Illustration Sketchbook

Inktober 2025 #9: Heavy

An illustration of a cartoon man trying to lift a large barbell weight. The man's back is arched backward and the bar between the large round weights is bending. His head is facing upward and all that is visible of his face is his nose, mustache, and gritted teeth. Two drops of sweat are coming out of his head. The man has a light complexion and is wearing a white tank top and dark pants. There is a burst of energy in the background behind the man, and the drawing is in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt was "heavy", so... I drew a dude trying to lift something heavy!

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, the Syrup brush for fills, and the Rough Dot Shader 45 Light brush for the halftone shading.

The Rusty Nib brush is from the Rusty Nib pack and the Rough Dot brush is from the Beat Tones pack, both by True Grit Texture Supply.

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

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Inktober 2025 #8: Reckless

An illustration of a woman in a bathtub using her phone, which is plugged into a nearby outlet for charging. The woman looks slightly concerned. She has her knees tucked up to her chest, with her hands resting on them. The bathtub is filled with water and soapy bubbles are in the woman's hair and obscure her bottom half. The drawing is done in a flat style, with only very basic shading to indicate the dimensions of the tub, faucet, and outlet. A floor mat and a small shelf with soaps and shampoos can be faintly seen in the background, which is a dark gray. A burst of white spray paint is behind the woman, highlighting her head and phone. The drawing is in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt - and the first drawing of week 2 of this project - was "reckless", and I spent a lot of time thinking about it during the day.

Ultimately, I ended up doing this because I felt like it was a modern, relatable thing. And also because I bet a lot of people have done this without thinking much about how absolutely dangerous it is! 😵

For some reason it felt like this illustration took a long time to create, but when I check the stats in Procreate, it's only an hour and 18 minutes. Maybe it was because it had some many overlapping layers I had to consider?

As always, 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 Burst spray paint brush and Worn 1 Subtle brush for background texture.

That last brush is from the Fast Grit pack, by True Grit Texture Supply.

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

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Inktober 2025 #7: Starfish

An illustration of Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants laying on the beach on his back, with his arms and legs spread out and a happy look on his face. Patrick is a starfish, and he is wearing his signature shorts with a tropical flower pattern. The beach is speckled with spray paint splatter spots and has a faint floral pattern drawn over it. In the upper left, the ocean's foamy edge pushes in slightly. The drawing is in black and white.

Alright, I know this probably wasn't a unique idea, but I saw the prompt for today's Inktober drawing, "starfish", and there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to draw Patrick for it. 😆

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Studio Pen brush for linework, the Syrup brush for some touchups, the Soft air brush for shading, and the Splatter and Flicks spray paint brushes for texture.

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

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Inktober 2025 #6: Pierce

An illustration of an elephant with a very pierced ear and eyebrow. The elephant is facing the viewer straight on, and is off center to the left, with its trunk hooking out of the view and coming back up on the right. The elephant is looking directly at the viewer with slightly closed eyes. It is dark gray and has large white tusks. The elephant's ear that is in view is covered in piercings, with plain metallic studs, small hoops, hanging chains, small jewels, and a coin on a hoop. The background is white and the drawing is in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt was "pierce", and after bouncing a lot of silly ideas around in my head, I landed on a very silly one indeed: this much pierced elephant.

I enjoyed making it even though I'm not super jazzed with how it turned out. I much prefer drawing animals with more cartoon proportions, and this one just looks a bit weird to me.

Anyway, 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, the Gouache and Rough Dot Shader 45 Light brushes for shading, and the Worn 1 Subtle brush and Burst spray paint brush for texture. And also a small assist from the Syrup brush for fills.

The Rusty Nib brush is from the Rusty Nib pack, the Rough Dot Shader 45 Light is from the Beat Tones pack, and the Worn 1 Subtle brush is from the Fast Grit pack, all by True Grit Texture Supply.

