16. Questioning

It took me a while to come up with an idea that I wanted to run with for this one, but I'm happy with what I turned up and how it turned out! It might not be all that original, though I like to think of it as more of a prequel to this well-known epiphany, which in turn will inevitably lead to displacement ("Why were we even looking for those droids in the first place?"), recriminations ("Nobody ever tells me anything!"), and job dissatisfaction ("Why did I even join the Empire?"). Questioning things can be a slippery slope, especially if one of your main functions within the Imperial hierarchy is to do as you're told.

I thought I'd take a bit of time here to explain yesterday's post. The idea came from a conversation yesterday evening at board games night (supremely good, clean, geeky fun) when I asked for suggestions and my work buddy Alex immediately volunteered Trappist monks, who take a vow of silence. This was equally quickly disputed by Chris, who maintained that the Trappists are actually known for brewing beer. The beer-silence dichotomy was resolved later with reference to Wikipedia, but I thought it would be fun to combine the two ideas. I completed it last  night but then was so tired that I posted it to make sure it was sort of on time (I often veer into the next morning when finishing these) and went to bed, intending to write up something to accompany it the next day.  However, Alex saw it early and persuaded me to leave it blank as a kind of meta-reference to the theme, which was actually a genius suggestion on his part since it brings the concept of silence to what is otherwise an only tangentially related picture of two monks with pints. Job done, team.

15. Silence

14. Smile

This one was fun to do, but tricky because of the hands - I used this reference photograph as well as squinting at my own hands and it took quite a few tries! I'm very happy with how it turned out though! I read somewhere when I was much younger that you only use 17 muscles in your face when you smile compared to 30 or 40 something when you frown, which I suppose is one circumstance when not trying hard is a virtue! On the other hand, if you try to literally "turn that frown upside-down" with your mouth, you end up with a full-face work out and an expression like you just swallowed a cat and were then told you won the lottery. I know, I just tried it!

13. Misfortune

This is another one that I did actually draw the outline for yesterday (roughly - I went over it and spent a bit more time colouring it in today) but was so tired/lazy that I didn't finish it and am now uploading it horrendously late. I wasn't sure what to draw for this theme either, since I didn't want the misfortune to seem too serious or self-inflicted, and because I think that a lot of, though not all, instances of misfortune have an attendant silver lining to some degree. Hopefully this treads the line between humour and sympathy sufficiently, and, who knows, he might meet his next paramour when he comes to!

12. Insanity

People say that insanity is having lots of voices in your mind which become impossible to ignore, or so many that you lose your grip on which one's really you. I don't know much about it, but I think that maybe, for some people, those voices might be variations on their own, speaking their own more sinister thoughts until they crack. Having said that, this picture seems to me to suggest insecurity more than insanity, which is something I guess a lot more people are familiar with. Though like I said, I don't know much about the latter, so maybe there are as many different kinds of insanity as there are people in the world. There are certainly as many degrees of it.

11. Memory

This was another really quick one that I did actually draw yesterday (went over it again today) and am uploading late. I was so tired last night I could barely see (or hear - the cold blocked up my ears!) so I decided to just go to bed. This was the most difficult theme yet - I couldn't think of what to draw all day and had to quickly think of something at the last minute. I didn't want to be too flippant or too personal, and I couldn't think of how to draw that memory is an integral part of how we live our lives and who we are, linking us to how we lived and who we have been. This is the best I could do, being lazy. Memory bubbles left blank, because the memories are my own!

10. Breathe Again

I'll admit I was only going for a quick sketch today since it's already gone midnight (no change there in terms of posting times then!) and I have a cold. My nose is doing a very good impression of a tap and I'm sulky like a grounded teenager so I think I should probably go to bed soon. At least my breathing isn't adversely affected!

9. Drive

Back to Post-It notes! I initially thought about drawing Ryan Gosling from the film Drive (or feminist Ryan Gosling. Or indeed any-way-politically-inclined Ryan Gosling) but my reference photo postcard turned out to be from The Place Beyond the Pines instead and I thought it definitely wouldn't be pertinent to use it. I decided to go with something different instead, and eventually landed on an old-style VW camper van. I can't drive, but if I could I would definitely want to drive one of these, dodgy suspension, creaky upholstery and all! Incidentally, my other office-mate left today to return to the US and her leaving card had a sunshine-yellow VW van on it because I thought it wouldn't make her too sad and because the illustration was just magnificent. I might see if I can get a copy for myself to put up on the wall! Anyway, I hope she'll be happy over there - she deserves it. We're all definitely going to miss her here.

8. Innocence

Another luggage label this time, because I thought it might suit the composition well. I was a bit lazy with this one, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

I admit that it looks a bit risque (incidentally, this is not how I think dresses should typically look!) but I think that innocence is often only apparent, concealing something far more knowing and canny beneath, and that a lot of us find that kind of dichotomy (not so) secretly quite appealing. The first thing I thought of in connection with the theme was Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, which highlights the pitfalls of making assumptions about naivete and guile based on accepted social models. It's also so beautifully written that it's possible to almost completely forget you should be shocked and horrified at the seduction being described. Is anybody innocent?

