Postcard Designs

I recently started doing these small ink and marker drawings on postcard sized illustration boards. Which has been kind of a hassle... mostly the prep involved in hand cutting the thick paper. But once that part was done (I cut out at least 5 for the time being) it wasn't so hard except for what to draw on them.

Originally my idea was to make some hand drawn postcards but then I realized that the illustration board wasn't the best medium. The only reason I used it was it's sturdiness. But either way I think I'm going to use them as prototypes for future postcards. At the very least ideas for them, if anything. I wasn't sure what to draw but I know I didn't want to make anything realistic like scenery or people. So instead I decided to go abstract and use mostly patterns and designs.

The first one below is completed. The second one isn't finished yet but I'm getting around to finishing it. I'll probably have it done by the end of the week and can hopefully update this post or post it in a new one. The designs are pretty much just an amalgamation of previous designs I've done in the past. You can see the similarities to some of my other drawings.

You kinda get the sense of water, I think it's the wave(ish) patterns

I prefer this one to the other one, probably because of the boldness

Unfinished Drawings

Okay, so it's been a really long while since I had any updates or new posts... longer than I thought actually. Until I looked at the date I didn't realize how long it had been. So to make up for it I'm going to post some new artwork (and some unfinished work as well).


Anyways, I was unable to finish the drawing I was working on in the previous post. I was updating it often, you can see in the last few posts that I was working on it. It was a little ambitious of me considering all the intricate line work and using that paint marker I'd never used before. As soon as it dries and I try to apply ink, the paint seems to flake off. Not all the time but about a good 5 minutes into it, it inevitably flakes off, which I then have to color over, again. All of this was way too tedious so I never finished it.

Eventually I will finish this, someday...

As you can see, I wasn't even able to finish one of the colored sections. Too many mistakes. If I drew over it in ink too hard the paint flakes making me have to add color over it. This could eventually damage or tear the paper. But I think I'm going to eventually finish it. Looking at it now after not seeing it for such a long time makes me like it alot more than I did when I was first drawing it.

I have a bad habit of being overambitious sometimes. Usually when that happens I don't end up finishing what I start. That, and my tendency to procrastinate too much. I thought that I'd post a few other drawings that are also unfinished.


I'll start with this one since I already posted it on this blog. The reason why I didn't finish this drawing is that I added more of the "sticks" throughout it and honestly, I was just unsure of where it was going. I drew the skull first, but then just added all the "sticks" and had no idea what I was going to do with it. Plus, I wasn't very fond of the color scheme I used.

This one I have a legitimate reason to have not finished it. (Also from a previous post) This I was drawing at a friend's house while out drinking. I didn't really expect to finish it, but add to the fact that I was a little tipsy and drawing rather quickly, there's no way I would have.

My outdated tv and some random books

This is one of the first drawings in my Moleskine sketchbook. Actually, my third but the first one that wasn't a hand/arm. I was really just eager to use my Copic Markers so I sat on my bed and drew a portion of my room. I didn't finish it because I didn't like how it came out.

A logo I designed for this blog, but never finished

This one was supposed to be say achromatic (color) spectrum, but it's hard to tell since the scan didn't pick up the graphite pencil. And actually, that's the best part of the drawing. But I don't really feel like scanning it again (too many problems with my scanner/printer... it figures, since it's not a standalone scanner).

Some kind of pseudo sea monster looking thing

This final one, I don't know what I was doing. I think I just felt like doing something I hadn't done (or hadn't done in a long while). If you know any of my older work it's very reminiscent of what I used to do. I tried to stay away from cross hatching to give it a different, almost comic/cartoon feel. I dont know why I never finished it.

So hopefully someday I'll be interested in these again, at least enough to finish them. Well, most of them at least. But if I do I'll be sure to post them.

Step By Step Drawing 1.4

So it's been over a week since I last posted the progress of this drawing. Mostly because I didn't know where to go next... by that I mean I didn't have any direction as to what was going to be in the background. I really just started drawing this girl, and figured something would come to mind.

I got these markers recently. They're the kind people use for crafting, scrap booking and whatnot. I thought, what can I really do with them? So I decided to use them in this drawing. I've never used them before and don't really know any of the quirks involved with mixing them with ink. Hopefully it wont ruin the drawing but we'll have to wait and see in the next post.

Anyways, on to the drawing.

I finally finished filling in the colors that were off on her. And I went over alot of the lines in and around her body. You can see the pencil sketches of the spaces where I'm going to be drawing something in.

Ok, so it may look rough but this next part kind of took me longer than I thought. It was a really hard decision to draw in all the lines before coloring the area. The markers I'm going to be using are so strong that they just completely cover over everything leaving no sign there was anything underneath at all. I guess that's because they're leafing markers.

The next step will probably be the hardest and most labor intensive because I'm going to have to slowly and precisely (well not that precise, but you get what I mean) color in small areas, while at the same time still leaving the pencil marks that I will then be filling in with ink. It's kind of hard to explain but you'll be able to see what I mean in the next post. The idea here is for the spaces to look metallic.

I don't know, but I hope it works.

Step by Step Drawing 1.3

In this picture I fixed some of the lines a little bit and went over most of the hair with a thicker tip. I think it really helped to give the hair some depth. I also added the first layer of color.

Step 5

The next picture is almost complete, well the girl at least. I need to touch it up a little bit, you can kind of see some spots but it's mostly done. Now I just need to add a background or something(?) I'm still not sure what to do with it.

Step 6

On a side note, if you notice in this post, compared to the last two ones, the quality and color look alot better. That's because the drawings were scanned wireless so I think the image quality wasn't as good so I connected my laptop directly to the scanner and you can immediately see the difference in quality.

Step By Step Drawing 1.2

At first I wasn't sure how to draw the hair, meaning that I didn't know whether or not to keep it simple with straight lines like I had planned to. So instead I just sort of used the rough sketch as a guideline and just started filling it in and see how it would come out. The result is a mix of my usual cross hatching.... That's exactly what I was trying to get away from doing, but I knew that I'd eventually get to that point. I'm going to limit the cross hatching to the hair and nowhere else.

Step 3

I just finished it up to this point this morning. There's alot more detail, and some of the lines were made bolder. It's coming together better than I was hoping for. Now all I need to do is finish it by touching it up and adding more depth and maybe a background or something.

Step 4