The Oven Family Portrait

Here's one of the much-delayed commissions. Thanks to a very timely Skype call, I was conscious for enough hours this evening to get my colored pencil on. Considering how incredibly dizzy I got just by standing up and walking across the apartment to scan this piece, I don't know if I'll get the second commission done tonight. I will try, though!

The scan isn't nearly as nice as the actual piece. A lot of the lighter colors got filtered out by the scanner. (Works great when you're scanning line art. Not so much when you're scanning a soft-colored piece.) I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I wanted to do a fade effect with this (and all the family photos maybe) and I think it came out OK.

Oven Family Portrait

(My third post in three hours! Told you they were coming fast and furious! More to come tomorrow!)



Here's the (proposed) line art for a commission that shall also double as a con portfolio piece.

The task here was to draw family portraits of the main four Precocious clans in happy photo studio style. This is to be a colored pencil piece, if I remember correctly. Up first: The Ovens!

Snow day!

I got a lot accomplished yesterday! I finished all the strips for 2009! Also, I used up all my creative energy in the process. Thus, today is a snow day! I've done next to nothing, and I loved every minute of it! Enjoy this sketch of Bud and Casey, cuz that's all you're getting today.

Bud has a sister?

I debated not sharing this, but it's all I've doodled recently and the clock says I need something to post - besides, it's not like I haven't posted Bud's sister on the blog before.

No, this doesn't mean she's entering the strip soon. It was more of me realizing I haven't drawn Casey in OVER A YEAR. My skills have certainly improved since then, so let's do the Casey Oven update! It took me a few tries to remember how I did her hair, but I like how it came out. The wardrobe and accessories aren't standard yet, as she's not official until she enters the strip.

Anyway, it's good to practice new characters before they appear in the strip, so I can work the kinks out. The new character who appears Wednesday is one whose first and final design came on the comic itself. That's very daredevil for me.

This was in my dream...

OVEN FAMILY DANCE PARTY!

It's official: I've had a Precocious dream. It has finally taken over my life.

This experience was spawned by a morning of random, unfocused dreaming. Eventually, I ended up on my grandparents' (mom's side) deck for an Oven family picnic thing. I was Bud, naturally, and mostly I observed this strange Oven convergence. (Again: The Oven family is NEVER together!) Sydney (mom) was setting the table with typical (and lackluster) picnic sides. Joseph (dad) wandered out from the kitchen with a sad plate that featured cheap local pizza as the centerpiece. Casey (sis) was lounging in the corner, less than thrilled with dinner.

And then the music started! Sydney and Joseph started dancing to the groovy tunes of Garbage's "Why Do You Love Me?" (which, of course, was playing on iTunes at the time) while I watched in confusion. Sydney was jokingly mouthing some of the lyrics to Joseph, which is something inappropriate to do in front of one's children. (Although it's completely in-character for the Oven parents.)

"I think you're sleeping with a friend of mine. I have no proof, but I think that I'm right..."

For the song's finale, Casey joined in with the dancing. Face with my strange family cutting a move in front of me, I decided I needed to participate as well. I was not much of a dancer, so I mostly jumped up and down. Casey, picking on Bud like always, mocked my weak moves. "You dance like a construction site!"

I should explain that statement. An earlier dream, when I was still playing Chris, involved my asshole brother sustaining a neck injury at a construction site. He was so stupid, he refused medical assistance and was going about his life as always. I was very happy to know that one trip would likely kill him or paralyze him for life. It was like Christmas Eve! (For those hypothetical future readers who don't know my brother: Trust me, the world would greatly benefit from his death.) ANYWAY... The insult meant I had dance moves akin to a quadriplegic.

BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Family Entertainment

Some more Precocious sketches.


It's become one of my things to include librarians in every story. Libraries, and reading in general, are so important... and yet I *never* read a damn thing. As a kid, I read all the standards but none of them were engrossing enough to keep me going. As a result, I never learned "how" to read. Even if I'm reading something I enjoy, I fail at dedication. (Yeah, ADHD *really* doesn't help that.)

I voraciously plow through comic collections. At the moment, I have 12 books of comics by my bed - all of which I've read in the past few weeks. Right now I also have three "real" books by my bed that I might never finish. One has been there over a year. Another a few months. I have two more I bought and haven't even started across the room. I just bought a new one last week - but it's about Charles Schulz and Peanuts, so there's a chance I might actually get through that one!

So librarians are my way of atoning for my literary failings. As I am not a crazy raving in a street corner way, it is safe to assume that both Pingos are librarians. Soren is the good librarian. He reads books, he helps others experience the joys of reading - he actually has a top job as a librarian! Ivy... she's more like me. She's between jobs right now and the most reading she does involves general-interest magazines. (In case it's not clear from the sketch, Ivy's right arm is tucked behind her back. She is not an amputee. I'll save that twist for sweeps week!)

(If any Winchester folk are wondering, yes, since I have a friend whose parents are both librarians, I did use them for inspiration. Here's to hoping I don't get sued down the line.)


An Oven family portrait is truly weird. One like this - cobbled together from various sketches in a way that has proportional relationships and lighting (line thickness) a bit off - is fairly accurate in terms of how they'd normally appear in a group photo. It's sort of a canary-in-a-coal-mine thing...if all Ovens are in the same room together something very important is happening. Bud really raises himself - it's why he's become such a top notch chef. Mom Sydney is mostly off in the city managing her apartment buildings and networking. Sister Casey is off at college. Daddy Joseph is...well...off doing whatever he does. The Ovens are weird, weird people.