Sketching space gladiators in a battle

Couple of days ago I gave my students a task to design two characters - enemies with each other. At the moment my schedule seems to allow me to make that task with them. So I started to sketch an idea of two space gladiators.

As I didn't have a very clear vision what the characters should look like and not having done this kind of creatures that much before, I found it very hard to come up with anything nice.

When I couldn't come up with a decent composition easily, I used Illustrator to build it with simple shapes. My idea is that the other one is having a scifi-kind-of-blast-cannon to stun it's enemy and the other one is using the same tactic as a viviparous lizard - dropping its tail to bluff the enemy. And that tail being very showy, kind of like the peacock has.

After I found a decent composition I started to build up the characters and their details in Photoshop.

Only at this phase I started to fit in more gladiator props.

Looking forward to finish this... if my other projects just allow me to do it.

Another try for the recent sketch

I needed to fix the sketch that I recently posted. The cartboard boxes replaced with one plastic basket and different placement for the characters. Now that I think of this, maybe they should also have an eye contact with each other...

A late halloween - skull sketches

Here's what I came up with after a random sketching session. It seems that halloween came a bit late for me this year... And I came to think how easy it is to forget that it's actually this creepy object that every one of us is observing the world from.

Sketchy portrait of Jussi Syren - iPad / Paper 53

Yesterday I went to see a music gig, that wasn't just any gig. It was bluegrass music in a church - sort of gospel bluegrass, I guess. The gig was great and the band was Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers - absolutely the best bluegrass band in Finland, although there's none or very few others. I believe they do have some sort of reputation also in the birth-district of bluegrass.

Inspired by my first ever live bluegrass experience and the band's sturdy essence, I drew this quick sketchy portrait of Jussi Syren. I used iPad and Paper 53 app, which I have found to be an excellent for sketchy drawings.

Here's a sample of JS&GB's music.

Sketches of volunteer workers

I'm currently working with an illustration project that deals with recycling related issues. Here's some sketches for an image in which two volunteer workers are unloading boxes of donated clothes.

I gave the characters' faces more finished touch in order to give my clients better understanding how the characters really look like. Those boxes have an important role in creating a straight and vigorous composition.

Some character sketches for a volunteer dude

I started a new project some time ago. Here's some very first sketches for a volunteer dude character. Fluffy hair was something that I thought would fit perfectly for him.

Sketch of a desert shepherd

A quick sketch for an ongoing project. I'm doing a lot of tiny spot illustrations for a map of Africa. I visited Sahara some 13 years ago, but I don't recall seeing any shepherds. Thanks to Google image search I had at least some references to lean on.

Total saldo of my sketching trip

Home again. Here's the total saldo of sketches I did during my recent work-leisure-trip to Milan, Italy. Milan can definitely be added to the list of cities where it's nice to do some work. I'm looking forward the next trip/city.

Sketching yoga poses

Some yoga poses I sketched for an ongoing project. It would serve as a good croquis drawing session to draw people doing yoga... How badly they would want anyone to draw them is another story.

Cheerleader series is about to go on...

It's definitely been a while since my previous post of cheerleader series. This is due to lot of reasons, urgent job projects being the most significant one. But now, there's something happening in that sector. Here's some early tastings of that something.

Set of random sketches

A set of random sketches for no particular use.

A sketch for a robot illustration

Here's a rough sketch of a robot. I'm planning to use it with my students next week in my course of digital illustration.

The sketch is merely just something to start from. With simple structure I'm hoping to leave my students space to follow their own visions and create multiple different variations with textures, lines, details and so on... I'm looking forward what I and my students will come up with.

Teenager character sketch

This is a sketch for a teenager character that I had in my recent project. She is mopping a floor, which is a bit vulgar for her shiny image. I would love to draw mops more often.

Hard working mother

My latest piece of work was an illustration for a short story telling about a hard working mother. Here's the very first sketch - the mother wading in deep snow carrying armful of firewood, a broken ax handle and a bucket.

That would have been hard enough, at least for me, but because the story was written tongue in cheek, I thought it wouldn't harm to overdo a bit. That's why in the final drawing I made the armful of firewood a huge load of wood. Here's the final drawing before coloring.

Sketches for a cheerleader character

Here's some sketches for a cheerleader character that was in my previous post (Ice hockey cheerleader 1/14 - SaiPa).

Captain Australia sketches

Here's some sketches for a super hero character Captain Australia and his sidekick, that I just did as a tiny part of a bigger project. There had to be slightly funny and ironic touch... for example Captain Australia has a sidekick only to laugh at his bad jokes.

When Captain Australia's cape was described to be totally impractical, but looking cool, it was quite an obvious decision to place the sidekick standing on the cape.

Some final polishing in poses...

Grandma feeling dizzy sketches

I just did an editorial illustration and needed to include a grandma, who is just about to faint. A man carrying a fish in the background I managed to sketch just like that, but the grandma I wasn't happy with.



In addition to her face, the hands and the feet and the general pose had an important role when creating an impression of a fainting person.



After trying several different poses, I found some good ones, but in the end I rejected them, because I was afraid that they were too slapstick-like. So I ended up to choosing a pose that is pretty similar than the one I started with.



Here is the final line drawing before coloring. Now that I look at this, there's too much suffer in her face and she should have been slightly more out of balance. It looks more like she's just having a headache.



Like so often, only once you do something, you know how it should have been done. Better luck next time. I'm already looking for a chance to draw a fainting person :)

Track and field sketches

As a very tiny part of a bigger project I just did some spot illustrations for track and field topic. Analyzing and sketching those sporty-kind-of postures was such a good lesson of anatomy.

What I found especially fascinating, was the "cross step pose" in javelin throw that takes place just before the actual yank. It's like a calm moment before a storm. In this sketch there is also a high jumper in act.

There's actually quite a similar moment in pole vault - the very brief floating moment when the upward speed has lost all its power, but the gravitation hasn't yet started to take it all back. Accompanying sports here are hurdle race and relay race.

Sketches for a cop character

Some sketches for a cop character I did for my previous post (Illustration Friday - Shades). Hunting for a smooth and vivid pose is fun!

Sketches of the Top Dog character

One of my very recent works was to illustrate a schoolbook of English language. For the book I needed to design a dog character called the Top Dog. I just ran into the very very first sketches of the Top Dog when I was cleaning up my desk. It was a bit awkward to see again how stiff and clumsy the character was in the start.


... now I'm happy, that back then I had some time to be unhappy with it...


Trying to achieve street credibility with the pose. It's funny how far one can lean back and still look quite natural. Even though the pose is apparently resisting gravitational force. I also tried a pair of teeth, but obviously didn't see them work. Too cruel for teenagers, maybe.


Not so surpricingly the character is also a skateboarder. That if something calls for a dynamic pose. That spray can wasn't allowed... "I'm a vandal dog". A marker pen wasn't that dangerous.


The finished character can be checked out on my illustration portfolio (set 1, set 2).