Darth Maul – Star Wars
I started this sketch last year and added the finishing touches today. I was one of those people who didn’t warm to the prequels immediately though I did see all three in the cinemas.
Over the years Maul has become a favourite character, he’s a tragic figure.
Also I have his lightsaber/staff and it is huge!
With the new year rolling in, most of my creative energy is firmly directed at Raguthra Studios and the exciting work we’re doing there. That said, I’m still committed to keeping up a personal creative habit: drawing something every single day. Over the years, I’ve found that using a consistent base structure to create a collection of characters is not only relaxing but also incredibly satisfying as I watch the series grow.
Even though I’ve officially closed the chapter on Lee Draws Stuff and shifted everything into Raguthra Studios’ fresh, unified channels, I’ll still be sharing my daily scribbles with you this year.
To kick things off, I’ve designed a base model that I’ll use as a guide for framing every character. It’s a simple starting point that gives me a creative head start while leaving plenty of room for improvisation and fun.
These drawings aren’t for sale—they’re purely a personal project, born out of the simple joy of unwinding in the evening, usually in front of the television, and sketching whatever comes to mind. Sometimes it’ll be a “cool” or visually striking character, other times it might just be an intriguing concept or someone inspired by my day.
I do all my work in Procreate on the iPad, using a template that mimics the texture of paper along with ink and watercolour brushes. It’s a style I love experimenting with, and I think it might be fun to share progress videos on TikTok and Reels this time around. If I do, I’ll be sure to post the links for you to check out.
So, enjoy the characters as they pop up! And if you’re feeling inspired, why not sketch along? There’s something special about creating just for the sake of it.
Cheers,
Lee
Sometimes, the best creativity comes when you’re not trying too hard.
This little paint scribble started while I was watching television. A few simple lines of a street and some buildings—nothing more than a passing thought. I let my digital brush wander without a specific plan, just building shapes on top of shapes. The result? A cluster of soft, organic buildings that look like they belong to an alien village or rural town on another world.
I didn’t set out to paint “alien houses.” In fact, there was no real intent behind it at all. But not having a purpose is what made this process so enjoyable. Letting the mind wander while the hand follows is a surprisingly meditative exercise. There’s no pressure to perfect shapes, stick to rules, or worry about the end result. You’re just creating for the sake of it—and that’s where ideas can spark.
While painting, I started to imagine the lives that might unfold in these odd, rounded homes. Is it a peaceful place? A bustling alien village? Do they have a market, a school, or maybe something stranger? These thoughts drifted in and out, almost like daydreams, and before I knew it, the painting had a life of its own.
The Value of Creative Idleness
Sometimes we think creativity requires focus or structure, but this kind of idle sketching proves otherwise. It’s a bit like doodling during a meeting or scribbling in the margins of a notebook. Your hands are busy, your mind is relaxed, and the ideas flow in a way they wouldn’t if you were staring at a blank page, waiting for inspiration.
This approach—just letting go—can act as a form of meditation, too. It’s about being present in the moment, tuning out distractions, and allowing the process to take the lead. I often find that when I stop trying to create, creativity comes naturally.
It’s a scribble, that’s for sure, probably not even a good one but that’s not the point!
Some Prompts to Try It Yourself
If you’re feeling stuck or uninspired, try this:
I’d love to hear if you’ve ever tried this kind of idle creativity. Do you have a go-to activity that lets your mind wander and ideas flow?
What’s the weirdest or most unexpected thing you’ve created when you weren’t trying to create anything at all?
This came up on my feed over on Facebook and it made me laugh because I’d forgotten I had done it and now I have a detachment to it that allows me to appreciate what the guy I was 11 years ago was thinking.
The disappointment on the ship captain’s face is priceless, and I can say that with no ego as that illustrator was in a very different time of his life and I am kind of jealous of those lines.
Over the years your style changes and for the most part you cringe at old work because you were learning and growing at the time so the drawing feels primitive or bad compared to what you might do now.
The simplicity of this works and I’m distant enough to enjoy it. Would I draw it differently today? Hard YES. Would it be better? I’m not sure.
I wonder if Charles Shultz ever looked back at the early days of Peanuts and saw the beauty in those primitive lines?
Also I am in no way comparing myself to that genius artist.
I wonder if I should revisit this and others to see what I might do today, there’s plenty of material in the archive and since I’m no longer attempting any great project drawing wise – I’m just drawing whatever with no pressure – it might be fun for me.
If you do like these entries feel free to buy me a coffee at Kofi 🙂
When I used to play Minecraft one of my favourite pastimes was seeing how I could repurpose the desert pyramids into liveable spaces. Then when they added the shipwrecks I moved into those as well and then they added a lot of structures and I stopped playing (not because of this specifically).
The thing is I love a good abandoned place reclamation, always have. Maybe it goes back to when I was a child and making cubby houses out of any nook you could find.
I have strong memories of a book I read, I’ve no idea what it was called, it’s probably famous and I’m oblivious but some children made a home out of a large hollow tree. They were incredibly poor and had simple food, like plain cheese sandwiches or something of the like. I know I definitely related to them at the time.
Over the years I’ve often thought of that, I guess it was formative, grouped in with a bunch of “discovery” books. Books that helped my sense of self awareness and consideration. That must have been a very early one since I have so little recollection of the details outside the scenario.
I also remember a birthday sleep over on a farm, where trees had been cleared and dragged into a massive pile. Our group spent the most part of the day scrambling through the significantly sized pile of old trees and branches. Our “base” as we found spaces that could serve as rooms and whatever else. No parent would allow this today, someone definitely could have been hurt but then adventure has its risks.
I was obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators and their repurposed office in the junkyard where they could operate their after-school investigation business. The case of the flaming footsteps and the like, for anyone who knows me, the appeal of such adventures quite irresistible, if only for the amazing titles!
So I enjoy a good repurpose and this blog is another example. I bought this domain years ago with the hope of writing about coffee and comic books, later a comic strip about the internal bureaucracy of an evil empire and even a Tumblr style art site drawing comic book characters holding coffee cups. I have always loved those images and drawing them.
Now with my online drawing persona retired and my entering an incredibly exciting (for me at least) career phase making indie video games I wanted a space to just put my thoughts. I don’t know what this will become but I love being able to breathe here. There’s no expectations, I don’t care if people follow and like and share and subscribe and smash whatever buttons LOL. I’d love people to enjoy it of course, this isn’t a oh I don’t want any followers but please hit the subscribe button situation, screaming into the void is great and fine but it’s always nicer with company.
But I’m not going to shoot for the algorithm, there won’t be a theme other than what I want to share. It might be a drawing or a review of something or an idea scribbled on a napkin. It could be anything and I feel incredibly free by that.
So I genuinely do invite you to keep an eye on this hollow tree in the forest. I may only have plain cheese sandwiches but we’ll see where it goes and maybe you’ll find something you like.
Lee
PS: If you know the book I’m talking about please let me know in the comments LOL – I could just find it on Google I’m sure but there’s something nice about a human imparting their own knowledge and I have a feeling at least one person I know probably knows the book.