The Art of the Doodle

Slight offshoot and shameless self promotion! Quodle launches!

2011-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

I don't post on here often anymore(most is on Facebook), but I wanted to spread the word that my new website Quodle is now live! It's a social network for jokes!

Check it out for a fun time quodling:
http://www.quodle.com

Enjoy:)

Revis Island - Under siege by the Patriots

2010-09-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by listening to sports radio one night. Revis Island, surrounded by Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, and Rob Gronkowski, with the waters chummed courtesy of Bill Belichick.

Go Pats:)

Facebook Also has lotsa art

2010-07-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some links to my Facebook, where I post a lot of drawings as well.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=179656&id=1203451497&l=8cd4d92e83

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=147538&id=1203451497&l=abaecff6cf

Star Wars Joke about Mustaches

2010-03-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

Just a fun goof on Luke, Han, Lando, and Chewie:)

How to keep your dog small

2010-01-24T09:54:00.003-08:00

Grumpy Dragon

2010-01-16T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is a fairly small piece, less than 4" x 6", done with Micron .005 and 3 pens. I consider this an OCD drawing, when I just noodle well past what is needed:)
I loved the horns and the facial structure of this guy, but don't think the hair came out well and don't think the neck works...would be ideal to have trimmed the right side a half inch. He does make me curious what the rest of him would look like though! I'm thinking like "badass Pete's Dragon"...

Dragon in a Box

2010-01-07T16:17:00.001-08:00

I know I saw something like this somewhere...a huge monster squished into a box..maybe Shel Silvestein or something? Anyways, this is an ode to whatever that was that I'm thinking of:)

A Tree

2010-01-03T16:21:00.001-08:00

Just working on backgrounds and trees:)

Wizard of Oz - Jason style:)

2009-12-28T14:10:00.001-08:00

There has been a surge in the last few years it seems for the Wizard of Oz, so with it fresh in my mind while I started watching Tin Man on DVR, I started doodling the Tin Man...and then decided to do the whole crew, but with my own little goofiness:)

The Tin Man I wanted to be all robotic and full of parts, but ended up with a sorta bucktoothed doof. I still like him though:)

The Scarecrow drawing is actually one I did at work once that I redid with a little more effort and still think is sickly funny.

The Lion looks sweet and sad....maybe more sad than cowardly? And it seems everyone kept asking me to explain why he'd be afraid of his own tail....weirdos!

Dorothy and Toto i had the idea for immediately and think it came out OK in execution...probably coulda done better but think this got the joke across fine:)

Wagonbottom FFL Trophy Drawing - 2009

2009-12-20T19:38:00.001-08:00

Every year I do a drawing for my fantasy football league. This year's I think came out well. For the first time I tried to have all of the participants interacting somehow. Its difficult with some team names like "Sullied Doodles", which don't lend themselves to fun things to draw.

This time I think I got some good humor and some good art into this one:)

A Tree

2009-12-17T18:42:00.001-08:00

Someone I worked with for the last 15 months was leaving the company and I wanted to give him some kind of drawing as a parting gift. This is what I came up with:)

Goblins and Princess Tofu!

2009-10-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about using my goblin character in a story so I've been working on doodles and ideas for him to flesh him out more. This was sort of a panel page of doodles, where I figured I'd draw a bunch of random panel shots. Still working on different ideas for the ears, clothing, magic look, etc.

The lower right corner panel was a doodle of my dog Tofu, that I turned into a Princess Tofu drawing:) I love the idea of her ruling over a kingdom in another world:P I think its sick and funny:)

But I don't wanna be a handbag...

2009-10-04T16:11:00.001-07:00

A girl I work with got this handbag that was bright orange with a neat pattern on it. I jokingly asked what kind of animal it was from. Without even a thought she answered "giraffe".

This is in her honor:) Hahaha!!

A Lion

2009-10-04T10:57:00.001-07:00

I like the grimace...reminds me of a John Byrne lion or something. I wasn't crazy about the "anatomy" of the legs and paws...sorta rushed through that part. I'm not fond of the 'back mane' either...but I think the head on its own is cool enough. Really moody and has personality. He looks a little angry and a little bummed. Sorta like "OK...if I have to...".

