Daniel asked me to draw a monster for him so I sketched this quick Trolloc boy…I sketched a bit more…Daniel went to bed, I sketched a little more and my once lonely little Trolloc found himself in a pet store full of odd creatures and the gloop that would soon become his closest friend.

Eric pointed out to me that I never blogged about the poster I did for my mom’s play last year.  So here it is!  My poster for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  I had a lot of fun with the details on this one. I carved the names of the lovers in the story onto the trunk crossing them out and adding arrows as the ever changing plot demanded.  Also notice the script on the ground from which Bottom (the donkey) was reading before he was transformed. Tacked to the tree is parchment announcing the play to be preformed at Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding.  I also hid hearts in the tree trunk and in the roots. Enjoy!

gob·lin (gbln) n.

1. a mischievous elfin creature with several teeth and a tendency to bite knees toes and the occasional nose

gob·let (gblt) n.

1. a baby goblin

A few weeks ago I discovered a goblet in my house in the form of little Daniel.  While teething, he decided that biting his parents was a funny game.  He would bite our ankles and toes if we ignored him; and while we played with him he would go after our fingers and noses with a laugh and a playful growl.  Eric and I both thought this was hilariously adorable and began calling Daniel “our little goblet.”  Unfortunately, our new apartment complex doesn’t allow baby goblins so we had to put a stop to the biting, but I drew these pictures to remember him by.

First sketch of a sweet young goblet.  I liked the idea so much I decided to do a portrait of Daniel as a baby goblet.

First drawings of Daniel’s portrait. I thought the drinking goblet made my little goblin look tipsy so I replaced it with a pet mouse.

The mice were fun, but they just didn’t seem like quite the right thing for my goblet.  I drew a different pet for him an Orcan pig-dog named Muhgg but I kept him on a separate piece of paper because I had another idea for Daniel’s portrait.

In the actual picture I wanted Daniel to be playing with a chewed up book.  What better object for an illiterate, book-despising goblin parent to give their child as a chew toy?  And so without further ado, the final product!

While sorting through my closet in preparation to move to Washington, I came across a folder of my earliest surviving drawings. 

I was about eight when I drew these, they are from one of the many make-believe games my sisters and I made up. Growing up I always felt the need to draw the characters from the games I played and the books I read.  I’m not sure if that’s normal, or  just another symptom of the artistic temperament I was born with.  Anyway, I thought these pictures were extremely cool when I drew them.  I love the details my eight-year-old self included.  I particularly like the views through the curtains in the upper stories of the house, the “legs” of the table, and the strange heads supporting the columns… 

Evidence of my early inclination toward illustration, apparently I was quite the author as well.

These gadgets are from yet another game I played with my sisters, we were interplanetary time travellers who did a little spy work on the side.  This is all of our gear.  I’m especially proud of my collapsible phone/calculator with a keyboard (who needs a smartphone?).  If you zoom up on the super cool spy watch I designed, you’ll see that it tells you everything you’ll ever need to know, including whether it’s hot or dry where you’re standing, what creature you are looking at and even what continent you’re in!  Pretty cool huh?  Oh by the way, the space ship on the bottom right is a Super-Zoomer 2000 which is powered by apple juice!  Talk about a deliciously environmentally friendly fuel!

Here a a few more characters, I’ve always been fascinated with medieval knights and wizards and such.  I remember when I showed these to my mom she said she liked them but thought their necks were a little too long.  Her critiques really helped me grow as an artist and I still go to her when I need a fresh opinion.

And of course a couple of a dragons…a theme I never outgrew.

Like so many of my sketches, these were drawn during class, a habit that has earned me both scowls and extra credit points from my teachers over the years.  I drew these in sixth grade when I sat in the back of the classroom with my friend Jason who was also a dragon lover.  They look rather like dinosaurs to me now.  Later that year I discovered the book “Dragon” by Jody Bergsma and for the first time it occurred to me that dragons look much better with long faces instead of such blunted snouts.

Sometimes I worry that my baby Daniel is just a little barbarian. He speaks in incomprehensible gurgles and sticks out his tongue in delight. He adorns his chin with glistening drool but shuns respectable attire. He devours food with gluttonous guzzles and finishes with a tremendous burp. The little heathen even interrupts both scriptures and prayers with irreverent laughter! Barbaric though he may be, he’s awfully cute about it, so instead of civilizing him… I drew his portrait 🙂 Enjoy!