Tobywan

About Tobywan

My brain makes me draw stuff that isn't there, and this is where I put it.

Work In Progress: Revisiting Some Old Wilhelm Concept Art

As expected, the summer schedule is mucking with my studio schedule, which means art making is more sporadic, leading to inconsistent site updates. My apologies. I am somehow still managing to make progress towards some goals, but it is slower than I’d like.

Anywhat, this happened a few nights ago:

Toby-Gray-dragon-monk-drawing-by-the-fire Some good ol’ fireside sketching.

The boys built a fire pit last summer, and we’ve been trying to make good use of it. I hadn’t done much drawing in the previous two weeks, tied up with the normal summer “life” obligations as well as

Studio Stuff: The Yin Yang Hat

Since I was crazy busy last week getting ready for company to spend the weekend while simultaneously getting my oldest ready for his week at Boy Scout camp, today is the perfect day for a Studio Stuff update.

yin yang hat Meet The Yin Yang Hat.

I bought this hat my senior year of college, partly because it’s fun and cool, but also as a stab at some self therapy. You see, I’ve always struggled with self esteem/self worth. It’s a bit better now that I’m older, but I still deal with it. Back

Sketchbook: Chimera Doodle Gallery Update

Yes, I know, it’s Tuesday, not Monday. For those of you who follow me on the Books of Faces, you know why. For those of you who don’t, basically, I spent yesterday eyeball deep (my eyeballs, not Willy’s) in the lovely aromas associated with fixing a plumbing problem. Why not just call a plumber, you ask? Cuz I’m me, that’s why.

Anywhat, ever since my amazing wife gave me a Vest of Holding for Father’s Day (so I can carry all the things), I’ve taken to carrying some art supplies with me whenever I leave the house. This is

Gallery Update: Willy McEyeballs

Um, no, that’s not yet another new logo…it’s been there this whole time…why?

Anywhat, I managed to get some solid hours in the studio the last few days and “finished” the Willy McEyeballs piece. I say “finished” because I’m never really done with any of the art I make. I always see problems, things I meant to fix and forgot, things I want to improve and tighten up. But, I think I need to move on from this one. For now.

Let’s take a quick look back at where this piece started. I was going to show some more transitional stages, but

Sketch Book: Polar Chimera

(Yes, that’s yet another “new” logo/variation…I can’t stop!)

So I’ve had griffons and chimeras on the brain lately. I’m not positive what started it specifically, other than seeing some beautiful artistic interpretations while browsing through Pinterest looking for visual inspiration. One artist, who goes by RobtheDoodler on deviantart.com , did some wonderful owl cat griffon drawings that really got my brain spinning (go check out the series of drawings he did of his critter, they’re awesome!). What would various griffons look like with different combinations of birds and cats? Why not different sizes? What about other mixes of animals?

Sketch Book: Fun with Copic Markers

Hey, look! Yet another logo! I’m obsessed…but I’m having fun, so I don’t care.

Anywhat, events and things conspired to get me outside yesterday and do some real drawing in my sketchbook. Not that digital art making isn’t real, it is, but I miss getting outside and getting dirty when I work sometimes. My wife had an important call for work, which meant I had to keep the kids (who are on vacation) not only out of the house, but away from the house in general, since they tend to be loud. The only way I could make that happen was

Work In Progress: Process

Well, today is the kids’ first official day of summer vacation, and I’m managing to update the site. Hopefully that bodes well for the summer. Before I get to the actual post, I’d like to wish all my fellow dad’s out there a Happy Belated Father’s Day. Were it not for my own dad, I probably wouldn’t be pursuing my crazy art dreams. When he was younger, he dreamed of being a cartoonist or animator, likely working for Disney (to this day he’s a huge Disney fan, you should see my parents’ house. There’s your standard figurines and art, but

WIP: Work In Progress

Alrighty, I’m adding another semi-regular blog entry called WIP, which stands for “work in progress”. I thought it might be fun to share my process as it evolves as well as let people see what I’m currently working on, regardless of it’s state of finish. The images from these posts won’t make it into the gallery until the image is done, though. Hopefully it will give me more material to post about as well as help keep me on track and focused on finishing things, which can be tough when I have so many ideas and so many distra-look! Squirrel!

It

Gallery Update: Happy Graduation, “Jack”! (and some other stuff)

Hey, maybe I’m back on track with site updates! Of course, this is the last week of school for my kids, so who knows what next week will bring.

Anyway, I’m powering through a headache to bring you this:

Toby-Gray-PMD-David-graduation Better take the warning seriously…

Hopefully this arrived in time for his college graduation party yesterday, otherwise…oops. One of my cousins, who really shouldn’t be old enough because time shouldn’t be moving forward, graduated from college recently. His family threw him a party yesterday, but, being 2+ hours away and busy, we weren’t able to

Studio Stuff: Best Manliness and Excuses for My Absence…

Well, technically it’s Thursday…not quite 2 weeks since the last time I should have posted…so, here you go:

Toby-Gray-best-man-photo-comic-p1Toby-Gray-best-man-photo-comic-p2Toby-Gray-best-man-photo-comic-p3

So, um, yeah. I’ve been busy. This little project started as a fun idea, but I got carried away, figuring I owed something special for missing so many updates. I improved some of my skills and learned quite a few new tricks, many of which will be applicable to some actual digital drawing and painting. This

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