What I Drew Sunday, January 24th - Top 3

 During the inaugural session of “What Shall I Draw Today?” for 2021, I managed to produce eight little pieces of art from the nearly 40 suggestion submitted.

Here are the top 3 liked pieces from Sunday:

#1 - Christopher Robin as Andy, Tigger as Woody, and Pooh as Buzz Lightyear: suggestion by @akoymdf

The amount of “likes” received by this piece may have set a personal best for my Instagram channel.

On paper, it’s a simple Disney mashup: three Winnie the Pooh characters as Toy Story characters. It’s a boy playing with his toys. The boy is Christopher Robin as Andy complete with a red cowboy hat. Instead of a Triple-R Ranch logo tee-shirt, he wears something of a Space Rangers logo, so that he represents his dual interests of westerns and space adventures.

Were I left to make up the mashups, I would have swapped the roles to have Tigger as Buzz because he’s flashier and bouncier. Pooh would be Woody, the trusty and loyal one whose primacy as Andy’s favorite is challenged by the new comer.

With all the “likes,” I guess @akoymdf has better instincts on the casting.

If you’ve been following my IG enough to catch some of my past WSIDT sessions, the IG handle may be familiar.


#2 - Lucy Ricardo and Wanda & Chicken: suggestion by @oliviamn14 with Abigail R.

For future readers, this session happened the Sunday following the Disney Plus airing of the third episode of WandaVision. There were 5 suggestions involving Wanda or both Wanda and Vision. This is the one WandaVision related idea that I chose to draw on Sunday because the first episode draws inspiration from I Love Lucy as well as The Dick Van Dyke Show. It would be best to explore the cross-over idea now while the connection is still fresh. There also was a suggestion featuring a version of the comic book Scarlet Witch.

The chicken is from Abigail’s separate suggestion. The chicken became the trigger for the story.

Why is there a chicken?
Wanda magic-ed it up.
What does Lucy think about that?
Lucy is wondering where that chicken came from.
Why is a chicken surprising to Lucy?
A live chicken isn’t the chicken she was thinking of.
What’s out of place about a live chicken?
Lucy has a cook book, suggesting that she had a recipe requiring a store-bought chicken.

I could have rendered the piece as true-to-inspiration black & white, but people always respond to color more. Additionally, Lucy’s bright red hair and Wanda’s auburn hair make more comparisons between the two more obvious which was, in fact, an added point made in the full suggestion.

Both of their dresses are more neutral and cool in tone for added contrast to make their hair color stand out more.

The choice to depict them in a cartoony caricature, was initiated to allude to the animated opening titles of Bewitched. The style also made it easier and quicker to draw, which is important to me as I try to complete as many drawings in eight hours as I possibly can.


#3 - Redd the pirate and Captain Jack Sparrow: suggestion by @nikkistar5394

Redd, here, is the pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. She has a different costume than Captain Redd who you once could meet at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. I trust that you know of Captain Jack Sparrow.

The suggestion included the team-up back-to-back composition. Were this not the final drawing of the day, I might have drawn it on a larger card, and a large card might have allowed for a better caricature of Captain Jack.

The expressions and exchanges of gazes, I hope, suggests that they may be teaming up now, but either one could make a self-serving turn as any moment.

Pirates. Am I Right?


Here are the rest of the 8 drawn on Sunday:

Kamala Harris (Flora), Michelle Obama (Fauna), and Dr. Jill Biden (Merryweather)
suggestion by @motheroffreels

A bi-pedal Pumbaa in tux and tails
suggestion by @pumbaaguy

Pocahontas as a hula dancer
suggestion by @elijones94

Rey and Leia bonding over an afternoon tea
suggestion by @jesstothesmith

Wonder Woman (DC Future State) — Yara Flor
suggestion by @sdogg52

I am still saving all of my drawing for future sales at convention shows. Frustratingly, I can’t say when that will be.

The next WSIDT session is happening in February 21.

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.

“Pooh Story” and “Lucy and Wanda”: 17.78 cm  x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in)
“Redd and Jack” 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm  (3.50 in. x 2.50 in.)

“Kamala, Michelle and Jill” on watercolor paper.

Tributes 2019-2020

During the year 2019, I made only 2 tribute sketches for the people who had passed. I don’t recall that I had made a decision to to fewer tribute sketches, nor was could I have been soured to doing them by any particular event.
Into 2020, I returned to making regular tribute sketch Instagram posts. 

  Performers 

Cameron Boyce
1900 - 2019
American actor
The actor did a marvelous job in the comedic role as Cruella De Vil’s son in Disney’s Descendants.

 

Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
1934 - 2020
American jazz pianist and educator
In my very small collection of music, I certainly was aware of the family of the Marsalis family of jazz musicians.

