if a doodle gets color

If a doodle gets color is it still a doodle. Years ago, much like today, I kept small pieces of paper around that I would doodle on.

"This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of this story I am going to relate"

Charles Dickens
First and foremost, we should probably understand the difference between a doodle vs. a sketch for

To doodle is to
verb; scribble absentmindedly
noun: a rough drawing made absentmindedly

To sketch is to
verb: a rough or unfinished drawing or painting, often made to assist in making a more finished picture
noun: make a rough drawing of

Most of my early cartoons were actually born from a doodle. I spent a good portion of my early adulthood watching TV with small pieces of paper, doodling. I would work on anything from 2.5 x 5 inch to 3.5 x 7 inch pieces. Many of these I would keep some I would simply throw away and move on to the next one. I loved the whole process of seeing a blank piece of paper slowly become a cartoon of what ever. It wasn't till later in life that I had to teach myself how to sketch for a desired outcome. Because of my early beginnings, this stage did not always come easy for me.

Now to present day and a doodle from years gone by. You may notice that my youngest son back then thought this cartoon needed color. So I recently was cleaning off my desk and found this cartoon and as I was putting him away I thought maybe he was right, he might look good with some color, any excuse to play with my water color pencils works for me. it is my dream and one I will probably never full fill to one day paint or carve every single cartoon I have. This could take me way beyond my retirement years as I have not yet thrown away my pencil.



Nowadays I do some of my doodling on water color paper, usually 5 x 7 inch. This way I am ready to go straight to the paint table with my latest cartoon such as the one shown here. Of course water color paper is not made for doodling and is a bit more pricey so not as many are discarded. For the most part though still a doodle, I have a concept of theme of what I will work on, o.k. so maybe not really a doodle after all.

as always, 

"Good night and May God bless"

water color experiment

There is an opportunity for me in the not so distant future to do some illustration work, designing some characters with the finished product being done in water color. I didn't use to do my cartoons in water color but once I got started I got addicted to how they looked all painted up. It may just be me but the way I cartoon and then paint them seems to work well with each other, but I am biased on this topic.

So with some new illustration time I needed to replenish my water color paper supplies and before I ordered any I took some time to research the different papers out there. I knew for now I would stick with Strathmore paper as I have been happy with it thus far. I used the 140 lb. paper so the only question left was series 400 or series 500 and cold or hot press paper. I ended up buying 400 series cold press as this is what I am comfortable with but also bought some hot press 500 series to experiment and see how another paper feels.

pencil sketch

So to get back into a rhythm I thought I would just do some quick cartoons to get the juices flowing, as always I start with a pencil sketch. From the pencil sketch I get out my light table and place the water color paper on top to transfer the design. During this time I can modify and change features in an attempt to continue to tweak the design. In this experiment, I painted them both with the same exact colors to help me see any difference between the two papers.

hot press 140 lb.

cold press 140 lb.

This was a fun experiment and even though they have different facial features and detailing it still gives me a start for defining the different way the two papers work with my painting style. Before I end this I should mention that I always finish off my painted pieces with a thin black outlining, I don't feel that they are finished without this. I use a Pilot HI-TEC 0.3 mm pen for this and am extremely happy with the results.

as always, 

"Good night and May God Bless"

carving with Tony

 So recently Tony Harris and I had another opportunity to work on a joint carving together. Tony had recently seen some cowboys I had carved and said I know our next project should be. I carve a lot of my carvings in butternut and after our last project was in Butternut Tony made an order and told me our next would be as well.

Tony is an extremely talented carver and he sets up a carving beautifully, something I am still striving to learn and master. This is part of the joy of doing a joint carving. It allows you to see how another carver approaches a carving opposed to how you might.


As you can see he set up a wonderful carving and all I had to do was to carve in a face without messing it up and then paint him. This is such a fun project to do with a fellow carver, to see both carvers styles blend into one carving is awesome. And if I don't mind saying so myself I think Tony and my style end up making a fun carving in the end.

as always, 

"Good night and May God bless"

how I sketch

Many may have noticed the little lad on my page wishing everyone a Happy Saint Patty's day, you know the one with no arms and no feet. He was a sketch back when working on designs for characters for my book. I never explored him very far but liked the bit I had done so one evening when I had no agenda for the night I decided I would paint him up in water color. Down the road I may revisit him but for now I like the portion I did and am happy with the results.

The hillbilly in my pattern book and seen on the front cover started out the same as my Irish gent, just a quick sketch on a scrap piece of paper. Once I started gathering the ones together that I thought people might want to carve I then began completing the cartoons I thought I might want in the book.


I have a full collection of sketches of half developed characters and one day I will get back to each and every one. Many of my characters I want to see carved into wood one day and the others I want to see painted in water color. After all I still want to do a coffee table book of my life based on my cartoons and how they and I have improved over time. At least they have.

as always, 

"Good night and May God bless"

my first book

Did I mention I have a new book out? It's a pattern book for wood carvers, my first ever published piece.

as always, 

"Good night and May God bless"