Kate Ristau's Blog, page 40

Stars and NOPE: Drawing Dragons Day 39

Friends, I had the most wonderful flash fiction piece come out today at Typewriters and Salve. You can read it here. 

It’s called “Stars.” It gets at this feeling of magic you have when you are a kid. This world of openness and possibility that somehow disappears. I want that back.

I was so excited to see this piece come up at T&S, that I was like, I WANT TO DRAW A STAR DRAGON. Like a big and beautiful and magical dragon that gets at the feeling of that piece — the wonder and the joy and the loss, but mostly the magic.

So, I sat down. I drew the wings.

They didn’t look quite right, but I went with it.

Then I drew the star. It a looked a little amateur, in this possibly cute way. Then I drew the head and…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nope. Not even.

But maybe I’ll erase the chest and work a little more on the body. Fix the eyes and…

Nuh-uh. This is not a thing. Not working. I’ll erase the wings. Take a shot at the head.

There we go. Cool. I like it.

It’s polished. It’s just this side of perfect.

But where are the stars?

 

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Your dragons are always happy: Drawing Dragons Day 38

My friend Kate Carroll de Gutes told me she loved my dragons. Then, she said, “They’re always happy.”

I paused. I smiled. “They are.”

I told her that, one day, I’m sure I would make real kickin’ Lord of the Rings-type dragons. Smog the terrible, Beatrice the Malfeasance, and Gregor the Unjust Flayer…or something equally forboding.

But for me, right now, the world is dark enough. There’s barely enough light to see the beauty. I can’t reason making it any darker. Not now. That’s not what I want to create. I can’t spend an hour or two in the darkness every day, pulling myself deeper into the shadows.

My friend Kate can go there; she brings you into the dark and the light in big, beautiful, hearth-breaking and utterly profound ways.

I don’t have that to give you. I’m not balanced, and I’m not honest. I’m unicorns and fairies, a hole bunch of lies, and dang it, I’m gonna act like that poop I stepped in is cotton candy rainbows.

I’ll give you joy. I’ll give you light. Together, we’ll believe in the possible — the wonder. We’ll hope for brighter days.

I see the reality of it all, I read the bone-shaking truth of it in Kate’s work, and it makes me want to turn on a flashlight and make butterflies in the shadows.

It’s unreasonable, irresponsible, and very inane. But that’s what I’m sharing with you. This little purple dragon who has all the cotton candy light.

I used this dragon kid for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XT1n...

Read my friend Kate’s work; she’s honest and fair and full of truth. She turns a mirror on your life and reflects and refracts it back to you. She’ll make you pause.

Then, in that space, you’ll be able to go out and make your own light; you’ll show us the dark. You’ll create. You’ll think. You’ll do.

You’ll show us what is possible.

-Kate

 

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Dragon Kid: Drawing Dragons Day 38

I googled Dragon Kid because I wanted to draw a dragon that was a kid. This did not work.

Nor did this.

I gave it another shot and googled kid dragon.

Okay. That seemed a little bit more reasonable. The purple one is cute, right? Shouldn’t take too long. And Wonder will like it.

What is even happening? Did a blowfish mate with a zeppelin?

How does the drawing of this happen even?

It’s okay. It’s cool. I’ve got this.

Nope. I don’t. I don’t got this.

Bob says I should embiggen the eyes. Maybe that will help my goldfish frog.

And maybe add some color. That’s not gold.

Okay. Maybe. I think this looks more possible.

We’ll see how it looks tomorrow.

Night, folks.

Keep creating,

Kate

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Dip: Drawing Dragons Day 36

Yesterday, we had Chips. Today, we have Dip.

You could have seen it coming, right?

When I was younger, my mom understood chips. Whenever we got sour cream and onion dip, we didn’t get those airy, light potato chips.

We got generic Ruffles. The kind that could hold the dip. The kind that didn’t apologize to your mouth, or break off in the middle of the bowl, leaving your fingers searching through a sea of creamy dip.

Nope. We got the good chips when we got the good dip. I didn’t have very many perfect days growing up, but I’m sure when I did, the ratio of chips to dip was clearly correlated.

I think that’s the way life should be.

I combined this reference with hints from yesterday, to create this little gal:

I drew her for Jen Salmon — a supportive, kind, and funny momma who lived down the street from us growing up. Just like Jen, Dip has more than enough love — along with a fair amount of spikes — to keep the world going right.

And she’s just adorable.

Sorry that I’m swinging toward the cute so much lately. Coming off of being sick, the world is a little dreary, and I’m more than a bit exhausted. All the extra hearts and sweet cheeks makes it all a little bit more bearable.

I swear I’ll draw a dragon worthy of Game of Thrones, but that won’t be for a long while.

For now, cute and funny and just a little bit cuddly.

Keep creating,

Kate

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He’s got a belly: Drawing Dragons Day 35

Today was a strange day; a wonderful day.

The sun was shining. We sat down in the backyard swing. We pulled up the remains of the tomato plants. We ate chives that just emerged from the emptiness of winter. And, in case you missed it, there was a great article in the Oregonian today about my new publisher, Not a Pipe Publishing.