Terry Jones
1942 - 2020
Welsh actor, writer, comedian
In my mind the members of the Monty Python troupe will ever be inseparable. If my favorite Pythons film is Monty Python and the Holy Grail then it’s my favorite of Jones’ work.

Kirk Douglas
1916 - 2020
American actor, producer, director
He brought such deep intensity to his roles, none the more so than his portrayal of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

Orson Bean
1928 - 2020
American actor, comedian, writer
Bean voiced Bilbo Baggins in the Rankin/Bass animated version of The Hobbit (1977). An indelible portrayal to me even against Martin Freeman’s take in Peter Jackson’s splashier three-part version.

Robert Conrad
1935 - 2020
American actor, singer, stuntman
Conrad’s James West in The Wild, Wild West television series (1965-69), was at the top alongside James T. Kirk as the epitome of the action hero.

Lyle Waggoner
1935 - 2020
American actor, presenter, model
Perhaps best well-known for playing Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series (1975-79), his star shown a bit brighter as good-looking, funny guy on The Carol Burnett Show (1967-74).

Kenny Rogers
1938 - 2020
American singer, songwriter, actor
“You’ve got to know when to Hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, (and) know when to run.” – words to live by.

Honor Blackman
1925 - 2020
English actress
In the role of Bond-girl, Pussy Galore (Goldfinger, 1964), her character’s name made young boys reflexively giggle, but by no mistake she was a formidable personality for Bond to spar.

Little Richard
1932 - 2020
American musician, singer, and songwriter
You know what? I don’t know what “Tutti Frutti” is, But it bounces and his performance is too spectacular for me to care about it.

Jerry Stiller
1927 - 2020
American actor, comedian and author
On Seinfeld (1989-98) as George Costanza’s father Frank introduced widely to the world “Festivus,” and alternative toe the commercialization of Christmas. I’m unsure whether that introduction was a gift for Stiller or the world.

Olivia de Havilland
1916 - 2020
British-American actress
She seemed to excel most at imbuing her film roles with the winning, essential quality of kindness - see Maid Marion The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939).

 Regis Philbin
1931 - 2020
American television presenter, talk show host, actor
He always seemed to me to be such a nice guy, which I don’t think the SNL caricatured impressions captured at the sake of a comedic bit.
 

Wilford Brimley
1934 - 2020
American actor and singer
When Wilford Brimley tells me to eat oatmeal, I sit up and listen.

Naya Rivera
1987 - 2020
American actress, singer and model
Favorite performance as Santana on Glee (2009-15): “ If I Die Young” cover of the song by The Band Perry.

Chadwick Boseman
1976 - 2020
American actor and playwright
Sometimes you’ve got to see actors in multiple roles before you get it. For me finding Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther a rather stiff, I had to watch his transformation into James Brown in Get on Up (2014). 

Sean Connery
1930 - 2020
Scottish actor
Sean Connery is James Bond. Roger Moore was also James Bond, but that doesn’t make the first statement less true.

Eddie Van Halen
1955 - 2020
American musician and songwriter
The world is better when Eddie Van Halen posses so much mastery of his guitar and yet brings as much joy to it - no effort.

David Prowse
1935 - 2020
English bodybuilder, character actor
Star Wars’ Darth Vader is THE iconic character, brought to life in no small part to the man in the suit.

Dawn Wells
1938 - 2020
American actress
The mix of the seven different characters that comprise the cast-aways of Gilligan’s Island (1964-67) of different backgrounds, personalities and social castes, is, from a writing aspect, obvious fodder for conflict and story opportunities. Well’s Mary Ann easily becomes the glamorous Ginger’s ally and girl-team confidant and then when the script requires, she’s Ginger’s rival. Mary Ann provides the secret ingredient that softens other cast-aways’ more extreme personality aspects, because when Mary Ann is disappointed with Gilligan, then the audience knows that he’s REALLY messed thing up.




  Entertainment & Sports  

 

Kobe Bryant
1978 - 2020
American professional basketball player
Not following much in sports myself, I at least know that Bryant was a star in his field.

Grant Imahara
1970 - 2020
American electrical engineer, roboticist, television host
Imahara had one of the dream jobs as part of the Mythbusters’ build team for nine of 14 seasons: problem solve, build something (usually a robot) and blow things up.




  Artists & Writers   

 

Richard Williams
1938 - 2020
Canadian Director and animator
Masterfully put together the animation on the once-in-a-life time liveaction/animation Disney x Looney Tunes spectacular that is Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Albert Uderzo
1927 - 2020
French comic book artist and scriptwriter
From 1959, Uderzo was the co-creator and illustrator of the long running Astérix comic until he sold the rights in 2009. I’ve great respect for that kind of longevity and the high level of artistic quality.

