Indefinite Hiatus

 Sketchbook Showdown had an uninterrupted 3 month run, but personal commitments - work, deadlines, and life - have been catching up to our competitors, and so we're hanging things up for now, taking an indefinite hiatus.

Congratulations to overall champion Rob Bavington and the incredible art he brought!

This blog has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to the day it can be resurrected.

Thanks to R J Bavington, Ethan Colchamiro, and Robbie Gonçalves for joining me, Erik Burnham, in turning out some keen sketches!

Thanks for visiting!

ROUND TWELVE: UNIVERSAL MONSTERS

Round Eleven was a runaway success for Erik and the 10th Doctor, triumphing over Bav and Doctor #3.

Which brings us to Round Twelve and a match of the Midwesterners as Ethan comes back with the selection of Universal Monsters!

Starting with Ethan and his horrific headshot of the king of the vampires!

"The Universal Monsters had a huge impact on my imagination as a kid. It was incredibly hard to choose which one to draw, so I went with the one who started it all"

-Ethan

And now over to Erik...

"I wobbled -- plenty of good choices, and I had option paralysis! Went with a quick and simple rendition of Larry Talbot's worse half. (In color and traditional B&W!)"

 -Erik

And there you have it!  To vote this week, we're going with the comments section to see if we can't squeak out some more interaction.

Which fangbearer wins the week?

ROUND ELEVEN: DOCTOR WHO

Last week was a brutal battle between the bunnies of bushido!  Bav barely beat Ethan by 11 votes to 10, and it looked an awful lot like another tie would be in the offing!

But fortune smiled upon us, and we don't have to worry about a sudden death draw-off...


And so we move on to Round Eleven, this 11th Day of April, featuring the one and only Doctor... Who has had 11 incarnations!

Let's start with the Third Incarnation, as brought to us by Mr. Bavington...

"I know jack-all about Doctor Who but all good Englishmen know about Mr Pertwee. I chose to draw him out of all the doctors because his happiness is just so....infectious! What a face. Wonderful to draw (Like looking in a mirror)." 

-Bav

And now, on to this week's challenger, Erik, and his take on the 10th incarnation:

"This is the first version of the Doctor I saw an entire episode of -- and I know this quick sketch isn't 100% the way I like it, but I think the enthusiasm of the incarnation shines through.  Better luck next time!"

-Erik

And there you have it!  Two Doctors, one from the original run of the show, and one from the resuscitated program.

Let's hear your thoughts and see your votes, to find out who will face Ethan Colchamiro next week here at Sketchbook Showdown!

ROUND 10: USAGI YOJIMBO

Welcome back to the tenth round of the Sketchbook Showdown! After bidding goodbye and good luck to Robbie, who has since set sail on the open sea which sought her services as a sailing somebody (try saying that five times fast). Though Robbie won last week's bout with Bav with her sketch of Selene, her having left bumps this week's bout back to our British buddy!

Here's his take on Stan Sakai's samurai...

"It's hard to try and draw a character that has been drawn by only one artist for over 200 issues without copying his style. So I did my best to put aside Stan Sakai's work and drew my own version of the "Rabbit Bodyguard". Long live Miyamoto Usagi!"

-R J Bavington

And now on to our other combatant, fighting out of the Windy City: Ethan Colchamiro! Ethan's art of an undead Underworld assassin obliterated Erik with ease in Round Nine, and he brings his best to this bad-ass bunny as well...

"One thing this challenge has taught me is how weak my geek cred is. Sadly, I've never read a Usagi graphic novel. Once I catch up on the Underworld movies, I'll get right on it!"

-Ethan Colchamiro

And that's the competition! Please vote for your favorite! And we dig the comments, so leave us some of them, too!




As a parting shot, here's a quick peek at a speedy sketch of Usagi by Erik -- and it obviously isn't in competition, lucky for him! Too much talent in the two up top -- go and vote, folks!

ROUND NINE: SELENE (FROM UNDERWORLD)

Welcome to Round Nine! Smallville Week was a tough contest; Erik and Ethan tied (!) and Mr. Rob won the narrowest of victories over Ms. Robbie.

Sadly, due to schedules (and the vastness of the ocean on which she is about to sail) this is the last week Robbie Gonçalves will be with us regularly, so it's fitting that this week the choice of theme is hers -- ladies and gents, from the Underworld series of films: SELENE!

Due to the tie between Erik and Ethan, Robbie and R J will go head to head again.

First, let's look to Robbie:

"Hello! I chose Selene this week as I have always wanted to draw her face. She is so beautiful and has sexy eyes. I hope you enjoy it!"

-Robbie

And now, on to last week's clear-cut winner, Mr. R J Bavington...

"Here's my Selene doing something action-y and exciting while showing off her legs.....perfection!"

-Bav

Bav is not wrong about those legs.

And now, Ethan Colchamiro:

"This week got the better of me, but I did get a little something for the showdown. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen any of the Underworld movies, yet. I've been meaning to see them, now I'm really looking forward to it after spending some time with their badass heroine."

-Ethan

And finally, Erik...

"I had NO time this week, but once Ethan kicked in, I couldn't not -- one of the things that stick out when I think of the Underworld movies is the polar hues that make up Kates, ah, makeup. Pale skin and ice-blue eyes. I threw a quick sketch of that together for my entry this week; it just fit in the time I had to spare!"

-Erik

Okeedoke! Please comment on this week's pieces, and wish Robbie luck as she heads asea!

The rest of us will be back next week......

ROUND EIGHT: SMALLVILLE

Congratulations to Robbie and Bav, the winners of Wonder Woman Week!

First, looking to the undercard, Ethan Colchamiro took in a fantastic 30 votes in his initial outing, and he's the man behind this week's theme choice of SMALLVILLE! Let's see what he came up
with...

"I always enjoy drawing Smallville characters. It's fun to play with the iconography of the Superman characters in new ways, and I liked the way that Clark's trenchcoat and t-shirt costume added a bit of Batman's flavor to the Superman myth. Plus, I was excite to see what the rest of the crew would do with these characters."

-Ethan

And now, for Erik -- who started out strong last week, but just couldn't match up with the stunning efforts of the others...

"I'd wanted to do more characters, but time was not my friend this week -- so a quick caricature of Clark with his destiny hanging out behind him wound up being my entry for Smallville week."

-Erik

And now, the Main Event!

The Robs combined for a total of almost 60 of the 100+ votes received last week, and this week, they'll face each other, showing us their take on Smallville!
First, let's look to R J Bavington...

"Who doesn't love Lana Lang? I hope I captured some of the actress' essence in this sketch. I also borrowed the colour-scheme and style from a vodka bottle label, and who doesn't love vodka? ;)"

-Bav

And now, for Robbie Gonçalves, and her stab at the long running Superman show...

"Hello! I chose The Green Arrow because he is the most awesome male character in Smallville! I confess that he isn't my favourite, Chloe Sullivan is. But I chose a male character because I'm not good at drawing them and I need the practice. I'm really, really sorry for not finishing the drawing..."

-Robbie

That's it! Make sure to vote for both bouts -- and be sure to comment below, any thoughts you have on any of the pieces above!

Some glitches...

There was some weirdness when posting Round Seven that left some formatting hiccups.  Sorry about that!

Be sure to leave thoughts on the entries this week... and definitely vote in both matchups! (: