30 Day Art Challenge, Day 4 - Character

I have been sick as a dog for the past few days.  This head cold is threatening to do me in, but I am persisting. (I am nothing if not persistent.)

Today is Day 4 of the 30 Day Art Challenge.

30 Day Art Challenge:

1. Flight
2. Dreams or Dreamscape
3. Darkness
4. Character
5. Love
6. Motherhood
7. Nature
8. Movement
9. Astrology
10. Harmony
11. Technology
12. Lightness
13. Water
14. Sweet
15. Out of Time
16. Reflections
17. Purity
18. Solitude
19. Freedom
20. Joy
21. Mystery
22. Childhood
23. Fantasy
24. Companion
25. Abstract
26. Modern
27. Wish
28. Happiness
29. Comfort
30. Self

Character.  

Nothing heavy, or soul sapping today.  Just, character.

Of course, like all things, there are different ways to interpret this word.  Character can mean the make up of a person; that intangible thing that everyone has that drives them and shapes them into the people that they are.  There are people of stout moral character and those who might be considered shady characters.  There are a million variables,

Next...

Character can mean a shape or form, like a letter.  I could draw a fanciful character like one might see in a medieval book, painstakingly drawn by artists who likely couldn't even read.  😲  Maybe not.

Of course when you say character to most people, they immediately think of a character in literature or a play, movies or television.  When I told my kids what today's challenge was, they immediately started shouting out the names of their favorite characters.  (My son and I have one that is the same...  wait for it.)

So, it may have been more challenging to dive into the more intangible definition, or more classically artistic to attempt some kind of calligraphy, I am too sick and too exhausted to think much. 

So of course, I am going to go for a character.  And since it is a quick sketch, it will have to be something more graphic with a lot less realism.  And I think I want to have fun with this.

When you are referencing a character in a drawing, the important things to include are the things that are immediately recognizable about your subject.  If you were drawing Harry Potter, you would need to include his round glasses and his lightening bolt scar.  If you wanted to draw Spock, pointy ears would be a must.  Say you wanted to draw Doctor Who... You can draw the exact same figure with different accessories and change the picture completely.....

Like say, the 11th Doctor...

The Doctor, Colored Pencil on Paper

It's a fez.  I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool.

And the fez (and the bow-tie, if we are being honest) is what makes him immediately identifiable...  If I drew a long endless wildly colored scarf and a fedora instead, different Doctor.  Red-lined black jacket and sunglasses? Different Doctor. Glasses, pinstripe suit and chucks? Different Doctor.  Black vest and a blaster at his side - Han Solo.  

You get the idea.

I want to revisit this one again...  Evidence of my exhaustion, I chose the wrong paper for the medium, I got tired after trying to blend, and the pencil lines are glaringly obvious.  I was too tired to trek all the way across the room for a marker to outline him...  There are a dozen little things I would do different, but all in all, not bad for a quick assignment.

Maybe I should do a series of these -- 12 so far...  Hmmm...  At least it would make my fellow geeks happy.

For now, I am glad that I had fun.  I hope you do too.  Art doesn't always have to be so serious, you know.  Sometimes, it should just be fun.