Monsters That Eat Christmas

[composite sketch wallpaper @ monotonae (12/23)]

[color wallpaper @ monotonae.tumblr]

Have a Monster of a Christmas

Mess of Monsters

Red pencil and black ink on paper.

A Mess of Minnie's

Minnie Mouse doodles out of my sketch book.

Red pencil and black ink on paper.

monstergram7 - October

Instagram posts form last month @monstergram7
https://instagram.com/monstergram7/

monstergrams - September

A visual summary of September posts on my Instagram, monstergram7.
https://instagram.com/monstergram7/

Sketchin' Supes

Sketch cards from 2012

Color pencil and black ink on Bristol Board.

6.35 cm x 8.89 cm (2.5 in. x 3.5 in.)

SUPERMAN, SUPERGIRL and SUPERBOY TM DC Comics.

Art © Bryan L. Mon

This Is What I Drew Sunday – September 27

Here are the top 3 “liked” pieces from this Sunday’s all-day session of “What Shall I Draw Today?”

#1 - Dark Knight Batman and Carrie Kelley Robin: suggested by LJ Mandap

#2 - Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad movie): suggested by Steven Sanchez

#3 - Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride (cute style): suggested by Royce Thrower

And here is the whole Sunday set:

 Thank you to everyone who offered drawing suggestions and to those who voted with their Instagram and Facebook “likes.”

Keep an eye open January 2016 for the next WSIDT session.

Check out the Instagram posts: [Monstergram7]

What Shall I Draw Today? September 27

Hey all, give me an idea or two of what I could draw this Sunday.

Now taking on suggestions!

The guide lines:

- 1 -

I reserve the right NOT to draw anything suggested without explanation, but usually because either for the content or design.

- 2- 

Suggestions fielded via one of these three portals:

• This blog, monotonae as a monitored comment (comments won’t appear instantly).

• Facebook (either directly to me Bryan L Mon or the group, I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon).

• Instagram (monstergram7)

- 3-

The window for suggestions on this round ends at 11:59 p.m. p.d.t. Sunday September 27, 2015. 

Most pieces are draw on 2.5" x 3.5" (collector card size) cut Bristol Board. I will post drawings on Instagram as I go, which will I share on my Facebook page and cross-sharing, eventually, to the Facebook group, “I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon.”

The top 3 “Liked” will go up here in monotonae on late Monday, September 28, 2015.

This will be the last time this year that I will be conducting this open suggestion all-day drawing session because predictable the last three months of the year will be any where from busy to ridiculously busy.

Thank you in advance for playing.

 All art © Bryan L. Mon

KYLO REN TM ©Lucas Films, LTD. SPIDER-GWEN TM & © Marvel. DEATHSTROKE TM & © DC Comics.

What Shall I Draw Today? - Coming Sunday, September 27

Long Beach Comic Con 2015 - UPDATE

Monster Enterprises presents 

Bryan Mon (me) 

and Merrill Hagan

at Long Beach Comic Con

 September 12-13, 2015 

Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center

200 S. Pine Ave,
Long Beach, CA 90802

 Artist Alley table: CC6

Summer Grams - Monster-grams for June Through August

I started an Instagram account this summer upon the suggestion of one of my Disney co-workers. Please forgive me if you’ve heard this story previously, but loosely it went like this:

Me: [drawing on the paper table covering at Market City Cafe, Burbank during a group lunch outing.]

Alex: Dude, you should share that on Instagram. Do you have an Instagram account?

Me: No, I don’t.

Alex: Dude, you should.

Me: [scrolling through the app store on my smart phone.]

Huh, well the app is free. 

At that lunch, I took a few photos of what I drew. Later that afternoon I downloaded the app, started an account, monstergram7, and my first two Instagram shares were spaghetti-slurping Little Tuffy and Jessie the cowgirl.

And them not much else. I really didn’t know what to do with it.

On a whim I tried a one-day-only, social media suggestion box called “What Shall I Draw Today?” (WSIDT). On Sunday, June 28th, I open the doors through this blog, Facebook and Instagram with little fanfare. I received five suggestions. This was a lot easier than my average Sunday comic convention load.

In July, I posted some random things including a sample of life figure drawing, an Independence Day commemorative and something for a baby shower.

Experimentation continued with a day at Disneyland on it’s official 60th birthday, July 17th, 2015 during which I doodled in an autograph book.

For my follow-up WSIDT, I posted notices a week ahead of the Sunday. The list of suggestions was quite a bit longer.

In August, another Instagram experiment was an hour-long doodling session. My parameters were to do as many doodles that I could fit on to one page, with one pen, within one hour. It’s not like any art-school exercise I’ve ever had, but as such it probably would have been a good one. Pen doodling is useful as an exercise, because without resorting to erasing or digital “undos,” you’re forced to make decisions and work with or accept mistakes.

I closed August with a sneak attack WSIDT, which is more like 27-hours starting at 12 am Eastern Time and ending the next day at 12 am Pacific Time. Part of my time that Sunday was occupied by completing actual commissions, so I was doing much more drawing than that represented by my monstergram7 shares.

Lessons learned:
1) How to change privacy settings per Facebook posts, which is helpful since I’ve been sharing Instagram posts on FB.
2) Not getting cast shadows in the photographs of the drawings (kind of).
3) Instagram is for smart phones and is not-so friendly for posting through an internet browser.

Please follow my Instagram at monstergram7 if you want to see my random napkin drawings or to contribute suggestions to an up-coming WSIDT sessions.

Long Beach Comics Convention 2015

Monster Enterprises presents 

Bryan Mon (me) 

and Merrill Hagan

at Long Beach Comic Con

 September 12-13, 2015 

Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center

200 S. Pine Ave,
Long Beach, CA 90802

 Artist Alley table: CC6

UPDATE: Floor plan.

This Is What I Drew Sunday – August 30

Here are the top 3 “liked” pieces from yesterday’s all-day session of “What Shall I Draw Today?”

#1 - Ellie and Carl as kids from Up: suggested by LJ Mandap

#2 - Yoda versus Darth Vader and Darth Maul: suggested by Christine Dennis Merritt

#3 - Rocket Raccoon and Baby Groot: suggested by LJ Mandap

And here is the whole Sunday set:

I think I’m ready for Long Beach Comic Con.

It’s not lost on me that this could be a sneaky way for folks to get free commission sketches (digitally through Facebook or Instagram). Given what’s readily accessible on the internet and sites like Deviant Art, “free” art is all over the place. I like to think of these as “suggested by” pieces rather than commissions, since I get to choose amongst the suggestions on what I spend time.

As usual the single and dual character pieces are drawn at collector card sizes of 2.5" x 3.5". The much larger pieces are at 5" x 7", a size chosen because I have clear binder sleeves with that size pockets (old style, jumbo photo size?). I doubt I’ll go bigger for a WSIDT piece. And before you all start getting a lot of crazy ideas with a gangs of characters and heaps props and extravagant backgrounds, I’ll say upfront, here and now, that you may suggest them, but I will not do it*.

For any one interested in purchasing one or more of these pieces of original art, you’ll have to catch up with me at one of my few comic convention appearances, like the upcoming Long Beach Comic Con.

Thank you once again to everyone who offered drawing suggestions and to those who voted with their Facebook and Instagram “likes.”

*Some things are deserving of breaking that rule, of course.

What Shall I Draw Today - August 30

Now taking on suggestions!

The guide lines:

- 1 -

I reserve the right NOT to draw anything suggested without explanation, but usually because either for the content or design.

- 2- 

Suggestions fielded via one of these three portals:

• This blog, monotonae as a monitored comment (comments won’t appear instantly).

• Facebook (either directly to me Bryan L Mon or the group, I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon).

• Instagram (monstergram7)

- 3-

The window for suggestions on this round ends at 11:59 p.m. p.d.t. Sunday August 30, 2015. 

