kalahari

Sketchbook (PAGE 12)

Added 2025-07-30 21:31:30 +0000 UTC

It may be stating the obvious, but the finished work I publicly post emerges out of pages of artistic experiments and meanderings that go on behind the scenes. It’s like a tip-of-the-iceberg kind of thing. Some of it’s focused and deliberate study. Some of it’s very stream-of-consciousness. But of course it all adds up to that much coveted “mileage”, and it’s kinda nice to be able to share some of this work that wouldn’t ordinarily see the light of day.

I have a few quick dragons on this page, which are super useful for exploring gestural ideas mostly because I don’t need to get particular with their anatomies or proportions. Every dragon is unique. Some of these scalies do get repurposed for other pieces if I like the pose or body type enough. Smaugust is coming up (the dragon-themed drawing-a-day challenge for the month of August) and I have an itch to use it as an excuse to doodle even more of these guys. If I do, it will be the Katy Lipscomb prompts.

Then there’s some studies for “Sunkissed Dyani” (FA | e621), a piece I did for Skyler. She’s elegant, free-spirited, happily naked… which, I guess that’s deer for you. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t take much to get me interested in a character, and tribal themes that don’t lean too heavily on clothing for modesty’s sake have an undeniable appeal. A soft smile offers some comfort that you’re welcome here in her world, but I’ve always had some questions about how direct versus oblique that kind of invitation should be for just the right impact. Too much positivity reads a little saccharine, and I always want there to be a subtle hint that there’s more going on beneath the surface. Still, I really enjoyed this one and it would make my day to see more of her again.