What I Drew Sunday, Oct 10 - Disney Parks

Day No. 10

More drawings. More details about those drawings.

#30, pp. 60-61 - Ariel and Eric / on Pirates of the Caribbean / getting spooked: @nikkistar5394 / Abigail R / @alltookayleigh

I’m always looking for ways to crop things like these attractions scenes to focus on the primary characters and minimize any other folks that would fill out ride vehicles and such.

2x hidden Mickeys. 1x Baby Oyster.

#31, pp. 62-63 - Abu / on Kali River Rapids: @Zoe.with.twodots / @nikkistar5394

A single small character in a large circular raft cropped so as not ending to draw extra characters. Plus a lot of water. I think it conveys the right amount of tension, but isn’t a good illustration of what the raft looks like, but it doesn’t need to.

3x hidden Mickeys.

#32, pp. 64-65 - Aristocats’ O’Malley and Duchess / competing fiercely on the Tomorrowland Speedway / with fishing gear: @motheroffreels / @eljcid / @cr8ure

Cats driving cars.

1x hidden Mickey.

#33, pp. 66-67 - Some of the Tomorrowland gang (Carousel of Progress, Buzz, Stitch, etc) / going on Tower of Terror / carrying the 50th birthday cake: @mascotdrawings / @caitlinfogartyart / Jeff S.

From both Disneyland’s (DL) and Magic Kingdom’s (MK) Tomorrowlands. 

(Top/back row, L-R) RX-24 (Star Tours, DL), Mr. Johnson (Mission to Mars, DL), Space Man and Space Woman (DL), Mike and Sulley (Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, MK).

Carousel of Progress family: (Middle row, left four) Cousin Orville, Father, Mother (a.k.a. Sarah), Daughter (a.k.a. Patty). (Bottom/front row, left four) Grand Father, Grand Mother, Son (a.k.a. Jimmy), Daughter (unnamed).

(Middle row, right side L-R) Buddy Boil (Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor), Sonny Eclipse (Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, MK).

(Bottom/front row, right side, L-R) Buzz Lightyear and Emperor Zurg (Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, MK and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, DL), Stitch and Skippy (Stitch’s Great Escape!, MK)

1x hidden Mickey.

What I Drew Sunday, February 21st - Top 3

For the first themed edition of “What Shall I Draw Today?” in 2021, the drawings resolved around Disney, and Pixar and the Muppets. The Disney day theme happened to be the top as voted in a quick poll on Instagram.

Here are the top 3 liked pieces from Sunday:

#1 - Joe and Roger Piano Players: original suggestion by @ani8tor57

Just a couple of piano players. The sister suggestion pitched by the same person had paired Joe and Schroeder from Peanuts. Of course this combination of Joe Gardner (Pixar’s Soul) and Roger Radcliffe (Walt Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians) is more Disney.

Could I have depicted Joe and Roger sitting on the same bench? Yes, and that could have been a way to economize the space with only a single upright piano.

I opted to have back to back pianos, allowing for the instruments to match the personalities of the players. As I have mentioned in past WSIDT summaries, all of the drawings done on the WSIDT days are done with little or no preparation. From choosing the suggested idea, I dive into the drawing as quickly as possible often taking the first layout decisions as they come. Also in the interest of making quick drawings, I make decisions to cheat layouts and creatively crop and simplify to eliminate unnecessary details.

Here I cheated the characters’ positions by having both lean around to make eye contact. Conveniently, With Roger in front, he conceals a good part of both pianos. The camera angle is set low so that I don’t have to draw pain keys, and the image tightly cropped to show just enough to display that they are playing pianos and not, perhaps, sitting at writing desks.

It’s always fun to incorporate a supporting character or two, and here the cat and a puppy fill the need nicely. Again, the layout is such that the image need not be full of dalmatian puppies.

I wonder what kind of jazz duet they’re playing that Joe is playing the high part and Roger the low part.


#2 - Melody Sleeping on Max: suggestion by @nikkistar5394

It wasn’t immediately clear to me who Melody and Max were. That’s where an internet search revealed these two Disney characters from The Little Mermaid franchise.

Looking at it now, Max may be a bit too small.

While not having first-hand knowledge of how a baby might sleep on a furry member of the family, I am confident that I must have seen something similar in a movie or on television. The sea-shell shaped gown is directly taken from still of The Little Mermaid 2.


#3 - Wanda and Vision at Disneyland: original suggestion by @ray.anna2018

This idea was one of the few incorporating a Disney theme park. At the time of this WSIDT session, the Disney+ series had just released the seventh episode. Even so, the first two black-and-white 1950s era episodes are still potent as defining imagery for the series. Another bit of imagery that is strongly associated with the WandaVision series is the classic vacuum tube television screen. When drawing a scene with two or more characters and other background features and/or properties, I lightly mark margins around the card. This time, that action naturally mimicked tracing the outline of a televisions screen.

For every “at Disneyland” suggestion that I draw, I try to select background elements that are 1) iconic 2) easy to draw. To that end, I’ll chose a distinct skyline and devise a way to not draw crowds. Here, Wanda and Vision are strolling through Town Square past the Main Street Train Station. Cropping as a medium two-shot with a low positioned camera point of view crops out room for surrounding crowds.

The suggestion also included that it be 1950s era. With Main Street being one of the least changed parts of the California park, I incorporated the 1955/56 styled popcorn box.

The slightly muted colors is also an attempt to evoke the era.



Here are the rest of the 9 drawn on Sunday:

Kermit (Hercules) and Miss Piggy (Megara)

Suggestion by @craftsgineer

Sisu meets Mushu
Suggestion by @zhukong24

Emma Stone as Cruella
Suggestion by Kinzey F

Mrs. Potts at the Mad Hatter’s tea party
Suggestion by @jonmpeterson

Burrito from The Flying Gauchito
Suggestion by Abigail R.

Gaston showing his son Gil how to shoot
Suggestion by @harishas.art

All of these and more original pieces of art will be for sale in future convention shows.

The next WSIDT session is happening in March 28, 2021. 

For the year’s schedule, click on the WSIDT tab above.

Thank you to everyone who pitched their fun drawing suggestions.

Thank you for following my blog and/or Instagram (@Monstergram7) and/or Monster Enterprises Facebook page. 

Thank you for liking.

All: Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.

“Joe & Roger” and “Wanda & Vision” 17.78 cm  x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in)
“Melody & Max” 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm (3.50 in. x 2.50 in.)

What I Drew for Disneyland’s Birthday – Day 4

President Abraham Lincoln
(and Sam the Eagle).
Disneyland

 

The Goofy and Junior getting Main Street treats.
Disneyland.

2x hidden Mickeys & 2x obvious Mickeys.

Easter Eggs: Anastasia & Drizella from Cinderella; San the Eagle and Ollie Owl from “America Sings.”

 

King Triton’s daughters performing as the Voices of Liberty,
With Ollie Owl and lead by Sam the Eagle.

4x hidden Mickeys.

 (L-R) Adella, Arista, Attina, Ariel, Ollie, Alana, Aquatta, Andrina and Sam.

The suggestion box for July 5 is now closed.

You have until 5:00pm EDT (2:00 PDT) July 5 to pitch sketch suggestions inspired by your favorite Disney Parks things and characters for consideration to be my last sketch of the day - here in the comments.

What I Drew Sunday, September 29th - Top 3

For the last WSIDT of 2019 I conducted a poll to have folks vote from a list of 60 not-yet-drawn past suggestions for me to draw. Going by the popularity ranking, I drew a whopping 3 pieces!

Here they are...

#1 - The Cast of “Friends” as Princes and Princesses: suggestion by @akoymdf

Thank you to @amkoymdf for patiently waiting for me to draw a “cast of ‘Friends’” suggestion that have been pitched in WSIDT for over a year. With six caricatures, each with distinct personalities and dressed in the costume of a Disney character hopefully matching in some way, I knew it was going to be a hefty task. As it turned out, Ir required over half of the eight-hour session to sketch and color. 

