Cows, creatures and creative types

Cows I was looking through one of my many reference sketchbooks for an image, and I came across this cow that I had sketched on a day trip to Mount Vernon a couple of years ago. I think this cow had been there since before George Washington. Anyway, I might be needing a Depressed Bull Market reference soon, so I thought I'd post it.

Creatures While searching for "cows," in one of the "c" sketchbooks, I came across another little drawing that caught my eye. It must have been filed in there under "creature." It's the only explanation I can come up with. I liked it so much, I decided to throw some color into it, and show the build-up to finished rendering. Enjoy, but watch out! This guy might be lurking under your bed!

Creative Types One of the things that fascinates me is how other artists work. There are a bunch of books out on the subject, so this year I decided to treat myself with some downtime reference material. We creative types tend to be isolationists, so when we have the opportunity to see how others set up their studios, get their ideas, and basically create, we're always on the lookout for something they might be doing that we'd never thought of. Here's a few of the books I picked up for myself this year for my Birthday. Tip: you don't have to buy any of these books new. Spend a Saturday in your local used book store, or go to Abebooks.com, where you can find most of them for a lot less.