This watercolour of the beach at Van Damme State Park looks a lot better to me now that I do not have the real thing right in front of my eyes for comparison.
May 282011
May 262011
The northern California town of Mendocino has some very distinctive and quirky architecture. One prominent feature is the towers looming all over town.
At first, I thought they were observation towers or merely a quirk of a long-ago architect, neither of which explained the sheer number of them. It took me a while to realise that they were in fact water towers, because the tanks themselves are often hidden from view, by a surrounding balcony, and unlike the free-standing, open, scaffold-type water tank-stand that I have seen elsewhere, these towers contain windows & doors and are incorporated into the buildings.
May 242011
Last weekend, Julia and I went up to the North coast on a sketching trip. I’ll have some more pics to post later but to begin with, here is a beaten down old truck we stumbled on towards the outskirts of the lovely little town of Mendocino.
The weather was beautiful & sunny, and despite occasional gusts of strong coastal wind, we both got a lot of sketching done, and had a wonderful time together.
My creative goal for the weekend was to think and draw tonally rather than with lines, as I normally do. This does not come naturally to me but it is something I must train myself to do. I worked all weekend in water-colour, using a great new set of colours Julia had given me (my old set is not very good and utterly thrashed, besides) and even when I did lay down some lines on paper, I was attempting to describe areas of shade rather than edges of objects. The use of AQUARELLES meant that whatever line-work I put on paper very quickly dissolved under my brush and forced me to think tonally again.
A few times, the wind was so harsh that it sucked the fun out of sitting outside and we were not able to finish the sketches on site. We each took some photos of our subjects and finished off some details later that same evening, in the comfort of our cosy hotel. In general, I don’t care for drawings done from photos, I personally find they can seem sterile, but I must admit that using them as part of a “data gathering” mission enabled us to do a lot more sketching in a short amount of time than we normally do. And, as the drawing and observations of the light patterns was always done on site, using the photo as a memory jog later on, maybe it wasn’t cheating too much…
May 162011
Here is my contribution to the first TR!CKSTER BOOK being published as a companion piece to the TR!CKSTER conference, happening CON-currently with COMIC CON in San Diego from July 19-24 this year:
For a harrowing morning it appeared that my contribution was not to be included, as it been overlooked in the shuffle when the book was being assembled. Which would have been a heart-breaker as I was very much looking forward to being a part of this show and ESPECIALLY the hard cover book, which promises to be a beauty, with contributions from the likes of Mike Mignola and other heavy punching artists (full list is HERE). Thankfully, that error was caught before the book went to print so my current understanding is that my drawing will be in the collection.
Fingers crossed!
It is a little hard to visualise what TR!CKSTER will feel like, because it is the very first show, but my hope is that it will be a combination of the best aspects of CTN EXPO (which, for me, was the panels) an indie small press show like APE, an art gallery and a wine bar; places where the focus is maybe smaller and more personal but centred on the ARTISTS, WRITERS and CREATORS, who actually MAKE the stuff rather than company PR, celebrity appearances and media hoopla.
As you might expect from such a break-away event, there will be many indie powerhouses participating; the likes of Scott Morse, Ted Mathot (the founders) Scott C. and Dave Crossland, but many from the royal court of mainstream comics, such as Dave Gibbons, Paul Pope, Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Allred, and Bernie Wrightson will be involved in TR!CKSTER as well (full list is HERE).
I have been looking forward to this show ever since the very first discussions began about it a few years ago (back then jokingly referred to as CREATOR CON) when artists noticed that the trend in the bigger comic book conventions has recently been moving away from the material and the people who make it.
All in all there will be something for everyone during the CON season in San Diego this year. For more information about the TALKS, BOOK, EVENTS and participating ARTISTS and MORE go to the TR!CKSTER official WEBSITE, TWITTER FEED and FACEBOOK PAGE.
I hope to see you at the show!
May 102011
The organising, scanning and collating of old artwork continues… Here’s a concept sketch (in gouache and pencil) from early 2000:
May 012011
I’ve been scanning old artwork, including some that posted on my site before but at a tiny size (back when the internet could only handle teeny tiny files). Here is a brushpen and gouache doodle from an old sketchbook:
