Bringing the Chips

Sketchcrawl Jan, 2012

2012-01-29T22:44:00.000-08:00

Sketchcrawl is this.

It's always fun to see other people's take on the same subjects. The first one in SF this year was at the Ferry Market building.

(I did more drawings than these, but this is what I'm marginally happy with- let's just pretend that they were all pure gold, shall we?)

On the first day of Christmas...

2011-12-06T21:45:00.001-08:00

Another x-post from "My Gecko is Sick". My friend and I are switching off for the "12 Days of Christmas". I started.

Yup. I still hate "Twilight"

2011-11-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Just...not...a...fan.

Tiny Tragedies

2011-11-20T23:33:00.001-08:00

crossposting with a shared sketchblog

My Gecko is Sick

At the wrong party - Dr. Who

2011-10-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, another post from my shared blog with Nadine.

I promise to do something specific for this blog soon!

Another new sketch blog -

2011-10-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to coauthor a sketching blog with another artist friend. It can be found here

http://mygeckoissick.tumblr.com/

We decided to make it a little area for sketching improv, where we would each contribute a sketch on the same theme, with each sketch and concept completed in an hour.

Since we both have a fondness for awkward situations and non sequiturs, we decided to embrace that in the name of the blog and our first sketch topic "At the wrong party."

Here's my first contribution. :)

More Out of Context science

2011-10-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Less hairy mothers would have to park their young -

Out of Context Science

The Well Animatic

2011-10-04T23:55:00.001-07:00

So when I first started this blog in 2007, I began with a post called "The Well." A few months after that, I cut it into an animatic with the intention of animating it.

Never got around to doing the actual animation (but, there's still time!) However, I thought it might be fun to post the animatic.

Carol Prefers Burgers

2011-10-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I was chatting with a good friend who said she would prefer to be wooed with a good cheeseburger instead of roses.

My friends really do give me the best ideas.

(I did a quick scribble right away, but I always wanted to redraw it, so I did.)

Out of Context Science

2011-10-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

I started following this blog awhile ago and began doing drawings from the posts. For ease of use, I had to create a tumblr version of this blog, which is here. I'm trying to keep the drawings really quick, under 30 minutes.

I'll still update this blog, but following the original quote source for "out of context science" will be easier via tumblr.

Today's quote: None of the fish experienced any major hardships

Dr. Sketchy's SF

2011-09-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Granted, generally when people say they love sexy women with a sense of humor, they're not picturing vamped up clowns. But this model made it work.

I went to this sketching event with some friends, Nadine, Julia, and Jamie.

Poitiers

2011-09-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

On my way to stay with friends in Beynac, I stopped in Poitiers. It's a not very big place, with a whole lot of churches.

At one point in time, I'm quite sure the building of churches was simply part of the local economy, because everyone was probably of the same denomination and I don't think the population was ever such that they needed to build "overflow" churches.

I have no idea though; I was on vacation and too lazy to look into it.

La Cigale

2011-08-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

While in France a few weeks ago, I stopped in Nantes, and had myself a bit of tea in "La Cigale". The rooms in this cafe/bar/tea room is covered with cicada themed ceramic tiles. That doesn't sound very appetizing, but it was very charming.

You could tell that the cicada was female, because she wore a blue dress. And musical, since she carried what looked like a mandolin. I noticed no male cicadas.

The service isn't great - okay, actually I felt quite ignored. But the room made it worthwhile. I'm not sure what inspired the original owner to decorate in this vein, but he clearly went all out. Custom cicada girl tiles, custom cicada girl clock... Really, the only places we have in the States that is so thoroughly and skillfully "themed" is Disneyland.

Beynac, France

2011-08-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to spend my vacation with my good friend Sadie, in Beynac, France. As usual, I spent more time eating than drawing, but I did manage a sketch or two.

The Dordogne region of France is absolutely gorgeous in that "I'm in a Disney cartoon" sort of way. Actually, it's better, because when I was a Disney fan as a kid, I would not have been able to drink pear apertif or eat foie gras.

Sketches of salad I had to eat as penance are forthcoming.

A fashion crime against humanity...

2011-05-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this fine gentlemen while sketching yesterday.
Homeless you say?
No!
Lost a bet?
That would be the only excuse for these shorts.

Lingerie and slippers

2011-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

So writing this, made me think of this.

Mr. Brown

2011-03-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Technically, Mr. Brown was not a high school teacher, but one I had in 7th grade. He taught history and English, wore shirts that looked like 70's linoleum, and had one glass eye (due to losing his real one in a skiing accident).

He liked to use Greek philosophy as a teaching template, and it was in his class that I first heard of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He told us that the Greeks had three words to describe love; eros (romantic), philos(brotherly), and agape(unselfish). He had us keep a syllabus, and told us we needed to sublimate our bad impulses, channeling the negative energy into something positive.

In fact, when we got too noisy or out of control, Mr. Brown would shout "Sublimate! Sublimate!"

Yeah, now that sounds dirty.

However, I believe his heart was in the right place, even if he often did come across as an overdramatic hippie. He truly hoped that we would grow up to be good people, which considering he taught a bunch of 13 year olds, is quite an endearingly optimistic quality.

Mrs. Dudley

2011-03-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Dudley was my English teacher in my freshman year of high school. She always told us to read at our desks while she left the room to smoke for 45 minutes.

In retrospect, I realize that she must have been a very unhappy woman. That's the only explanation for the odd revelations and pronouncements she always made.

She told us about her divorce. She told us about how she went to her high school reunion and found out an ex-boyfriend had died. She assured us that life would not turn out the way we expected and we would likely find ourselves disappointed with the result.

Each time, we just stared at her blankly, thinking "Well, you probably did something to earn that. Those things will never happen to us."

Because we were 14, merciless and ignorant.

Good times!

Forecast; beware of boisterous bunnies

2011-03-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

A very talented friend of mine related a story about how her young son interrupted a business conference call by throwing bunnies at her.

That incident begged for an illustration.

(The pattern you see on her dress is from a Photoshop brush that she created and kindly let me use!)

Japanese Horror Movie

2011-01-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

The other night I was out for drinks in a quiet hotel bar with a friend, and this woman shuffled in.

She sipped her wine, while staring straight ahead, clutching her backpack which held...what? Drugs? A human head?

All I know is that I immediately thought of "The Ring" and said to myself "Must not make eye contact, must not make eye contact..."

Because you know if I did, I would be driving home one night, and suddenly see her staring at me from my rear view mirror.

Mrs Seymour

2011-01-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

When I was in junior high, I had a typing teacher named Mrs. Seymour. I always thought she looked at our class with utter disdain and contempt.

Years later, I was discussing this with an old friend, who informed me that Mrs. Seymour actually had had no eyebrows. So she drew them in, apparently a little too high on her forehead.

Oops.

Cafe sketching in Paris

2010-12-10T18:16:00.000-08:00

The plan was to do a little sketch and then I just kept adding more detail. And then I realized, I really should plan for the time, because it always takes longer to do a simple sketch than I think it will.

I take back an earlier statement I made about wearing leather

2010-12-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Apparently, you can wear leather when you're a senior, if you have that grizzled, Parisian thing going for you.

There was a sketch here that I WISHED I had gotten, but I couldn't because the guy was scoping out the cafe. You really can't make eye contact by accident with those guys.

French Teenagers

2010-12-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

LOOK AT THE BOYS' HAIR! Seriously anime style! What was great was how every few minutes, one of the boys would feel compelled to fluff his 'do, to maintain maximum volume.

It was "
"chat chat chat"
[pause]
[fluff, fluff]
"chat"
[long drag on cigarette]

thoughts on aging...

2010-12-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

For those who can't read my handwriting:
"Everyone starts off like this <, but ends up like this ^. No wonder the default expression is shocked and angry"

Edward Saves Bella from a Fashion Faux-Pas

2009-12-23T17:56:00.000-08:00

Edward saves Bella from Mild Food Poisoning.

2009-12-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I saw the new "Twilight" movie awhile ago. Not a fan.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie and/or books, there's a part where the vampire boy leaves the girl without telling her why. Because apparently, despite the fact that he's technically over a century old, he's still a teenage douchebag, incapable of...articulating...any..of...his....thoughts.

