Goblin Doodles

2011-01-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

catching up

2011-01-09T22:44:00.001-08:00

Some art school friends are challenging themselves to do a drawing a day, for the new year.

I haven't even started and already, there's no way I could keep that up.

However. I love the idea of it. Here's what I've been doing so far. The year's already started and already I have some catching up to do.

Pieces of me

2010-12-19T23:23:00.001-08:00

Something strange I do not comprehend
Is this: I start to write a certain verse
But by the time that I come to its end
Another has been written that is worse
Or possibly better than the one I meant
And certainly not the same, and different.

I cannot understand it–I begin
A poem and then it changes as I write,
Never have I written the one I thought I might,
Never gone out the door that I came in,
Until I am perplexed by this perverse
Manner and behavior in my verse.

I’ve never written the poem that I intended;
The poem was always different when it ended.

- Merrill Moore

self with hat

2010-12-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

"My intimates have caught me more than once in front of a mirror. To tell the truth, I was looking at myself while thinking of the difficulties I'd have if one day I should want to paint my portrait. But- why not?- There was still a little admiration in it.

I admit it, I didn't hesitate to outline my eyes a little and redden my mouth slightly, though it didn't really need it, and yes... yes...

I wanted to please them."
- Chagall

Art Test, Can you draw a roman soldier?

2010-12-13T14:29:00.001-08:00

Inspired

2010-11-16T13:17:00.001-08:00

‎"Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms... singing songs, drinking wine...floating, floating; caring not a wit for the pauperism staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: This is what we call The Floating World."
- Richard Lane, Images of the Floating World

Hamza, among others

2010-08-08T18:17:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do in the Universe, is take a walk in San Francisco. Every neighborhood is different and wonderful. A million things to look at and places to go. But there are favorite places, where you can stop for a cup of coffee and borrow a corner with a table and a chair, and sketch.

That so does not look like Johnny Depp...

2010-07-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

Doodles

2010-07-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

2010-07-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

2010-07-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

Knee Sketches

2010-07-06T08:07:00.001-07:00

Hugh Jackman doodle

2010-06-30T08:52:00.001-07:00

Vlad the Sparkly Impaler, or Prince Spunk Ransom

2010-06-30T08:46:00.001-07:00

I read an article the other day. Some genealogy sight claimed Robert Pattinson is a distant relative of Vlad the Impaler, via some some otherwise unknown family of Pickerings, and THE ROYAL FAMILY.

Yeah.

The news focused on how the actor playing a vampire could be related to one, but the thing that got me was... via the Royal Family?

Really?

Not bad for a kid who's Dad used to sell used cars for a living. And... I mean, exactly how close to the Royal Family are we talking here? How many people are between Mr Pattinson and the crown of England?

Because, not to undercut the threat of Vampires or anything, but I believe in Twilight fans. They have power. They can make things happen.

That's all I'm saying.

Learning how to draw Eric (or trying to)

2010-01-28T18:44:00.001-08:00

Eric was foolish enough to agree to model for me a few years ago, for a work related project that involved me putting him in a silly hat, under bright lights and shouting, "Now, stand like a hero!"

... Though, as it happens, Eric is GREAT at standing like a hero. And although my drawngs from that particular project were terrible, I got a neato hat out of it... and Eric has been a pretty good sport ever since.

I still haven't figured out how to draw him though. Mostly, I find I draw him in pieces. One of these days, I will draw the right pieces all at once, and then... I dunno. Might need to get a new hat then, come to think of it.

Boy in badly drawn hat

2010-01-24T11:57:00.001-08:00

Got carried away with noodling in the face and forgot to define the hat. Which ought to bother me but for some reason, doesn't. I was more entertained about hinting at a lower lip without actually drawing one.

Red headed girl in an undefined hat

2010-01-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

Colored pencil again in my beloved craft paper sketchbook. Somewhere between 10-20 minutes. Getting closer.

Old point of view

2010-01-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

Was going through some old dusty piles of art I have tucked under beds and behind cabinets, and found an old self portrait from a million years ago. Weird.

Yet More Aneel Doodles

2009-12-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

I think I'm coming to a point where I really need to stop sketching, and find a way to find room in my schedule to paint. On the one hand, I feel like I can't seem to find the time. On the other hand, I feel like I'm stalling.

I am getting happier with my little doodles, but they're all getting about as far as I really want to go with colored pencil.

more Aneel doodles...

2009-12-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

Aneel doodles

2009-12-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

Aneel has been kind enough to model for me, several times in the past. I've never really gotten anything close to a likeness, and I don't know that I've done that here, either. But the difference is that, this time, I'm not even trying, I'm just kind of doodling. These are essentially just under drawings.

More sketchbook pages

2009-11-16T19:08:00.001-08:00

Still have no idea why I am drawing a million angles of Robert Pattinson. I'm sort of just going with it now, figuring eventually it will lead me somewhere. Today, it led me here. Playing twister with faces again.

creepy

2009-11-11T10:07:00.001-08:00

Hmmm...

Started doing all these sketches of Robert Pattinson's face. I have no idea why I am doing that. I don't even know the guy.

Except that... it's kind of fun. I have these moments where I feel like a creepy stalker, but then I play super deformo with my colored pencils, and I get over it. Suprisingly easy to give myself the old pass on being creepy. That alone should probably concern me.

Ah well.

Eva

2009-02-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

This just rounds up my week. Eva sat for me this morning, while we were waiting for brunch on a rainy sunday morning. Drawings are still so slip slidey, but I am liking this tiny little moleskin sketchbook. It tucks so neatly into the smallest spaces and the paper seems sturdy.

day seven: Barak

2009-02-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

Barak also offered to model for me this week. I haven't drawn him before, though he was a very willing model. As always, I don't know that this looks like him, as much as it was intersting to look deeply into the features of someone for the first time, while holding a pen in my hand."What does Barak mean?" I asked him.

"In Hebrew, it means something like lighting," he told me. And I like this. It suits him.

day five: figure drawing

2009-02-19T19:01:00.001-08:00

OK, I am torn between deciding whether or not figure drawing ought to count... because it seems a little lazy... and yet, here we are...

So, ok, this week I brought slightly bigger paper, and my box full of colored pencils, which went untouched, and my box of pastels, which made me happy.... although it's been awhile since I played around in that box.

There are colors I now know that I need.

This was a 10 min sketch. The pink was too cool and too grey. I used black as the under drawing, which I love against the craft paper, but was working against me when I added color. You would think I would figure that out right away... but no.

This was another 10 min sketch. Again, the black under drawing was really working against me. I spent the last 5 minutes, wishing I had used sepia to do the basic drawing.

This is a 20 min pose... and FINALLY, I took a stab at working with sepia for the base drawing. Much easier to build against it. I loved playing with the colors. There were more ranges of purple tha I wanted, to play with the lights in the shadow areas.... also, in my head, I was thinking I would go back in and scribble all over the top with black later. 'Cause I'm funny like that. Just ran out of time, and now I'm glad because that would have been a bad idea. Also, the drawing was all loopy and stretched out of shape with itself, which happens. Happens more now because I am so rusty, but.... well, still.

day four

2009-02-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Learned something interesting. Sometimes, I am so used to using the things I am using, that I am not even paying attention. case in point here. My little pot of gesso was in fact white acrylic. Which is great for quick cover... but not so great for drawing on top of. My brown colored pencil here was slip sliding all over the place.

And THAT was the suck.

And then, my matt medium turned out to be gloss medium. More slip slidey, more suck.

Thank god for art supply stores.

"I need matt medium," I tell the guy behind the counter. "All I have is gloss medium, and GLOSS medium... is SO not matt medium!"

he nods soberly, as indeed it is not.

anyway. next sketch will most likely have a little more attachment to it's surface.

day three

2009-02-16T21:13:00.001-08:00

day 3. I don't even know WHAT I put on this one. tinted gesso base, colored pencil, ink, acrylic, sharpie, waterproof opaque ink... you name it. There might even be some lint stuck in there, I don't know.

day two

2009-02-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

day 2. Brown colored pencil on gesso and mixed paper.

I kind of like this one. Might go back and scribble on it some more.

One week assingment: portrait a day

2009-02-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Wanted to play in my sketchbook a little. So... here it is. One page, every day. No more than an hour, no less than 5 minutes. Simple portrait. 7 days.

day one: Brown ink, gesso, acrylic, and ball point pen.

Drawing sessions at the Academy

2009-02-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

Yoriko told me to check out the Alumni Association at the Academy... turns out, my old Alma Matter hosts drawing sessions for us Alumni... took a couple of emails to dig up my old student ID (can you believe that stuff is still on record?) and then... tadaa!

The model was beautiful. I had only grabbed my little sketchbook and a box of pencils. Next time I will bring proper paper and maybe even my pastels.

It's funny how sometimes 1 minute seems like all the time in the world. This time, 20 minute poses seemed like 5 minutes had passed. Most of what I did was scribbles in search of a larger space to go, but this one turned out kind of ok... though I still don't know how 2o minutes drifted away...

20 minute pose, colored pencil and white charcoal on craft paper

Open Figure Drawing Session at the Art Institute

2009-01-31T13:33:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I feel so shy about going new places on my own. Especially considering how often I end up doing exactly that.... anyway, I managed to talk David into coming with me, to check out the open drawing session at the Art Institute. I love the space there. It makes me wish I could go back to school and get my masters.

"What would getting your Masters do for you?" Eric asks me.

and, yeah, I dunno. nothing really. I'd just be using schooling as a feeble, yet expensive way of circumventing my issues with self discipline. Also, it would just be way way fun.

anyway, here are some of my sketches from last night's session. Not sure what I think of them, just glad to have gone.

1 minute sketch, marker, gesso, and charcoal on craft paper.

5 minute sketch, marker, gesso, colored pencil, and charcoal on craft paper.

20 minute sketch, colored pencil on craft paper.

