All posts tagged Art

June Toons 2026 #30: Detective Rooster

 Martin · 12 days
A cartoon illustration of a rooster wearing a Sherlock Holmes cloak and hat and peering through a magnifying glass. The rooster is squinting with one eye and leaning forward, like he's concentrating. He is looking at a tiny set of words through the magnifying glass, which read "THE END". The rooster is pink with a gold beak and red comb and wattle. His eyes are a dark green. His cloak and hat are brown with a darker grid pattern over it. He is light brightly form the right. The magnifying glass is gold with a dark green handle. The background is a muted blue with a large white ellipse behind the rooster and the words "THE END".

I'm closing out this year's June Toons with another cartoon inspired by my son. Detective Rooster was a thing we came up with while I was playing with him one day, with a couple of random toys, trying to tie all the toys together somehow.

Detective Rooster solves cases around the neighborhood park, and all the local kids are constantly asking for his help. He's not the best detective, but he always solves the case somehow! 😊

As always, 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:

You can watch all of the drawings from this project be created at this YouTube playlist.

Thanks to everyone who followed along with this project. I hope you had as much fun seeing each new cartoon as I did drawing them!

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June Toons 2026 #28: Skeptical Moose

 Martin · 14 days
A cartoon illustration of a moose holding his chin in his hand and looking skeptical. The moose is looking up and to the side, away from the viewer, and one eye is squinting. He is brown with gold antlers. The background is a bold green that gets brighter on the right edge.

For today's June Toons cartoon, I drew a moose looking awfully skeptical. Not sure what he's skeptical about though, you'll have to ask him! 🫎

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 Soft air brush for shading.

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

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June Toons 2026 #27: Unspooled

 Martin · 15 days
A cartoon illustration of a tape cassette with the tape unspooled and out of the case. The tape's reel spools are X's and it has a downturned mouth with tongue sticking out. The tape is looped and twisted above it. The tape is pink and has a white label with green stripes. The tape is orange with cream highlights. The tongue is a bright raspberry color. All of it is casting a hard black shadow on top of a gold background.

Today's June Toons cartoon is of a tape cassette that has become unwound a bit. 😵

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching and the Rough Liner brush for everything else.

The Rough Liner brush is from the Stipple Studio 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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June Toons 2026 #26: Remote Slide

 Martin · 16 days
A cartoon illustration of a TV remote sliding down a children's slide. The TV remote is curved into a sitting position and flying off the bottom end of the slide. It has a smiling face and two arms spread out above it, and it looks like it's having fun. The slide behind it is drawn in a distorted, stylized way. The remote is dark red, the slide is red and white, and the background is orange. The colors are offset from the lines, as if the drawing was printed, and it is shaded with a halftone pattern and has a distressed effect applied.

Today's June Toons cartoon is of a TV remote sliding down a slide. I asked my son what to make and this was his suggestion. 😄

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 Rough Dot Shader - 45° Light brush for shading, and the Worn 1 - Subtle brush for texture.

The Rough Dot brush is from the Beat Tones pack, and the Worn brush is from the Fast Grit 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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June Toons 2026 #25: Lady and the Chump

 Martin · 17 days
A cartoon illustration of the dogs from Lady and the Tramp in the famous spaghetti scene. Tramp is on the left, puckering up for a kiss with his eyes closed. Lady is on the right, slurping up a strand of spaghetti, but looking shocked as she sees that the other end of the pasta is going into a rat's mouth. The rat is sitting under Tramp and has a big smile on his face. A plate is on a table in the foreground. It has a single strand of spaghetti on it, and a meatball close to Lady. Tramp is gray with a light streak on his mouth and going down his belly. Lady is brown with a similar light streak around her mouth and up the center of her face. The rat is light blue with a light streak around his mouth and going down his belly. The background is a warm gray-brown, with a slight spray paint splatter behind the plate and Lady.

I'm not sure what inspired today's June Toons illustration, but I thought I'd make something a little more complicated with multiple characters, and something got me thinking about this old movie.

This joke has been done a hundred times already, I'm sure, but it was still fun to draw, and I enjoyed practicing doing a looser style once more. It's really hard for me to break out from wanting characters to be dimensionally believable, instead of just doing it in a more cartoon/illustrative way... but practice helps.

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 brush and Grunge 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 2026 #24: Worried Bird

 Martin · 18 days
A cartoon illustration of a stressed bird. The bird has a worried look on his face with slightly wincing eyes and gritted teeth. He has a long yellow beak and light blue feathers. His wings are clutched together in front of him. He is wearing a blue top and a purple scarf with pink trim. The background is pink with a lighter pink splotch of paint on it, behind the bird. The bird is casting a purple shadow onto the background.

Today's June Toons illustration is of a stressed-out bird.

I kind of wanted to do one like the lizard lady I drew a week ago. This one is sort of like that, but I probably should have added more human features to the bird to truly make it a companion to the other. Oh well!

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 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 2026 #23: Lost In Space

 Martin · 19 days
A cartoon illustration of an astronaut standing on a small cube world. The astronaut has one head behind is helmet, scratching his head. The other hand is holding a map with a round planet on it, colored similarly to the world he is standing on. The world is about twice as big as he is, and has blue water, green land masses, and an ice cap at the bottom. The astronaut's ship can be see parked on the side of the world. There is a cube moon in the upper right corner, and in the background is outer space. The astronaut's uniform is a creamy white color. The ship is the same color but with a dark nose. The moon is also the same light color. All of the objects have a purple shadow on the right. The background is a dark indigo with stars dotted across it.

Today's June Toons cartoon features a lone astronaut... lost in space!

I took a break from my usual Procreate brushes to try a more uniform pen for this one. I think the result is fine, but it's harder to hide micro-movements with this brush for some reason. 😅

Anyway, 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, and Soft air brush for shading.

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

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June Toons 2026 #22: Lazy Dog

 Martin · 20 days
A cartoon illustration of a dog sitting on a chair, watching TV. The dog is smiling and holding a TV remote up. He is brown with dark brown nose and ears, a lighter belly, and is shaped like a gumdrop. He fills most of the chair. The chair is a large blue armchair with a white doily draped over the back. The background is a gray green color with light splotches of spray paint behind the dog.

Today's June Toons cartoon is of a dog watching TV. I wanted to explore some looser shapes today, and I feel like this was a success in that regard. It's also very similar to an old thing I made involving a robot watching TV.

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 Wet Glaze brush for coloring, the Soft air brush, Grunge brush, and Fat Nozzle, Burst, and Medium Nozzle spray paint brushes for texture, and finally the Inka brush for light detailing.

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

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June Toons 2026 #21: Proud Robot

 Martin · 21 days
A cartoon illustration of a large robot and a small robot. The small robot is jumping and holding up a sign over its head. The large robot is crouching down slightly and has its hand behind the small robot. Both robots are smiling, and the small robot looks especially excited. The sign is a plain white board with a red heart on it. The large robot is red with metallic trim and a multi-colored control panel on its chest. It has a small round antenna on top of its head. The small robot is a mustard yellow with metallic trim, and a closed rectangular panel on its chest. The background is a pale green with a white floor going diagonally downward across from the left to the right.

For today's June Toons cartoon, I thought I would continue my tradition of doing a Father's Day themed drawing, this time with robots. It felt like a nice day to keep things simple too, so the linework and shading are pretty basic, but I like it like that. 😊

Happy Father's Day!

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:

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