He tells her to move on with her life, but she can't. Why? Because every time she's about to do something reckless, a ghostly apparition of him appears telling her not to do it.

Man. That's like having your mother with you 24/7. "Put on a sweater!" "Should you be out so late?" "Why aren't you eating your vegetables?"

Hence, this cartoon.

Where's my RAM?

2009-12-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

My work computer was running a bit slow and I was approved for more RAM but it was taking forever for it to be installed. So I sent this to IT.

It wasn't IT's fault, but as it often is the case, just because it's not your fault doesn't mean it's not your problem. Our IT guy responded, asking if I would be willing to do a sketch for him, showing an IT guy, dragging a computer cart.

So then I sent this:

now in color

2009-10-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try playing with a bit of color, since it's something I rarely do. It's always fun, but takes more time than just scribbling out a simple sketch, even in this "sketchy" stage.

Way back in the day, I used to break out the paints when I wanted color. Although Photoshop makes experimenting infinitely easier (and more risk free) somehow, I still have a hard time making the leap. Lack of patience?

Siggraph 2009

2009-08-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

I went to Siggraph this year in New Orleans. The gender balance at these conferences has improved tremendously!

Disneyland

2009-08-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Disneyland is possibly the best place to people watch, ever. All ethnicities, all kinds of families, all ages.

All modes of transport...

more cafe sketching

2009-07-25T23:14:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure why, but it does seem that I always manage to catch only right profiles on some days, and only lefts on others. It probably has to do with where I sit, and what direction the windows are. Most people do like to face the window, as was the case here. But it does make for a rather uniform looking sketchbook page.

The woman on the bottom left corner had this wonderful, Bardot-like hair. I watched a man try to pick her up by inquiring about her iPhone. I imagine that it went something like "Hey, I'll show you my apps if you show me yours!" But I'm probably wrong. In any case, she clearly turned him down, because he did not join her at the table. Instead, he went back in line, and resolutely did not look her direction for his now, brief visit to the cafe. So I did not get to draw him. I hope he enjoyed his pastry.

Symmetrical objects are really hard to draw, and I am not the most patient of artists. I drew and redrew this several times. Still don't have it right. But it did help to turn it upside down a few times (the drawing, not the object).

2009-06-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

I actually sketched this a few months ago. I had always heard of the Art Institute and meant to go check it out, and then one day on a walk, stumbled across it. They have a fantastic view from their patio/courtyard, and it was primarily empty!

Periodically, I get brave and decide to try sketching only with pen. This particular pen has a very nice olive green color, (the subtlety of the color is lost in my scan unfortunately).

Whenever I get a particularly nice piece of paper, or a fancy pen, I always suffer from a kind of "stage fright", as if I am being judged by my art materials. I think this is why some of my favorite sketches are done on cheap paper, with pencil. The end result is that I hoard. I really need to get over this because such an attitude really defeats the purpose of having quality supplies.

First sketch of the new year...

2009-01-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

hipster

2008-12-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

You know, change that Mao hat to a beret, the shirt into a turtleneck, and suddenly he's a beatnik.

The clothes change, the posture does not. Trying to be cool is a futile endeavor because what you thought was sooooo cool and alternative, tends to look ridiculous when you're 30.

The workaround? Never let yourself be photographed.

strange characters and pretty girls

2008-11-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

Two very thoughtful people, thinking their separate, undoubtedly deep thoughts.

If this were an American romantic comedy, they would meet, have some trivial misunderstanding, and then eventually reunite with much happiness and confetti. This would show that some things are simply meant to be!

If this were a French romance, they would meet, have some trivial misunderstanding, and then be separated forever. It would also be told in flashback, from the rocking chair of one of the characters, after many years have passed, and one of them has died. This would show the futility of romance and the desperate stupidity of the human condition.

But this is real life, so they were actually in two separate cafes. And she was probably too tall for him anyway.

