My style has evolved into these organic forms recently.

They’re fun to do because they just flow. I’m on to something here.

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Funny, this was drawn as a vertical piece, and I hated it. I turned it 90° counter clockwise and now it’s my favorite. Another thing, I used to put borders around these when posting them, but edges seem to spoil the effect (mouse over it to see what I mean).

A large version would look better as a mural than as a painting constrained by canvas.

You might end up with something that looks like this:

Did you try it? Take a picture of it or scan it, put it online with TwitPic, Flickr, or ImageShack, then link to it in the comments. Don’t be shy :-)

When I’m experimenting with new forms, I prefer the small 3×5 format. Then I jump back up to larger paper or paint on canvas when I’m ready.

5×8.5”

Jose started by drawing two characters, then passed it to me and I added the landscape and contour lines.

3×5”

On this one I put a few shapes down, then Jose added everything else. I love Jose’s cast of characters, and you can see more of them on this Doodleist post and on his Flickr page.

Passing sketches around for others to complete is fun, and it can be a great way to get unstuck. For example, when someone tells me they can’t draw I whip out a few lines and say “well then can you finish this one for me?” Nobody ever says no, and usually their outlook changes from “blank canvas terror!” to “OMG I rock!”.

The first stroke is always the scariest.

Much more of Jose’s work is on his Flickr page. You can also follow him on Twitter or  LiveJournal.

Q&A

Doodleist: What materials do you use?

Jose Pilpa: Right now, mainly just paper and ink with a light shade of graphite for outlines (2H-4H). I use graphite pencils from time to time. The paper I use the most is salvaged bondpaper stock from work. We can’t use it for work anymore since the ACLU had a hissyfit about the letterhead seal having a cross in it.

I like pigma pens. I gave a Copic multiliner pen a whirl and I liked that. Recently I tried ink and brush.

D: Does inspiration just strike or do you have a method or rituals to get juices flowing?

JP: Just strikes me. I usually draw when I’m at work. no rituals, although, sometimes I get ideas from looking through online newspapers or Wikipedia.

D: How often do you draw?

JP: Every day, sporadically. Guess it all depends on how busy I am. When I take breaks I usually end up drawing.

D: What’s your own favorite piece?

JP: Dunno if I really have a “favorite” so much as I do one that I don’t criticize too much, and that would be the winged guy in the clouds.

D: When did you first start making art? What would you draw?

JP: When I was a kid I’d snag chalk sticks and use a push pin to carve stuff out of them. I drew things too – usually stuff I saw in cartoons like Transformers or ninjas. When I was younger, I drew the Beatles on a sweet pickles book because I didn’t care for sweet pickles. I liked golden books the best. My copy of The Poky Little Puppy was kept immaculate. I’ve no idea where it is, though.

Art class in high school was a joke. During my senior year, I was able to take a drawing class at Pasadena City College because they didn’t offer drawing at my high school anymore. That was fun. We used charcoal more than anything, despite the fact that the “required materials” list included all sorts of stuff like pen and ink, graphite pencils and conte (I never got to use conte in that class).

D: What artists do you enjoy? Could be any medium: comics, graffiti, fine art, sculpture, architecture, whatever.

JP: There’s so much out there that I like. Some current favorites would be Lucy MacLauchlan, Charles Burns, Tony Millionaire, John Pham, David Shrilly, and Tom Hubris. There’s a lot of artists I like and I really can’t name them all without going on forever.

Moving back to 3×5 cards after doing larger paper drawings and paintings is interesting. The small format pieces now flow easily, and I think they’re more interesting. Switching up your canvas sizes and materials keeps you fresh. Your brain needs change to thrive. It also helps to have a belly full of spicy carrots.

These also feel more playful, as demonstrated by the appearance of my mascot, the As Yet Unnamed Monster. Again, I didn’t think too hard about these, I just did what felt right.

Lesson learned: the flow state comes much easier when I’m not constrained by an initial sketch.

Previous Paintings:

• Process and Texture: abstract acrylic on 36×24 canvas
• My first painting in 10 years
• Forget “materials”. Make art with whatever you have handy