Aren't they cute?
Every time I go to Artist & Craftsman supply in Baltimore (i.e., my happy place) I cannot resist buying a few of the $0.99 Safari Good Luck Minis. I now have a big clump of them on my desk. Ostensibly they are for reference, on the occasions I forget what frogs and cows look like, but they are also great for warm-up doodles.
As of now they have inspired the following series, all done while procrastinating on work with actual deadlines:
Another side effect of attending SAW was that I began to use a nib pen again, a practice I'd gotten out of the habit of. Below are a few nib pen warm-up doodles:
The advantage of a nib pen is that it slows you down, which makes it ideal for Contemplative Doodling, as I like to call it. (Actually, I just made that up, but it seems to fit.) As you can see, they're a combination of stream-of-conscious imagery and me talking to myself:
I've also been drawing more on the train, in an attempt to make the best of the recent spurt of Metro delays. My sketchbook work is done with a portable brush pen, which is a good safeguard against getting bogged down in too many details:
Sad commuters.
Poor, poor commuters.