Artistic balance

The top image is a sketch I created this week of the Mad Hatter, Doormouse, and the Cheshire cat. The second image is a close up of the unfinished illustration I am currently working on for Lamp Light Media.

Whenever I am working on a tight detailed piece, sketching quick, loose simple drawings becomes almost imperative.  It's all about balance.  Art is a language through which I communicate thoughts, ideas, and emotions.  Even on commissioned work, the artist's fingerprint is clearly visible.  However, I find that if I was only making loose quick sketches or if I was only working on a detailed illustration, then I would be leaving out part of my artistic expression.  It would be like only writing half a sentence.

Creature design sketching

Above are two new creature sketches combined on a single page with an older creature sketch.  I thought my old creature was lonely and needed some friends since it's just a sketch.  The two additions were created simultaneously and I tried to design each one for different environments, but keeping to possibly the same world.  Creature design is one of my favorite things to do as it combines my love of animals with imagination and art.