Illustration Sketchbook

June Toons 2025 #2: Boombox

Martin · 10 days

A cartoon illustration of a black rabbit carrying and listening to a giant boombox. The rabbit is all black, is smiling, and has his eyes closed. His ears are blowing away from the boombox. His free hand is snapping along with the beat. He has a white nose and front teeth and is wearing a bright green shirt with a musical note on it. The boombox is a pale gold color with blue trim. The rabbit is carrying it on his shoulder right next to his head. The background is blue with light blue paint spots, and a translucent pink square behind the rabbit. Musical notes in the same color are above him.

My second June Toons cartoon is of a rabbit listening to a boombox!

I've been drawing this same rabbit across a bunch of my projects now, and I feel like he's almost as much of a staple as me drawing a robot. He's fun for me to draw though, and I like that I can make him so dynamic at times. Perhaps I'll draw more of him soon!

Anyway, this was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Syrup brush for linework, and the Fat Nozzle spray paint brushes for background texture. I also used the Rough Dot Shader 45/Light brush for the halftone shading.

That last brush is available in the Beat Tones pack by True Grit Texture Supply.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkcartoonillustrationipad projune toonsprocreate
50 8 0

June Toons 2025 #1: It’s Back!

Martin · 11 days

With another June comes another June Toons, a month-long project where I create a new cartoon illustration every day of June!

Will I be able to keep up? We'll see! 😆

A cartoon illustration of the words "June toons". The o's in 'toons' are made from the bugged-out eyes of a green dog. The dog looks confused and has his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. His head is much larger than his body. He has a blue nose, ears, collar, and tail. His eyes are slightly bloodshot. The words are colored in pink with orange streaks and bright blue highlights at the bottom. The background is purple with a round, pink highlight behind the cog and words. There are small sketches of faces, stars, and other doodles around the end of the highlight. The background is textured as if someone puffed spray paint onto it.

In the meantime, here's the first illustration, which will serve as the title card for the project.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Smooth Natural Nib for linework, the Inka and Rusty Nib 1 brush for details, the Soft air brush for shading, and the Fat Nozzle spray paint brush for background texture.

The Smooth Natural Nib and Rusty Nib 1 brushes are from the Rusty Nib pack by True Grit Texture Supply.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

I'd love it if you'd follow along with me for June as I create all of these things, and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the process, my inspiration, etc. Join me!

2025artartworkcartoonillustrationipad projune toonsprocreate
66 7 0

Drawrch 2025 #31: Huh?

Martin · 73 days

An illustration of me, in comic book style. In the picture I am looking at the viewer from the side, with my head turned to the left. I have a slight smile on my face, but my eyes are partly squinted, as if I can't believe what I'm looking at. I have a light complexion, dark hair and eyes, and I am wearing a blue shirt. The background is a faded dark green.

Today's Drawrch illustration is the final for this series, and as is tradition, is a self-portrait!

My only takeaway from this one is that I probably need to go on a little diet and get away from the dad bod I've been working on for the last few years. 😅

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Rusty Nib 1 brush for linework, and the Rough Dot Shader 45/Light and Grainy Dot Shader 60/Light brushes for shading. I also used the Syrup brush for some of the fills, and the Worn 3 Bold brush for the grunge effect at the end.

The Rusty Nib brush is from the Rusty Nib pack, the Dot Shader brushes are from the Beat Tones pack, and the Worn/grunge brush is from the Fast Grit pack, all by True Grit Texture Supply.

Thanks to everyone who followed along with this project over the course of the month! I appreciate everyone who liked, shared, and dropped a comment here and there - all of that really helps motivate me.

I'll be back with another illustration project in June! 😊

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

And you can see all of the drawing time-lapses here on the blog, or on this YouTube playlist.

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
418 44 0

Drawrch 2025 #30: Yell

Martin · 74 days

An illustration of a man screaming. The man is facing to the right and is frowning. His mouth is open wide, and he has a mean, intense look on his face. He has a light complexion and short hair that is brushed up into a bouffant. He has a light mustache and beard. He is drawn in a posterized grayscale, over an orange background with white spray paint spattered behind him.

Today's Drawrch illustration is of a man yelling intensely. This is another reference image I've wanted to draw for a long time, but never got around to doing until now. I'm happy with how it turned out!

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Fat Nozzle spray paint brush for background texture.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
230 46 0

Drawrch 2025 #29: Smile

Martin · 75 days

An illustration of a woman tilting her head to the right and looking at the viewer. The woman is smiling very slightly, and her hair is blowing across her face from the left. She has a light complexion, dark eyes and hair, and pink lipstick. Her hair is highlighted to a red-brown color by the sun, and she is wearing a leather jacket that is barely visible. The background is a blurry landscape.

I got started on today's Drawrch illustration pretty late, and guess what? I finished it pretty late too! 🥴

I like how it turned out mostly, but it doesn't look a lot like the reference to me. I tried to fix it a bit at the end, and it helped, but not enough. But it's done, and it was good practice and on to the next. Only two left to go!

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Soft air brush for shading. The Syrup brush also made a brief appearance for helping me erase some things properly.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
209 38 0

Drawrch 2025 #28: Fred Flintstone

Martin · 76 days

An illustration of Fred Flintstone, from the cartoon The Flintstones. Fred is smiling with his mouth open, and is looking up almost like he is rolling his eyes. He has dark hair and eyes, a light complexion, a five-o'clock shadow, and is wearing a scruffy blue tie and orange top. The background is yellow that fades to red-orange from top to bottom.

Today's Drawrch is another cartoon, but I have a good reason for that!

This was one of the first nights in a long time that my wife and I had an opportunity to just hang out and catch up on some TV, and so I wanted to spend time with her while I did my drawing, instead of being cooped up in my office, like normal. And since I can't really concentrate on a complex portrait while I'm watching Top Chef (plus, I usually look at reference photos on my computer, which is in my office), I ended up just doing something basic and fun.

I like this one though, and in my opinion, it turned out better than the one I did of Jane Jetson a few days ago!

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, a small assist from the Soft air brush for the background gradient, and the Syrup brush for everything else.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
201 41 0

Drawrch 2025 #27: Flowers

Martin · 77 days

An illustration of an older woman facing to the right, slightly away from the viewer. The woman has a light complexion, brown eyes, and red lipstick. She has a large round earring in her visible ear, and is wearing a thick, braided necklace. She is wearing black-framed glasses that have a slight blue tint to them. She has wispy, curly hair that is coming out from under a hat. Her hair is a faded blond that gets darker towards her scalp. The hat has a green brim, a light blue top, and is decorated with small flowers on top of the brim in the middle. The sleeves of the woman's shirt are barely visible on the sides, green on the left and yellow on the right. The background is a steel blue that fades to white towards the top.

Today's Drawrch illustration is of a woman wearing glasses and a hat, which I have learned are two other things (in addition to beards) that I just don't enjoy drawing that much.

I suppose that I need to just suck it up and accept that a drawing project where I'm illustrating heads/faces is probably going to have lots of those things in them, because those are things that lots of faces have on them... but I like to complain. 😎

Anyway, this was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Soft air brush for gradients.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
204 39 0

Drawrch 2025 #26: Beard

Martin · 78 days

An illustration of a man tilting his head down and to the side, looking up at the viewer. The man has a very pale complexion, green eyes, and a dark beard and hair. His hair appears to be long and tied back. He has a very long, scraggly beard, which is slightly lighter in color and has many stray blond strands. The man is smiling slightly. He has a stud earring in his visible ear. He is wearing a black hoodie with three thin white stripes going down the front. The background is a steel blue that fades to a slightly lighter color towards the top.

Today's Drawrch illustration features a man with a super big, scraggly beard.

I have been avoiding drawing lots of bears this time around, but figured I could do this one by going about it in a slightly more stylistic way, and I think it paid off. Despite the simplified style, the drawing still took me about an hour and a half to complete. 😅

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
213 44 0

Drawrch 2025 #25: Over Her Shoulder

Martin · 79 days

An illustration of a woman looking over her shoulder, looking at the viewer. The woman's mouth is open slightly, and she has a hint of a smile on her face. She has long hair that is curled over her shoulder and wisping up at the sides. She has an earring in her visible ear. The woman has a medium complexion, dark eyes, and dark hair that is lit up to look orange-red and tan in the light. The shadows on the woman's face are in an unnatural, deep blue color. The background is a pink color that fades to a bright yellow towards the bottom.

Today's Drawrch illustration is of a woman looking over her shoulder at you.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Soft air brush for the background gradient.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
248 39 0

Drawrch 2025 #24: Grin

Martin · 80 days

An illustration of a man smiling and looking off to the right. The man's head is tilted slightly toward the viewer and turned to the right. His mouth is slightly open, as if he is laughing. He has a light complexion, brown hair, dark eyes, and is wearing a white shirt and a chain necklace. He has some stubble on his cheek and chin. He is being lit largely from behind by the sun, leaving hard highlights on both sides of his head. The background is a dark sky blue, fading sharply to near white at the middle, towards the top.

Today's Drawrch is of a reference image I've been wanting to do for a while now - almost this entire project! - but every time I considered it, I ended up chickening out.

It's a tough one because of the asymmetry of the man's eyes, the almost warped shape of his mouth, and the lower resolution of the source image itself. But I like it too because the man has a very defined look, the angle of his face is interesting, and his expression is easy to read.

I finally worked up the courage to try it tonight, and I'm glad I did. It's not perfect, but it captures the essence of the reference pretty well in my opinion. Someday I'll make a video comparing all of these to their references, and we'll truly find out how close I got! 😎

Anyway, this was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Soft air brush for gradients. At the end, I also made some use of Procreate's filters, adding noise and blurring it as an overlay.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

2025artartworkdrawrchillustrationipad proprocreate
205 36 0