beach

Painted really quickly, on thin paper that crinkled. Always stretch your watercolours, or do them on heavy gauge paper!

I wonder what he's saying in this. Maybe he's trying to explain something embarassing or rude he's done in front of these two girls. It never happened to me, though.

teleos

This is Conrad Black with an anonymous girlfriend, and an inkblot. The ink went all down the side of the book, which may colour subsequent sketches, if I don't cover it over, or photoshop it out.

This blog is pretty light on the promised book and movie reviews, and has resolved itself into a "sketch blog," which is fine by me. Others, such as the group in the links at right (should add more there), are better at the reviewing (or at least more diligent), and have many more interesting thoughts to post. I seem to get unecessarily negative when I'm here, and keep having to remind myself to cheer up. I'm not like this all the time, I promise.

And as well, I seem to want to save the serious reviewing for publications. It's a snobbery of mine, bred of a long history of "not giving it away."

Funny to think that, and have a log on the web where "giving it away" is the deal, but I've always liked showing off my sketchbook, as people who know me will tell you (perhaps at times to excess). Right now, I've got the notion to put up everything I sketch on Flikr (I've only uploaded "6% of my monthly limit" it tells me), and only blog the highlights. That might be an interesting project.

Should say that the original of this drawing is 11" x 14", and it was drawn in a black-covered, spiral-bound Canson brand sketchbook, with 65-lb paper (not so good for the ink washes). Also a Pilot "fine" roller pen. Pencil to start, this time. Drew it last night in bed, but don't know how long it took. It's always daunting to see those illustrator's "how-to" articles where they note the amount of time spent to complete a drawing, and it's something absurd for a complicated work like "half an hour."

That's for illustration clients to know how much they are being billed. I've only got one client at the moment (The McGill Reporter, [scroll down to bottom for itty-bitty image]) and the drawings I do for them are usually dashed off, because they look fresher that way. When I get my portfolio up to date (should do that right away), you'll be able to see them.

There, that's a nice chat with an invisible, possibly non-existent audience, then, isn't it? Of course, such an audience is any writer's lot, unless one has a lot of friends who like to write in, or one says something very controversial. I'm neither way.

"Teleos" means "knowledge" in Greek, I think, and was just a word that popped into my head, as most of these words, writings in these drawings, even the subject of many of them, are.

Kingsesar and keeper

This is a study for a comic page I'm working on. There seem to be dozens of Shi Tzus around here, though none as big as this one, "Kingsesar." This is the legendary protector of Okinawa, at least according to a review I read of "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla."

The title of the story will be "Dog Run," The Keeper, who is very arrogant, and just like a character out of a cheap Asian genre flick (I hope not an offensive stereotype), lets his pet loose in a Montreal dog run, where it proceeds to kick the hell out of the other dogs, and surrounding buildings. Won't know what it means until I finish.

Bad Singer

badsinger

Stop! Enough!

spaceport

spaceport

When not working on my paltry little contracts, I've been drawing eleborate pictures. Most of them haven't turned out.

Don't know if that makes me an illustrator or not. It speaks to the value of planning, drawing thumbnails to get the values right, and many different versions. I don't do this. I often start in one corner, usually without the benefit of a pencil, and draw.

Here it was with the guy in the monkish robe in the front. Didn't know if was gong to be science fiction until the machine appeared in the background, with the robot. The other stuff fell into place. The blacks help it, because my drwaings can dissolve into a smog of labour-intensive crosshatching.

I'm sure if I'd be trained, I'd have some tricks that would save me a lot of useless drawing. Of I could copy things out of a book, or from other artists.

Some day I might put up the failed ones, so that people can see exactly what went wrong, and how to avoid it. Seriously, I think that's a good idea. I think that when you see a famous artist's "sketchbook," one of the reasons you don't get the whole book, is because the bad ones are taken out. One could learn a lot from them, I bet.

In the meantime, my new web-site is up. [link] Actually, only two parts so far are new, and I'm gradually revamping the rest.

The Queen and her Grandson

Wow, the title of that last post seemed pretentious, didn't it? It was just trying to be a description, but instead comes out like I'm trying to allude to Debussy, and be especially deep and all. I've just been drawing stuff, mainly inspired by what I see on the web and television. I'd much rather be outside sketching, but it's too cold for that.



Left one of my sketchbooks behind in Thailand! I really want them to send it back, but instead my friend Anan there says he's keeping it for me for when I come back. Waaah! I do want to come back, but I want my sketches, as well.

Been a little down over what happened there, but since others are much more affected than I, thought I wouldn't whine about it. My collaborator on the Thailand show, Peter Mantello (actually, the show was his idea, and he did most of the groundwork, and was a little pissed off when I came over and scooped up most of the glory) went to Phuket beach for Christmas, and could have been washed away with his family. But luckily they left a few hours earlier, turning down the offer of a free room for Boxing day. Hope Peter doesn't mind me telling that story.

I'm working on a revamp of my personal website, and also a site for the "Ink on the Edge" exhibition, and hope these will launch soon. Still dealing with personal lassitude, though have gotten a couple of little contracts this month which prove my freelance employers haven't forgotten about me. But the life is hard, and am still not making enough money to afford the glamourous, jet-setting lifestyle I feel I deserve.

The above is a picture of the Queen and her Nazi grandson. Not that they look like themselves. I don't draw these from life. Mostly screwing around with my sketchbook when I'm in the mood, which is often just before going to bed, or some other time when I'm not too agitated about personal things and anxieties.

I think the swastika is drawn backwards, but that's okay, because now it's supposed to mean good luck.

Images

A CBC intellectual, Julie Newmar as Catwoman, and a child soldier from Sudan.

Envy

Here's a good but scary essay about writers' envy that's also about men and women, and even includes a dying father and 9-11, too! Someone in the essay criticises the author for not "raising the stakes" high enough in her work. I hope she doesn't feel she's used up all her material in one piece. [Link]

Laser Plane Guy

This is strange, but it's where my head's been. It, and the other drawing are things I've done just before going to bed. Sort of insomniac. They're a response to a news story about that guy who shot laser beams at airplanes, and then was caught, and said his daughter had been doing it.

As you can see from the pictures, his hair's quite incredible, but I wish I had noticed what his wife really looked like. Though aside from her hair, it's pretty close.


Much rather be out on my balcony drawing people walking by, but it's way too cold for that. Hope this isn't evidence that my mind is going.

Cute Sushi Pics

Cheep! Cheep!

Wanted to put up something. The Thailand stuff is all going on its own website, once I get that figured out. In the meantime, here's something cute that one of my contacts in Thailand sent me. It's got little to do with anything, least of all the terrible events that have happened in parts of that country, but it cheered me up. Maybe it will do the same for you.

I'm still trying to learn about Flickr, where I'm hosting these things, and haven't quite figured it out. So, you're going to have to click on the picture, and if you want, just scroll down and look at all the other ones. I'm slowly getting my act in gear, but it's been tough. Big bringdown being in cold Montreal, with few things happening for me, and all that bad news. Well, I'm emerging slowly, and the more I do like this, the more stuff happens, so I hope there will be something happy to report soon.