The Mawwidge of Pwincesses, Pencils and Paypah

Now that I've finished the main, non-baddie cast, I thought you folks might enjoy seeing the character drawings from the movie The Princess Bride that I did this week. I started with Pwincess... er... Princess... Princess Buttercup. This is from the scene where she dreams she married Prince Humperdinck and gets booed by her royal subjects...

And here is her true love, Wesley (in Dread Pirate Roberts mode). He's only lying there because he's been Mostly Dead all day.

Of course I had to do my personal favorite character, Inigo Montoya... (say it with me, folks: "Hello: my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.".... Ah! Feel better now? I do.)

I also thought it would be fun to draw the ever-nefarious Vizzini-- as inconceivable as that might be...

And this morning, I put the finishing touches on the beloved strong man Fezzik, as played by the late Andre the Giant. ("My way? What's 'my way'?")

So now? I must close the book on this post. May your weekends all end up "happily ever after!"  --Jenn

Slaying the Cumberbatch: The Saga of Drawing and Redrawing the Elusive Benedict

I've been drawing portraits lately in the evenings, and a couple of my friends innocently requested my next project be Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame. 

Then I lost four days of my life to stalking the wild and wily Cumberbatch.

For folks who have visited lately, you've probably seen some of my drawings. They're of varied success, but usually they bear a reasonable resemblance to their subject matter. And my last two, I had considered actually decent... The interesting and complex-looking Colin Morgan of Merlin...

And my childhood hero, Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman...

So when my buds suggested Mr. Cumberbatch, I was psyched. 

I was cocky.

Little did I know that Benedict Cumberbatch is not of this world. His unusual features (and ALL of them are unusual) are not easily pinned down to paper as actual human faces are.

So after an evening's worth of work scrutinizing my DVD case and spreading graphite around, I was left with this...

Um... no. Not only is he a disembodied head, but that head bore more resemblance to Dexter than Sherlock. Where was the prominent nose? Where was the large distance between nose and mouth? What was up with that hair?

Not to be daunted, I set out on a second quest on the trail of the sly and stealthy Cumberbatch. A second evening of effort using the same photo produced this rough sketch...

Erm...

More Disembodied Head-a-go-go with a TOUCH of Hardy Boys' Parker Stevenson. Also two ears on very different trajectories.

Perhaps it was the photo that was the issue! I decided I needed a different photo, a different angle. That would solve my problems! 

Then I found my paper covered in this...

Is it Beethoven? Napoleon perhaps? Definitely a bit of 18th century composer with French revolutionary tucked in.

I began contemplating how a person could have a large nose, but a short nose at the same time. How can a person's nose be rounded AND pointed? How can it be aquiline AND have a dent in it? How can eyes be small and narrow and angular, yet not look like they're squinting? How can they be pale AND piercing?

But I had promised to do this. Friends were counting on me to come up with the goods. This is a guy lots of women adore-- I had to do the man justice! So I put my sketchbook aside and set-out to rework it the next day...

More Cumberbatchly, YES, but an Angry, Snooty, Cumberbatch. Aged Dickensian Cumberbatch with a bit of Alan Rickman for good measure, and only half a lip and a chin that could cut bread. This old, craggy Cumberbatch clearly smells something he doesn't like... 

And it's US.

By now it had become a point of honor. I would not be defeated. I would draw Cumberbatches until my fingers were claws and I had drawn my last breath.

(Or until I ran out of paper. Whichever came first.)

So just as I was about to question the very meaning of Art, of Life, of all that is good in the world beyond compelling BBC detective series, finally, FINALLY, last night, a different, larger photo helped me see a break in the Case of the Cumberbatch Conundrum. And it was after a night of restless sleep where Baskerville Hounds and Moriarty Minions pursued me, I rose with fresh eyes, to put the finishing touches on this...

"And hast thou slain the Cumberbatch?
Come to my arms, my beamish girl

O frabjous day! Calloo, Callay!"

She cheered and gave a twirl.

(Apologies to Lewis Carroll)

Artsplosion, Ideas and Tees, Oh My!

For a person who often feels like I really don't do anything, it sure appears as if I've been very busy! Over the weekend, I was tackling the Amazon rainforest that was my backyard, transforming it from a home to lost 1930s adventurers and junglemen swinging from vines, to a reasonably tame Secret Garden.

I'm pleased with the results-- the evicted anaconda and piranha, less so. Plus, George Challenger's served me with cease and desist papers and Tarzan's been picketing. So there's that to deal with.

But, while I was scything back the underbrush, it gave me plenty of time to think about scenes for the last book in my There Goes the Galaxy trilogy, Tryfling Matters. I'm about 100 manuscript pages in and I know where I want it to end, but I'm plotting out the structure for a strong, fun middle. You know the kind; if it were a person, it would be a middle with good abs.

In the evenings, to help keep the creativity going, I've been doing a lot of drawing. Some have been illustrations from scenes from my first two books. And some of it has been whatever's popped in mind. 

You can see above, I attempted David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor of Doctor Who last night. I thought he turned out pretty Tennanty, but I've since been informed that he looks like: 1.) Harrison Ford 2.) both Japanese AND Korean 3.) His nose is wibbly-wobbly. (I imagine that last one is because it's half-stuck in another dimension. The TARDIS is clearly rough on the sinuses.)

So I'm glad I was set straight on all that. :)

I also decided to try my hand at ol' Captain Jack Sparrow.

I had to try to draw one of my favorite superheroes from childhood, Batgirl...

(The book she's reading is "Work-Life Balance.")

I did another couple of doodles based on There Goes the Galaxy characters... Bertram and Rollie in the Shop-o-Drome on Golgi-Beta from the first book...

And a Charlie's Angels spoof of Tseethe, Fess and Rollie, all characters from my Intergalactic Underworld. There's no slight intended in making Kate Jackson's character a squidoid, by the way. That's just Fess. :)

I did a few Alice in Wonderland doodles using a steampunk theme. This is Alice searching for the Jabberwock with her Vorpal Sword...

And her companion, the Cheshire Clock, all by himself in a paper umbrella tree.

I tried a more traditional Alice down the rabbit hole, really testing out that gravity...

And one of my favorites, the White Rabbit, chillaxing there in his favorite chair...

Here is a different version of the Queen of Hearts I attempted... I wanted her to be less Queen Elizabeth or Queen Victoria influenced and more Scarlett O'Hara, for a change...

And this was followed by a drawing of The White Queen, which turned out kind of creepy and intense. I was going for a little Galadriel and Joan of Arc...

An investment in some monochrome grey markers had me try a little Dorothy in Kansas action...

And I thought I'd do one in color as well.

Because I had some folks on social media forums request it, I've posted a few of these and some other ones as small posters in a Zazzle shop. I have those there along with some t-shirt designs based on the There Goes the Galaxy stories. Folks who have read the books will understand the references. You can check them out here: 

http://www.zazzle.com/jennthorsondesigns*

So that's about it for me right now! This weekend, I plan to finish the rest of my book's metaphorical ab workout, and we'll see what else awaits. I probably should do something about Tarzan and his chimp buddies picketing outside my house. I've explained to him he doesn't have squatter's rights, but it's like talking to a brick wall.

Off-Orbit Art and the Fun of Getting to Draw Aliens, Invisibility and Skull Buckets

I have just a few more drawings to share with you for this week. The first, above, is the one I was still messing around with last post-- the scene with the Underworld snitch Skane in Vos Laegos. I discovered white colored pencil over marker is a great way to show high-tech alien camouflage... while simultaneously not showing it. 

The next one I thought would be fun to work on was Rollie and Meena in the bar on Gwash. This was once I got the general idea roughed out....

And this one, is the finished piece. Apologies, the straight lines look a little bendy due to the paper...

One of my favorite parts was getting to draw a bucket made of an animal skull. The other was giving Rollie sunburn. Poor guy! Altair-5 is not made for the average Hyphiz Deltan.

So that's it from me for now. I hope you all have yourselves an out-of-this-world week.

--Jenn

Doodles, Details and Dayjobs

With the dayjob sucking a lot of my writing brain away lately, I've enjoyed a replenishing break doing some doodling. Lately, this has gone from more simple, static figures, to actual scenes from There Goes the Galaxy and The Purloined Number.