I will post drawings on Instagram as I go, which will I share on my Facebook page. Cross-sharing to the Facebook group, “I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon” is hampered by the current fact that while I can do it from my computer, I haven’t yet figured how to do it from my iPhone.

The top 3 “Liked” will go up here in monotonae on late Monday, August 31, 2015.


Thank you in advance for playing.

Long Beach Comic Con 2015

Monster Enterprises presents 

Bryan Mon (me) 

and Merrill Hagan

at Long Beach Comic Con

 September 12-13, 2015 

Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center

200 S. Pine Ave,
Long Beach, CA 90802

 Artist Alley table: T.B.A. 

Order Your Convention Sketches for Pick Up NOW – In advance of the 2-day con, I am accepting a limited number of orders-for-pick-up from now until Sun., Sept. 6, 2015. I, of course, will be drawing custom convention sketches to order during the con., but you can imagine how the commission list gets full quickly in a 2-day con.

If you will be attending the Long Beach Comic Convention this year and would like to commission a sketch drawn and colored by me, then this may be the deal for you at these super reasonable rates: 

• $15 for a single character (full or portrait)
• $40 for two characters on one page.

My in-convention rates are $50 for a single full character and $120 for two character in color on one page.

The convention commission specifications are as follows:
• An original drawing, inked with color pencil.
• 9 in. x 12 in. Bristol Board.
• Up to 2 commissions per person.
• Payment made during the LBCC at time of pick-up.
• Content themes for a family-friendly con apply, and the artist reserves the right to refuse commissions.

It’s that easy. If you’re interested, please contact me via e-mail at
BryanLMon@Yahoo.com or check the “View my complete profile“ on this blog.


 L B C N U!

ZATANNA TM DC Comics.

ELSA and OLAF TM Disney.

INVICIBLE and ATOM EVE TM Image Comics.

TUFF-GIRL TM & © Bryan L. Mon and Monster Enterprises.

Alien BEN-efits

Four Arms

Heatblast

A couple of Ben 10 themed sketch cards done in 2012.

This Is What I Drew Sunday - July 26

Here are the top 3 “liked” pieces from yesterday’s all-day session of “What Shall I Draw Today?”

#1 - Ariel and Flounder: suggested by LJCAliCollectibles

#2 - White Queen: suggested by makehavok247

#3 - Duela Dent: suggested by LJCalicollectibles

And here below is the whole set:

I also squeezed in two loads of laundry, washed and folded.

This is like the at-home version of doing sketch commissions at a comic convention - minus, of course, the exchange of actual product for payment.


Thank you to everyone who offered drawing suggestions and those who voted with their Facebook and Instagram “likes.”

Do you have something nifty in mind for me to draw on a Sunday? Keep an eye open for my next WSIDT session.

what shall i draw today - jul 26 - GO!

Now taking on suggestions!

The guide lines:

- 1 -

I reserve the right NOT to draw anything suggested without explanation, but usually because either for the content or design.

- 2- 

Suggestions fielded via one of these three portals:

• This blog, monotonae as a monitored comment (comments won’t appear instantly).

• Facebook (either directly to me Bryan L Mon or the group, I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon).

• Instagram (monstergram7)

- 3-

The window for suggestions on this round ends at 11:59 p.m. p.d.t. Sunday July 26, 2015. 

I will post drawings on Instagram as I go, which will I share on my Facebook page. Cross-sharing to the Facebook group, “I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon” is hampered by the current fact that while I can do it from my computer, I haven’t yet figured how to do it from my iPhone.

Now, I like to sleep on weekends so I’ll not likely start until after 8:00 a.m., perhaps not until noon.

The top 3 “Liked” will go up here in monotonae on late Monday July 27, 2015.


Thank you in advance for playing.

