In progress: Mr. Rex and his class

After the inking .. Next is watercolor!

Sent from my iPhone

Inspiration: "Halloween" by John Gruellet

Some seasonal inspiration. Click to see an enlargement and see what Halloween was like circa 1908. Illustration by John Gruellet.

"You two behave..."

A sketch I did while serving jury duty for the fourth time!
Done with a ball point pen... so I couldnt erase.. if I had the option of editing I would have reworked the kid on the right. He looks a little over worked to me and the line work not nearly as confident as the boy on the left.

Reference: Day at the Airshow

Spent the day with Finn at the Grimes Airfield near Bethel, PA. Lots of old biplanes and radio controlled model planes. We had a blast! I thought I would share these great reference photos of biplanes with any of my fellow illustrators. I know I will be using them! See if you can spot them in future sketches!

Inspiration: Her Ambition by Harry Linnell

Found this illustration by Harry Linnell in a book from 1908.. called "Caricature: The wit & humor of a nation in picture, song & story"

The text reads:
Mater: "Well, Effie, what are you going to be when you are grown up?"
Effie: "If I was a boy, I'd be president, but seeing I'm a girl, I guess being a rich widow is as good as anything."

Wow.. the colors and line quality are fantastic on this. And I gotta love the attitude on the pose of the little girl. The boy in the background seems to be busy tying the girls dolls onto the tracks of his train set. He also has a string tied to his finger?

Theres plenty more inspiration in this book.. you can expect to see more from this book in the future!

Opie takes his morning tea

I challenged myself and actually rendered most of the opossum without turning the page upside down.. brought back drawing exercises from "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"

Osgood goes to the optometrist

My son and I were outside in the garden and he was fascinated by my description of what a mole is..

"A little animal that digs tunnels under the ground and eats bugs and plants.He's got little tiny eyes and cant see very good."
He immediately wanted to go inside and look them up in my National Geographic Encyclopedia of Mammals... he sat on my lap and we read all about them.. cute little devils.

The Right Fielder

I totally remember playing right field in minor league. Wearing my baseball glove like a mask.. blowing dandelions.. picking grass. One of the few places a six year old can sit and think uninterrupted and commune with nature.

The Great Bunny Escape

I used to love practicing magic.. or legerdemain.. used to spend all my time reading and practicing coin tricks and pretending I would one day work up the courage to actually PERFORM one of the routines.

Star Gazer

 A study for a childrens book I'm working on...

Dinosaur school..

Craft night with the kids.. hmm .. what to draw..
Well.. heres a book on dinosaurs.. and a book about historic childrens clothes. How about a Catholic School dinosaur?
Thinking of adding a T-Rex nun in the future...

A blast from the past..

Some sketches from years gone by...

Lets get the ball rolling

What is a Skog?.. No its not some slime covered creature from some murky Florida swamp... its a Sketch Blog of course. This will be the online sketchbook that will supplement my online portfolio site located here.

Ive always had a love affair with sketches. You can show me a fantastic illustration by a world class illustrator and I will invariably appreciate the developmental sketches moreso than the finished work. I think alot of artist lose some of the energy and spontaneity in their finished work .. but this energy is evident in their sketches.I probably own more published sketchbooks from my fellow artist than I do of the actual finished work!

I will be starting a Sketchbook Club soon and look forward to sitting down with some fellow artists, gulping caffeinated beverages and seeing what comes out on the page. Well.. enough rambling.. lets get on to the fun part!