Challenge no. 10

Feb. 15 - Mar. 1
[Note: These will now be bi-weekly.]


Challenge no. 10 comes from the 'stretching room' portraits, by animator and Imagineer Marc Davis, in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

The general idea is to have what appears to be a normal portrait in the top half, and as the elevator descends/the room 'stretches,' the full portrait comes into view. Rather Edward Gorey-esque, and perhaps only fitting for February in a Wuthering Heights kind of way, but here's the challenge:

Create (draw, paint, sketch, doodle, etc.) a creepy, stretching room-worthy portrait!

The only requirement is to have the subject set in either the Victorian Era or earlier.
All submissions due March 1, by midnight.

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.