looking at em. I hate those lines. 

Your Pal, 

Randy Crider

Tess And The Dragon 2

 

Hey dudes! I'm still digging through a lot of older sketchbook work to share with you, but I wanted to take this week to play a bit with a limited pallet. I've got a few personal projects around the corner where it's a skill that will hopefully come in handy. This image came from a life drawing session, but I added the dragon afterwards as I've given up taking mescaline while I draw. 

Recently, this image was used to promote the FIVE HOUR life drawing sessions I'm facilitating at BAYArts. next week. I had to add a quick black bikini top to it just like the biker magazines I used to stare at behind the corner in the grocery store growing up. Every so often they'd miss an edit and encourage me to start saving for a motorcycle.  

I never got that bike, but starting next week I'll have 5 hours to stare at naked people without sneaking around. 

Your Pal,

Randy Crider

Original Recipe

Tess And The Dragon

More sketchbook nonsense.

 I facilitate a regular life drawing session in town, and at some point I decided to start finishing the drawings from those sessions. Of course, "finishing" means adding dragons and monsters to the poses.  Be on the look out for a lot more of these, as it's a regular session. The life drawing, and the monster adding. 

Your Pal,

Randy Crider

The Orgin Of The Painter

One of the pieces from SPACES Monster Draw Rally April 12, 2014

Last weekend all six of the Rust Belt Monsters descended upon Spaces Gallery for their annual Monster Draw Rally fundraiser.  We painted two 4'x6' murals in 5 hours (More photos on www.rustbeltmonster.com soon!), and I had a chance to share someone from my sketchbook who'd been tooling around for three years. 

Original concept sketch, with added paint splatters from the mural.

I keep every sketchbook, even if they only have one drawing in them.  They serve as a way for me to communicate with my past, and now as a father, to communicate to the future.  Without a doubt they are my most valuable possession. 

I hadn't been to SPACES gallery in three years, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to look through those sketchbooks and see where my head was at the last time I was there. 

Early sketchbook piece circa 2011

Three years ago was when I started drawing in earnest, and when I started putting double page stream of consciousness spreads in my sketchbooks. The fella in the left corner popped up a lot in those pages usually rampaging a city. Having three years between the pages, it felt appropriate to give him a paintbrush, since that's how I've been rampaging the city since then.   

This is not the world

Once upon a time I wrote and illustrated a tiny book.  

A three inch tall sketchbook to be precise.  As part of the Art House Co-Op's ongoing The Sketchbook Project I was one of many Artists from all over the world who tackled the topic "How do you save the world?"  My lil' book made it to the show in Atlanta and is now in a private collection but in the spirit of the season I thought I might share an overview.

Where do you even start to save the world?  By defining what the heck the world is anyway.  I consulted Merriam Webster.

So that's huge.  After a few pages of exploring how vast that is I decided it was far too big for such a small book so back to the dictionary I went.

This proved WAY more manageable.  If the world is people, how do you go about saving the world?  Learn from history of course!  Some have had the best of intentions but their actions proved excessive, even destructive.  I.E. Old Moldery himself, John Brown.

Some chose more more peaceful methods and by doing so STILL influence productive change.

I love history and I could have gone down this path for quite some time but alas I was running out of pages in my tiny book so I was forced to come to my point.

They Steal My Thunder, But The Lighting Is What I Need

Hey boys and girls, Randy here with some sketchbook pages this week. When I've got nothing pressing on the table, I love rendering out earlier things from life drawing sessions. The ditch digging part of art can be the best part especially after a long day making things for other people.  There's something about the brain shift that happens that cannot be beat.  David Rakoff sums it up perfectly on this episode of This American Life.  Give it a listen, maybe while you're drawing. 

If these look familiar, I've posted versions of them on Instagram.  Follow me @RandyCrider for more of the same, I promise I won't post pictures of my cat. 

Randy: Dr. Sketchy Cleveland-Featuring Selena Felien

For the past few weeks, the monsters have been playing with lots of ink.  Personally, I blame Jim Giar's terrible influence. Next thing you know he'll have us all smoking cigarettes in the bathroom. So, for this weeks Dr. Sketchy I packed my usual array of markers but also a brush and a bottle of ink.  

This month our pal Selena Felien, who's a regular at The Drink And Draw Social Club Cleveland, did an amazing salute to H.P. Lovecraft. Half naked lady, tentacles, and ink.  It's no surprise I had so much fun.

Sorry about the seam in the middle, but I spent most of my night in my sketchbook. Spreading a drawing across too pages is cheap heat, but I'll take it. 

All brush, even more cheap heat. This one's an iphone photo, because the original lives with Selena now. 

I spent a bit of time on this one at home, even after telling myself I shouldn't. Lot's of stuff didn't get done because I was busy blowing watercolor all afternoon.  Then again, that's most of my life. 

I'd wager that the inky trend is going to continue around here.  We'll let you know when Jim gets us arrested. 

Randy, Non-Topic: Doll Bambino Cubed

A drawing of our pal Doll Bambino from my sketchbook while I color my Adventure Time piece.  This really happened, I only drew it so there would be proof.