2012: A Return

It has been nearly a year and a half since posting to this blog. I won't make excuses, but I can say, that the pens and pencils were still busy in that time. Maybe I will share some of that, maybe I won't. What's important is that I'm back. I won't be making any unrealistic promises of posting something every day, but I expect the content to flow more frequently than not.

2011 saw a few big changes (License! House!) and so far 2012 is proving to be another eventful year (Dog! Banjo!). My personal challenge continues to be the effort of fitting everything that I am interested in and care about into my days, nights and weekends and still remain coherent and sane - but perhaps a little incoherence and insanity is good for us all.

Sooner or later, the structure of my blogs will be updated to meet the needs of the content that I am planning, but for the moment, I want to just get right back into the thick of it. First up is a formal drawing extrapolated from a gestural scribble. This style of sketch continues to evolve through my personal sketchbooks and is a refinement of graphic expressions that I have been toying with for a long time.

Getting Back

A quick sketch from today. Some sketches exploring a spacial feature idea. Nothing fancy, but I'm trying to get back in the groove of sketching and posting after a good inspirational weekend. More to come and probably some catching up on material from the last couple months as well.

View From Pershing Square

Another lunchtime sketch in Downtown. This one looking at the corner of 5th and Hill Street. Really only wanted to spend a few minutes sketching today, but the building proved to be more complicated in the form than expected, so it took about 20. It all worked out though, I think.

Lunch Sketching

It really seems like forever since I went out on my lunch break and sketched. I went topside at the 7th+Fig center downtown and drew for a few minutes before heading back to the office.

Actual boring buildings:

Actual big dude:

Seraphim Falls

Watched the movie Seraphim Falls last night. Its a great movie about the pursuit and revenge in the post-Civil War era, though I can only watch it when Jess is not around due to one particularly gruesome scene involving a horse. Regardless, there are some great compositions and beautiful landscapes throughout the film. I tried to draw some of the characters - a gruff Pierce Brosnan is the one on the left and the right is supposed to be Liam Neeson peering from the shadows. I learned that Liam Neeson is not an easy likeness to capture, especially while wearing a hat.

Vases or Lamp Bases?

Some ideas that came to me, conveniently at lunchtime, for some desktop containing devices, vases, lamps, or larger planters. It's less about a specific purpose and more about the shape, texture and color.

Belated Dr Sketchy Post

A couple weeks back, Jess and I went to this event called Dr. Sketchy's, which was a travelling sketch studio which was part Live Model drawing class, part burlesque show. Having never taken a live model drawing art class in school or out, I was pretty excited just to be trying out the format (it was also my fist time drawing nudes as well). Started out by doing some one minute exercises then slowly worked up to 20 minute poses.

I have always struggled with drawing people in terms of form and expression, so it was good to break out some pens and really work on that. Truthfully, some of them came out awful, but I was pleased by the end of the night and walked away feeling like I had a good experience.

Here are a couple of my sketches from that night:

Another Round of...

Been a busy and distracting sort of week. Here's some stuff from a few days ago that I did on the train.

Occasionally someone will stand over me, watching me sketch. A guy this particular day gave me the usual ,"What the heck are you drawing?"

"Some layouts of abstract shapes and..."

He interrupts, "So you just draw whatever you feel like. OK." and put his headphones on.

Sketch for Layered Painting?

Another sketched out idea for a painting... or perhaps a collage...

Sketched Screen Idea

Quick sketch done to develop an idea for an architectural screen or surface. Made of wood slats and cable.

Retro Week 2009 - Day 6

A random page taken from a 2003 notebook. Clearly my mind was wandering from something very exciting.

Retro Week 2009 - Day 1

Well, it's that week of the year again, where I go through my old work and pull a bunch stuff out of the 'Archives' to share. I have been on a roll lately making some new stuff so I don't REALLY need to do this, but it is kind of enjoyable (yet painful) to go through old drawings, sketches and work and put it out there for the world to see.

This particular sketch was whipped up back in the fall of 2000, in my first studio at SCI-Arc. I remember sitting in a Starbucks with some friends, drinking a caramel apple cider (because I didn't drink coffee at that point), and an idea for the centerpiece of my main project came to me. I scratched it out on a napkin, as architects are wont to do. Though I really liked it, the element wasn't relevant to my design and never actually made it into my final project.

Shankill Sketches

I've been on another Decemberists kick lately and whenever I listen to their music the artistic wheels get a spinnin'. So I am starting to make good on my longtime desire to do some artwork based on their songs. [sidebar: if you haven't heard any of their music or have no idea who I am talking about, you should check out their site via the link above. Great stuff that's part folk, part sea shanty, and part rock opera. Their songs and albums are all very story driven with rich lyrics and visuals]

I started out a few days ago doing some panels for a larger "Hazards of Love" spread (I'll get to posting those when they are more complete), and this week started working on content and composition of older songs. Today I was particularly fixated on the song "Shankill Butchers", which is all about a father telling his young daughter to be good and treat her mother well or the titular butchers would come to take her away and chop her up with cleavers and knives. Rather chilling song, actually. Tried a couple different depictions of that scene from a couple different perspectives. Leaning towards the first one if I were to choose one to develop further.

Studies Again?

It has been a while since I have posted any collage studies. It was only after I drew an entire page of them that I remembered I wasn't going to do any more studies of collages, but just go straight into the actual collages themselves. Oh well, when it has been so long you forget these things...

LACMA Visit - Sketches

As promised, here is a small sample of the sketches that I drew up at my most recent visit to LACMA. Was trying out a fine point and thick pen on some Giacometti sculptures, with vastly different results.

Pitch People

Went tonight to the 'Story Board Pitch Night' that Jess runs monthly and I occupied myself by attempting to sketch people this time. By the end of the night the sketches were starting to look like people!

Maui Condo and Lanai

Here are a couple sketches that I did at our condo in Maui a few days before the wedding. The place was a little dated, but the view was amazing. That rattan cabinet held a stereo and a box of old CD's, and I must note how delighted I was to discover a copy Weezer's Blue album nestled in the stash. The second sketch is the view from our lanai with lots of palm trees and a clear shot of the ocean.

Suds

Got some inspiration while I was washing my hands....

Stair:Book Case

This here sketch is the first inkling of an idea for a staircase that also doubles as a bookcase. Stair becomes bookcase becomes wall. Time to start playing with it a little more....

More Studies in Green

Here are a few more studies that I did a couple days ago for a collage that I am currently working on. I'm really hoping the sentiment translates into the collage medium. Even the most literal of translations can look completely different.