First random doodle of the new year

2009-01-08T15:06:00.001-08:00

1 min doodle. Playing around with upper lip shapes.

old figure sketches, april 2005

2008-11-17T09:10:00.001-08:00

1 minute gesture poses

I think this was a 10 min pose. I've always loved this sketch.

I think this one was 20 min.

40 min pose.

Looking through my old sketches, scattered throughout social sites across the internet reminds me how much I love figure drawing.

old sketches from figure drawing sessions, may 2005

2008-11-17T09:07:00.001-08:00

10 min pose, 2005

20 min pose, 2005

Judy

2008-11-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

Did a little doodle of my friend Judy.

Superhero Diva Avatar

2008-08-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me if I could make an avatar for his super hero persona....

And I said I thought I might.

This is closer to my work related art and less to my random doodles, but liked the way these turned out. I probably ought to be signing my name on the bottom of these images but I've never really had to think like that before.

Piles of Faces

2008-07-03T21:27:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is but I've always found profiles so fascinating. I love the ways we are put together.

Square Head

2008-06-26T22:13:00.001-07:00

My silly little doodles for today.

Swirl Tutorial for Illustrator

2008-06-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting and well written tutorial from Bitbox, on a clean and simple way to make curves curls and swirls in illustrator.

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

2008-06-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

Found this interesting list of creative ideas by Bruce Mau (via Jen Renninger's blog, 365): I like looking at other people's lists for how to live a successful life. It makes you think. Sometimes I don't agree with everything. Some things make me wonder. How that applies to me, how he came up with that particular one, what was the story behind it... and marvel that each and every one of these has at least one real world story that ended with, "and so after that, I came up with this little rule about life..."

anyway... the list is in the above link, but I also included it here. Much thanks to Bruce Mau and Jen Renninger for helping it make it's way to me.

Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.
Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
Capture accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.
Stay up late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.
Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
Be careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
Make your own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
Stand on someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.
Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
Read only left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."
Make new words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
Think with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
Organization = Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
Don’t borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
Make mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea -- I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.
Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
Explore the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces -- what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference -- the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

Mistress Mary

2008-06-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Based loosely on a photo of Miss Mary Hoover, via Shorpy. Papermate ballpoint pen on random scrap of paper (which appears to be what I've got lying around on my desk).

I am not a fan of ball point pen, which is actually why I am using it now, though that only makes sense if you are one of those kinds of people that does things to spite themselves. um, Booyah and all that.... I am even LESS of a fan of the unibal signo (although I confess, I DO love the squishy bit, It's what lured me into buying it in the first place, stupid tempting space age technology, grrr). I was using that to doodle with all last week (see previous post). For some reason, these silly super cheapo papermate pens give a nice line quality that makes me kind of happy. I always liked them on top of matt medium, but now I find I like them on any old random paper as well. I still love my prisma colors, but there is always that dreadful tenancy to noodle... not that a mere cheapo papermate ball point pen can stop me and my noodling ways. I am unstoppable (at least today I am)

Green Girl

2008-06-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Playing around with some simple painting stuff, and some random doodles.

"How to be Creative"

2008-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Found this list by Hugh Mcleod, via Stephen Silver's blog. Much more detail included in the original post, but here is the list that I think is interesting. I don't think I agree with everything here, but it does make for an interesting conversation starter.

So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.

3. Put the hours in.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

7. Keep your day job.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

14. Dying young is overrated.

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.

16. The world is changing.

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.

19. Sing in your own voice.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.

21. Selling out is harder than it looks.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

24. Don�t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

25. You have to find your own schtick.

26. Write from the heart.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.

31. Remain frugal.

32. Allow your work to age with you.

33. Being Poor Sucks.

34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.

35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.

36. Start blogging.

Dude with Hat

2008-06-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

Ever have one of those things, like a lucky shirt, or, say, a black leather jacket and a pair of sexy black boots? Something that makes you look at yourself in the mirror and smile to yourself, and think,

"aww, yeah".

With this guy, it is ALL about the hat.

Playing with profile

2008-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

This playing around with relationships in profile.

Random Doodle

2008-06-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of Ringlets

2008-05-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

This is a doodle from an ad for something called, "Frizz-Ease" by John Freida. Ballpoint pen on white sketchbook paper.Just stretching, really. No smile in those eyes, alas. I think I got too tight in the lower eyelids, for one thing.

Lorimer

2008-05-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

I did another doodle last night. This is based on a photo on the Library of Congress photostream. I LOVE that photostream. I've spent hours going through all those old photos. They're amazing. Anyway, this is my version of Lorimer. Simple little ballpoint pen on white sketchbook paper. I would love to paint him, but first I have to remember how to paint.

Illustration Friday: Electricity

2008-05-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

I decided to finally try to do a little something for Illustration Friday. Just a doodle in my sketchbook, ballpoint pen with pastels, on craft paper. I love my craft paper sketchbooks.

time for a change

2008-01-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hi new blog thing. For now, I am just playing in new waters.