Here’s what I was thinking (left to right):

Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green dressed as Princess Giselle from Enchanted. 

Giselle is not included in Disney’s 12 spotlight princesses selected for licensing, which matters little to me for this sketch. Through the course of the television series, Rachel goes from spoiled, runaway bride to independent woman. Giselle is a high-fashion princess from a fantasy world thrust into another reality who learns to make her own decisions. 

David Schwimmer’s Ross Geller dressed in Aladdin’s Prince Ali outfit. 

I’ll add now that with only three woman and three men in the cast and more than two dozen princesses and princes from which to choose, I thought that it would be fun if all six were from six different Disney films/franchises. Despite several complex romantic relationships, Ross displays a lot of insecurities on the show. As a “street rat” in disguise as a prince, Aladdin likewise reveals to the audience a lot of self-doubt.

Matt LeBlanc’s Joey Tribbiani dresses as Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog.

Both Joey and Naveen are up for a good time.

Courtney Cox’s Monica Geller dressed as Princess Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of course. 

Both Monica and Snow White are good cooks (probably) and self-motivated to do some cleaning.

Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe Buffay dressed as Princess Rapunzel from Tangled. 

Phoebe and Rapunzel share musical talent with a guitar and happen to have had long blonde hair.

Matthew Perry’s Chandler Bing dressed as Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. 

Chandler was the most difficult to match to a Disney prince and the choices are slim. Maybe Eugene a.k.a. Flynn Ryder has the most multi-layered personality on display to compare with Chandler’s funny-man neuroticism. However, since Phoebe’s Rapnzel isn’t a Eugerne-Chandler’s lobster, I landed on good-guy Prince Eric. Eric isn’t as princely perfect as Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty) and he’s more defined than either of the unnamed  arguably) charming princes for Snow White and Cinderella.

Any of the cast’s hair styles were largely were taken from what ever piece of Google images searched reference on which I chose for expressions.

What Friend/Royal mashup would you have suggested?

Did you spot all of the Easter Eggs on the coffee table?

#2 - Ursula and King Triton …Young and Dating Before the Events of “The Little Mermaid”: suggestion by @motheroffreels 

Quickly on Instagram, Folks were kindly informing me that King Triton and the sea witch are siblings: brother and sister. There are versions in Disney productions and stories in which this relationship is stated. There are version in Disney productions and stories in which there is no blood relationship stated. There are versions in Disney stories in which there once was a romantic relationship between the two.

I say, for WSIDT, somebody suggested it and several folks voted to see how I would draw the two together- dating. Perhaps those who voted were ignorant of the possibility of the sibling relationship, or perhaps they were aware and, as I said, wanted to see what if and what I would draw.

From the sequel sub-titled Ariel’s Beginning, A young King Triton in depicted with rusty brown hair and beard. He’s also married with seven very young daughters. I decided to cheat the suggestion by drawing a non-bearded Prince Triton as if he were the captain of a sports team. 

I didn’t search for images of a young Ursula, thinking that I would mostly find fan art. So my fan art version is younger and slimmer because those are the typical contrasting traits. I toyed with the idea of giving her dark or black hair, but that might have been too different from tell-tale Ursula. I also considered that she may once have been a mermaid when she was young. That the octopus traits were the results of some of her own witchcraft. THAT would have been too different. 

#3 - Thor and Captain Marvel Going Hand-Over-Hand Over the Hammer: @mkano

If I don’t need to draw the highly detailed costumes of the Live action MCU versions of these heroes, then I won’t do it. However, Most of the characters have had many costume changes and looks since the 1990’s as I am most familiar. For both of these designs, I included 2019 in my search. I guess Thor is a man again and has a golden left arm gauntlet?

At any rate, I believe that Thor respects all warriors, so this isn’t a competition that’ll bruise his ego. It’s like rock-paper-scissors: some times you win, sometimes you lose.

I’m more likely to draw Mjolnir’s handle shorter. But I think I’ve seen artist’s draw it longer, and longer is better for the baseball bat composition.

