Doodle Protest

Tiny doodles rose up in protest during intense work related training last week. Between complete attention to class, and drifting off to drawing land, class won. But the pen did sketch. The blue-ish ink ones are with disposable fountain pen, and the black ink ones are ballpoint from not so recent mini sessions.

Trucking Bones

Not affecting the impulsive scale, here's a doodle that got rendered in micro-sittings. Such is the level of art activity these days. I know there's some balancing to do with the shading, we may see about that. At least I can count on some doodling  this week (a training week: illustrative doodles? sounds so dry... we'll see). - Oh yeah... that's what I'm doing right now, travel day means trucking the bones.

Fountain Pen

My fountain pen crazy and dear wife got me one of these Pentel Varsity disposable fountain pens, in black.

Some test drawing took place, though half-hearted. I think the pen deserves attention. The "oblique" or rounded tip lent itself to some "dip pen" action, without the dipping part.

Some silliness.

An attempt at a foreshortened banister.

And finally, a tiny haunted house.

The tip of that fountain pen glides nicely, and as long as you keep the general direction/tilt, you may even control some line width. I was all over the place.

Tablecloth Crayons

 Here's a quick set of crayon on tablecloth sketchings. I escaped from my crazy work week yesterday, and indulged in a little family restaurant visit. From left to right, caricature of my daughter, then a fast and furious haunted house (before the waiter plopped my meal on top of it), and finally, my daughter's own rendition of me (pretty neat style she came up with, eh?).

Quick Airport Sketching

I was on work travel last week. Spent and zombie-like through airports and flights, overnight. Yesterday morning, in one of countless queues, I got some energy and inspiration, so I whipped out the mini sketchbook, and caught some really quick sketches, and I mean quick.

You have to be on alert, not to miss the action, especially if you're sleepy. At one point, I fell asleep, waiting for boarding time, and woke up to realize my gate had changed. Heck. I woke up various times last night, at home, weary of missing flights that I already took! This morning was weird, waking up at home. I will endeavor to pick better flight plans on my next trip. This time I had to use up an airline credit before it expired, so I had to stick with a particular airline, and three different long flights was the only option. Overnight travel? Avoid it like the plague. 

Anyway, back to the folks at the airport. First time at the Denver airport for me. The first two were caught while sipping good and well deserved coffee (not Starbucks LOL). The guy with the beret and cane deserved a lot more attention, but he didn't stick around. Some folks were ordering things, others standing before me in line. Be quick or you'll loose your spot! A good spot in line can guarantee carry on storage in the overhead bin. Full flights are a study in crowd behavior. Airport moods can trigger unpleasant situations. There were folks sleeping on the floor. I tried for a few minutes myself, but it didn't feel safe, or clean.

The last group of faces was done while sitting in my last flight, as it was located right in front of the airliner's door. Folks were boarding, faces told stories, but I only caught these four. I've done better airport sketches, but I'm celebrating this session because I had not done it in the longest time. Hope you like them. Have a great art time, wherever, and whenever you are.

Goodbye Tatami

A few days ago I visited my favorite, and not so expensive, sushi restaurant. Part of the charm of the place, apart from its not so expensive price points, was that we knew some of the nice folks at the counter. We've been going there for years, thanks to the advice of a good friend of mine.
This time, I learned that someone had bought the place. Immediately down with the news, I couldn't help but focus on the lack of attention from the new staff. I figure, if there's new staff, they'll want to capture your backing... not this time. Took long to get our food, and the customer facing staff was slow and not that attentive.

I felt I needed to capture a bit of it memory, so I took out the old mini sketchbook, and sketched up a couple of the old posters on the wall. I'm going to miss this place.

It was the kind of place where they noticed how much your daughter had grown, they would ask for the friends and family, sometimes by name, and have some candy stowed away to give my daughter, even when we were just picking up take away food.

The first small sketch is closer to the original, classic poster they have hanging next to the lanterns, and good luck cats. The second one is following another one, but I took the liberty with my design.

Captive Audience

Visiting an important person at the hospital today, I managed to influence their 'captive audience' TV viewing. The least commercial broadcast possible happened to be showing "The Sound Of Music". Kind of fitting for a hospital where the atmosphere should be melow (not a single explosion or obnoxious sound from the TV, save for some repetitive commercials). Family oriented viewing (PG) all the way. Works wonders for recovery.
And yes, that's my mini sketchbook.

Veggie Face

Yes, pretty ugly. Looks like a mutant corn-veggie alien. Actually, I was doodling with the first thing I found, which was a half-used dark colored pencil, on the sketchbook. Warming up, not looking to draw anything in particular, and next thing I know, it looks like a corn cob with a face. Yuck. I imagine some of you alien art fans may like it.

