Punching Your TV

For those of you that didn't watch the third and final US Presidential debate tonight, congratulations, you spared yourself an hour and a half of wanting to punch the the left side of your TV screen where Donald "Bad Hombres" Trump was positioned. Unless of course, you're actually a Trump supporter. In which case, I would question how it is that we're friends, because my friends aren't morons. #dontbeamoron

Anyways, if you did watch the debates and you need something to take your mind off of this election news cycle, here's a scribble I made of a dog in a suit and bowtie. Which would probably make a better president than either Clinton or Trump.

Sketches and Valentine's Day

I said I wanted to sketch more this year, so I started off the lunar new year with this one. It's not finished, nor did it turn out anything like it was supposed to, but I've alway admitted to being a hack at this art stuff. And because today is overly commercial Valentine's Day, I spent all of NO money cutting and pasting together a little card for Anita below. Or as I like to think of it, I made her something "priceless." Happy Hallmark Holiday to all, suckers! Now go spend some money on frivolous shiat for your boy/ girl/ it-friend and jumpstart our ruined economy... because you know, Kevin O'Leary's a fucking capitalist pig that won't do anything to help, no strings attached.

Sketching my way into 2016

Happy new year to you, mine loyal viewers of this crap blog (all 3 of you). If you've set some new year's resolutions, here's hoping you haven't already broken some or all of them. This year, there are things-o-plenty I would like to get accomplished, and one of those is to draw more. What about you? Any big plans you intend to put into action? Make it / them happen!

Here's a sharpie doodle of Dean I did while labelling my cup at our new year's eve shindig.


And for those that don't know what he looks like, I've posted a pic of him below.

Budgets and Bill Murray

It's post budget Friday in Alberta. Hope you stocked up on beer and gasoline, cause the MAN is coming to take his share. And speaking of the MAN, I spent my Friday off sketching (very poorly, I will readily admit) a picture of Bill Murray I found online. It looked good when it was just pencils, but once I started laying down inks, markers, and conte, it didn't look like him anymore. This is what happens when you suck at art.









3H pencil, Pentel Pocket Brush pen, Copic Markers, and conte.

_Oh, the pointy ears guy? The bald one? From X-Men?_

So before Leonard Nimoy passed away, he was sent to hospital earlier in the week. And this is the conversation I had with Anita about his initial hospitalization.

Me: Leonard Nimoy's in the hospital!
Her: Who?
Me: You know, Spock.
Her: Oh, the pointy ears guy? The bald one? From X-Men?
Me: *double facepalm*

A sketch of mine from a few years back of Spock.


I know it's the wrong actor (Zachary Quinto), but at least it's from the right show
While we're on the topic of sci-fi geekdom, and mixing up various shows, I put together a 3D sheet metal kit of an AT-AT last night. When I told Anita I was making an AT-AT from Star Wars, she was like, "Oh, that short white thing... 3DP2 or something?" hahaha...






The kit before assembly.

I'm usually pretty good with arts and crafts, but this kit was just frustrating as all hell to build, cause the metal bends/ breaks so damn easily (side note: hey look, something more frail than my back!)... The model might look well built in the photos, but is in fact just barely holding together through the magic of duct tape.

Thicker than Cheez Whiz... it's Valentine's Day!

We don't do Valentines Day in the commercial sense (no flowers, chocolates, rom com/ BDSM flick at the theatres). But it does give me an excuse to break out the craft scissors, and glue stick to make Anita a card. All that's missing is some blood from me cutting myself - that would've been even more perfect ... because SHARK, duh!

She giggled endlessly at the replays of Left Shark drunkenly dancing out of sync during the Superbowl halftime show, so this was the perfect drawing and pickup line for her (credit to the anonymous person that started this internet meme).


I take no credit for this cheesey line.


But this right here... this cheesiest of bad grade 6 poetry? That was all me. That's right folks, I'm laying the gauntlet down and challenging any grade 6-er to a poetry slam.

The Intent: between the free flowers I grabbed yesterday from some dude on the street (?!), and this "thicker than Cheez Whiz" poem, she's gonna melt. Like chocolate (the milk kind, not dark)... while in a hot car... while also in my hand... Because obviously, melty chocolate in a car is kinda gross. But chocolate melting in one's hand is apparently a good thing? Who comes up with these figures of speech?! Anyways, moving on...

The Reality: Anita's not awake yet, but I'll update this with her actual reaction after... Stay tuned for part 2 of 'Will it melt?'


Link (there's a pun brewing here, you'll see when you click) to last year's V-day card.

Life drawing and more - a week of art in Ottawa

Another round of "Woo!! Naked Wednesdays" - more appropriately known as 'Life Drawing at Sandy Hill' - in cold, desolate, wintery Siberia Ottawa last Wednesday. I was pretty disappointed in my results at this session, but whatever. I blame it on the cold, desolate, wintery climate of Siberia... my fingers were frozen and frostbitten to death. In fact, if digits reacted to cold like other certain appendages, they'd have shrunk to embarrassing pre-pubescent sizing.