What Shall I Draw Today? - Coming July 26

Disneyland’s 60th Birthday

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, California, U.S.A., Friday, July 17th, 2015 –  By the understanding generosity of my supervisor, I took the day off to spend most of yesterday, Friday, at Disneyland on it’s official 60th birthday, a.k.a. the anniversary of its opening day back in 1955.

For kicks and giggles I picked up an autograph book to use as a sketch book to record my thoughts through out the day. The book contained 12 double-sided pages and four sheets of character stickers. I shared some detail pictures on Facebook via Instagram (monstergram7). Here, however, is the complete volume (minus the sticker pages).

I arrived a bit after 10:00 a.m. and both parks at the Disneyland Resort, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (DCA), had “special edition” souvenir guide maps (pamphlets) for the day, as well as special commemorative buttons for each guest. Other special items were available and for sale throughout the parks. You can bet that folks were anxious to pick up stuff on the special day.

I met up with my friend and former Disney Artist, Jeff for lunch at the La Brea Bakery. Here, I started my sketch book with a quick Mickey followed by Jeff’s better Mickey. Then I did lunch themed doodles.
I poked around DCA a bit to explore the recently re-themed Grizzly Peaks Airfield and to see for which showing of the World of Color water show Fast Pass ticket were being distributed.

A new way that Disneyland devised to experience the Parks is a Hidden Mickey scavenger hunt called “Looking for Mickey Quest.” Largely, I let the quest guide me to different areas of the park, but not slavishly so. I had to check out the upgrades to the Matterhorn.

One of the Quest’s clues pointed to Mickey’s Movie Barn, which is the finale of exploring Mickey’s House in Toontown and not strictly listed on the guide map. Here, believe it or not, I got my first Toontown introduction to Mickey.

The afternoon parade, Mickey’s Soundsational Parade, now in its fifth year running, was kicked off by a special precession featuring several “original” Cast Members who worked in the park in 1955. I sketched some of the waiting crowd and made note that several guests were costumed in clothes reminiscent of 1950’s American style, skirts, white glove, fedoras, etc. I think this is where I received the most sun.

Next, on to Frontierland, a trip around Rivers of America on the stern-wheel steam ship Mark Twain for two Quest clues and Pirates of the Caribbean which occupied three clues on the Quest sheet. The difficulty of questing during this ride is compounded by the fact that it is a dark, moving ride. Without prior knowledge of the clue answers, one conceivably would have to memorize the choices of the clues.

Big Thunder Mountain broke down while I was on queue. And I rode on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I wonder if folks get motion sickness on this attraction.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

By about 7:30 p.m. I found myself in the Disneyland Opera House for a performance of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Then I met up with Linda and Olav. I had a birthday cupcake and squeezed in the Main Street crowd for my first-time live-viewing of the new Paint the Night Parade, which was followed by the Disneyland Forever fireworks display. Linda and I caught the second showing of this summer’s edition of DCA’s World of Color waterworks and lights show World of Color: Celebrate.

With Linda treating herself to a Dole Whip, our last experience of the evening was Peter Pan’s Flight featuring “new magic”.

 By 1:00 a.m. I was tired. I was probably tired before Pan, but was occupied enough to ignore it.


EPILOGUE:
With the remaining five pages, I made these epilogue sketches this Saturday afternoon with the luxury of time, a blue pencil and a brush tip pen:

Something inspired by Adventureland: an explorer captain in a hippo encounter.
Something inspired by Tomorrowland: a spaceman and a spacegirl.

Something inspired by Frontierland: The Frito Kid.
Something inspired by Fantasyland: Snow White and guest.

And lastly, the artist’s pick, something inspired by Bear Country (now Critter Country): Henry the bear and Sammy the raccoon from the now non-existent (in Disneyland) Country Bear Jamboree.

I should admit (or perhaps by now re-iterate) that I don’t have the reputed artist drive to sketch all of the time, so I don’t. There were times I’d be on queue for a few minutes before I remembered that, “hey, I was going to be sketching today.” Then, of course, I had to decide what to sketch.


Thanks for a magical day, Disneyland.