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.