the Grease Pencil

These quick sketches were done on the R train coming home from life drawing a few weeks back. I like using the Grease Pencil or "China Marker" because it necessitates a quick, loose style of drawing. The first time I used a grease pencil was at Burger King in Richmond B.C. After removing the whopper from the microwave, I would mark off if it had extra onions or if it had no tomatoes. Then I'd stuff my mouth full of onion rings.

Barbes sketches

A few weeks ago Mick and I took a stroll up to Barbes on 6th avenue to watch some live music and sketch.

We sat on the side near the very front, and when Zee showed up he was standing with the crowd packed into the small room. Halfway through the set some crazy drunk guy shows up and of course, it was someone Zee and I had met briefly last summer. As he shouted and banged his hands on the ceiling, hugging Zee and pointing in my direction I could barely contain my laughter.

The Trombonist in the second band was well into his 60's and was rocking out. His wife was in the crowd and she took lots of pictures. Zee drew her once he got a seat with us.

A couple of very pretty ladies were dancing to our right, and of course I could not help but ignore the performers in front of me.

Barbes is a great little place to sketch and I'll definitely be back very soon.

Great Lakes

Being a passenger in an airplane makes me nervous for a few reasons. I've been around pilots all my life and I know they are just as infallible as the next person. I also have this reoccurring dream where a jet liner falls from the sky and as it does I watch it closely to see in which direction I should run, narrowly escaping the burning debris. So a couple of weeks ago I took a late night stroll to Great Lakes on fifth ave, had a couple of Brooklyn Lagers and sketched Ginger, to take my mind off the impending early morning flight to Toronto. Thank you to Justin for the picture.

walking canvas party

I hate nightclubs, I always have. I'm sure there are some nice people that go to clubs and maybe that person is YOU, but if I want to dance I usually do so in the comfort of my own kitchen when no one is looking. As my friend Steve says "If you see me dancing call me a taxi right away." I'm not really one for deafening pop music, overpriced drinks and excesses of douchebaggery. I like to take in my douchebaggery in small doses, that's why I stick to bars these days WITH ONE EXCEPTION - friends of mine have been putting on these full moon party events (www.moonlightnights.org) and the last event was a walking canvas party at 40C on ave C. Lots of cool people and a friendly vibe made for a pleasant, albeit exhaustive evening, I don't recall taking too many brakes between 10pm and 4am. Thank you to all who let me draw on you, and for all those drinks.

Two girls one napkin

I shook my father's hand and at the same time unbuckled my seat belt. "Give me a call later if you need to be picked up" he told me. I wouldn't be needing a ride though, no need to wake him up at midnight. If my friends were too drunk to drive me home then I'd phone up a taxi cab. It was 8pm and I was to meet Ted and Chris at 8:30. Mike and Eric would show up later. I was early and I knew it, I desperately needed to get some bar sketching in before they all showed up. As the waitress took my beer order a drunk fat woman in her 30's to her right yelled for some napkins. "I'll have a few napkins too if you don't mind" I chipped in. She thought I was joking, there was no spill at my table.
Upon returning from the bar with some napkins to my full beer I fumbled for my pens and proceeded to sketch, except for the first time in a long time I was afraid of someone getting offended if they caught me drawing them. I played it safe and sketched some of the waitresses from the back. I would avoid drawing the men in the bar that night, and later would give all the drawings away to the respective girls.

Out with Zartosht the other night, these 2 girls didn't mind me drawing them at all, nor did the one on the left mind Z drawing a beautiful tattoo on her back.
Z picked up dinner and I took care of the cab ride home.

Life Drawings

These are just a few of my favorite life drawings of this past month, I really need to start going a lot more consistently if I'm ever going to improve. Inspired by my online character design instructor, Steve Silver, I've been approaching my drawings differently of late, and I'm feeling good about this new direction.
The female model was just stunning, I don't know if I did her any justice but I tried my best. Then I met up with some friends at the Gowanus Yacht Club over on Smith street and downed a few beers, a nice way to end the day, wouldn't you say?

Bar Tano napkin

My good friend Dave from Montreal was feeling a little rugged the other morning, so I decided to poke a little fun at him and draw as much as I could squeeze onto this napkin before our breakfast arrived. I ordered him a bloody mary also, isn't that what friends are for?

Happy Earth Day

a pretty rough attempt at digital painting here, take it easy on me! :)
I must imagine that mother earth is pretty sad these days, we've been mistreating her for over a hundred years now and yet we pretend that dedicating one day out of the year in her honour is going to solve our problems. I think we're doomed as a species, and I'm a pretty optimistic person, but I'm also no fool. As long as we keep buying into this system of capitalism and consumerism I think we can kiss her goodbye- but, hey, I don't want to be the party pooper here! Happy Birthday my dear friend.

Sunday eve doodling

What are memories?- but moments upon moments of the past buried deeply away in our minds. Some stand out alone like continents on a world map while others are like islands scattered across the ocean, miles of gaps in between them. I personally enjoy those moments of frozen time that are difficult to get to, because after all, nothing beats a private island with some good friends.
This painting, although unintentional at the time brings back many memories, some painful, some joyous. I suppose I could say I'm on a shaky canoe sometimes, but what's wrong with getting wet once in a while.
eh?

Prank #3

I'm pretty absent minded these days, I uploaded the incorrect video last week and Zee brought it to my attention. Here ya go!

Succesful cracker prank

I'm done with these cracker pranks for a little while, I've a lot of work to get done, but it's fun to goof off every once in a while. I really think Zee's genuinely scared by this tiny package of crackers dangling next to him. Funny stuff.

Art Gallery Bar

It's not often someone hands me a pen and asks me to draw on the wall of their establishment. I usually do it incognito, inebriated in the bathroom stall.
This time it was on a large sheet of paper at the Art Gallery bar in the LES at a full moon party event. I had fun, I must say, but I much prefer to draw alone.

Failed Prank attempt #2

This one makes me laugh every time I see it. Zartosht is pulling the string, Sean McBride is the victim.

Failed Prank attempt #1

I have a lot of fun working at Flickerlab here in NY. Even if some of the projects are not the most challenging in terms of pushing my animation limits, I always try to find a way to expand my artistic abilities. For instance, I could be working on educational flash animation that is quite boring and laborious, I could come into work and bitch and complain, bring the energy level down to those people I work with, or.... I could use the opportunity to work on my organizational and people skills, especially when put in the role of supervisor for certain projects.
Such isn't the case right now. We are currently wrapping up on a cool little animated sequence for an Australian documentary, all about living and eating healthy, which can seem a little ironic when some of us may show up the occasional day a bit hungover and grab a burger and fries for lunch, not to mention all those smoke breaks.
Nonetheless, I still think it's fun to play a friendly little prank once in a while, or once a week depending on the stress level. This is our best attempt thus far, what I'd really like to see is someone freak out or scream like a girl only to find a little package of crackers floating above their heads.

Missed Connection

High on a wine buzz, I was on my way out the door the night of the art show at the Crooked Tail Cafe when a Canal Bar regular pulled me back into the room where the paintings hung. He pointed to this painting. "How much for this one" he asked. I couldn't give him an answer, after all I didn't even print out a price list for that night (apparently I was supposed to.) I promised that night to email him with the price. I'm not sure if he's changed his mind or If he does not know how to work his email account properly- in any case, I'm happy to have her hanging in my hallway for the time being.