7. Heaven

So sue me, I like Lana Del Rey. I don't care what anyone else says about her, I think she's great. The first idea that came to my mind when I saw that this theme was "heaven" was the line "Heaven is a place on earth with you" from the song "Video Games" on Born To Die, which I find incredibly haunting. This image is referenced from the album cover and is drawn and painted onto a brown card luggage label since I left my preferred Post-It notes at the office today. The ones here are eminently noteworthy (ha, pun!), but perhaps a little too yellow for a plain, neutral background.

6. Break Away

I like how abstract this theme is: it allows so many different possible avenues of interpretation! I was thinking about going with the chocolate bar of the same name that I vaguely remember from all those hours in newsagents looking for my next quick sugar fix, and I also got a great suggestion of a Bridget Jones-esque mini-break from my laterally thinking boyfriend! In the end I decided to stick to the idea of the X-Wing pilot who had something he just had to take care of back at base: I love the way the fighters pinwheel as they bank in formation and in that situation it would be easy enough to spot someone getting cold thrusters about the whole thing.

5. Seeking Solace

If my office-mate is Pug Girl, I think I might have developed a parallel reputation as the corridor's resident Cat  Lady. I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at pictures of cats on the Internet (not necessarily at work, incidentally) and am therefore more than passingly familiar with Grumpy Cat, currently rated the Internet's favourite feline (at least according to The Guardian; I'm slightly sad that Maru, the Japanese cat with a consuming passion for boxes, wasn't rated higher. I hadn't even heard of Standing Cat). I sometimes feel a bit guilty for finding her disgruntled appearance so amusing, since she can't help it. I'm sure that in real life she's equal parts amiable and adorable, and hopefully not at all offended.

4. Dark

I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness a few hours ago, and it was amazing: hats off to you, J. J. Abrams and team. I am also now a reconfirmed Cumberperson* and to celebrate this dual fandom I've spent the last few hours trying to recreate this publicity shot from the film: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4120161536/tt1408101

To conclude, I think what this teaches all of us is that if I were on board the U. S. S. Enterprise, I'd likely be that one hapless crew member who falls for the main antagonist, betraying her entire ship and crew into a life or death stand-off before inevitably being shamed, court-martialled, and in all probability fired.


*I read somewhere on the Internet that Benedict Cumberbatch feels uncomfortable about the pejorative connotations of the word "Cumberbitch". There are arguments for and against an appropriate use of this term but I actually prefer the term "Cumberpeople" - it has such an appealing sense of community about it.

3. Light

I'm sorry that this entry is a little late, anybody out there who might be keeping tabs on the progress of this blog; in my defense, tonight is Eurovision night and I have just got back from enjoying a good 3 hours or so of cheesy, theatrical, and occasionally downright bizarre pop acts (Romania, I'm looking at you)!!! Personal favourites included Finland, Moldova, and Hungary, and Bonnie Tyler didn't do badly for the UK! All in all it was a fantastic night - Caroline, like Sweden, definitely knows how to throw an amazing party!

I was going to go with "light" in the nounal sense for this drawing, but then decided to think outside of the box a bit and came up with this as an alternative - it reminds me of that scene in Beauty and the Beast when Gaston lifts up a bench full of pretty girls. I saw that film again not all that long ago and if anything I like it even more than I did when I was younger, largely because its songs are the kind of archetypal Disney classics that Eurovision can only dream of emulating, and in part also because it features I think the only song I've ever heard to contain the word "expectorating".

2. Love

I'm pretty sure that I've drawn more pugs in the last 2 days than in the preceding 2 decades. Part of the reason I'm on such a pug-appreciation bender is that my new office-mate is obsessed with them. She absolutely loves them and, though I'd honestly never given them that much thought before, my eyes have been opened. They just seem like such sweeties. Anyway, so that's her on the right with an armful of tiny pugs, and that's me on the left with an armful of cat, because as much as I agree that pugs are cute and lovable and man's best friend, I can't help but stay true to my cat-loving roots. Although judging by the cat's expression, he'd rather stay as far away from them as possible.

1. Introduction

I'm notoriously bad at updating blogs - in fact, I've lost count of how many I've started and then deleted because I just stopped posting for months. With that in mind the objective of this blog is to beat the trend: a drawing a day for 100 days. It sounds do-able, right? That's what I thought almost half a week ago, and it's taken me this long to actually get started! I found the idea during some at-work (probably Star Wars-related) Googling at the exemplarily named Too Short to be a Stormtrooper, whose proprietor describes it as "an insane balls of steel challenge". Well, Mr Sargent, my balls of steel accept that challenge. Let's see how far they get before they collapse in on themselves like a windpipe in Darth Vader's leather coated grip. 

The theme of the first drawing is "Introduction", so I decided to draw what was on my mind at the time. You can probably tell that I'm quite keen to see the new Star Trek film and that I've been thinking a lot about pugs, thanks in no small part to the fantastic Gemma Correll. In case you can't tell, that's Kirk on the right saying "Look, Spock, a gigantic, floating pug", which, although I love it, is something that Star Trek is sadly deficient in.

One last thing: since the rules of the challenge state that there are no rules drawings must be new, original work, I've decided to do them on Post-It notes, so as not to intimidate myself with scale and be challenged to make the most of the space. Also, technically, I might be able to do them during short breaks at work, where Post-It notes proliferate. I have due respect for office stationery, honest!