Wreckless Inking

Wreckless inking ensued this morning when I impulsively took the Pentel pocket pen brush for a quick spin on the sketchbook lane. Wreckless because I didn't care much... kind of smudgy, and careless. Also, the copic marker is showing signs of giving up the ghost, dirty tip dragging the not-yet dried black ink already on the page. Silly frog. Any art activity is good these days for me. Impulsive indeed.

Some Conversations

Another "on impulse" sketch, out of the blue. Started with the face, then evolved into something kind of weird, maybe even sad. The little floating kitty balls were probably influenced by the anime me and my daughter were watching at the time, but the old guy may as well be one of those guys talking to themselves on the street.
Yep. There are some conversations we may never be privy to. Maybe? :)

Workday Doodles

I found "rhythm" in my workday where I can do a little drawing. The pressures of the job have been interfering a lot more with my "art mojo", and the impulse to have that mojo express itself is showing.
Here's yesterday's sketchbook page. Each of these doodles was done on quick little breaks between tasks. I noticed some had fast lines, and others were a bit rendered or "noodled". This difference is probably worthy of exploration. The conclusion: there's something about being in a zone that artists can control, and I'm taking it for granted, letting it happen, which is my standard approach.
These are all impulsive doodles, so here they are.

Impulsive Meeting Sketch

Yep. I was in a meeting (teleconference) waiting for everyone to show up. In the end, no one did. While waiting, I decided to calm my nerves sketching for the Tuesday Sketch (a weekly sketching initiative). The topic was whales. Work has been kind of tense lately. Lots of "hurry up and wait" situations, and that can really get to one sometimes. So I drew these cartoony characters. I usually look up reference, and "inform" myself before drawing something specific, but this time, the cartoon impulse took over, and it made for a great relief-valve during the day. You can say "I phoned it in" with double meaning, this time. Impulse wins.

Sketching on the run

Pardon this crazy post. Bad photos of sketches, on the run. On holiday here. These sketches were done last week on one of my airport moments. Trying to keep the art up with the crazy work life. Hope you like. Will be sketching some more this week, and hope to share.

Thanks for dropping by!

Impulsive Dolphins on Mother's Day

Sat down for an art session with my daughter, the day before Mother's Day. I know, this post's content is a bit old. These days I barely have time to keep up with my art, or my blogging activities. Nevertheless, here goes.
It was do or die time if we were going to gift my wife with something original for Mother's day. The best part of this little endeavor was sharing with my daughter. So we went at it. Dolphins are a favorite of my wife's and a very nice necklace featuring a mother/daughter pair of dolphins was part of the ceremonies.
Here's my daughter's acrylic painting of a dolphin. She insisted in using sketch paper. Lesson for her, wet paint warps thin paper, and rough brushing can build up "paper-paint-bunnies". She did enjoy the process, and of course, she didn't mind my advice too much. But I do love the colors, and the fact that she even worked on her texture. The texture on that dolphin has a great look.

My impulsive acrylic painting was done on thicker paper meant for watercolors. I used some reference, and in the rush, didn't even notice the dorsal fin was blocked from view. Oh well. It was fun to do, and a breath of fresh air, art-wise, since time hasn't allowed me much time to indulge. I really appreciated the moment.

All in all, an impulsive painting session that turned into very nice gifts for my wife. Of course, she loved them both. We obviously love her, and that's not just because she's our captive audience. :) We hope you like these. Thanks for dropping by. Have a great art time!

Sketch-shots

I dedicate this impulsive sketching post to a good friend who's venturing into the world of drawing and cartooning. You know who you are, "N". :) We were talking the other night about trying to sketch people, on the move. That is, life drawing the folks around you in everyday situations. Of course, folks continually move. They're not posing for you. And of course, any attention drawn towards your drawing would break the magic. Just tell anyone you're taking a photo of them, and the spontaneity of their pose and looks usually fades away. Same goes for sketching. But I digress.
We were talking about not having time, under these situations, to really draw someone. I gave him my take on this. First take a quick rough or gesture drawing, then finish it off later. I kind of equate it to taking a snapshot with a really primitive camera that doesn't see everything. That's why I called this post: "Sketch-shots".