Mort Drucker
1929 - 2020
American caricaturist and comics artist
As a kid, I didn’t expend brain cells on distinguishing the different creators of MAD magazine, satisfied with funny drawings and words. I should have. There good stuff in there.

Gene Deitch
1924 - 2020
American-Czech illustrator, animator, comics artist
Deitch’s batch of 13 Tom and Jerry cartoons (1961-62) fall between Hanna-Barbera’s original MGM cartoon shorts (1940-58) and Chuck Jones’ short run (1963-67) and for apparent budgetary reasons, doesn’t match the production polish of either. Still, they’ve classic Tom and Jerry antics to enjoy.

Dennis O’Neil
1939 - 2020
American comic book writer and editor
In O’Neil’s legendary collaboration with artist Neal Adams on the DC Comics runs of Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow, I was drawn in by the top-notch art and stayed for the deep intricate storytelling.

Joe Sinnott
1926 - 2020
American comic book artist
Joe Sinnott may have been the first comic book inker that I became aware of by name, after first starting to track names like Jack Kirby and John Buscema. All because, the inker as collaborative artist DOES matter, and in Sinnott’s hands you knew that your were seeing something as close as possible to what the pencil artist had intended.



  Politics, Science  

 

John Lewis
1940 - 2020
American politician, statesman, civil rights activist
Unfortunately, you learn too late about people who had real impact on the world and one’s own life. Such as it was with John Lewis and my sparse knowledge of the civil rights movement.

Chuck Yeager
1923 - 2020
United States Air Force officer, flying ace and record-setting test pilot
Known as the first human to officially break the sound barrier when flying the experimental Bell X-1 in 1947. That’s an achievement to capture a young mind who understands higher, faster and farther if not the efforts and dangers to achieve them.

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 I Drew Sunday, July 28th - Top 3

Quickly, what are the top 3 liked sketches that I drew for last Sunday’s “What Shall I Draw Today?”
A lot of powerful women.

#1 - Xena: suggestion by @alfredofrangella.

I like to kick off “What Shall I Draw Today?” with one of the single character suggestions. Frankly, of the nine singles character suggestions, “Xena” was the simplest one, only requiring that I find a good piece of visual reference, and that suited me just fine for the first piece.

I watched the series, Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001) starring Lucy Lawless when it had originally been syndicated. I remember the Sam Raimi co-created series to be entertaining and engaging. So much so, that in 2017 to brace myself should the Gal Gadot lead movie disappoint, I had thought, “Well, you had Xena.” 

The character had several costume variations since having been introduced in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-1999) through its own final season, but I wanted to draw what could be considered the most iconic, “standard” costume. 

#2 - “The Squad”: suggestion combo by @alexandrabowmanart & @ourladylourdes.

One suggestion requested a “caricaturable political figure” further suggesting President Trump. A second suggestion requested “any of the female members of Congress recently called out to go back to their country.” The combining of suggestions was for plain expediency, since a majority of the suggestions involved multiple characters, and taking those one would surely minimize the number of sketches I could complete in the allotted eight-hours.

I felt that depicting the four Congress women, sometimes referred to by the nickname “The Squad,” was more deserved than selecting a representative individual. Featured from left to right are Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. 

I attempted a caricature style inspired by the work of Al Hirschfeld. The results aren’t 100% Hirschfeld. I’d probably need another two passes to better hit that high mark. In the way that Hirschfeld hides his daughter’s name, “Nina” in his drawings, I inserted these four words, “faith,” “freedom,” “representation” and “opportunity.” They’re not exactly the “Four Freedoms” described by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but along the same thoughts. I also drew five-pointed stars on all four as another shared, patriotic motif.

#3 - Sailor Moon Meets Captain Marvel: suggestion by @japchrissy.

With “meet-up” suggestions, there is an inherent expectancy to illustrate a clash of personalities.  Such story telling is difficult when I’m not familiar with either of the listed characters. I was/am opening title (i.e. surface) familiar with Sailor Moon. My impression of Captain Marvel in the 2019 movie and the MCU is a flat bravado.

Based on that little information, a bubbly Sailor Moon excitedly greets famed galactic hero, Captain Marvel, who while surprised, still chooses, for unknown reasons, not to instantly blast the young woman.

Here are the remaining 4 of the 7 sketches:

Severus Snape

Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy in a Haunted Mansion stretching portrait

King Louie

Bob’s Burgers in the style of Eric Goldberg.

All original art to be available for sale at my next convention - CTN Expo in November.

The next WSIDT is re-scheduled for Sunday, August 18.

More drawings posted on my Instagram feed @monstergram7.

All: Black ink and color pencil:
“Xena” on paper. 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.).
“The Squad” on Bristol Board.  17.78 cm x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in.).
“Sailor Moon & Capt. Marvel” on Bristol Board. 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm (3.50 in. x 2.50 in.).