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

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Inktober 2025 #5: Deer

An illustration of a cartoon deer caught in a spotlight eating an ice cream cone. The deer's eyes are wide open, and it is staring at the viewer with its mouth slightly agape. It has a partly eaten ice cream cone in its hand, and it is wearing a coat and scarf. It has a small set of antlers on its head. The drawing is in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt was "deer". I wanted to go for a "deer in the headlights" thing with this one, but ended up not doing a road, just making the deer look like he got caught doing something. I'm not sure why that something is eating an ice cream cone, but I like how it turned out. 😆

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 brush for shading.

The Rusty Nib brush is from the Rusty Nib pack and the Rought Dot Shader brush is from the Beat Tones pack, both by True Grit Texture Supply.

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

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Inktober 2025 #4: Murky

An illustration of a snow-globe-like ball on a small pedestal. The globe contains a small Victorian house and scraggily trees, nearly obscured by a thick, murky fog. The drawing is in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt was "murky", and when I first read that, my brain immediately went to many Stephen Gammell's illustrations for the book series, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which I read when I was younger.

Those are a bit too close to horror though, and so I ended up doing this, a snow-globe-esque image of an old Victorian house with scraggily trees nearly lost in a murk of fog.

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 Gouache brush for shading. The Rusty Nib brush is 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:

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Inktober 2025 #3: Crown

An illustration of an expressionless, humanoid robot slouching in a throne, wearing a crown cocked at an angle on its head. The robot is pressing its hands together with index fingers and thumbs outward, as if it is contemplating something. The robot is mostly sitting in darkness, with harsh highlights being cast on it by two large, vertical windows to the left of the throne. Its eyes are glowing. The drawing looks gritty, and it done in black and white.

Today's Inktober prompt was "crown", and since it's Friday I thought I'd spend some extra time drawing a nice, possibly evil, robot for it. It took a little over 2 hours, which is less time than I thought it would take!

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, the Gouache brush for shading, and the Worn 1 Subtle and Worn 4 Subtle brushes for texture.

The Worn brushes are from the Fast Grit pack from True Grit Texture Supply.

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

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Inktober 2025 #2: Weave

An illustration of a bunch of stripes weaved together in a crosshatch pattern. Some of the vertical stripes have heads on the ends, and each head has a different expression, such as smiling, looking at others, sleeping, etc. The drawing is textured with light spray paint splotches, a halftone pattern in the background, and harsh shadows. It is in black and white.

Today's prompt for Inktober was "weave", and this is my late-night interpretation of that! Not particularly creative in my opinion, but it was fun to make anyway.

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 brush and Fat Nozzle spray paint brush for shading/texture.

The Rusty Nib brush is from the Rusty Nib pack, and the Rough Dot Shader brush is from 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:

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Inktober 2025 #1: Mustache

An illustration of a close-up of cartoon man gritting his teeth and squinting one eye. The other eye is wide open and is staring with concentration at the man's own mustache, where a tiny bug is sticking out. The drawing is textured with spray paint splatters and is in black and white.

It's the 1st of October, so you know what that means: it's time for Inktober!

This year, I'm following the "official" prompts, and today's is "mustache", so here's my entry for that one.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Syrup brush for linework, the Soft air brush for shading, and the Fat Nozzle and Splatter spray paint brushes for background texture.

I hope everyone out there enjoys seeing my drawings and process throughout the month!

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

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June Toons 2025 #30: The End

A cartoon illustration of a dog turned around, showing his bottom, and snickering about it. The dog is bright green and looking over his shoulder at the viewer. His bottom, with butt cheeks, is sticking out with tail up on the right. The dog has blue ears and nose, and little hairs protruding from various parts of his body. The dog's eyes are slightly bloodshot, and his blue collar is too big. The background is a purple color with a pink ellipse over it, spray paint splotches, and small doodles. The words "the end" float over the dog's bottom on the upper right, in orange with pink streaks.

Here's today's June Toons illustration - the last one for the month, and the project! 😄

Thanks to everyone who followed along and enjoyed the art - I appreciate the support!

You can view all the completed pieces in the gallery. And all the time-lapses on YouTube.

I'll be back with another drawing project in August. If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below: