Thursday, March 29, 2012

You guys really must want to see these mediocre monster sketches. I’m not sure if I should be proud or concerned.

On Saturday I announced my Out-of-Context Dialogue Contest. I said that if I got at least two submissions by today, I would share some of the monster sketches I made as a part of my research on a new project.

Guys, I was so prepared to just shrug today and say, “Nope! No one submitted. No monster sketches for you. Oh well. Your eyeballs will thank you later, really.”

But I am proud to say that you guys don’t have any respect for your eyeballs whatsoever! You’re just awesome that way. Thank you so much to those of you who have submitted thus far—you’re the best.

And those of you still eager to submit: Don’t you worry your pretty little heads. The deadline isn’t until April 11thLearn how to enter here. Do it for me. Do it for you. Do it for the fun writing times.

So, without any further ado, here are some monster sketches for you. Some monsters are supposed to be cuddly, others creepy. You tell me which is which.



This drawing almost looks decent thanks to how incredibly bad my handwriting is. Gold star to anyone who can read it. I write with my hand in a fist. It’s how tough people write, okay? Still, I’m a fan of this fuzzy guy.


She’s a caterpillar, emphasis on the cat.


He's a robot monster. His eyes are propellers made of blades, and they spin all the time.






And there’s the last of them! Who knows how many of these guys will end up in the actual book, but they’re fun for me to draw in the meantime. Even if they were no fun at all for you guys to look at.

I know we writers can feel tempted to let our minds do all the imaginative heavy lifting for us. But there’s nothing wrong with making a few sketches to find your way. Who cares if you can’t draw? These pictures are just for you, anyway.

That is, unless you choose to use those drawings as a bartering tool to get your readers to send their contest submissions in early. Then all you can do is warn them how terrible the drawings are ahead of time.

4 comments:

  1. This gave me a great break from studying. Not that I've been studying very hard... Since spring break, I've already been... on summer vacation in my mind, more or less...

    I think the robot creeps me out the most. And the rabbit bear. Love ocutpi. Yes, that was a purposeful mispelling, and shall live on in my mind. Also, my handwriting is ten times worse than yours. Yet I still like to hand write novels (which is baffling. I'm just about a computer addict).

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  2. I always hated spring break for just that reason. It's like: "Vacation's finally here! Oh, wait, just kidding, there's still a month of school left."

    Yeah, Ruckles is the creepiest to me too. Peebles, the little monster, only has four legs so that would make him ... a tetrapus? I love when he looks scared or sad--poor lil guy.

    I absolutely have to type. Writing kind of hurts my hands, and trying to read it later on hurts my head :)

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  3. You're not bad at drawing at all! Those pictures are adorable. I'd never really thought about trying to draw my characters before--could be something fun to try.

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    1. Aw, well, thank you! I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree about my level of artistic skill :) Best of luck with your own conceptual drawings!

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