I was in the local shopping mall, waiting for my family to finish up in a store I didn't really want to be in, and I had my mini-sketchbook, and a stubby pencil. What to do? Oh well. Surrounded by folks that wouldn't stand still, I decided on the 30 second approach. This time, 30 seconds to take my sketch bearings (gesture lines of sorts), and later 30 seconds to enhance, or stress the salient points of the sketch of the person, rather like, stress the personality of the sketch-shot.
The first two were mid-way "kiosk" dwellers, filling in their time idle time in conversation. The other two were random folks, one in the cell-phone wave pose, the other had a significant hair style to capture (that last one through store glass). The last lady, well, she was very much into her conversation, and had interesting facial expressions, hard to resist drawing.
Anyway, the point I wanted to stress to my drawing friend was that you can pretty much capture a situation, look or emotion from someone, from the pose, in a few seconds, and work on it as much as you like later. It doesn't matter if you make it look like a cartoon, as long as the image's message comes through. I didn't sketch any masterpieces here, but I'm happy with capturing the moments. The experience becomes part of you, and later, no matter how badly you portrayed someone, it serves you as a learning tool, and something you can "draw" on the next time you're at it. Its all about learning, all the time, and if you hit a good one along the way, celebrate it. I celebrate even my ugly mistakes (look at that ugly hand and arm with the cell phone guy). But I drew, and that's what I wanted to do.
Hope you liked these... they were fun to do, and now they served a purpose, I hope. Onwards, art warriors!

Beach People

Yesterday at the beach. Apart from a mega sunburn because I got lost playing in the sand with my daughter, I had some time to sit and sketch a little.

Here's the nephew, taking a break, watching the bathers frolic in the waves. There were some nice rocks to sit on right next to the water. It was the last day of our stay, so understandably, most of us were tired, but not tired enough that we'd miss on the sun and fun.

Below, some more quick sketches. A random hat-lady, someone I know very well getting her long awaited fix of healthy beach exposure. She needed it more than any of us. And my daughter getting her surf on. We discovered she loves the waves, as long as they don't toss her into the sand, or she takes in more salt-water than she's used to (not much at all).

I have to work on timing, and vantage points. Carrying a sketchbook, as small and handy as it may be, is kind of a problem when you have to avoid sand and water around you.

Back to the daily routine at home, missing the short holiday we just had. We'll have to do this again very soon.

Cage Your Rage

I sat down for a while, and wanted to get some practice on subjects I don't usually draw. A friend of mine had asked me to create a hockey logo, and not being all that familiar with the sport, I decided to draw some of its accouterments to get in the mood. Among them, helmets. The "Cage Your Rage" came to mind while finishing this one helmet (there may be other things to post). I also thought of putting the dentists seal of approval next to it, in obvious jest, of course. Anyway. Now I'm curious if any of my local sport-loving friends ever heard of a Puertorican Hockey League. That's not that impossible if there's a Jamaican Bobsled team, isn't it?

Wake Draw - Space Station Dream

Woke up this morning with part of a dream still fresh in my mind. This is another quick wake and draw sketch, drowsily trying to capture fleeting dream memory. I remember floating in space, on an I-beam like structure, drifting towards an awaiting space station air-lock, with Obama next to me (of all people... why? that's probably the strangest fact in the dream). Yes, I didn't try and sketch Obama as such. No inclination :) - Anyway, once inside, I found myself in a room, waiting on a dreadlock'd lady to give me a Tai massage (why again? I don't know. They say those Tai style massages are brutal too, so I wasn't looking forward to it). The lady was speaking cajun, and I sort of understood what she was saying, not that I remembered. She smiled when she noticed. Then I saw my grandfather sitting on a comfy chair behind me (didn't draw that part). I hugged him, and told him how much I missed him. That's when I woke up. Dreams may make sense sometimes, but they often have weird unexplainable elements. Oh well.

Wondla, D'Terlizzi, and Moebius

It has only been a few days since Jean Giraud "Moebius" passed away. An incredible artist that influenced almost every artist I know, he has been an inspiration for me since my college days, when I would sit listening to the university's radio station, and read Heavy Metal magazine from cover to cover, a long time ago. These days, in my artist's journey, I tinker with ideas in pencil and ink very often. One of the things I do is keep this little sketch blog called "Tuesday Sketch", where my friends and I post drawings and sketches following a weekly topic. This week's topic was Moebius, in his memory.
As I was looking for some image references, I tagged an image that I thought was his. When I looked closer, it turns out that the great artist, Tony D'Terlizzi, had posted a blog article remembering his meeting with Moebius, including the image of one of his works, called "Search for Wondla", which was influenced by Moebius' art. It really clicked with me. I had known of D'Terlizzi's "Spiderwick Chronicles", but I had no idea of all his body of work. Amazing.
I simply had to draw this the minute I saw it, and plan in checking out his other work as well. The impulse is always there, and it sometimes has great meaning. Thank you Tony. Thank you Moebius. You both inspire me greatly.

Tree Kids

I sketched a rough of my daughter and her friend playing in the park a couple of days ago, meaning to finish it off that same day, but work got the best of me. So I "nibbled" at it, doodling and rendering a few seconds at a time, between everyday work tasks, and home activities, and I got something rough looking, but good enough to capture the moment. The rough was just a light group of lines, done while I was doing one of my walking laps in the park's walking/jogging track. They looks so happy, just bouncing around, playing explorers, that I had to do something.
Hope you like it. I sure do. Thanks for dropping by.

Acrylics Play

We had us a good time with some acrylics yesterday. Our little one kept reminding me we needed to paint because she had to practice for her first "sale". A friend of my wife's liked one of my daughter's paintings so much that she offered to commission her. My daughter was actually calculating how much she would charge! Anyway, I figured it was a great opportunity for some father-daughter art time, so I got some cheap acrylics to play with. They weren't that bad after all! Good range of colors in the set, and it wasn't all that messy either. We grabbed a bunch of brushes, and a couple of neon colored poster sheets because this was a test. I spared you the shocking colors with some image processing here, but you can tell the poster material was bright. We picked a corner on each sheet to use as palette, and went at it with no specific aim. My daughter had a blast, and we finished pretty much at the same time (a first!). Beautiful flower, a dog, a butterfly, a rainbow, and an angel. All things she loves to draw and paint.

I had no idea where I was going, and you can tell by the inverse eyes, and the hand, that I wasn't planning much when I painted this frog-like creature holding a candle. I did have fun with the paint, checking how it behaved, its stickiness, and how much one could water it down. Glad it was easy to wash off too. In the end, my daughter wanted to take them to grandma, and expected them to be hung in her house. Grandma loved them, and we'll see where she puts them :).
Impulsive art is always fun, no matter what comes of it. Hope you liked these... I love my daughter's raw talent, and inspiration. Thanks for dropping by.

Alien Astral Projection

An alien astronaut caught in the act of astral projection. At least that's what I kept thinking it turned out to be. I call this one impulsive, but it was done bit by bit over a few days, during minute long breaks over  work activities. The impulse was to keep doodling something even though I was really busy. At first a pencil doodle with just that funky helmeted astronaut, I was in the "artsy" doodle mood. The left page done, I thought of those artists that use the page spread on their sketchbooks. This time it was my mini-moleskine, which has been getting plenty of use due to its portability. The right page followed, and the astral projection idea started. A this point, some 2 days ago, I decided to ink it, just to get some brushpen ink time in, and then it just evolved into this dark ink "party". Got some art time from it, picking at it during the busy day. And I tell you, I was really busy for this to take so long. At least the last inking session didn't take so much time, though I went over some of it because I had started with a fine point "Sharpie", and I don't like the ink from those. Brushpen and PITT pens were used in the end. Hope you like this spacey and impulsive idea. Not my usual style, all "designy" and "moleskine-doodley". Having fun with the adjectives. Oh well. Hope you liked it!

Walking Sketches 18FEB12

Today we had some of my daughter's cousins over, while their mothers visited. They were kind of restless, so we went to the park to vent some energy running around, and socializing. Of course, I brought my mini sketchbook with me, sensing a good opportunity to get some quick drawing done.
We didn't stay too long, but the fact that my daughter was entertained with her cousins freed my attention enough to get some exercise walking around, and to get some impressions down from the folks and things I saw while I was there. These on the left are rather quick shots. Clockwise from top left: A girl walking on the sidewalk, checking her cell phone (so many folks stuck looking at the little screens these days, but that's no surprise). In the middle, a little girl, towing her little brother on her toy wagon. Good old Radio Flyer, it was. Some basketball player stopping his game to text. A man and his bicycle riding toddler, looking to the side at some other activity. My daughter swinging happily on the swing set, and that same couple of kids with the wagon on their way out of the park.

I stopped my walking for a while, so I could stretch my legs on a tree stump along the walkway. The pattern in the tree trunk said "draw me", and I thought it was a good idea to try something more complicated, at least while I was stretching out. I started outlining it, and then said, the heck with it... lets go at it a bit painterly. Even with a little pencil stub (I couldn't find any decent ones in my bag) it was fun to go from outlining to just shading values out. The texture was so complicated, with mold, and bark in different stages of decomposition, that I had to look at it a bit more like a whole, thinking in terms of light and dark. This helped out a lot. At first, my drawing didn't look anything like a tree stump, but once the values were more or less in place, I could work on a bit of detail, and fill in the voids. It actually looks like a tree stump now.
Well, that's it for this one. Hope you liked it. Thanks for dropping by.