A note regarding the rankings:

If you were closely watching the daily leader board changes, a “Batgirl & Supergirl versus Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy” idea was No. 2 for a while. Then on drawing day, the “Triton & Ursula” idea jumps to the second position. 

That was a result of accounting changes. Some body questioned my method of breaking ties. During the week, I was treating it as trending, so ties were settled by whichever received the latest/most recent vote.

For the final, drawing-day ranking, the deciding factor was which idea received X amounts of votes first.

The drawing day’s top 20 poll results are as follows:

1. (45) Friends cast as princes and princesses

2. (34) Ursula and King Triton …young and dating before “The Little Mermaid”

3. (41) Thor and Captain Marvel going hand over hand over the hammer

4. (11) Batgirl and Supergirl (as villains) against Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (as heroes)

5. (29) Remy and Tiana working together in the kitchen

6. (17) Wonder Twins

7. (60) Animal trek (these are the voyages of the starship zooprise.live long and prosper)

8. (16) Starfire teaming up with Stargirl

9. (35) Deadpool trying to pick up Thor's hammer

10. (33) Uncle Scrooge and Gladstone Gander playing Press Your Luck

11. (7) Charlie Brown in space

12. (44) Elsa vs. Storm

13. (37) Jubilee and Squirrel Girl 

14. (19) Bill the Lizard (Alice in Wonderland)

15. (27) Moana and Pocahontas

16. (14) Robins - All the Robins' in their costumes around the same age together.

17. (47) Golden Girls as female superheroes

18. (15) Smallville Cast

19. (13) Krypto and Streaky having a mid-summer’s nap

20. (32) Three Caballeros

All sketches:

Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.  

“Friends Mashup” - 17.78 cm x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in.).

“Ursula and Triton” and “Thor vs. Captain Marvel” - 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.).

What’s a Clog and Why Does it... Clog?

Last weekend at D23 Expo 2019, Anaheim, CA, Disney celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the premier of the modern classic animated film, The Little Mermaid with numerous pieces of exclusive merchandise. From the Disney Store, selected art pieces were utilized for several different items.

My Mermaid art for the celebration was replicated twice. One was on one of a set of four ornaments, while the other on a large art piece printed on glass.

BEHIND THE ART:
In 2018, the Disney Store invited artists to contribute original art to celebrate The Little Mermaid’s 30th Anniversary, which officially lands in November 2019. Having been invited to contribute to similar calls for art, I am familiar that what general is liked best and then replicated on product are cute images of single characters with little backgrounds. My piece is not that, but a promotional poster for the movie.

Front and center is Ariel, the “little mermaid” of the story’s title, approaching a mysterious object that’s unmistakably from the human world - a shoe. That shoe is styled after the wooden clogs worn by Snow White in her introductory sequence of her own 1937 classic film. Faked perspective doesn’t quite hide the sense that it is a small clog. But I was only going to devote so much poster area to a clog.

Ariel is colored with the warmest palette and strongest white highlights. This palette choice and the mixed media treatment is inspired by the classic film poster work of Drew Struzan.

Ariel is encircled by her six sisters, her father and friends (from bottom left clock-wise): Attina, Andrina, King Triton, Arista, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Flounder and Sebastian. I cannot now remember my reasoning for the distribution of Ariels’s sisters. I did want them to each have different expressions. Some would rather have Ariel stay away from the alien thing, others are nearly as curious about it.

At the bottom right is King Triton’s underwater castle of his kingdom of Atlantica, made as bright and golden as I remember it from the movie. Compositionally, it may be too bright. The castle does contrast with the shadowy bottom left corner, from which peer the eels Flotsam and Jetsam as well as the glowing eyes of the sea witch, Ursula, further indicated by some of her emerging tentacles.

As an intended movie poster, you can sense that certain areas were left a bit void of details to reserve space for text and/or logos. That movie poster version never got completed.

As a total under-the-sea story, there is no room for Prince Eric or the seagull, Scuttle.