It's always surprising to me what I learn from doing this. For instance, when I decided to draw Bertram in the discount souvenir crap he picks up at the Lunch-n-Launch diner in The Purloined Number, I had NO IDEA he'd gotten himself the questionable orange and green logo pants he seems to be wearing here. He just needed something extra, and they APPEARED. (I'm sorry, Bertram. I'm really sorry. But at least you look happy about it.)

Rollie below was fun because I finally got a better bead on those heavy-treaded boots he's always clunking onto things. I liked adding the little frayed bits to the bottom of the coat, too. I don't imagine Rollie bothers with having many wardrobe options in his closet.

I wanted to draw Xylith, who's integral in both books, here doing a little pick-pocketry... her speciality. Here, I knew about her very strange feet, but I wasn't aware until I started trying to design the boots and clothes that her people may well be amphibious.

I also wanted to try to draw Rozz, the other main Earth person in the series. From comments online, Rozz apparently looks like a fuchsia-haired Felicia Day. I would have liked this drawing better if it wasn't limited by my crappy handwriting. Missing those first grade penmanship classes--- it still haunts me! :)

On the plus side, I have a better idea of what the Print Liberation Lounge logo and company colors might be.

One of my friends at work, who'd been following along with my drawing projects, requested a scene from the first There Goes the Galaxy, wanting to know what the Seers' Tower on Rhobux-7 looked like. I wasn't sure if I was up for doing such a complex scene, but it was really fun to try to figure it out!

That got me thinking about that big lime green eyeball (The Receptionist) inside the Seers' Tower. I was pretty happy with little details like the sweep of Rollie's coat, and the hole in poor Bertram's sock.

I also thought it would be fun to see what the Peace Guards on the planet Podunk-17 looked like. I knew they were lizardoid. But I didn't expect they would be inspired so much by tropical aquarium fish.

So, that's where I am currently. I'm working on the picture below today.

This is in Vos Laegos, in The Purloined Number where Bertram and Rollie visit with Rollie's snitch acquaintance, Skane. Here the challenge will be in doing Rollie's high-tech camo. It's supposed to be visible but not visible, so it's an interesting balancing act for me. I don't know if my drawing skills are up for it. But I'm preparing for takeoff anyway. :)

If any of you have suggestions for a scene you'd like to see doodled, I'd be happy to hear it!

--Jenn

Daft Doodling and Sci-Fi Sketchery

It's been a stressful few weeks for me, work-wise, and I needed a short break from writing, so I thought I would treat myself to a new sketchbook, some markers and colored pencils and just draw whatever I felt like. I started out with a few whimsical Alice in Wonderland doodles...

I may roughly fill-in the background on the one below-- I'm not sure yet. Still getting the feel for all the stuff the colored pencils can do and the best way to manipulate them...

Then a friend who's also a reader of mine triggered me drawing a carnivorous daisy from the planet Altair, based on my There Goes the Galaxy books...

She had this idea that there were two different species of daisies, one who ate its prey a bit at a time and one that slurped up people whole, bud-closed. Anyway, it was too weird to not try to draw...

I also wanted to try to draw my character Fess, who you may note is basically a squid-oid. The little pink and purple creature next to him is a snoogle, one of the Greater Communicating Universe's cutest and most popular pets...

And then there's my character, Rollie, who I'm still working on. He's been fun to do. The challenge here was that he wears all black (he claims "it hides blood so nice"), so coloring him in meant I would lose all the detail on his clothes, if I didn't do it right. Fortunately, a touch of grey, a little brown, and a white colored pencil did the trick on that...

Still work to do on the furniture, etc., but that will come in the next few days.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Hope you are all doing well as we begin our journey into May-- and finally, REAL SPRING. --Jenn

Dusty Doodly Disasters, Googley Groupy Goodness and Snowy Sequestering

In my hand, I have a mixed bag of stuff to share-- sort of like when I help out at the grocery checkout and hastily stuff the eggs and leaky shampoo in the same bag as a crisp, sparkly greeting card.

I'll start with the informative stuff first. For any of you folks who are on GooglePlus, my There Goes the Galaxy series now has its own page:

google.com/+JennthorsonThereGoestheGalaxy

Circle it there, and you'll get regular updates on book progress, general story and character discussions... whatever propels your Intergalactic Cruise Vessel.

Second item: I bet you're wondering what the heck that image is up at the top of the page. That is an illustration I'd tried to do about 15 years ago, by drawing with a mouse on my computer in a paint program. It was for a There Goes the Galaxy sequel book that was SO BAD-- ("How bad was it?")-- it was SO BAD it had to be stabbed, shot, hung, drawn, quartered and dragged behind a horse in little bits just to make sure it was dead.

BUT I figured some of you might enjoy getting to see my inept renderings of Bertram (featured in his borrowed Popeelie cloak), Xylith and Rollie. So happiness and purpose abide!

Lastly: given the crappy weather predicted to descend upon us this weekend, I plan to hide away working on the last book in the trilogy. The benefit to it being so cold even the SnowMiser buys a ticket to Miami is that I can actually get some fiction work done. (Read that as: "My cats can sit between me and the keyboard and edit me.")

What are you folks up to this weekend? Anything good?
--Jenn

Spamming the Classics

Folks who follow me on Twitter might have read me talk about my recent onslaught of spam comments every hour on the hour, featuring the many exciting facets of multi-layered personality, Kim Kardashian.

Oh, we learn in fragmented English about her incomparable beauty, her friends, her personal vulnerabilities, her unique style and, of course, all of this links to shots of her in her birthday suit.

So on any given day, I can reject upwards of 20 of these Ode to Kim comments.

Earlier, it had been Carrie Prejean, the beauty contestant who caused a big hubbub by taking an anti-gay stance because of her strong Christian values... Until her Birthday Suit photos went public.

The spammers are fickle. They transfer their affections easily.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how these spam folks tend to focus on really the lowest common denominator when it comes to their favorite babes. We always are inundated with these no-talent, fifteen-minute-famers out there, built up to be some all-enduring Aphrodite for the Ages, in and out of Juicy Couture yoga pants.

Now what I'd enjoy seeing-- just to mix things up a little-- is spam promoting something with a little more longevity. Say:

Naughty Pablo Piccaso Senoritas bare it all! Watch Girl Before a Mirror in a very private moment, only before seen in museums! Her naked breasts may be wonky, but she's got style to spare and she's waiting for you!

Or maybe:

Your screen will sizzle as you download a tale of one hot desperate housewife getting it on with the local clergy in never-before-seen behind-barn-doors Puritanical action! Yes, it's Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter! Click here to view.

Or even:

It was banned. It was burned. This is the film based on the book no one wanted you to see...

To Kill a Mockingbird. Watch wanton hussies inviting you in to "bust up their chiffarobe"! In this steamy south, anything can happen!

A little spam variety. That's all I ask.

Oh, I still won't approve it. But a gal can only hear so much about the gorgeousness and all-around perfection that is Kim Kardashian before she starts to get just a tad jealous.

So what's your most entertaining spam?

--------------------------------------------------
PS- Folks, just as a heads-up, I'm taking Friday off from Cabbages and will resume posting again next week. My bud Josette of Thorson/HADLEY heavy metal fame is visiting over the holiday weekend and I've decided to give myself a mini-vacation from blogging as well.

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day!

Wanted: Naked Man Answering to the Name of David

O, David, where art thou? Yes, this was a poster I passed by today in a local neighborhood. The statue of Michaelangelo's David has been a real fixture for a few years, nestled in the corner of someone's yard along with a Venus de Milo.

Now, David has hightailed it out of there, leaving Venus far behind. Without much of a wardrobe, packing was easy.

Below, you can see a closeup of the request from David's original family (the only editing done here is my removal of the address and telephone info)...


Exactly how far a three-foot-tall concrete David could get on his own over the course of a busy Fourth of July weekend, remains to be discovered.

Good luck, David. I hope you find what you're looking for.

At the very least, Pittsburgh has a pretty big Italian quarter. If he gets homesick, there are plenty of places for pasta.

Shirt and shoes, though, may be required.

----------------------------------------
Humorbloggers
Humor-blogs