Matt's Monster Madness 2012 Day 1: Monster in the Dark

As I did in 2008 and 2011, I will be posting a monster of the day during the month of October. There will be a new monster every day. Some may be sketched, some done digitally, some in photo editing, some sculpture, etc...

You can also follow me on Instagram to see the monsters that way too! My username is @mcrosser.

Today is the first one and it's called "Monster in the Dark". It's a simple line drawing to get things started. Click on the link below to see all the monsters for each year!

Matt's Monster Madness 2012

Matt's Monster Madness 2011

Matt's Monster Madness 2008

All Monster Posts

My Favorite Apps/Programs

I thought I would do a post highlighting some of my favorite apps/programs that I use to create art on various devices. Some I have been using for years. Others are brand new, but I already have found great use in them. Check them out below...

On my PC - 
CorelDraw X5 - this is the program that I use the most and one in which I am very well versed. I have been using CorelDraw since 1993 or 1994 with version 3. The latest version, X5, is actually version 15 and there have been leaps and bounds in the capabilities.

Sumopaint - This a a great painting app that is available for download on the Chrome Webstore within the Chrome browser, or just go to www.sumopaint.com. You can also download an offline version for twenty bucks.

Camstasia Studio - This is a brand new app that I used to do a screen video capture while I created a Lion in CorelDraw. I then took the video that was captured and tweaked it, as well as speeding it up from 30 minutes to 6 minutes. I have been thinking of various new things I can make with this cool software tool.

Sketchbook Pro for PC - It's made for a touchscreen surface, but it has great uses and reminds me of my favorite Android Tablet app!

Adobe Dreamweaver CS 5.5 - This is what I use when I need to get detailed in website creation. I can also just notepad to edit some html code or even CorelDraw for very artistically produced website designs.

On my Xoom Android Tablet - 
Sketchbook Mobile Pro - Has to be my all time favorite app ever created for any mobile device! I can use it to create quick sketches or full shaded, colorized pieces of artwork that can be used in final project versions.

Pixlr-o-matic - This is a very packed photo editing app that can change all sorts of color options, borders, special effects, etc...

On my Windows Phone 7 - 

Fantasia Painter Free - Very versatile little app for the Windows Phone 7.

Ichthus - Fish Symbol

Here's a promo that I did for our church here in Tulsa. It is for a five week study in Luke. I actually preached one of the sermons in the series and it can be found at Highland Park Christian Church's website at http://hp4christ.org/#/media/sermons. You can launch the sermon player and find my sermon on January 22, 2012.

Artist Notes -  I created the fish and background on my Android Tablet using Sketchbook Mobile Pro. Then I exported it as a PSD file which I opened on my computer in CorelDraw X5. I added the text in CorelDraw.

November 2011 Turkey

Gobble gobble gobble. Here's another Thanksgiving themed November sketch.

Artist Notes - Done in Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 31 - Jack O

 Day 31 - Jack O.

Here's the pumpkin I carved tonight. Happy Halloween! This year's Monster Madness has come to an end. But that's not all, as Frosty says...I'll come back again some day. Wait.....Frosty? Christmas? Hmmm..... To be continued....

Artist Notes - Carved the pumpkin. Took a picture of it with my Motorola Xoom. Used Sketchbook Mobile Pro to erase everything else that was in the picture. Exported it to DropBox. On my Dell Windows 7 Laptop, I used CorelDraw X5 to fit it to the size I wanted. Added a background and signature. Then topped it off with the words "Happy Halloween" using the font "Dock".

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 27 - Werewolf

Day 27 - Werewolf.

This is an image that I thought of yesterday and last night hammered it out fairly quickly. The thought of a werewolf howling in silhouette in front of a full moon was appealing.

Artist Notes - Sketched using Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom tablet. The nice thing about Sketchbook Mobile Pro is that you can create things in layers and then if desired merge those layers together. I originally had the werewolf higher but since it was on a different layer than the moon or night sky, I was able to lower him (and the hilltop) to a point that I thought was more visually pleasing.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 21 - Slither

Day 21 - Slither.

Here's an eel that you wouldn't want to come across, no matter how colorful it is.

Artist Notes - Sketched completely on my Motorola Xoom in Sketchbook Mobile Pro.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 18 - Dragon

Day 18 - Dragon.

Here's a little dragon that came to my mind yesterday. Sometimes I forget the original image in my mind. So to attempt to retain the image, I took out some paper and sketched a quick image closing my eyes and drawing some of him, so I could remember the first image in my head.

Artist Notes - Original sketch on paper with a 2B Derwent Graphic Pencil. Then captured it onto my Motorola Xoom and used Sketchbook Mobile Pro to trace the image and color it.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 10 - Cyclops

Monster 10 is a Cyclops.