Sketches done with the Pentel Pocket brush pen, Shin-han Touch markers, and a bit of white chalk.







While disappointed in my figure drawing, I was happy with how my package of film to the lab turned out. I guess I should just stick to sketching animals.

"You must be hungry hungry, Hippopotamus"

I curated a selection of random crap gifts for Tytus' Bday - Spock socks with protruding vulcan ears, beer goggles pint glass bands, a bottle of Fallen Timber Hopped Mead, and then made him an mdf transfer of a hippo sketch I did a long time ago, complete with original hippo haiku.




That's not a real website, btw.

And what birthday party is complete, without some polaroid action. These were taken with an SX-70 on Impossible Project Film. The film has a ridiculously slow development time, so for this first shot of TK drunkenly playing the guitar, I chucked it in the microwave to see how heat would speed up the process. The thing shot off sparks within seconds, and the back melted, complete with chemical burn smells. If you're going to try this, would suggest you set it on low power or possibly the defrost cycle. And don't walk away, cause it'll probably end up in flames if you aren't there to stop it.


I sort of like the effect generated here. Particularly the burnt edges.


Tytus in his regular attire.




They need to make unicorn costumes for adults more common.


He apparently was playing Sweet Home Alabama, but it sounded more like a grandpa tripping down the stairs with a guitar strapped to his back.

Life Drawing - Harcourt House - May 2014

Couple of results from tonight's life drawing session at Harcourt House in Edmonton. I'm not at home, so can't do proper scans of the originals - these are photographs of the sketches instead. Maybe it was me worrying about some personal family stuff, or maybe it was just boredom, but I really wasn't feeling it tonight. These two were okay, but the rest of my results were rather ehhhhh.





Pentel Pocket Brush, and Shinhan Touch markers, on Bee Paper's Bogus Recycled Sketch pad.

Life Drawing & Valentines Day

Back from Ottawa. Apparently there was a stabbing/ homicide right by my office downtown yesterday, which maybe isn't the best way to celebrate Valentine's Day. But of course, neither is falling down a flight of stairs (hitting EVERY STEP) and spraining your toe, which I managed to do in rather clumsy fashion. Gotta keep life interesting somehow, I guess. Frick.

Anyways, here are the scans from this week's lifedrawing session. I'm not terribly happy with how they turned out, but that's cause I suck at drawing. There were folks that did full on detailed watercolour paintings of the model's faces that just blew me away. One day, I hope to get to a tenth of that skill level.









And while we all SHIT ON how commercial Valentine's Day is, Anita and I have taken to celebrating it in non-commercial ways. Rather than join the 'anti-establishment, I'm not gonna do ANYTHING to express my love' troupe, we've gone the route of accepting V-day as another means to show an extra bit of love and attention to each other (over and above all the things we do normally every day). Sappy, I know. Sorry. But ooh, look! ZELDA!

Life Drawing at Sandy Hill - Sneak Peek

Venessa and I took in the Life Drawing session at Sandy Hill in Ottawa tonight. I love how they run this weekly session. Always filled with great, friendly and welcoming folks, and the models are always top notch. Plus it's only 4 bucks to drop in. If you're in the area, you have NO EXCUSE for NOT going on Wednesday nights.

This is a sneak peek (photograph) of one of my sketches. Will post proper scans of all sketches when I get home later this week. Stay warm!



Note, the dude is so far off to the left because there were two models in the frame, but I don't have the skills to even finish sketching one before the pose time is up, let alone get both done.

The Kraken!

Unleash the Kraken! Not really. It's just a regular octopus. I've been feeling incredibly bored and uninspired lately, so needed to do something artsy... Hope you enjoy this mixed media sketch - Pentel pocket brush pen, Conte, and Shinhan Touch Markers on Strathmore 11x14" Toned Tan Sketchpad.

Friday Morning Sketch

Having every second Friday off usually means sleeping in, eating cheezies and watching TV for yours truly. NO MORE WASTED DAYS, I SAY. I'm going to start doing something fun or creative with all my Friday's off. Today's result:





Mixed media sketch - Pentel pocket brush pen, Conte, and Shinhan Touch Markers on Strathmore 11x14" Toned Tan Sketchpad.

Life Drawing at Sandy Hill

Took in the weekly life drawing session at Sandy Hill in Ottawa this past week. Fun times, even though I suck at drawing. All sketches done with a Pentel Pocket Brush ink pen, chalk and conte.











Completely unrelated, but for those of you in Calgary, and looking to shoot some film this weekend, contact me about Sunday - we're looking to do another edition of 'Digital Free Day.'

Life Drawing at Harcourt House

A recent life drawing session at Harcourt House. I wasn't feeling the poses this time, so there was a bit of goofing around instead of sketching. Regardless, these are a few results that I liked - Pentel Pocket Brush, White Chalk Pastel, and Conte Crayons.
















This last one is a 100% crop of a scanned page. I liked the look of the fibrous texture of this paper, interacting with the ink and chalk media.