Hand Reaching Out Foreshortening Watercolor Illustration
By Charlie

Eating Just One Potato Chip

Written by Charlie O'Shields

Today’s Doodlewash prompt is “Snacks,” which I tend to eat in a rather “mindless” fashion, the Inktober prompt for today. And of all the snacks on the planet, potato chips are my downfall. As, I’ve mentioned this month I’m trying new things so we have a human being, something I never sketch, replete with foreshortening and in the form of a self-portrait, aged down to fit my current storybook style. For the record, the modern day version looks quite similar, but the hair would have a touch more silver and the face would have a touch more wrinkles. Okay, quite a few more, but the sketch was far too small to include them all. At the beginning of the 1960’s Lays Potato chips came up with a rather clever marketing campaign that heralded the slogan, “Betcha can’t eat just one!” As it turns out, sugar, salt and fat have a sneaky way of skipping right by our normal mechanisms that make us feel full. And, since potato chips are only made of that stuff, they sail right past our brains and leave us mindlessly wanting more. This is good news for other potato chip addicts out there, as it’s simply not our fault. They are perfectly engineered to make us lean into a more visceral feelings instead. So, pass me another chip!

As many of you know this month I’m sharing my ink-only version as I go along as well. In today’s case, I actually preferred the black and white version as it’s the only one I had in my head. I was thinking about the storybook illustrations from books I had when I was a kid and those weren’t in color.

Hand Reaching Out Foreshortening Drawing Ink Only
Hands are weird and difficult things to sketch indeed, and this is my very first attempt at sketching a proper hand. It is actually my hand and I intended to give myself a proper manicure while sketching, but ended up with the real nails instead. Yet, I figured a foreshortened hand always look a bit claw-like so that really shouldn’t be a problem. What I love about my current journey is that I’m practicing something more akin to book illustration. Granted, I’ve only drawn two of these, but I figure by the end of the month, I will have put in a good amount of practice. What I learned today is that I don’t mind sketching people, but I only ever learned how to make them in a drawing class I took in college. I was never really taught how to color them properly, so painting them has always left me a bit stressed and confused. As always, when one feels this way, it’s a perfect reason to go ahead and DO it anyway!

I’ve noticed that the fact that I have an audience has made me a bit shy. I tend to stick to things I know have been successful and not try something unproven. So, this month, I’m just sort of going for it! Expect the unexpected! This feels like the perfect moment in my art journey to DO whatever comes to mind, and by that, I simply mean trying things I’ve always wished I could make. I adore the fabulous illustrations from the books of my childhood and the incredible imagination of the artists who made them. And all of my practice over more than four years of sketching stuff has given me a visual database of sorts. Though I have to admit that I get a bit shy about sharing things this far outside of my comfort zone. The thing is, I didn’t start like this. I shared everything I made because, well, very few people were watching. More people showed up and I felt like I had to stick to what I was making to keep them coming back. But today, we have our own little community here on Doodlewash. It’s a beautiful and supportive community that’s given me courage to try new things. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for inspiring me to DO things I have only ever avoided. Making art without the lovely support of a friendly community is never as much fun. Instead, it can turn into the much sadder feeling that only comes from eating just one potato chip.

Want To Sketch Stuff With Me? Check Out My New Activity Book!

About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Gold Ochre, Opus (Vivid Pink), Quinacridone Red, Vermilion, Terra Cotta, Cobalt Turquoise, and Ultramarine (Green Shade). Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen (Broad Nib) with black ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop!
 Hand Reaching Out Foreshortening Watercolor Illustration Sketchbook Detail

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

See author's posts

Recommended5 recommendationsPublished in By Charlie

53 Comments

0 Shares

53 thoughts on “Eating Just One Potato Chip”

  3. Great post Charlie! I love this! It is all about having fun and pushing our skillset forward. Now that my art is out of my studio and hanging on exhibit for the month of October I need to get back to DOing!

    Reply

  5. Wow! These are fabulous! I guess you can do people after all. My only beef with these is that those are obviously Pringles and really, not real potato chips! 😂😂 I was at the doctor today and found out that my cholesterol is the lowest it’s been since I was a teenager! Yay me! Pass the chips p!ease! Lol

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much, Lisa! 😃💕Oh wow! You need more chip! And too funny… because my original reference were the “real” chips I had at lunch, but the shapes are too hard to recognize easily in a sketch. So, I went back to my childhood fave instead! Pringles!

      Reply

  7. Wow, Charlie! What an amazing drawing – hand, foreshortening, you and your blue glasses, and, well, chips! Thanks for sharing your stretch from your comfort zone. You continue to inspire in ways you probably never realized!

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much, Ellie! 😃💕 That’s so sweet of you to say. I figured I could inspire my just showing up, but now I want to inspire by jumping ahead and trying whatever the heck I want to DO, instead of what I think I can DO!

      Reply

  8. I love every thing about this drawing and the way you colored it in! I definitely can’t eat “just one.” If I buy a big bag of my favorite chips (Lay’s Regular), I’ll eat half in the first sitting.

    Reply

  14. Hands are so hard getting right (!), but you’ve managed it perfectly! 🙂 I also like the ink version a lot. I don’t know if the reference is too thin, but for me (as a norwegian) it kind of reminds me of the style in the “Take on me” music video from A-ha. Anyway, loking forward to seeing your inktober-work 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much! 😃💕Yeah, drawing hands has always terrified me, so I figured… that means I should DO it! And WOW! Thanks! I made the ink sketch at work and knew bits of it evoked the style of children’s books in my youth, but there was something else it reminded me of and I couldn’t figure it out. And that’s IT! Totally “Take on Me” LOL Thanks for solving the mystery! And now… I can’t get that song out of my head…

      Reply

  17. Wowza! This looks like out of a kid’s book. So good! When you try something different, you inspire many others to do it. So keep at it! Hands are the death of me when it comes to sketching. 😉

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Lori!! 😃💕 That’s what I was hoping for with this one! It’s the kind of style a kid at heart might make! And hands are as tough as I thought, as long as I just focused on the shapes and forget they were even hands! lol

      Reply

  19. You rocked this Charlie!! I’m really loving this style of art! This reminds me of an illustration in a young readers book – 😁 My middle school grandson would enjoy this!

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much, Linda! 😃💕 I’m so happy you DO! I’m loving it as well, so it might stick around past October! hehe And thank you, that’s the exact look I was hoping for. My first book was a middle school book and I wasn’t drawing at the time. I hope to re-release it with my own illustrations instead one day. 😉 As well as write and illustrate a new one!

      Reply

  20. Incredible!!! All those years of practice have really paid off. You are a wonderful example of “Practice, Practice, Practice”. You are at Carnegie Hall. Thank you again and again for the inspiration.

    Reply

  21. I would have recognized the face in the painting even without the blue-framed glasses, but
    they sealed the deal. Great self portrait and you didn’t even have to cut off your ear.
    I’ve said it before…you do good work!!

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much, Sarah! 😃💕hehe… yeah, I didn’t have to cut off an ear to get to my true artistic side. But… I did sort of crop off the ears as there was no way I was dealing with drawing those while attempting a foreshortened hand! lol

      Reply

      1. I was thinking of Van Gogh…didn’t even notice your ears. Van Gogh painted his self portrait, highlighting the bandages where his ear had been, making it his signature of a sort. Your blue glasses made your painting a signature piece…okay, you knew all that. : )

        Reply

        1. hehe! Yeah, thankfully blue glasses are my signature and I didn’t have to sacrifice an ear to be recognizable. Actually, weird fact, I was in a car accident in high school where part of my ear was severed off (all restored now), and still refer to it as my Van Gogh moment. 😉

          Reply

  22. That’s so cool, and I totally get the book/illustrative vibe – maybe your mystery series can start with Who Ate All The Potato Chips? Relatable story! 😉 The “Betcha can’t just eat one” slogan reminds me of Pringles and “once you pop, you can’t stop”, which is also accurate, provided nobody else gets hold of the tube.

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Jacob! 😃💕 Yeah… Pringles are totally addictive… and easier to recognize so that’s why I opted for them here. As yay! I’m definitely working up to a style for book illustration. I want to add illustrations to my mystery book. And as ever, want it to be for people of all ages. hehe 😉

      Reply

Leave Me A Comment!

%d bloggers like this: