Scribbles from the Past

We're doing some house-cleaning and rearranging of late, and as I go through notes from old illustration projects I'm finding some amusing memories in the mix. Scanning a handful to share here!

This was an illustration project for a paleontology exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum. The early sketch here is just exploring the general look of brown with white highlights on parchment-toned paper. For some reason I'm totally charmed by this early doodle.

From the good old days when I was drawing a lot of fossilized rodent teeth under the microscope! I focused on projects like these for about two years as an undergraduate, and occasionally revisit that subject matter when researchers start knocking at the door. Something about the simplicity of this pencil sketch, with the grid marks helping me keep in all in scale and the light touch on the shading, makes me happy.

Another undergraduate doodle, again with the rodent teeth (this time it's the chewing surface of a tooth from a vole). Once the graphite draft gets all worked out, I'd do the final illustrations in ink on plastic film with a steel-nib pen dipped into a jar of ink, totally old-school. Each of the little wriggly lines on this scrap is me testing the pen after a fresh dip into the ink to make sure it's not going to leave a big ink blot . (I suspect that's why the partially finished drawing here was turned into a test-scrap--blob attack!)

None of these scraps of paper are terribly important, really; but it's sure fun to look back at them and remember the experience of building up to the final illustrations, scribble by scribble. 

Sketchbook Archives: Portrait Series

My charming husband is going to have an article in Bicycle Times magazine. They asked him for an author photo--and he asked me if I could find that one sketch I did of him, years ago... * Mi esposito escribió un artículo para la revista Bicycle Times. Le pidieron un foto para incluir en la página de los autores--y él me pidió si yo podía hallar el dibujo que yo hice, años en el pasado...

Chris, 2000. Ballpoint pen/bolígrafo

My old sketchbooks are not well organized at the moment, so I had to look through them all. I love this drawing of Chris, but that's not the one he was thinking of. * Mis libros de diubjos no son bien organizados ahorita, así que tuve que mirar casí todos. Me encanta este dibujo de Chris, pero no es el retrato de que él estaba pensando.

Chris, 2006. Ballpoint pen/bolígrafo.

I also love this drawing--but that's not the right one, either. * También me encanta este dibujo--pero tampoco es el dibujo correcto.

Chris, 2007. Pencil/lápiz

This quick sketch from our trip to New York City makes me smile. But that's not the one he wanted. * Este bosquejo rápido de nuestro viaje a Nueva York me hace sonreir. Pero no es el dibujo que quería.

Chris, 2004. Black and white ink/Tinta negra y tinta blanca.

I finally found it! This was the year he took a bunch of classes in bike mechanics. He came home and immediately started building a wheel from scratch. So that's what we ended up sending to the magazine. * ¡Finalmente lo encontré! En este año, Chris tomó unos clases de la mechánica de bicicletas. Cuando regresó a la casa, empezó a construir una rueda a partir de cero. Es ésto que enviamos a la revista. 

Edited to add: My most recent sketch of Chris is from a very muddy bike race this past November.
Editado para añadir: El bosquejo más receiente de Chris es de una carrera de bicicletas con mucho lodo, el noviembre pasado.