Hey, gang- I’ve got a few Wild Things to share with you- including two new hand-drawn “Carol” sketchcards I recently did.
Growing up, “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak was one of my favorite books.
I also really enjoyed the 2009 live action movie.
And the “Drawing The Curtain” exhibit at the Memphis Brooks Museum Of Art back in 2022 was great! Itwas amazing seeing Maurice Sendak’s Wild Things drawings and his theatrical set and costume designs in person.
Got to check it out with fellow MSCA members Dale Martin and Kevin L. Williams.
Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) was born on June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland; much of his extended family died in the Holocaust. Recognizing from a young age that he was gay and coming of age during World War II, he had an early awareness of his multifaceted identity. This experience formed his mission as a children’s author and illustrator: providing young readers with stories to help them negotiate their own complicated emotions as they grow up in an inevitably flawed world.
A largely self-taught artist, Sendak wrote and illustrated over one hundred-fifty books during his sixty-year career. His best-known works include Very Far Away, Nutshell Library (consisting of Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny, and Pierre), Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, among many others.
He had been working in children’s literature for two decades when he was asked to design costumes and sets for a new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. A lifelong opera fan, Sendak leapt at the opportunity and said of his initiation into the world of stage design, “Fifty is a good time to either change careers or have a nervous breakdown.” He went on to design sets and costumes for multiple productions.
Maurice Sendak remains the most honored children’s book author and illustrator in U.S. history. He was the recipient of the 1964 Caldecott Medal, the 1971 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the 2003 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. In 1996 President Bill Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America.
For this sketchcard I drew out Carol with a yellow #2 pencil. It was always my favorite drawing tool as a kid.
I then got out my markers and started out with some tans, browns, yellow, and dark grey.
I used Copic markers, Ohuhu markers, Touch New markers, and Weisbrandt markers on this card. Sometimes I use Letraset and Prismacolor markers, too.
I started drawing the card at work at the comic shop, and later took it to the April monthly Mid-South Cartoonists Association dinner gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza.
I don’t do a lot of drawing out in public. Usually the lighting is bad, the table gets bumped, there are a ton of distractions, and so on- especially at cons.
Plus it’s not only hard to keep an eye on your table, but with your head down potential customers are sometimes too afraid they will interupt your drawing if they come over and decide to just keep on walking. You can miss sales like that as well as miss a lot of fun stuff going on around such as cosplayers, guests, and folks you may haven’t seen in a while. Always great to have someone else with you at your booth, and to take a break from drawing once in a while to enjoy the event.
This time I had a majority of the base work already done and wasn’t trying to ink any of it at that point. So it was fun just to draw and talk after finishing my pizza. There can be a lot of sketching and talking toons going on.
The MSCA meets up on the first Tuesday night of each month from 6-8pm. The dinner gatherings are free and open to the public, but feel free to bring a few bucks to order off their menu, and bring something to draw with/on- sketchbook, laptop, tablet, or whatever you like.
Once I got the blue background in and did a bit more shadow work, the next day I used a black Pigma Micron pen to ink some of the details in.
I used a white Gelly Roll pen for the highlights, and then went over some of the white with a light beige. Then I added back a few more white highlights.
The final steps were a bit more highlighting with a white Prismacolor pencil and spraying a couple light coats of Krylon Workable Spray Fixative.
I tried to draw on this second Carol sketchcard at work, but after many attempts at starting on it and getting busy with shop work I ended up just working on it at home on one of my days off. I started off skeching it with a #2 pencil, too.
Then I broke out my bags of markers and used various shades of eathtones on his fur, and some pink on his lips and nose. Then added in the background in greys.
Did a bit more shading and detailing in pencil, and then used a black Pigma Micron for more details.
I used a white Gelly Roll pen to bring out some highlights on his fur, and then a beige marker to tone them down a bit.
I used a bit more gel pen and then did some more highlights with a white Prismacolor pencil. Once it was all finished I sprayed it down with the clear Krylon Workable Fixative, let it dry, and then scanned it into my computer.
I’ll be set up out at 901 Comics East for Free Comic Book Day this Saturday (May the fourth be with you!) from 10am-2pm, and at the Memphis Public Libraries’ Comic Con on May 18th at the main library on Poplar Avenue from 10am-3pm. Both events are free to attend, and several of my fellow Mid-South Cartoonists Association members will be there, too.
And be sure to mark your calendars for the Memphis Monster Con in November. I’ll be set up in Artists’ Alley in the Pipkin Building at the Memphis “Scaregrounds” off East Parkway. It’ll be my first monster/horro con to attend as an artist. Hope to see you there!
Lin