December 21, 2010#
December 5, 2010#
The Trappist
This is from a bar in Oakland that I like to frequent. They serve only Belgian and specialty beers. It’s very crowded on weekends, but weeknights after work it’s a really nice place to just sit at the bar while drawing and making small-talk (and of course enjoy a delicious brew).
October 11, 2010#
October 3, 2010#
iPhone Noodling
I recently bought a sketching app for my iPhone and have been messing around. I like it a lot. The very nature of it prohibits too much fussing over details. Just color, light, shapes. Quick and dirty.
September 27, 2010#
New Studio + Sketchbooking
I recently moved into a new studio space in Jack London Square. So much better than the garage! Better light, better neighbors, fewer spiders. And dangerously close to Blue Bottle Coffee. You can see some new work in progress in the photo.
Because of our schedules this year, Chris and I have decided not to exhibit at APE. I was planning to compile some recent sketchbook images and mini-comics in a book for the show, but I’ll share some of them here instead.
August 6, 2010#
More Plein Air
I painted a drab, crooked building on a very cold, gray and misty morning by Lake Merritt. And then afterwards I got breakfast at a diner and everything was fine.
July 29, 2010#
Plein Air Paintings
I’ve been painting en plein air the last few weeks with Dice Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo, and Shelly Wan, who have been kind enough to let me tag along on their weekly outings. It has been, at the same time, both horrifying and wonderful. I sweat the entire time. My hands tremble. I develop a stutter.
…this is the stuff of inspiration!
It’s been terribly foggy and overcast in the mornings, so the lighting hasn’t been very exciting. But at least it’s been consistent. More to come…
January 22, 2010#
New Ink
Chris got the outlines of his new tattoo started yesterday: a circus themed sleeve of epic proportions, done by the talented and prolific Jason Kundell at Artwork Rebels in Portland. I brought my sketchbook along.
December 18, 2009#
Life Drawing at Hipbone Studio
A page from my sketchbook of some recent life drawing. I haven’t been since June, so the drawing felt rather labored the whole time. Also, I didn’t eat breakfast. Always, always remember to eat before going to life drawing. You don’t want to be that guy breaking the silence with your gargley stomach noises. Trust me it’s awkward.
I recently bought some screentones at a local Japanese bookstore, and I’m aiming to do more mixed media experimentation in my sketchbook. I’ll post some samples soon.
June 25, 2009#
More Life Drawing at PNCA
So I’m trying to take things a step further this week. Still working with straight ink, but moving away from thinking so linearly about the edges. Instead, I wanted to construct the body mass by mass, not line by line. It’s like working from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Or, you can think of it in terms of sculpting. I have one of those refillable Japanese brushes (can’t remember the brand), that I filled with some watery ink. I just worked light to dark, building up the shape volumes in layers. At the very end, I used a black brush pen to define some of the poster edge and a few particularly dark folds in the skin. Next week I may bring some white gouache to go back into the highlights a bit. 5-20 minutes on these.