This woman looked like she could be a Malcolm Liepke muse. All delicate neck and enormous bosom. I'm sure you're all sorry you missed it.
And this guy looked like a cartoon; inherently tragicomic.

2008-11-18T22:07:00.000-08:00

So I haven't updated for awhile. Very, very bad I know. But here's a little drawing a did for a friend's daughter's birthday.

Zoo drawings

2008-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Went to a zoo drawing workshop in May run by Joe Weatherly, an artist who specializes in drawing animals. This is not to be confused with another Joe Weatherly, who is apparently a famous race car driver, who looks like his name should be Howie, and whose picture reminds me a bit of John C. Reilly as "Dewey Cox".

Annnnyway....

The workshop was fun, although I was the only person who showed up who was not currently in school. This of course, conspired to make me feel ancient ("Hey, I've been working since you guys were in 5th grade! Awesome!") However, I try not to let these realizations bug me too much, as I realize not only is this situation unlikely to improve, but will also increase in frequency as time goes by.

For any of you reading this while in your youthful, unlined 20's: sunscreen people. It's about the sunscreen.

What was fun about dedicating an entire weekend to drawing is realizing how quickly you can loosen up by simply devoting enough time to the endeavor. The first few drawings are almost always awful and demoralizing. But if you manage to stick it through the next hour or two, it stops feeling like so much work, and just becomes this nice, loose, moment, from eye, to hand, to pen. It doesn't mean that every line becomes perfect, but you do stop focusing so much on technique, and more on play.

I've spent very, very little time drawing animals compared to people (yes, I know, people are animals...ANIMALS!) So I started off this workshop with some truly ugly giraffe drawings (notice that I did not post any giraffe drawings). But things steadily improved, so that by Sunday, I was in a much happier place with my work.

A note about zoos in the Bay Area: we went to both the SF Zoo and the Oakland Zoo. The Oakland Zoo is much nicer. Also, as far as I know, no one have been mauled by tigers in the SF Zoo. Although, the surviving victims are not terribly sympathetic figures.

I'm ambivalent about zoos in general. As an artist, I recognize them as an extremely valuable resource. Also, one might reasonably argue that there's definitely an educational benefit to the population to learn about how other animals live. However, it's really hard to go to a zoo and convince yourself that these animals are happy. Danger of anthropomorphizing aside...I don't think I'd be particularly happy, stuffed into a pen with a bunch of people I don't know, and having people stare at me, taking pictures or drawing. In fact, it's a bit unnerving while drawing the animals to realize that they are aware of you staring at them. How else to explain their almost unanimous decision to always show our drawing group their backsides within 15 minutes of our arrival to draw them?

And for those of you who believe that I'm over thinking this, and animals do not get self-conscious or upset about being watched, I present to you this.

more cafe sketching

2008-04-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous weekend in SF, so I spent most of it outside walking around, taking photos and sketching. The photos can be found here

I doodled for quite awhile today, using pen. I'm much more comfortable sketching with pencil, I suppose because pen forces you to commit and is so unforgiving of mistakes...two qualities that I struggle with in human beings , come to think of it.

This pen spatters a bit, I didn't realize until I started drawing with it today.

The Divorce-4th panel

2008-02-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

So I came up with this character 6 years ago (ACK!) and here's the 4th panel from her story. All four are here http://lgwng1216.googlepages.com/thedivorce

Here's the latest. I was playing a bit with some of those color concepts that I learned about this week at GDC. I'll probably go back and tighten this up a bit.

Or maybe not, since it takes me forever just to get started.

random sketches

2008-02-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

So every now and then I copy pictures from magazines, and "push" the drawings. The first drawing I almost always chuck, it's almost like stretching before sprinting. The second drawing is always much looser. (I have residual "have to get it right the first time" idea going on, which with some thought, is an idiotic idea. But I'm an impatient type of person)

I've decided that I want to try and do more color work after seeing a very inspiring talk by Jeremy Vickery at GDC this last week. I'm not a painter, and while I don't foresee getting to the point where I'm just knocking them out the way a lot of my friends do...I do want to get to a point where color is more intuitive and I'm not so intimidated by it. So hopefully, there will be more color work on this blog in the future.

sketchcrawl SF

2008-01-21T01:49:00.001-08:00

A friend suggested we go to sketchcrawl this past weekend. It was a great idea! The last time I went was in 2005 I think. I loved it, but I never managed to do another one until now. This one was held in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. A sizable crowd showed up (hey look! We all have New Year's resolutions about drawing more!) and it was really fun.

