Scary Stories

Do you remember Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark? I do. I loved the illustrations more than the stories. The artist who illustrated those books is an artist by the name of Stephen Gammell. He is a very normal looking guy who likes to draw, good for him I say. Like any other person on this planet, I've been pretty busy, both at home and at work. Even though I'm blessed with work, family and friends I haven't been able to do much doodling this past month so I have nothing much to show, except for this little sketch I fiddled with while I was working. It reminds me of Stephen's work. I'm not pretending to be like him, it just reminded me of one of his illustrations.
I hope to get cracka-lacken in the New Year developing some skills. Have a safe and enjoyable New Year!

Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

I've been using this blog as a journal of the different things I'm trying to do to increase my skills as an artist/illustrator. Last week I did a couple drawings of Santa and this morning I spent four hours painting one of those pictures using a medium I'm not very familiar with at all, gouache. I really don't have much training with painting so I've been trying to learn on my own.

A Brief History of an American Santa

Some of you may remember Washington Irving as the American author who gave us Legend of Sleepy Hollow, he also wrote about Santa Claus based on the Dutch immigrants and their traditions in New York. Thomas Nast, a famous illustrator of the 19th century, gave us a look at Santa Claus as an elvish looking creature who could fit down a chimney. I've been doing some drawings of this pagan based character and I like the idea of a mischievous little elf dropping off gifts in the night in return for some milk and cookies.

The Santa we know and see represented in American culture is due to the Coca-Cola Co. who portrayed Santa Claus as a more robust human character. So I've been playing with different
versions of the man in red and I prefer the elvish looking monstrosity, what are your thoughts? I'd like to add some color to some of these when I get my act together.