GCS Exclusive Picture: Sleeping in California

This picture didn't have to take me as long as it did. My original intention for it was to ink and color it, but I decided against that and went for working on my traditional, or non-digital, style. But with NaNoWriMo, I haven't been drawing that much, so the production of this picture was slowed.

This is one of the first, if not the first, time I've ever drawn someone from Sanitize asleep. It's considerably harder than it looks. The muscles have to relax and look limp. Plus, you have to be aware of how gravity will be pulling everything down in relation to the surrounding objects. And how restful and peaceful the person's sleep is... There is a number of things you have to be aware of when drawing sleeping persons.

I drew this a very long time ago, so I don't remember exactly the order I drew everything, but I probably drew the bed first without the sheets. Then I may have drawn a rough image of his head then his neck, body, and his limbs. The pillows probably came next and then the background. And then the outside world. Then I shaded, fixing things as need be.

It's very hard to draw a muscular torso from the side, in my opinion. One has to portray the wideness and depth of the back as well the breadth of the shoulders properly to make the buff guy/girl look right. It's even harder when there's clothing involved. Line value is really important with clothing folds in traditional works, especially when the person you're drawing is sleeping. I decided to draw him above the sheets because he's in California but from a colder place, he gets hot very easily. And it was a simpler task to draw him without the sheets over him. It also helps exaggerate his size.

The hand could have been drawn maybe, but I put it there for a good reason. Sheldon is very tense, and he is tense even when he sleeps, so the hand makes him look slightly less relaxed than most when they sleep. Secondly, it makes it look vaguely like he's been tossing and turning in his sleep.

Sheldon's hair is normally shoulder-length, but at the beginning of the third Sanitize novel, he has very long hair.

His muscles were harder than normal to draw in this position. I don't know why it was harder, but this pose was horizontal and I've avoided drawing horizontal bodies in the past because I regularly prefer standing characters. I don't normally draw bare or even semi-bare legs either, so that was an added challenge. I drew his lower half rather large to create the illusion of depth and size. Because Sheldon does indeed have very wide hips and very big *cough**cough* fat *cough* thighs.

Sheldon's cover is of lightweight material but of a sturdy substance. That's why it can hold folds the way it does while holding many of them as lightweight fabrics do.

I haven't yet adapted Sheldon's own drawing style to his pictures, but I probably will as soon as I do another picture where he has drawn something. But anyhow, the pictures of Daisy are a staple in his room, and when he moves to different rooms, he tends to plaster his walls with pictures of his little sister and scraps of things devoted to her.

The outside is one of my favorite parts of this picture. I actually drew it freehand, but you guys and gals can probably tell. I stroked the eraser through the penciling a few times to give a reflective, shiny feel to the buildings like the morning sun is shining down on the sides of the city. For a tropical feel, I put in some palm trees, and California has palm trees anyway, if I'm not mistaken. As for the clouds, I drew those today. It's one of those sunny, pleasant days were clouds look like mashed spuds.

Well, that's it for this picture. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more! With NaNoWriMo ending at midnight tomorrow night, I can be doing more drawings.


This picture, Sleeping in California, is an exclusive picture only available on this here blog. Additional exclusive, you-can't-get-them-anywhere-else pictures, story excerpts and more will be available only on here, The Cooking Shed. Hooray for sounding like a stuffy corporation. Other pictures, story excerpts, etc., by Genre Chowder Studios (this happens to be me) can be found at GCS's deviantART page.

Later.