The OCD-osaurus: A Dinodoodle

2009-09-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

This was another multi-day doodle with lots of detail, drawn mostly with a Micron .005. It only measures 6" x 9", so its really crammed in there:) I had intended to do a background on this but ran out of paper and decided not to screw up the rest by forcing it. I also think I coulda done a lot more undershading but was afraid i'd be unable to stop:)

I'm Zoomy

2009-09-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

This started as me drawing a goblin with big ears but somewhere along the way he looked like a funny Flash. And there's something comical about the "non-aerodynamic" version of a speedster...

Old man in sweatsuit

2009-09-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

This was just doodling around and what came out. Sorta going for the "retired gangster" look.

Egon

2009-07-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ghostbuster 2 was on TV. This is Egon.

Almost a business card...

2009-07-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

I love having fun business cards to hand out with neat drawings on them. My most recent one was getting a bit stale so I was trying to come up with something new. This guy with the flip-top head was what I came up with, and I even went so far as to format it and pass it around.
Unfortunately most people didn't seem to like it, with a few thinking he had a football behind his head and some ladies simply saying "gross". I never really considered this a "gross" drawing since he's sorta got robotic innards, but decided maybe I should head back and come up with something less icky. It's also a smidge TOO detailed for a tiny business card...but I still think its a cool drawing:)

Shaman from Another Land

2009-06-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

Started scribbling shapes and ended up with this guy's head, which I built from there. I loved the idea of an earthy shaman-type character who needs to take his own personal forest with him in order to travel. This guy is sorta a weird mix....part goblin, part antelope or something.

Dragons w/ Rounded Ears

2009-05-23T10:22:00.001-07:00

The scribbled dialogue says "Yeah, I'm telling ya man....dragons ain't so fearsome without pointy ears..."

Snikt!

2009-05-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

I was doodling last night and ended up with a Wolverine kinda character...so i sorta tweaked him into Weapon X in honor of the Wolverine Origins movie coming out today.

I think clearly my ability to letter is awful beyond belief, but the rest came out pretty good:) Keep in mind this is all ink too, with no pencil laid down first(hence all the mistakes!).

Me inked by Whilce!!

2009-04-05T16:05:00.001-07:00

OK, this one is a childhood dream come true. This past weekend was the Boston Comic Convention, and in attendence was a childhood inspiration, Whilce Portacio. Back in the early 90s he was one of the biggest names in the industry and one of the top few guys I was in awe of.

He was busy drawing all weekend, but him and his wife were really awesome and managed to fit in a quick bit of inking over a pencil drawing I did. It's not an established character or anything like that, just a goofy quick head sketch I did.

But the idea that I have a drawing I pencilled and Whilce inked is pretty special.

Many thanks Whilce and Jo!

Hungry Shark

2009-04-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

This one I loved...was just doodling shapes and sorta ended up with this shark head. Gave it some goofy teeth and was really enjoying it. Not entirely pleased with the bubblage, but realy love the bib. So on the whole a cool one!!

Devil Guy and an Incoming Call

2009-04-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

This was just a goofy thing...started drawing the head and horns, then sorta added as I went. A little Hellboy, a little Spidey, a little goofy.

DILFs - A Flag Football Team

2009-03-27T15:22:00.001-07:00

A guy I work with asked me to make an image for his flag football team so they could put it on t-shirts. The team is a group of fathers that called themselves DILFs, which if you don't get I won't explain.

He had a very specific idea in mind, which was a dad walking with a stroller and a bunch of hot women hanging all over him. In actuality, the final drawing is version 2, as the two women on the far right were not in the original drawing. But he thought it wasn't as extreme as he was hoping, so they were added a day later.

A Wolf Goes Into a Bar

2009-02-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

My friend Stephen is going off to take the Oregon Bar this week, so as an encouragement I wanted to draw something he'd dig.

I'd say this is a true ultimate "doodle", where I was trying to just draw and go. Not a lot of correction. Roughed it out in pencil, with more detail on some of the batman poses, then tried to just flow with it. I then went in and noodled a little more with a smaller pen.

Pearls Before Swine - A Bribe/Gift

2009-01-11T07:33:00.001-08:00

This was a drawing I did as a bribe to try to get an original strip from Stephan Pastis of his wonderfully funny comic strip Pearls Before Swine. He rarely parts with them, but my mom is a big fan and I hoped to get her one for Christmas. So I drew this.

If you read the strip you'd probably understand it, but basically the croc is trying to bribe a zebra(zeeba) with a piece of original art, while his friends lie in wait in the water to ambush him.

Stephan wasn't willing to barter unfortunately, so I gave this original to my mom for Christmas instead and she loved it, so it all worked out well:)

Smudged Art Doodle:(

2008-10-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

This one I thought had a lot of potential. It was originally meant to be used on pencilsandinks.com as an artist image when I was having trouble finding people to do drawings for it. I really liked some of the inking I did, but unfortunately I used pens for it, so as you can see some smudging on the brushtip when I tried to erase the pencil:( Bummer.

Some weird dude on another planet...

2008-10-01T10:55:00.001-07:00

Here's a doodle I ran across while cleaning through some old paper. Not really finished by any stretch, but some of it is fun. I like the broken planet with the bite out of it....reminds me of Thundarr the Barbarian:)

MNF Doodle

2008-09-15T19:23:00.001-07:00

Unrelated to Monday Night Football in any way, this dude is what I ended up doodling during the first half. Very dotty, BWS-ish vibe I was going for. I wish I fit more bags and trinkets before I started inking though...

unfinished Doodles: "Creature Island Thing" and "Lonely Snowman"

2008-08-27T19:32:00.001-07:00

While digging through a box tonight looking for paper, I found a few old sketchbooks and while flipping through, pulled out a couple of my favorites.

First is this cool idea of a city being built in a creature's mouth. I'm pretty sure I saw a drawing that inspired this and this was my take on it. I never really finished it...the eye woulda been a key piece to have done. This was probably 2004-2005 somewhere?

The second one is this really sweet and sorta sad holiday scene. The caption is "a lonely night with an unfinished friend". Very Norman Rockwell feel to me...like a typical american moment or something?

Me Tarzan!

2008-08-24T16:30:00.001-07:00

I started doodling this Friday night I think. I liked the idea of Tarzan just hanging off of a tree. The simplicity of it was fun, that i could play with depth and shadows.

I actually played around alot with the bottom part, under the tree branch, and went from detailed to black to whited out and back to black. In the end it seemed best to do it in black to fit with the shadows and light source, and put more focus on Tarzan himself. I dug the sorta viney loincloth too...like he's wearing an octopus or something.

After I had finished it I realized I should sign it, so I threw it under Tarzan, and then realized it could just as easily be overlooked as a squiggle of detail if someone wasn't looking for it.

'The Blind Hydra'

2008-07-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Bob and some of his pals are going to GenCon, a big D&D con out in the midwest somewhere. They were going to have t-shirts made up for the event, I'm thinking maybe for a team game or something? Not entirely sure. So anyways, I get this email earlier today:

Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:32 PM

Subject: Hey

can you give me your interpretation of 'The Blind Hydra'?
Just a quick sketch...I need to get the orders in for the t-shirts soon..and I dont have a graphic yet.

Bob Smith (actual name)

So here's what I came up with. Didn't reference a hydra at all so it sorta looks like a 9 headed Nessie. I think the cane, cup, and dark glasses are all pretty obvious jokes to make, but I was especially proud of the banging heads 'oww...' in the background, hehe:)

One thing I did struggle with on this one was if i should draw all the heads. I always remember 9 as the number, and that seemed like a lot to just cram in. the economy voice kept saying "this is a great chance to do less! be cartoony!", but it just didn't feel right...you don't want to tell people what it's supposed to be... luckily after i had roughly done 5 of them, i hit upon the 'oww' joke and then it made sense to do all 9. I think it works really well and sells the joke even more with all the glasses:) 4 or 5 woulda been weaker for sure(although maybe it would have matched their team of people, making it poetic!).

I don't consider this a really finished piece at all though. I would have thickened up the lines a lot on the edges, added some more shadows in the background to pop the heads out, clean up the tail spikes, etc. probably another hour...

a Dragon

2008-06-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun one I started last night and finished today. Originally it was going to be a perfect square so I could use it for my fantasy football team logo, but as usual I couldn't stay within the lines so it ballooned up. Guess I gotta draw something else for football...

I played around a bit with the shadows and textures here. Originally the wings and tummy were white and all the shadows were much smaller...and there were none on the stem of the flame.

But it all blended together too much, so I doubled up on the shadows, rethickened the outside lines, added some textures to set off the areas, and started to deepen up the flame and refocus it.

And man what a silly tail...

