Sketchy and sketches

I played it lazy last night and used my mighty tablet pc at Dr. Sketchy as opposed to real paper and pencils. Azucena teasingly calls it cheating. I've made it a point up until now to not use the tablet so that I would be forced into fixing on the fly whatever mistakes I make using traditional media. How else do we improve but by learning from our mistakes?

Our models for the night consisted of three hula hoopers, including Revolva (awesome name) who posed for us before. All proceeds went to Blight Busters which gives hula hoops to inner city kids for World Hoop Day. The fun part of drawing hula hoopers in action is that nobody can tell you that you got it wrong. The models were moving far too fast to get an accurate picture of what they were doing. In fact, all of my sketches are amalgams of the three hoopers, using an arm from this one, a leg from that one...etc. The session was more about capturing the feeling of movement than any kind of accuracy and it led to much more cartoony drawings than what I normally produce at Dr. Sketchy.

I'm also throwing in three sketches from lunch break earlier in the day. Kind of my warm-up for D.S.: a girl from a pop-up ad on my email, Ellie, and Azucena admiring a rock.

Coming up next: My Comic Con report! I got to meet Dr. Sketchy creator Molly Crabapple herself! Stay tuned!

Blimp!

Just a little sketch to tide you over until I post some Comic Con photos!

Doggonit!

Here's another illustration for the presentation I did a few weeks back. The big dog (played by Bijou, my notoriously e-VIL Border Collie mix) represents the gigantic communications company that is bigger than everybody else and is loved by all, whereas the small dogs represent the competition that does nothing for you except maybe pee on your rug.

Get Booked!

I'm heading to San Diego in a few weeks for Comic-Con International, for what has to be the biggest geekfest in the world. I want to take a portable portfolio with me to show, just in case, ya know, but don't want to carry a laptop or my tablet which could get lost, broken, or stolen. So I went through Blurb.com and had this book made.


It's 82 pages, hardcover, with a dust jacket. Fifty bucks delivered! And I have to say, it turned out better than I could imagine. The colors are bright and true to the look of the files on my monitor. Even art that I thought was rather low in resolution looks sharp. If you ever had the idea to put together a book of art or photos this is the stuff. You can order various sizes in paperback or hardcover and even put them up for sale in the Blurb store. Other websites offer the same sort of service including Apple with their iBooks.


I'm also going to get some postcards made too. I just finished the illustration tonight, featuring Ellie meeting denizens of another world.

More from ye olde booke of Sketchy

A few weeks back Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck held the opening for the first Dr. Sketchy art show. And of course we had a session of drawing as well. Everyone's favorite model, Muana, posed for us in all her Geisha finery. We even got to go draw outside - a Dr. Sketchy first. The show will be hanging until July 12.

A few of my sketches hang along with Azucena's and others'.

That boat is #*@%ed.

I just finished working on some illustrations for a web-based presentation to be used by telephone sales and their customers. Here's most of them without all of the text and other goop added on. I kinda like that monochromatic thing going on in nos 2 and 3.

School's out for summer!

Another Metro Times cover for this week's edition. This time the cover story features the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Connie Calloway. Look for it on newsstands this Wednesday, June 18!

Yeah!

Guys and Dolls

Tonight's game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs betwixt the Pittsburgh Penguins and our own Detroit Red Wings. So in honor of the night the Wings can clinch the Cup I worked up this little drawing. Go Wings!



Also, I was asked to do an illustration for the Metro Times to accompany a review of the Sex in the City movie. I took on the challenge, even though I've never watched the show when it was on HBO and only had some cursory idea as to what it was about (testosterone dictates that I make that disclaimer beforehand, whether true or not). Besides, Sarah Jessica Parker was in Footloose and Square Pegs, not to mention that she's married to Ferris Bueller. Plus Kim Cattrall was a Vulcan in a Star Trek movie with Captain James T. Kirk. So there's your manliness right there. All of those Dr. Sketchy sessions sure come in handy when you need to draw women's shoes.



Speaking of Dr. Sketchy, more of my artwork is going to appear in the Metro Times to promote the upcoming show at Cafe 1923, 2287 Holbrook, Hamtramck, MI 48212. The opening reception is this Friday, June 6, from 6-9 pm. There's a drawing session as well. The show will be up until July 12.

Sketchy for May

Demonique, one of our models from last year's anniversary sketchin' session, returned for another go at posing for us. Once again, here are my interpretations - the ones that turned out half way decent anyway.

Oh, and June 6th is the opening for a special Dr. Sketchy show at Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck, featuring artwork from a bevy of art monkeys! I'll have several sketches on view myself. Stay tuned for more info if there is any.

Six degrees of Sketchy

For the seventeenth Dr. Sketchy model Zachariah posed for us along with his fancy guitar. We don't get many guys posing for us, but he was great and could hold a pose like nobody. My interpretations look a bit like Kevin Bacon crossed with Chris Isaak. So if you ever need to know how those two are connected, now you know. The last drawing is from a fifteen minute round robin that two other people finished from my original sketch.

Hey!

This is preliminary art for a children's book I'm proposing and the original sketch along with it.

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

More Lebowski fun. Not as well done as the previous drawing (a bit overworked if you ask me), but there you go.

"I'm The Dude, man!"

Upon multiple viewings of that classic film The Big Lebowski, I thought it only proper to render The Dude (Jeff Bridges), Walter (John Goodman), and even Donny (Steve Buscemi) as they might appear in a Saturday morning cartoon. The Dude abides.