So Ungrateful.! Why did I bother?

We're coming up on Christmas Vacation and I'm excited about having a little extra free time.  Maybe I'll get to work on a more personal creative project.


In the meantime, I'm continuing to sketch my sermon notes at church.  This last Sunday was a little different because the text really came together for me in a single visual.  I'd had a few sketches and notes about Deuteronomy 32:15+, but when I came home I found that a particular character kept popping into my head rather urgently.  The result is below...

Normally, my notes are what they are and don't change much from the original sketches if I revisit them at home.  However, even though this character demanded to be brought into existance, you can probably tell that he has little to no appreciation for his creator.  He's probably annoyed with how long it took me to finish (not too long, really) in spite of the fact that I took great care in expressing every detail.


For clarification, feel free to look up the verses. Note that Jeshurun is a reference to Israel in a time that they "grew fat" from the provisions from God yet had an attitude of "scornful esteem" - rolling of the eyes, so to speak, like an impertinent child.  The translation of Jeshurun as "The Upright One" I thought was a striking constrast to the the countenance of the character (which, I think, is a key point to those verses).


Overall, it was a fun drawing to do - artisitically speaking, I think I've come a long way in rendering the figure, body language and expression.

Illustrating Sermons - a Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

Still too busy to pursue any illustration or portfolio projects at the moment.  However, I did start taking my sketch journal to church on Sundays. 

At first, I felt a little self-conscious about it - usually when you see a person doodling when someone else is talking, it's easy to assume that they're not listening.  In this case, that is NOT how it is.

First of all, when I am drawing (or painting), I am extremely focused and alert.  And, when I'm sketching in church, I am not randomly doodling, but illustrating the sermon (in a sense).  I'm taking what I'm hearing and translating it into images - not sketching the backs of people's heads who are sitting in front of me.  Do I get everything?  No, but I don't get everything when I'm writing notes down either.  AND, with my sketch journal, I go back to it to fix drawings, ink or paint, add detail - therefore, recalling that particular part of the message and spending time in thought about it as I render it.

So, hopefully no one in the pews around me take offense and assume I've "tuned out."  Au contraire.  Here, I've shown a couple of pages from Sunday services (nothing in color yet).