All posts tagged 2023

Inktober 2023 #1: Dream

Martin · 1 year

Well, I wish I had been able to get this done earlier (and with a better idea), but here's my first entry for Inktober 2023!

I'll be following the "official" prompts this year. The prompt for this one was "dream".

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Medium Nozzle, Flicks, and Splatter spray paint brushes for shading, and a little bit of linework with the Syrup brush.

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

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June Toons 2023 #30: Escape!

Martin · 1 year

It's finally here - my last illustration for 2023's June Toons!

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 Old Beach and Tarraleah brushes for background texture, along with some help from the Splatter spray paint brush and the Soft air brush.

June Toons went by quickly this year and I learned a lot as I went. I'm really happy with how these all turned out, and I'm glad that I have been able to share them with you. Seriously: thanks for viewing, and I hope that you've enjoyed the ride along with me!

As always, if you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below.

Additionally, there's a YouTube playlist for all of 2023's June Toons drawings here.

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My second-to-last illustration for this year's June Toons is a cat slurping some milk (through a straw).

I've been making art for a long time, and so my brain has a set of "rules" that it wants to follow whenever I sit down to make something new. I've been trying to fight that a lot with this project, to varying success.

My favorites have been the drawing like this one: a bit simpler than some of my previous work, but also more fun, wacky, and creative.

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 Old Beach brush and Splatter spray paint brush for background texture.

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

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June Toons 2023 #28: Mailman

Martin · 1 year

My twenty-eighth illustration for June Toons is a Mailman!

This one started off looking a little more abstract, then quickly fell into the gravity of my "style". I wanted it to be stay more stylized, but it's really hard escape old habits, I guess.

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 Decimals brush for extra texture.

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Here's my twenty-seventh illustration for June Toons: a turtle on a motor scooter!

I tried to make the shading a little more dramatic on this one, and I think it worked okay. At first I thought the blue shadow might be a bit too bright, but I ended up liking it a lot. This project is almost over, just a few more to go!

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching 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:

Here's my twenty-fifth illustration for June Toons - a life guard, on duty!

Today, my wife gave me the idea of doing a cartoon of the beach, but I don't think this is what she had in mind. 😆

I like the idea of this one more than my execution of it - it just ended up a little busy for me. I also worked on this one outside as the day got a bit hot, and it made it difficult for me to concentrate on my pen pressure/line width. I like the colors though!

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 Tarraleah brush and Splatter spray paint brush for background texture.

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

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For my twenty-fourth June Toons illustration I drew an Artist! This one is a bit more like my usual cartoon style but has a retro vibe to it with the basic character shape and sharp edges. I don't really like calling it my usual style because it is always evolving, but if you've seen the things I've made in the past, you'll probably get what I mean.

I left this one with no shading because I thought the retro look fit nicely with flat colors.

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 Oil Paint brush and Soft air brush for background texture.

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

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June Toons 2023 #23: Genie

Martin · 1 year

For my twenty-third June Toons illustration I drew a genie!

This one was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. I started off liking the idea, but then hated how it looked after finishing the initial "inking". I began to like it again after I got the colors started and it ended up in a pretty decent place.

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 Splatter and Flicks spray paint brushes for background texture.

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

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June Toons 2023 #22: Cactus

Martin · 1 year

This is my twenty-second illustration for June Toons: a potted cactus!

I really struggled to get started with this one, and I can feel myself running out of gas, creatively. It's been a long week in my personal life, so my time for drawing has been extremely limited, and I feel like that's catching up to me. Thankfully, I will have more time after today, and I hope I can finish out this project with a bang.

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 everything else. If you watch the time-lapse, you'll see that I experimented with the Soft air brush a bit for some gradients, but ultimately abandoned that idea towards the end.

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

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