50 Sketches from a Graphic Designer

This is my left hand. Rule: make darks darker and lights lighter and avoid mid-tones when sketching.

Notes from a client meeting about a website and logo over coffee at Starbucks.

Can I draw Daffy Duck from memory? No, I cannot draw Daffy Duck from memory.

"Happy Times" sketch. I doodled this really fast so I could have something to try and color, later, in Photoshop.

Unused sketch for the banner illustration of a technology and graphic design article.

"Bad little kids breaks vase but is truly sorry, so mom is not too mad", or something like that.

Abstract art concept

Several abstract composition sketches. The top left one focuses on patterns of dark and light, while the second focuses on organic blending of dark and light.

Abstract sketch compositons. The lower one is a concept for a larger painting.

Mindmap for the new BonFX.com focus. This was several months before I started any work on the site at all.

Sketched composition for larger painting, "I am the Bread of Life", along with a little chalice.

A few devotional fine art sketches and compositions. One is of the Virgin Mary, and the larger one is a concept for a painting about division among ecclesial communities.

Another set of concept sketches for some devontial art about Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows and other ideas.

Lunchtime sketches: My teabag and a one-eyed, dangerous, spinning, octopus.

Realistic concept sketch of Jesus above an abstract Madonna and Child concept. I don't think abstract approaches to traditional topics work that well, maybe in the same way "Baroque" and "Hip Hop" probably don't mix that well.

Lunchtime sketch: My lunch trash consisting of a paper boat and balled up napkins, giving new meaning to "trashy art".

Lunch time sketch: The furniture near me and my coffee cup. With the cup, I tried to use only black, white, and one gray and in a sense doing a manual "posterize filter" like Photoshop does. Meh...

Lunch time sketch: more trash. I twisted a napkin into a "rose" of sorts, and then tried to draw a detail of the crumpled inside of a foil-lined chip bag. Note: drawing foil is hard.

A series of abstract sketch concepts, some focused on grids and patterns.

More pattern fun. I like effect of patterns with subtle organic inconsistencies. I think when you can tell something is mechanical, your eye knows not to scan them all. But with minor undulations in line and tone, an otherwise boring pattern has a bit more life to it. I'd like to explore this idea in a series of full sized paintings.

Logo design concepts and sketches for the Office of Religious Education in the Diocese of Providence.

Small, detailed study on improvised composition of light and dark slowly built up. This is about 2 inches square.

Improvised street scene sketch. I wondered how repeating certain improvised elements would work in a more realisitc application.

Sketch of a ripped napkin, a simple study in tonal values.

Very loose sketch, a study of tonal values of a crumpled napkin (my favorite lunch time prop) done with quick cross-hatching.

Abstract pencil sketch study of improvised composition, built in layers. I like the idea of transparency of abstract shapes and would like to explore this in a larger work, possibly charcoal.