Challenge no. 9

Nov. 13 - 23

Mr. E. Lear, with Foss the cat, as drawn by E.L., himself.

Illustrate a poem by Edward Lear.

"Edward Lear...was a British artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularized...He travelled widely over much of his life before settling in Sanremo. He never managed to marry, though he did propose it, but he had good friends and doted on his cat."
[link]

To give you an idea of the High Cultural Tone to be considered, here are a few nonsense verse illustrations he created for his books:

A particullarily fine example:

You'll find all poems Lear, here.

And Wikimedia Commons with his illustrations, here.

 
Have at it! 
All submissions due Friday, Nov. 23 at midnight.

Bonus Challenge: Post a sketch of Lear or Foss the cat in the spirit of the Macey's Day Parade. Can (should?) include costumes. 

Every Teardrop, Strawberry Swing and Mylo Xyloto

Coldplay has some really cool videos out there. I'm sure some of you have seen these, but if you haven't check them out.  Mylo Xyloto reminds me of Ryan Woodward's baseball animated comic book. Really really awesome.

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Strawberry Swing

Mylo Xyloto: Hurts like Heaven

Little Sami Deer

I happened to look up the Sami people of Norway this week---the native, nomadic, reindeer herders of Scandinavia--- and wanted to somehow use that for this week's challenge. So. Here's our little Sami girl out on a stormy day, playing on the mountainside with a miniature, invisible reindeer friend. I'm sure there are other exciting animals in this part of the world, but who wouldn't want a little magical reindeer all for themselves? It's probably bright blue too, and can fly, and can make cake appear, and is nice and soft, and always smells like peaches.

A Real Big Chicken.

My imaginary friend is a real big chicken.  But, he's not afraid of anything! So together we do crazy fun stuff.

"Good Night Mom"

My imaginary friend as a kid changed all the time of course, but usually stayed in the ball park of being some kind of jungle cat with wings. And we'd fly around impressing people. 

So five years in DC and Detroit and two kids later my imaginary friend has changed into a large, warm, nanny that holds me like I hold my kids. The idea came to me while reading "Good Night Moon" to the kids. Wouldn't that be heaven to have someone put you to bed and then sit with you while you go to sleep...just knitting something warm for you to wear and stoking the fire? Moms just need a mom sometimes I say! And maybe they could stop things (lovely children) from trying to wake you up too? A girl can dream. AHh. Heaven I say.

My Imaginary Pet Dragon

CHALLENGE no. 8

October 31-Nov. 9
(A week-and-a-halfer special.)

Have you ever seen Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart?
 Quothe iMBD, "Elwood P. Dowd is a mild-mannered, pleasant man, who just happens (he says) to have an invisible friend resembling a 6-foot rabbit." I think the movie is charming, it is Jimmy Stewart, but it has a definite dash of creepy.

With that introduction, and it being Halloween and all, we bring you Challenge no. 8!

Create an imaginary friend for either yourself, or a historical, or fictional character.

To explain historical, come up with whatever Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill would have had as their invisible, best friend. The one who was the real reason we won the war! The real reason Santa Ana took the Alamo! Uh, well, the Hobbes to whatever Calvin you choose.

Mr. Cory Loftis posted these on his blog a while back. Here it is to help get sluggish creative juices flowing:

Her imaginary friend doesn't understand her at all. Everyone knows she likes strawberries the best.  Strawberries are what princesses eat.

Go check him out over on Tabletmonkey Presents.
Challenge submissions due by midnight, Fri., Nov. 9.

The Mer-Cat

Or maybe we should call it the "Femaid" or the "Merline." Anyway, this is a drawing I did a few weeks ago that I plan to turn into a painting very soon.

The Elusive Elephanctopus

Challenge #7: Animal Mash-up

Pick two of your favorite animals. Preferably one that lives on land, and one that lives on water, or one that's a mammal, or one that is a non-mammal, etc. Let's say, that in the imaginative world of illustration, these two animals decided to reproduce. What would their offspring look like? What would you call them? Start drawing. Ready. Set. Go! (due next Friday, Oct 26th 12 AM).

"I think I'm getting the black lung, Pop."

Zoolander as Tiny Tim!

(Clip here.)

"And then they all knew it would probably be his last Christmas among them..."

Tangled-up Spider?

Can't think of a great title, but here it is! Tangled mashed with Spiderman. 

Dances With Wolverine

Challenge Number Six: Movie Mash Up

I have recently had fun with the idea of mashing up movies.  This weeks Challenge-  Mash up a couple movies and see what comes out.  Pick 2 (or more) movies and piece em together.  It could be a pun, a mix of characters, a twist in the plot, whatever you want.  Just mash'em.  I've included a couple of my attempts of late.  I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

(Footnote 1:  I have no idea how Richard Hull feels about Movie Mash Ups or what advice he would give on how to draw something like this.  So good luck.)

(Footnote 2:  I've got dibs on "Dances With Wolverine".)

Harry Codfish & Dobby Swordgnome: The Second Task

"Act natural," said Harry.

 So, you know the fourth book with the underwater-rescue-Ginny-challenge? If we reverse it, then they would turn into humans, right?

Cliff dive

Alas, Bell-opus no longer had someone creepy to emotionally suction cup herself to and turned to recklessness. Had she only known there was a lobster in the water!

(For those who missed the movie New Moon, trust me, this is a huge improvement!)

Indiana Fish

Challenge 5: Under the Sea

For this week illustrate a scene from Indiana Jones, Harry Potter or Twilight with the characters as underwater sea creatures. Your scene doesn't have to look like it's underwater, just the people in it should be things that live in the ocean.

(These photos below are just for fun, you can pick any scene from any of the 3 movie series you want.)

Baaaaad Bulls

Hey folks-  I didn't have time to pursue the challenge this week- but I do draw bad animals all the time at work.  So here's one of thems for your viewing pleasure.  

Bad Sheep

I took the whole sheep thing more literally I guess, so I drew a bad sheep.  Enjoy.

No Bull!

No time for color this week. For some reason, angry bulls just seem cool. And what's badder than an angry bull with a big gun, and a rocket pack?

challenge #4 elephant

Do you guys take excessive amounts of photos of the animals at the zoo too? They come in so handy.

Best First Drawing EVER

'Before' Photo Reference

After!

Hipster-film-student Arctic Wolf hopes his glasses make him look helpless and gentle enough that you'll let your guard down so he can eat you later, uh, 'friend' you on Facebook.

Challenge four

fox

skunk (loads of these in Ann Arbor)

Willy Wonka

Is it too late? Loved this challenge idea, it was just a busy week.

Veruca Salt the cyborg and Mr Salt the bad business man.

By the way, illustrating any Roald Dahl book is a good challenge in my opinion. 

Don't know how you guys have the time to take these to color. This is all I could manage this week. Sketched out while students worked in class this evening.

Willy Wonka

Augustus Gloop

Grandpa Joe

CHALLENGE #4: Baaaaad Sheep

Challenge for September 29-October 5. Due Midnight October 5.

Once upon a time in the days of Ye Olde Amanda Knight Hall, a certain beloved teacher of ours walked into the room and proceeded to draw this:

He explained that you should never draw cute fluffy sheep like this ("this is how girls draw sheep"--lol!), but base your animals on real animal anatomy. So my challenge to you is to draw a not so cute animal character (sheep or other) that is of course still well designed. This character will be BAAAAD. Use reference from real animals.

"Cheer up Charlie..."

This is the scene in the book where Charlie is cold, and starving, and wet, and he finds the forgotten money in the gutter that eventually buys him the Wonka Bar with the golden ticket. Favorite part. I always wanted to go stuff down a big, fat chocolate bar afterward. Mm.

Who do you blame when your kid is a brat?

The Great Big Greedy Nincumpoop

Muppet

I had really high hopes for this one.  I wanted to sketch it up all nice, color it and make it look all sweet.  Obviously that didn't happen.  Maybe the next one.

Muppets

Ever since I was a little kid I thought Pres. Monson looked like a muppet.  I think there should be muppets at General Conference.  Y'know... for kids.

CHALLENGE no. 3

Sept. 21-28




Design a character, or illustrate a scene, from  
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.

If you find you don't remember who all of the main characters are, the trailer does a very nice run-through. 

Have you ever heard of the "Marshmallow Test?" Watching the video below inspired Challenge no. 3.
I personally think Veruca Salt, and definitely Augustus Gloop, would have failed it when they were 4.



All submissions due by midnight, Sept. 28.

Even a Childs Can Play

In wrapping up Challenge no. 2, here's what I consider would have been a very Argyle Sock Club-worthy activity.
Shame we never thought of it. The Brimhall Building even had its' dinosaur of an elevator:

My Creature

Here is my Jim Henson-y creature. I haven't thought of a name for her yet. Any ideas?

The Bull-Slug-Monster

Introducing, the Bull-Slug-Monster. A little something to add to my Weird Creatures Museum project. He looks a little intimidating at first glance, but he's really happy. Especially this time of year as Halloween approaches. He likes to take long walks on the beach, and he loves marshmallows, and would especially like a good marshmallow roast on the beach. Whenever he is found lurking in closets ready to frighten children in their sleep, don't worry, he's only looking for their marshmallows. So children, be sure to hide your Halloween candy this year, because he's coming...... Bahahahaha! 

Hand me my sonic screwdriver

So I was going to draw Cee Lo Green, but then found out he's already a muppet for a Seasame Street Spoof. Rightly so, he was half there already.

The Doctor and Amy Pond were my next idea. Matt Smith is cool. The bowtie is cool. The suspenders are cool. Fish custard is cool. The silence are cool. The alien fish vampires in Florence are cool.

T is for...

Trixy the Elephant

Home: Cold Cereal Shelf, Mr. Hooper's Store

Favorite Number: 4

Favorite Drink: Chocolate milk

Favorite Color: Sparkly

Best Friend: Bernice the Pigeon

Favorite Audience: Stu the Unicorn

Favorite Instruments: Ukulele and banjo

CHALLENGE No. 2

Sept. 15-20

This week's challenge is brought to us by the number 4 and the letter H:

Draw your own Muppet! 

By Muppet, that's anything that would possibly be designed by the Jim Henson Company Creature Shop, which is pretty broad and awesome. Check out their main sites here and here.

If you have the time, you are hereby challenged to translate your drawing into a really-truly puppet. 

1969 Jim Henson has kindly volunteered to give us a demo: 

[Note: It is important to say 'dink-dink' while you draw/paint/glue on the eyes (see 3:53).]




All submissions due by midnight, Sept. 20.

And the moral is...

To wrap up the 1st Challenge, I found this story while perusing goat reference. Taken from this link:

The Chicago Cubs are affectionately known as lovable losers. The Cubs have not made a World Series appearance since 1945, and have not won a championship since 1908, the longest drought in North American sports. This curse was placed on the Cubs in 1945 by one Billy Sianis, who was asked to leave a World Series game because his stinky pet goat that he brought with him to the game was bothering other fans. On his way out, Sianis said, “ Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.”

The Curse of the Billy Goat has manifested itself many times, most recently in the 2003 National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins, where fan Steve Bartman infamously obstructed a Cubs player from catching a foul ball late in the game in a crucial situation.

The only way the curse can be lifted, according to Sianis’s descendants, is that the Cubs show a genuine affection for goats and allow them into the stadium not because they were forced, but because they really want them there.

Excellent showing of "genuine affection for goats," everyone! Great artwork!
On to Challenge No. 2!