A Prolific Day

Today was especially prolific for me in terms of drawing. So prolific, in fact, that I decided to update this ol' thing. The first drawings aren't from today though...they're from a while ago. Here they are:

Okay so the one you've seen before is my latest rendition of Valerie from my Carnies characters. I like this one the best, and I hope I stick with it. The woman on the left is from a David Sedaris book; specifically Naked. It's this woman who gets on the bus with him in "c.o.g." Here's the description:

"The seat was taken by a morose, chinless smokestack of a woman wearing an ash-colored sleeveless turtleneck sweater. She never engaged in formal conversation, rather she jabbed me periodically, pointing with her cigarette at whatever she imagined I might find meaningful. "Refrigerated truck," she would whisper. "Filling station all boarded up." She never visited the toilet or shifted her position, not even during one of her many naps. Sleep seemed to overcome her without warning. "South Dakota plates on that Duster," and I'd turn to find her gently snoring, the cigarette still smoldering between her fingers."

So that's what I got from that description.

These next drawings were done today, and they were inspired by this Flickr group. It's wonderful, isn't it?

Finally, here are two strippers from a screenplay I wrote. Derriere is the main stripper, and Verunique is her rival. It's a pretty sweet tale of triumph and happiness.

Strippers are always funny. Scientific fact.

Some More Carnies

So I did a drawing of two of my Carnies in Photoshop tonight, and I guess it turned out...okay...but it wasn't good enough to merit its own post, so I'm going to post the redesigns I did in my sketchbook the other day. There are only four of them on this page, but I'll work on the other people later. These guys might be my favorites except for The Fat Man. Who knows why I chose to do him over The Ring Master or Jeffrey The Bearded Lady.

So there they are, and here is the image I did tonight:

The Showgirl gets more haggard every single time I do her. I don't know why that is, but I like her more each time, I think. She needs to be skinnier than this though, because I want her to have that drugged out skinny look. The stupid Twins were almost bad enough to where I didn't want to post this, but I skewed them and they look...somewhat better. They're kind of flat and stuff, but I guess I don't care right now. It got to the point where I didn't even bother to be very careful when coloring them. Those aren't the characters' real colors, by the way, I was just foolin' 'round.

I'm quickly learning that I prefer drawing by hand much more than drawing on the Wacom. Everything I do on there is a little off to the point where I find it really distracting. I think if I could learn to somehow do crisper lines that looked less like sketches, I would appreciate it more. I really need to learn Illustrator.

My favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Carnies

So lately I've been thinking about how I want to do a story involving circus folk. I think that's what my final script for screenwriting will be. Anyway, I came up with some characters even though I don't know the actual story yet. I DO know it will involve a failing circus that needs to be revitalized. This isn't in my other blog because a) it doesn't directly involve any sort of animation plans, and b) this blog was lonely.

Here is the first page of characters:

And here are the stories behind each one:

The Ring Master - He's son of the dude that started the circus, as well as the current owner. It was really popular in its heyday, but ever since his father died and he developed that nasty addiction to prostitutes and pain killers, The Ring Master has not had enough money to pay for renovations or new acts. Thus, the circus is getting dated and worn.

The Clown - Hubert the clown is the saddest clown ever. He is depressed because he cannot make people laugh, and he cannot make people laugh because he is so sad with the current state of the circus. Hubert has been with the circus since its inception.

The Tumbler - The Tumbler's partner was killed in a tragic trapeze accident when one of the strings snapped and she fell to the floor of the circus ring. The Tumbler hasn't been able to hold a crowd without her other half.

The Bearded Lady - The Bearded Lady, Jeffrey, used to be your typical overweight woman until she confused her diet pills with some hormone therapy pills that her now dead husband was taking. She grew the beard and needed money, so here she is.

The Twins - German conjoined twins abandoned at birth. Bertilda and Brunhilde were adopted by the circus's founder shortly before his death, and they have lived their entire lives as a side show. Bertilda loves her life and her sister. Brunhilde is sick of being considered a freak though, and constantly tries to kill her sister so she can be separated.

Part two:

The Fat Man - Just some fat dude who joined the circus. He can't walk anymore, so he rides around on a motorized wagon that is controlled by a lever on the side.

The Show Girl - An aging stripper turned ringleader's assistant battling a nicotine addiction. She's not much to look at anymore, but the circus can't afford anyone else. She is constantly smoking, but always keeps a Nicorette patch on her arm for good measure.

The Strong Man - An ex-lumberjack, he came upon the circus one day after a lightning-struck tree killed his pet kitten. Disenchanted, he applied for the position of strong man. He enjoys it, but what he really wants is to just live in a cozy home with lots of cats.

The Sword Swallower - He had never swallowed a sword in his life when he was hired, and that was so disastrous that he probably won't ever swallow another one again...if his mouth and throat ever heal.

So that's that. I'm pretty pumped to write a screenplay with these dudes.

Since I talk about music in my other blog, I'll talk about books here. I just finished A Clockwork Orange not too long ago, and it was pretty fantastic.

An Introduction

During rare moments in my life, I enjoy sketching for reasons that are not school related. Those moments are what this blog is for. It probably won't be updated regularly, maybe not even frequently, but it WILL be updated, and that's what counts.

The name Chuckin' Buckets comes from a Saves The Day song called "Shoulder to the Wheel". There's a lyric in there that goes "The world that's flying by is slick and smooth," but I always heard "flying by is" as "chuckin' buckets." Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you. I like the way those words sound together, though...so I named my blog after that misunderstanding.

That story is pretty similar to the story of how Lauren's sketch blog's name came to be. Coincidence?