SHARED ON INSTAGRAM:

What I Drew Sunday – June 24th - Top 3

I drew 12 pieces during Sunday’s 8-hour Disney Day session of What Shall I Draw Today?

Here are the top 3 liked ones:

#1 – Beauty and the Beast: suggestion by @eddysbrothersgf

Amongst three Beauty and the Beast suggestion, I chose the one without specific storytelling probably because it gave me the freedom to draw this scene based on the exchange in the 2017 live action version where Beast presents and gifts the library to Belle. I obviously am using the character designs from the 1991 animated version. An abbreviated version of the scene is featured in the live action version’s final trailer, and may explain it’s persistence in my mind. 

I like how the newer film has the Prince/Beast be educated and literate. This 1) contrasts with Gaston and 2) gives him something to share with Belle.

The layout is the reverse of the wide shots seen in the film by having Belle closer to the camera/audience. The layout also is meant to evoke a typical panel from a comic book book or newspaper comic strip. Here, the characters fill most of the rectangle with background elements minimized and/or generalized. 

#2 – Kim Possible, Ron  Stoppable and Rufus against Dr. Drakken and Shego: suggestion by @akoymdf

Kim Possible (2002-2077) still has its fans. I wasn’t watching a lot of the Disney Channel during its original run, so the action is not based on anything direct from the series. I did find in an image search a poster with Kim and Ron dropping via parachutes. I took that idea substituting a ladder from an out of frame helicopter. The submarine gives Shego and Dr. Drakken something on which to stand. The ocean then by extension is a labor saving blank area that can be accentuated with distant islands and volcano.

The submarine is inspired by details of captain Nemo’s Nautilus from Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In my mind, it came from the same shipyard as the Nautilus built from plans stolen from Nemo.

#3 – Pooh Bear: suggestion by @sdogg52

Winnie the Pooh is as simple a sketch as I do on a collector card. Pre-Toy Story by nearly 30 years, the original shorts mixed in aspects of the toy-nature of most of the Hundred Acre Woods’ inhabitants. To wit, in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Pooh splits a seam during his stoutness exercise routine. “Oh, stuff and fluff” indeed. It’s difficult to do anything more charming than that.

And here are the rest.

Princess Eilonwy (The Black Cauldron)

Plus size Princess Jasmine (Aladdin)

Plus size Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Scar (The Lion King)

Scrooge McDuck

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

Kuzco & Pacha (The Emperor’s New Groove)

Roger Rabbit & Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

All these are going into the collection of original art for sale that I carry to comic book conventions.

All art - Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.

Beauty and the Beast - 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.).

Kim Possible - 17.78 cm x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in.).

Winnie the Pooh - 6.35 cm x 8.89 cm (2.50 in. x 3.50 in.).

Please check out my Instagram feed for these and more @monstergram7.

monstergram7 - July & August 2016

Well, I’ve maintained posting pretty regularly at a rate of no fewer than six times a week on Instagram during the summer months of July and August. The end-of-the-month “What Shall I Draw Today?” sessions are definitely helping me build up an original art stock to sell at my few comic book convention showings.

If it’s true that there’s an audience for everything, then the random WSIDT suggestions may meet those demands.

You can check out my Instagram feed, a.k.a. monstergram7, here:
https://www.instagram.com/monstergram7/

The Daughters of Triton

Attina

Alanna

Adella

Aquata

Arista

Andrina

Ariel

In Disney’s telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale of “The Little Mermaid” King Triton is the undersea ruler of the mer-people and father of seven daughters. The youngest of these seven is Ariel, the hero of the story.

At this time, I only felt like (and had time for) coloring Attina.

All inked sketches:  Carmine red pencil and black ink on paper. 21.6 cm x 27.9 cm (8.5 in. x 11.0 in.)
Color:  Digital over cleaned hand ink. 21.6 cm x 27.9 cm (8.5 in. x 11.0 in.) (5100 pix x 6600 pix @600 d.p.i.)

Allana wallpaper @monotonae.tumblr