Artist Notes - I started this with a BW pencil sketch. Then I captured it onto my Motorola Xoom. Then I used Sketchbook Mobile Pro to trace it and color it.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 02 - Snooglesnort

Today's monster addition is something I call a Snooglesnort.

Artist Notes - Completely done on my Motorola Xoom android powered tablet. I used Sketchbook Mobile Pro and exported it as a PNG.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 01 - Jack the Pumpkinhead

I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but in 2008 I took on a personal challenge that for the month of October I would draw a different monster sketch every day and upload it. I've decided to do that again this year. Last time I used mainly one method, which was sketch it, scan it, covert it in CorelDraw, color it and finish it. This year, I hope to utilize a variety of methods - tablet sketch, black and white pencil sketch, CorelDraw, painted, maybe clay - we'll see what I end up with.

To kick things off, here is my first one for October. He's the main character of a children's book I wrote and illustrated called Jack the Pumpkinhead and you can get it at www.lulu.com/mcrosser.

Artist Notes - Done as a pencil sketch in a Dentist Office waiting room - maybe a dentist could be one of my monsters, hmm. Then I scanned it onto my Xoom tablet and traced it and colored it in Sketchbook Mobile Pro.

A Study of New Orleans

I read recently, where Disney artists like Glen Keane, draw hundreds of drawings before they land on the character or design they want. I'm preparing some layout designs for an article on mission work in New Orleans and here are some of what I intend to be dozens, if not hundreds, of drawings in prep for that.

It's a simple figure blowing Jazz on a trumpet done in different styles.

The first one is the original pencil sketch --

The next one is just a simple silhouette --

Taking the silhouette to the next level, I placed it on a blue background --

Then I took the original sketch and imported onto my Xoom tablet where I colorized it using Sketchbook Mobile Pro --

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Artist Notes - Original sketch done with  Derwent Graphic 2B pencil on Hammermill Color Copy Digital paper that is 28lb weight and 100 brightness. The silhouettes were done in CorelDraw X5 on a Windows 7 laptop. The colorized version was done on a Honeycomb enabled Motorola Xoom tablet.

Inspired by Rango

So, I finally got around to watching the animated western movie called Rango. Rango is populated with possums, squirrels, rabbits, etc. The main character is a lizard! So, while hanging around the hospital with my brother I drew a western snake.

Artist notes - This sketch was done in Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom tablet running Android Honeycomb 3.2. I used a stylus and my finger, but mainly the stylus.

Happy Fourth of July Firecracker sketch

In the spirit of the Fourth of July, I made this firecracker getting ready to go off. Since, I love the Fourth so much, I think I may do some more sketches.

Artist Notes - done in Sketchbook Mobile Pro on an Android powered Motorola Xoom with version 3.1 of Honeycomb.

Little Girl Outside sketch

Here's a tablet sketch I did over several days recently. Using Sketchbook Mobile Pro I made everything in layers. For this sketch I discovered that you could merge layers in this really cool app for the Xoom Android Tablet. So now, I can go in and export out just the wall for instance and use it somewhere else, since I made it a different layer. I am hoping to do more ministry projects with it as I learn more. I used it for several illustrations that I did for the Jump VBS curriculum I developed.



Healthy Lungs

These are your lungs are clean air.

Artist Notes - Created using Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom Tablet running Android Honeycomb 3.1.

Quackers the Duck

This duck doesn't go for logic, he's Quackers!

Artist Notes - This was created using Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom Tablet running Android Honeycomb 3.1.

Roger Roys and His Trusty Steed Pistol

Here's a new character I created called Roger Roys. He's a singin, yodelin, grass chewin, son of the ol West. And don't forget his trusty steed, Pistol!

Artist Notes - Created using Sketchbook Mobile Pro on my Motorola Xoom Tablet running Android Honeycomb 3.1.

Duck in Cave - Sketchbook Mobile Pro

I think that this illustration is the best attempt at doing something with my tablet that looks closest to my naturally preferential artstyle. It gives me great excitement about what I will be able to do with it in the future. I have some drawing assignments coming up and I am tempted to to go solely on the tablet. 

I think one of the things that I like about drawing on the tablet is that it is so forgiving. I mean it looks like ink, but if I draw a mistake and I can simply undo it and try again. And I can easily color and shade my drawings. There are some drawbacks and differences to drawing digitally, but I think I am ok with most of the trade-offs.

Swirling Color - Sketchbook Mobile Pro

Another in my quest to see what I can do with my tablet. I have already used art that I have produced on it in ministry and hope to see even more pieces made with it. Below is a very abstract color swirl. Something you might see on the wall at an arthouse maybe.