A lot of talented artists out there validated my obsession with hording pencils and sketchbooks. It was great to see how different artists interpreted the same subject matter. Some people stylized heavily, others played it straight. Some focused on people, others on environment. I was inspired to play more in my composition, subject matter, drawing style and also to work on color skills.

I am also humbled by how focused and well laid out a lot of artists' work was. I would like to improve my layout skills, so that's a resolution too. (Let's just put that in my big pile of goals that I have...hey look laundry!) A lot of people drew these 4 old ladies on the bench. They were famous that day.

London Trip, part two

2008-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite museums in London is the the V&A. I like the mix of paintings, sculptures, clothing, and historical objects. Many of the exhibits have well-written explanations of how the works were accomplished, often including the original sketches. It's the museum I would go to, if I only had time to go to one.

However, I actually didn't do that many sketches there, relying quite a bit on my camera. It's a great place for gathering reference, and has a long sculpture gallery which contains a Bernini.

I took perhaps a dozen pictures of that Bernini. When I see something that is so clearly superior to the works around it, it really makes me want to throttle those artists who claim that art is subjective, and judging one piece as superior is pointless. All it makes me think is that he or she is unhappy with his/her own work. But rather than strive to do better, it is easier to actually just say the everything else that exists, isn't that great. Yes...art is subjective, but some people are really better at something. You might say that the idea that someone is "good" is subjective too, dependent on cultural standpoint. Yes...of course. I'm sure to an anti-Semite, Hilter was a better person than Mother Theresa.

After a certain point "subjectivity" equals deliberate stupidity.

Ok...onto the Tate!

I didn't really do that many sketches of art at the Tate. It hosts the collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings that got me through my romantic, nerdy years as a high school and college student., including Waterhouse's Lady of Shallot.
However, I went there to draw the people looking at the paintings (and escape from the rain, as the original plan had been to sit out and draw people in cafes) Museums are an excellent place to sketch people, as they tend to hold their pose for a bit, giving me a better chance of capturing it. Sometimes, I start with the head and move my way down, but lately, I've been blocking out the general shapes to get the feel of the pose first, and then filling in the details. I've found that if I've been drawing for a bit, I'm generally loose enough to be able finish the details even after the model has shifted (or left the room altogether). Drawing moving people feels like evacuating a burning building, I'm grabbing whatever I can, as quickly as I can, and hope the things I get are important.
This last drawing is from when I went to Oxford on a daytrip. Most of it is a combination of people that I saw while having lunch at the pub and people I saw while having hot chocolate at a cafe.
There is a specific type of face that does look very English, in exactly the same way that someone looks Chinese or African. I noticed it before the first time I went there, but it is funny how obvious this is when you're actually surrounded by them. I suppose it's because culturally, we tend to dump all people of European descent into the category of "white" which doesn't allow for much distinction of features within that group. But French people definitely look French, Italians do look Italian. I realize this is not an original observation at all. I'm not sure if being P.C. has simply beat out our ability to say things like "Hey, that guy has a really Italian face!" However, it's impossible not to see the continuity of features when you observe ancient Roman busts of famous dead people. Some of them definitely look like people you know.

London Trip

2008-01-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

So I decided to go to London to end the year. Samuel Johnson has said "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

I like London, but I'm not sure I agree. In any case, he was biased, being that he was an Englishman, and don't all homogeneous cultures tend to think of themselves as the best and the brightest? I'm sure the Chinese probably have a variation as to why their cities are the best. This may be an old joke, but certainly the food must be better. When I was first in England over 10 years ago, the food was pretty bad. Now it's just okay. The potato chips however, are fantastic, if you like meat-flavored potato chips. Which I do. Sue me.