A Mermaid Drawing

2008-05-13T04:51:00.001-07:00

This may well be the best drawing I've done yet, and one I'm quite proud of for a variety of reasons. It was done for a mix CD cover for a friend of mine. Again though, this is a fairly finished drawing and not a doodle...stupid me can't seem to provide the right art for my own blog:P

So anyways, I've never taken a serious stab at drawing merpeople, but when I approached this I immediately decided they wouldn't be wearing clamsheel bras and things like that...float free in the ocean without tan lines!...so I tried to keep it sorta simple with some basic jewelery and some barnacly-feathery "stuff" growing on her tail.

The other big piece was the hair, which I really wanted to spread and float through the water, almost as if the currents were taking it away.

And finally I used the flower here for a sort of metaphor for being a key or map...sort of that you're surrounded by darkness, but then find something that means a lot to you that shines a light to guide you. Then I threw some fish in there so people didn't think she was a space mermaid or something...

Crashed!! A long term doodle!

2008-02-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

OK, so now this one is sorta funky...basically, it started as a doodle. Of the crashed ship to the right. The wing somehow got in there and I thought that was cool...then i doodled like crazy on the smoke billowing out.

Now I was starting to see it as a concept and came up with the idea of the cracked helmet...sorta like it just gets worse and worse with every moment...so I sketched in just the guy's face and his helmet and inked those in...no body, just a head, some hands, and a helmet.

Somewhere around this point was where I really felt it could be a whole drawing...so that about made me put it on the side forever "waiting" to finish it...i sketched in little pieces of it here and there...finished the guy...put him on a rock...planets in space...added the evil grinning mouth...some rocks... I really just built it up, kept adding to it as I went.

Finally I started doing the mountain, the big thing that was left...I went in all of these directions, making it a mountain of little head sculptures, but it was too random and weird. so since i doubted, i blacked it outed:) That huge black made it then become night in the sky(or sunset), and then i added the rock in the lower right corner to even out the page.

So I view this as a "grand doodle". It was never intended how it came out, was planned only in individual pieces, and in many ways was simply a dozen different drawings strewn together into one page. I think it came out pretty cool, but it was never really envisioned this way to begin with...

A Finished Example for Comparison

2008-02-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

I realized that while showing off the doodles may be fine and good and all, I should probably also give a point of reference of what my art looks like when I really give it my all and finish it. I'm not much of a letterer, so forgive that nastiness; I would do it digitally for production!

First up is this year's trophy drawing for my fantasy football league, the Wagonbottom FFL. It's a 14 person league and the top 8 make the playoffs...and made it into the trophy drawing. The winner of the whole league gets the drawing as a prize in addition to some green.

The next one is an older one from a few years ago when I did some drawings of mold for an expert's presentations...these little Patrick Star-like guys were my mold people, and this was life inside their wall. The guys playing cards really came out of the best, and I think the huge eye and TV station are a fun touch. There are some mold in-jokes in here too!

So here's two finished pieces. Maybe you'll notice a difference between some of my less finished stuff:)

Cow Compression Testing

2008-02-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

I work for this company Instron that makes materials testing machines to testh ow long until something breaks.

So on Friday we were chatting about a design competition they would have with incoming applicants, where they would be asked to do a mock up for a serious print design for all of their machines, plus a freeform one of their choice.

This was my joke entry on the free form theme - cow testing. I just loved the concept of all of the goofy and bizarre items you could test...

Chinese Calendar

2008-02-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

OK, so I walk into the kitchen tonight and for the first time notice the 2007 Yangtze Express Calendar is not as useful in February 2008 as one would initially think.

Yet it's the only splash of color or personality in that area of the kitchen. And we don't have a real 2008 calender yet. So why not flip it over and draw on it??

Here's what I came up with, to keep with the "kitchen motif". Got a little messy on the end but the general feel is there. What might be missing is that the flies are all raving about how great the food is and naming their favorite dishes:)

The Idea...

2008-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

I pretty much doodle on anything paper-ish and with anything pen-ish. Paper, cardboard, napkins, paper bags, and so on with pencils, pens, sharpies, etc. I try to mix it up, try to improve the skillset, not master the tool. My goal is really to be able to eventually draw purely in ink on a blank page. No pencils, no prelims, just draw. That's when my stuff is the best...when it's fluid and live.

The idea here is to post some of my art. Sometimes it's just goofy things I draw on or with, and sometimes it's just drawings themselves of all variety of doodle.

In general I'm not drawing for publication, so only occasionally will there be finished, serious pieces. I go by the mindset that as long as I can learn a lesson of some sort out of each drawing I do, improve, then who cares what it comes out like? So beware of the "drawn overs" and "figure outs" that may be abundant!

-Jason Gerstein