O Valencia!

I underestimated how much work I've done the past couple weeks that I wanted to post.

I'd like to do more color sketches as long as the weather holds up. I should probably invest in an actual paintbrush (I've been using a gnarly old water brushpen) and a real gouache set (I'm using a $6 kids' set). I can't get a full range of values and the colors aren't as vivid as they should be although I'm extremely surprised I've been able to make the paints do what I've been doing with them. Six bucks well spent!

I took an unexpected detour this weekend through the Mission District on my way to the beach... not quite sure how that happened. Never made it to the beach either.

Above: A condemned house across the street from Cafe Cole, in Haight-Ashbury.

Photatoes

I have plenty of arts on backstock but I thought I'd take a quick break for some recent photos taken while out and about in the city. I recently got an iPhone and there's this gimmicky app called ShakeItPhoto that makes all your pictures look like polaroids. You even get to shake it to make it develop faster (thus the name). For some reason, I've become addicted to it. I imagine I look pretty strange standing on street corners shaking my phone in front of my face intently all the time.

Above: The Tenderloin near sundown. Tempting fate, apparently. Dumb.



Above: Waiting at the platform at an Oakland BART station at sunset.


Above: Obligatory pet photo. Yeah, that's my dog.


Above: Definitely not the city. Uh, somewhere along I-580? I think.

fillMORE: An Ode to the 22

The theme of my last week's collection of sketches was (unintentionally) Fillmore. With the exception of the car (a holdout from the previous weekend's Sketchcrawl), all of these drawings were done somewhere along Fillmore Street in San Francisco.

Above: The top drawing was done sitting in the window at Alamo Square Cafe. I only drew the tops of the buildings not just because the lighting was more interesting but because a lot of buses come through this intersection, obscuring the view much of the time.

The bottom painting on the same page was done at a park in Pacific Heights, Alta Plaza. The park has killer views in every direction but I actually picked the least picturesque view to paint. Partially to be contrary. Partially because this particular view lent itself best to this composition. But mostly because it was the least windy spot and thus, the least annoying.

Above: This was originally intented to be a painting... the lighting was incredible. I did this in a Tapioca Express on Fillmore where all kinds of road construction was going on in front. They had the music cranked to 11 and then some so after finishing the initial drawing, I just had to leave. A painting was not meant to be. Heh, I totally tried to sneak an extra L in O'Farrell like I didn't totally just mispell that sucker.

Above: The bottom drawing is from Sketchcrawl in the Presidio. It got too windy to continue... paint kept drying right on my brush and I had to leave for the end time meetup anyhow. I wasn't going to share this because it was in an awkward stage when I abandoned it but I sort of dig it now. It's a charming painting-drawing half-breed.

Sketchcrawl 23 (and then some)

This Sketchcrawl was held at San Francisco's Presidio and I definitely plan on returning there another day this summer for more painting when the weather is supposed to be nicer.

Below: Done in two sittings at Buena Vista Park in Haight-Ashbury. I had a rather peculiar run-in with a hammer-wielding junkie and thought it was probably best to finish this another day...

Above: Drawn while the stage was being set for a concert at Berkeley's Greek Theater.

Below: Same spread but with color added to the Alamo Square Park sketch on a second sitting.

Above & Below: These two spreads were done in front of the same cafe... I just drew different buildings. I may add color to the one below in another sitting. The top one was sort of a warm-up over breakfast.

Now In Technicolor

Let's hear it for summer. Alright. I can't think of a better way to spend a summer morning in San Francisco than to get acquainted with a fresh sketchbook over a latte and a bagel at some neighborhood cafe.

A former teacher of mine always encouraged us to incorporate words in our sketchbooks whether in journalistic, poetic, or graphic form. I thought I'd try my hand at it. Dunno if I'll keep it up.

I was forced to abandon the drawing below when I started losing the light but I sort of like it better unfinished because it says something about my process here.

Below: Yes, his neck was really that thick. Yes, it was freaky.

Below is a leftover from Ye Olde Recycled Paper Sketchbook.

The new sketchbook is forcing me to think differently about how I compose images on a page and use various media. My old standby tools just don't work in this book and washes are out of the question so I'm mostly working with gouache and these really great Staedtler triplus fineliner pens I just discovered. The painting was all done with my dying water brushpen instead of an actual paintbrush... I can't tell you how difficult a time I had with the color sketches because of that.

I actually had too many sketchbook pages for one post... got a little overstocked due to a broken scanner. Regular updates from now on. Promise. I have backstock.

May Days

No, I still haven't switched sketchbooks. No, I would not like to talk about it. I seem to be having some issues letting go... we'll call it separation anxiety. Soon, for reals, I will really switch to white and do some color stuff. Gouache, crayons... the whole deal. Here are some May drawings:

Above: Done at Arlequin Cafe in San Francisco. It got a little overworked and you can still see some old drawings I began underneath areas. I confess to committing petty Photoshoppery on the windows... a very light overlay to make the windows pop a bit and balance the overall value scale. Don't shoot.

Above: Done on a ridiculously windy day at the park.
Below: BART drawings.


Above: Another Alamo Square drawing, San Francisco. My Tombows were dying and I had to go back on 3 different days for this because I kept losing the light to evening bay fog after about 15 minutes of drawing each time.

Below: Done at an Oakland A's game on Memorial Day. I normally can't stand sports but my dad called me up and was all, "Hey, free tickets and food!" Free food? I will be there. And I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some new sketchbook subjects.


Above: Randomness... drawings done at some friends' graduation ceremony in San Jose, at a restaraunt afterward, and then trash cans and cars outside some cafe on Hayes Street in San Francisco.

Hey, has anyone seen this cool little film called "UP" that was released (or rather, unleashed) recently? I want to express a big congratulations and and even bigger thank you to Pixar. I don't know what those folks had to do to match (and possibly surpass) "Ratatouille" but they did it. Way to up the ante. Will you marry me, Pixar?