trains, bricks, and other things i don't like drawing ~

[lookingland]

i spent all morning drawing this train and a hundred bricks, so you are going to appreciate it. the worst thing about drawing the civil war is that there are all these trains and bricks everywhere. and when there aren't any trains or bricks, there are horse carriages and similarly difficult things to draw. talking heads i can do all day long, but wide angle establishing "shots" may well be the death of me.

the good news is that this train appears on page 9 which means i am making something like progress. and yes, i cheated by recycling some old art (which hopefully won't look too spectacularly inconsistent ~ but then i expect much of this project might be just that: wildly and bizarrely inconsistent). but tally ho and all that rot ~ onward unto the breach!

: o p

it's zowie cold out and tried to snow earlier, but then dropped below freezing, which put a kaibosh on that. i think we're s'posed to get wind chills in the -40 range. i'd rather have three feet of snow.

entertaining things for people who like random historical junk: The Civil War Diary of George Taylor Granger and a cool letter written by an assistant surgeon at Gettysburg.

i spent entirely too much time today looking for pictures of trains and street views of Baltimore during the war. i am now going to make a sandwich for lunch. yay lunch! hope everyone is having a productive sattidy!

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Yay lunch indeed!

I love the way you've done the clouds that that illustration, and the way the smoke drifts into them. Rather ominous...

I do not envy you the bricks....they look pretty good to me, though! Carriages though...yeah, I bet those are a pain in the arse with all the little fiddly bits. Not to mention the ponies....speaking of which, I have not seen you draw a pony yet....*nudge nudge*

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thank you! it came out okay for being a slapdoodle job (which i suspect much of this will be since i haven't the patience otherwise!)

and those aren't actually the bricks i am kvetching about ~ the ones in this picture weren't so hard ~ it's the houses on the other half of this page that were owie. ha ~ !

and i have a horsie coming up very soon (the first of many, i suspect). i'm actually looking forward to drawing it!

are you having a delightful lunch? or have you had? or will you? just tell me what's on the menu ~ hahahahaha.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Horsies! Yay! That makes me very happy :)

I haven't had lunch yet (not quite noon here) but I'm jonesing for a grilled cheese sammich. Sadly, I have neither bread nor cheese and am therefore SOL. I'm also too lazy to go out and get some, so I'll have to figure out a plan B. What was on your menu?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

chicken soup with cheesy crackers ~ nothing too exciting. i am making stir-fry for dinner, though.

oh there's nothing worse than a hankerin' for a hunka cheese when none's to be found! i had a grilled cheese last night with my last two pieces of bread and burned the toast on the stove. arghhhhh! dinner was sad sad sad.

so maybe if you think of burned toast, you won't suffer too much and you can eat something else.

: D

[pithhelmet.livejournal.com]

I agree. Very nicely done, and the smoke/clouds do make the picture.

And I concur on the bricks. Back when I was a teen, I drew a lot of Vietnam War and Conan stuff, and I spent an untold hours drawing blade after blade of grass.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thank you ~ !

and wow, yes, i would lump grass into that entourage of wonderful details that are entirely tedious whenever one has to actually reproduce them.

: D

[sparowe]

As happens, I do appreciate it, because I certainly couldn't do it. :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

awww, thank you!

: D

You SAY you're going to have a sandwich

[(Anonymous)]

but then you have soup. I was all set for you to have sandwich.

I hate drawing all modes of transportation. But I love LOVE to draw bricks (also shingles) It's just mindless enough to put in a nice zone.

Horsies! gasp! I totally fake those--make the horse off the page and just his rump and tail on the page or an ear and nostril whatever gets me by.

I think you've done some nice work today. WHOORAY for you boo-boo! :-D

Re: You SAY you're going to have a sandwich

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i postponed the sammich 'til dinner. in fact, i will be making it shortly (and am rather excited at the anticipation ~ there will be fresh kaiser rolls and a side of pomegranate juice involved).

thankie for loving my train. everyone loves a choochoo, no?

: D

[geckobird.livejournal.com]

What a spectacular train! And the smoke - that's my favorite part. ^_^

I'm hoping and praying the snow will hold off until after my bus ride. I leave Monday night and reach Minneapolis at six in the morning, where I switch buses to head to Montana and then Wyoming. I'm so nervous about snowstorms. Weather forecast doesn't say any, but well, you never know...

Speaking of snow, I'm still amazed by the size of the drifts here in Iowa. Went for a walk, and the snow was up to my knees - made for a hard walking.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thank you!

wow, i can't believe you're off! i hope you have good traveling weather (i will pray for it!). meanwhile, i still envy your drifts. it's ridiculously cold up this way ~ too cold for snow, which is sad sad sad.