It was so cool to open the Sunday newspaper and find this:

The rest of the day was just gravy. And ice cream.

I drew today’s dragon from this reference. He’s got a little belly. That’s what Bob said about this sweet litle guy. A screenshot of him was saved on my computer because sometime, at some point, I saw him and freaked the heck on out.

I knew I would have to draw him.

I stumbled back upon him today, and sat down with my pencil and notebook.

Wonder is fast asleep, Bob is in the other room, and Rosalynn is sleeping on my left foot.

I ate too much ice cream.

Just like this guy, I’ve got a little belly too. 

Just enough to hold the ice cream.

I amended his horns, gave him a little forehead sass, and hailed the return of the face wings.

I love the placement of the eyes; he’s so unassuming.

Bob called him Chips. And I call him cute.

That’s enough for today. The world seems so very possible.

Keep creating,

Kate

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Happiness is a warm pup: Drawing Dragons Day 34

Saturday’s thought is simple: Happiness is a warm pup.

Rosalynn joined our family in November. She is the most snuggliest pup I’ve ever known. If she can find a lap, she will be on it.

I smooshed her off me so I could draw, and she laid down beside me. She knows a good dragon when she sees one!

Happy Saturday, and happy creating!

Kate

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Eye am losing my mind: Drawing Dragons Day 33

Eye don’t know what I am doing.

It didn’t seem that hard at first. It’s just an eye, right? Or two. I probably should have used a reference, but I wanted to try out some things I’ve been working on.

For reals, what is going on? Is that eye going to pop?

Why can’t I make either eye look normal? And why does one eye look like it’s going to hypnotize me?

Do not look into the eye…

Oh! The eyebrow. That’s not how eyebrows work.

There. That’s better. But why is the left one so circular? And why does the right cheek look dumb?

Well, that just looks like the dragon is going to eat me.

And who ate all the Andes Mints?

I blame the dragon. Don’t look him in the eye.

But I think, maybe…yes. That’s it. There you are, then.

Quite dashing.

The eye of the dragon.

Hashtag Stephen King.

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Fiery eyes and tea soaked claws: Drawing Dragons Day 32

Today is the first day I have to start doing math. We moved into a new month! You will all have to nudge me if I start getting confused on which Drawing Dragons Day it is.

Confusion is a palpable thing around here. After a night spent reading in bed, though, I am recovering my senses — or somebody’s senses. I hope they don’t need them back.

I inked that dragon I was working on, but have not filled him in. My markers are not made for coloring in. Anybody have a suggestion for what kind of markers work for this type of stuff?

See? I don’t even have cool words for it. Feel free to use your cool words too, if you have them.

I love his wings. Expect to see more of those. And I’m erasing his lines now, but ya’ll get to enjoy a little pencil now and then.

His eyes are fiery, but the tea soaked claws are mine. I maybe spilled my tea. And I maybe roared a bit. Like a proper dragon.

I hope ya’ll survived this tea-soaked day, and I wish you a better tomorrow.

Keep creating,

Kate

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Sitting in bed, and all manner of frivolities: Drawing Dragons Day 31

I am sitting in bed. Bob has taken Wonder to a basketball game, and I am sitting in bed. I’ve read half a book. I’ve drawn half a dragon. I am sitting in bed.

The instructive part of me said I should not be sitting in bed. So much still to do.

I cut it off before it could make a list because I am sitting in bed.

Here is the dragon I finished sketching. He came from this reference: DRAGON CITY! I don’t think it has an exclamation mark, but I feel like it needs one, you know?

I just saw another image where his bottom half is full of flames. We’ll see if tomorrow gets fiery, or not. No decisions here. Because, well, I am sitting in bed.

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A Little Spice: Drawing Dragons Day 30

You know when you’re just coming off of being sick, and you’re almost better, but you are like, SUPER SPICY?

Welcome to my world. 85% of the things I said today should not have counted.

But, then my friend Lenni gave me a calendar that is ALL THE AWESOME.

Background on Lenni: She’s smart and funny and gets it. Everything. Whatever it is, she’s got it, so do not worry.

And the calendar…I obviously needed it in my life. It had just the right message for today:

There’s days that drag, where you question yourself artistically, your passion, your focus. Where you wonder if you’ve made the right choices and if you’re standing in the right spot. Where you wonder how you keep missing the important things.

On those days, people like Lenni are like little lights that give you cookies and tell you to believe in yourself.

I’m lucky to have those kind of people in my life.

And the cookie was peanut butter cup.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less spicier. Sometimes, the world needs my spice too.

So, Bob and I drew together tonight. His drawings came to life as mine slowly appeared on the page.

I’m working from this reference, which is for a character from Dragon City. I just looked up Dragon City, and almost dove down into the game. I’ll let you know if it pulls me in.

Here’s your spice for tonight:

I’ll keep working on his body and everything tomorrow. This one is definitely getting some ink.

That’s all for today. I leave you with the message Lenni gave me: Believe in yourself, little unicorn.

Keep creating,

Kate

 

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