Amdall Gallery

The next sketch on tap, as I mentioned in the last post, was another “hometown series” sketch. I’ve done a football huddle scene, and one with some old friends chatting. The next sketch I started with was a close up of a couple of guys, but I realized it once again featured my buddy who was already in the first two. I’ll definitely finish it later, but I decided to move to a different one with a new cast for the next post. As I’ve said, I don’t have all that many photographs with scenes to reference. I’ve considered just trying to wing it and imagine a scene, but my artistic limitations make that a tall order. I really like to have something I can reference, even if it’s just a small printed photo or something.

I found a pretty good print from my wedding that I decided to use. It features my groomsmen, my wife, and her father, with me taking her hand. Unfortunately, this is possibly one of the worst-planned drawings I’ve ever done. This clearly would have been a great candidate for using a grid. I did not even come close to fitting all the subjects in! My wife is barely in it, and her dad is out of the picture, as is the best man. I’m not really sure what I was doing here, but the scene is completely different than what I imagined.

Interestingly enough though, the sketch itself isn’t too bad. Not what I had in mind, but still decent enough I think. Once I finished, the first thought that crossed my mind was, “We’re ready to believe you!” Yes, that’s right; scenes from Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 immediately jumped into my brain. Especially the scene from the first movie featuring their corny commercial, and the courtroom action from the second one. Is it just me? I mean, check this out:

All we need here are proton packs and we’re ready to bust some heads…in a spiritual sense, of course. As Ray Parker Jr. would say, bustin’ makes me feel good! Sorry, Ghostbusters is my favorite movie, so thinking about it gets me pumped up. And I’m sure the sketch doesn’t remind many people of Ghostbusters, but it’s pretty much seared into my brain, so I’m easily reminded of of the movies.

Anywho, so back to the sketch itself. As I said, I think it turned out to be decent, if quite unintentionally arranged.  The guys are all pretty well represented I think. The fellow on the left looks the least like himself, but he does at least have a resemblance. These aren’t perfect representations by any means, but I’m okay with that. In a way, this sketch serves as a good reminder of why I wouldn’t do well as a professional. My planning is poor, and I’m pretty unfocused; for a commission, that would probably be a disaster.

I dropped my usual progression .gif above, and I’ll include a few stills below, with the final product at the end. As I’ve said often, I really like the early sketches!

So, what’s next? Well, definitely another “hometown series” sketch, since I’ve got one that’s more than halfway finished already. I’ll probably do some more along these “hometown” lines after that, or try again to get a wedding scene that actually includes my wife!