Rediscovering

One step at a time!
I'll reconquer what I've lost. I'll tear away the inhibitions and embrace what I really love to draw.
But wishing won't make it happen, so I'm going to start a new sketchbook, which will be entirely devoted to free sketching. No intentional focus on improvement, no "pretty" refined stuff meant to be shown around without shame.

My secret letter to the embarrassing lover I never wanted my parents to meet; I'll have to pick up correspondence again if I ever hope to become comfortable with it.

I know I'm still able to slip into that who-cares state of mind.
Here's some stuff I did before summer. Quick thumbnails for an artbook cover.
I needed a predator to confront the human, or something symbolic, as helpless prey. I wanted it big, reptilian, fearsome, but I looked for "something else" at first because it would probably end up looking like a dragon. And dragons are mainstream, right? Sinful!
Still. I went ahead.

I enjoyed doing these. Oh so much. It was liberating. Quick and careless. It was the kind of subject I wanted on my cover.
That's what I'm after!

Ten minutes exploration of thumb n.2 for a more snowy feel. Pretty bad, but I didn't think of it at the time. Just exploring and having fun with cyan, magenta, big fearsome monster and ice. My favorite.

Further exploration of thumbnail 4. I was thinking of something graphic, with a plain white backgorund, but ended up painting the background as I realized the sky would have helped a ton in creating a definite mood. 

Brush test

Back in August I started working on some more personal custom Brushes. I was looking for something with texture, shape dynamics and a "dry brush strokes" feel. Or something chalky.

Here's a random furry creature I made while testing the brush. I named it Beebo. The brush, not the beast.
Analysis:

•  This Beebo brush looks okay. Not too texturized, still reliable for sketching and blocking out flat colors, with a hint of silky texture. I'm using it a lot
• Beebo feels especially good for scribbling and hair tufts
• The values are decent
• I like the result of cutting out parts of the creature in a nonconventional way

• Beebo needs some more work
• As this was not character design practice, the creaure turned out random and uninspired... but unlike other times where I just draw without planning, I haven't created any particularly interesting body parts/markings 
• Anatomy and perspective fail here and there

Experience gained: 3 points!

- Painting something as a custom brush test instead of just scribbling around is a good opportunity to produce and practice more

- Sketches emerging from a brush test SHOULD be checked and fixed if anatomy and perspective suck, no matter how little planning there was behind :D

- I'll experiment more on weird cuts and framing