Annnyway....
I did a lot of sketching in the National Portrait Gallery, which is just off to the side of the National Gallery. I like the portrait gallery better. I suppose because I'm more into pictures of real people, and also because there are several good Sargent paintings there. What's funny is that in the National Gallery, there are romantic depictions of historical events. One of my favorite paintings there (or as the British would say "favourite") is "The Execution of the Lady Jane Grey". Jane Grey was executed by Queen Mary (a.k.a "Bloody" Mary). There was a romantic movie that came out about the event sometime in the 80's I think, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes (Welsey from "The Princess Bride").

Here's the National Gallery painting of Lady Jane Grey
And here is the National Portrait Gallery portrait of her (i.e. what she really looked like)I think this is the reason why the British go slightly crazy when one of the aristocracy is born and he/she isn't hideous.

The National Portrait Gallery is a fun place to see what England's historical figures actually looked like. Sometimes it's also fun because of all the wigs the men used to wear. There is one room that is full of men in wigs. They were the cool kids of their time, politicians, philosophers, and were called the Kit-Kat Club. All-titled, and I really do think, uniformly ugly. But who needs looks when you have money, right?

There is also a very large painting done by Sargent depicting the officers of WWI. It's an impressive painting in that it was done at all, but in terms of a work of art, it really didn't do anything for me. However, the sense of what WWI did and what was lost, was clear. Because in the same room as this:

there is a sculpture of one of the pilots of WWI. The sculpture, which was probably only about 3 feet tall, there is the sense of determination and joy of life that maybe you can only have when you're 21. Which is how old this man (boy?) was, when he was shot down.

And it made me think about all those old men's faces, with their solemn, proud, "we are the serious men doing serious work" expressions. Perhaps they were heroes too, perhaps they did understand the gravity of the choices they were making. But every single last one of them was too old to go to the front.

So there you go.

Kaia

2007-11-25T11:05:00.001-08:00

So, this is a straightforward sketch of my newish niece, otherwise known as "The Best Baby in the World". When she gets older, I am going to buy her candy and toys, and lie to my sister and brother-in-law that I was a responsible and disciplined auntie. It's going to be awesome.

I felt I was a little heavy handed here in the sketch, it lacks the delicacy I think sketches of babies need. I generally don't like non-cartoony drawings of babies for the reasons I don't love this drawing. It's difficult to make them look "soft". I think most drawings and paintings of babies, end up making them look like those weird Renaissance cherubs...just overstuffed.

Speaking of Renaissance, Taschen has their 25th anniversary series out, and heavily discounted versions of some of their books. The Leonardo one is noteable...as it originally came out for $200, and you can get it on Amazon for $47. Look for Frank Zollner as the author.

A really beautiful Michelangelo book by the same author, also from Taschen is out. Unfortunately, that one is actually $200.

Cafe sketches -Cole Valley

2007-11-16T17:55:00.001-08:00

So I did these back in Sept while housesitting for my friend Sadie. Her neighborhood has a large quantity of extremely good looking, youngish people. It's like kids from the Haight got money, decided to stop taking recreational drugs, and now only take a bong hit once in awhile to maintain their alternative credentials and perhaps, nostalgia value.

Like how I sometimes listen to Madonna music...not because I think it's any good, but because it's easy time travel to a different , less complicated time of my life.

A less critical time in my life apparently, because I obviously liked Madonna music then.

Ashley

2007-07-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

so this is the first panel from a comic that I've been working on...for way too long. I finally made some progress on it after not bringing it much past the thumbnail stage

the Grove on Chestnut and Fillmore

2007-07-15T22:33:00.001-07:00

trying to work a little looser in the sketching. It's fun, but it does make me more nervous if someone catches me. Because unlike drawing portraits, this is not about catching people at their best, is it? It's all about noticing things like "Hey, that guy looks like a less evil Dick Cheney!" Which you know, even with the "less evil" qualification, isn't really a compliment.

It's one of the best feelings in the world to hit your stride while sketching in a cafe. The first day this weekend was a bit rough, but today went great...I started off fairly loose, and just had a lot of fun.

sculpture

2007-05-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

This is a sculpture I did a few months ago. Water based clay. I thought I should photograph it because it's pretty fragile. In fact, the hand fell off about five minutes after I finished snapping the pictures.

I'd like to get a chance to do more detailing next time, finish up the face, fingers, toes, etc. I always seem to run out of time. It would probably help if I managed to do the solid six week sessions. Damn life always seem to get in the way of art.

cafe sketching

2007-04-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

So I went out sketching again this weekend (last weekend I didn't do so great: very rusty) Today was pretty fun.
The guy on the far right had a combover, but it's hard to tell in the drawing. When I tried to hit a highlight there, it just looked like I was making his hair look shiny, so I took it out. I have trouble representing a "good" combover...it just always looks like I can't draw hair. If anyone can point me to people who have done this well, please let me know. :-p

There were some fantastic noses that walked through the cafe today (with bodies attached, of course)
Ok, so the following isn't strictly a sketching observation here, and I know I'm making snap judgements...sue me. But I first spotted the guy on the far right at the cafe counter and thought he had the air of someone who tells long, dull stories about himself with the idea that the listener would find them fascinating (I realize that I'm setting myself up for comments about my lack of irony in making this statement) Anyway, I was thinking this, perhaps prejudiced by the combination of balding and long hair (a fashion DON'T) or perhaps it was the long suede jacket (please see previous post about old guys and leather).

Then the guy sat next to me, and I overheard (okay, eavesdropped) on his conversation with his companion. No kidding, he started talking about irritable bowel syndrome and gastro-intestinal distress. Then he asked his companion if she were so inflicted. Answer: no. He seemed surprised, and even a bit disappointed by her answer.

I disliked him immediately. But fortunately, this will be unlikely to affect his life or mine.

"Hey, did you know I have a house in Marin?"

2007-04-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

So I went out sketching in Union Square on Sunday. Grandpa Slick here thought he'd try and impress a girl that was likely in diapers when he was going through his 3rd divorce.

Just a note, after 45, a leather jacket looks like a desperate bid to cling to youth. The shine on the leather merely echoes the reflectivity of a growing forehead.

Let it go.

wonderCon 2007

2007-03-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

I went to WonderCon in SF this weekend.
There is no point in trying to come up with your own characters when real life pretty much gives you everything you need.

Drawing Marathon

2007-02-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

Went to the figure drawing marathon a couple of weeks ago. These are all ones and twos. I didn't make it through the whole day. I reached naked-people maximum at about 5 hours.

At the symphony

2007-02-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

went to the symphony a couple of days ago. Couldn't do much drawing for obvious reasons...but felt compelled to jot down a couple. There were a lot of interesting balding patterns from where I sat...Someday, when I'm old, I will remember this, and remember my lack of sympathy for comical geriatric hairdos..and that will be my punishment.

sketchbook

2007-01-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting, just some sketches from a cafe this past weekend.

In keeping with the theme of the blog...

2007-01-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

I may do a series as these, as personal hells are apt to change depending upon season and mood.

Anger Kitten

2007-01-23T00:46:00.000-08:00

Less of a sketch, more of a doodle. When someone really pisses me off, and something comically bad happens to them (schadenfreude, if you will), while re-telling the story, sometimes I would pantomime stroking a kitten, because the memory was just that precious.

This is that kitten.

just goofing around

2007-01-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

I actually did some cafe sketching this weekend, but I didn't like anything I did, so I'm posting this instead. Not too exciting, a couple of weeks ago I was bored and copied some pictures of celebrities from magazines, playing around a bit with proportions. (Just in case any of you guys were wondering if Willie Nelson was actually in SF on Sunday...that would be...no)

some sketches

2007-01-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

So I went out sketching over the weekend. I found these great sketchbooks at Arch Drafting Supplies in Potrero Hill. Basically, they're like the Cachet Earthbound sketchbooks, except they're spiral bound, instead of sewn in pages. I prefer that so I can have the book lay flat when I'm drawing. The only thing I really wish is that the paper had a little more tooth to it.

The Well

2007-01-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

First real post for this blog. Typical uplifting sentiment that you have all grown to expect from me.