Stylish Pair

Here is a stylish hipster pair, although they really don't look like they are together. The reason for that is, that they are 2 different sketches that just happened to be on the same page of my sketch book. I really like the pose of the girl, maybe I'll use it for something someday soon.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers!

Snow Bunny

We had some snow recently, well actually we had a lot of snow, 17 inches to be exact, which may not seem like much to some of you, but we haven't had that much in these parts, since about 1968; I barely remember it. Anyway, all that snow inspired this is a cute little snow bunny that came to me while I was doodling in the coffee shop. I'm pretty pleased over all, and this one too, might become a full fledged illustration someday. In fact, she very well might become the Vintage 66 Graphics: Miss January 2009, so keep your looking balls peeled for that.
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Beach Cabin

There are an awful lot of flaws in this one, yet remarkably, I'm quite pleased with it just the same. In fact, I may just do an actual illustration off this one, someday. It's just a neat little rustic beach cabin, don from my imagination.

Skinny Minnie: Non Poses

Perhaps I'm spending too much time in coffee shops, but this is another one I did while sitting in my usual "watering hole". This gal was standing at the counter waiting for her drink, but I don't remember if she was actually that skinny or not. You see, when I'm drawing people from life like that, I try to be sly about it, mainly because if they realize what I'm doing, they either become self conscious and stiffen up, or they ham it up and start posing for me. All I'm looking for is the everyday slice of life, non-poses, I guess you could say. So, I usually just grab the skeleton of the pose quickly, and then move on. Odd as it may sound, I'm not drawing the person really, just the pose.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers!

Warts and All

Hello Kids, glad you could make it. I ran into a dry patch (post-wise) right around the holidays, and I think a big part of the problem (other than the mad dash scramble that is the hallmark of the holiday season) was that I was trying to make things too polished. I mean, after all this is a sketch blog, and sketches by their very nature, are "sketchy" . . . hence the name. So the next 4 or 5 posts things are going to be really unpolished images, warts and all you might say. Almost straight from my sketchbook, the real sketchbook that I keep in my car and drag into coffee shops, and wherever else I might find time to doodle. Mainly the only corrections will be some stray lines of over lapping images removed in Photoshop. This is just to keep me from getting too full of myself.

This one is called, for lack of a better name: Haggard Writer. Just something that came to me in the coffee shop one day, an overworked, underpaid scribe from the atomic era, trying to bang out a story in hopes of eating for a day or two. Oddly, my favorite part of this one is the art on the wall behind him, I don't know why, it just really makes it for me.

Self-Portrait as a Doofus

Here is a self-portrait sketch of me as a doofus. Actually, this is pretty much my usual look, slightly confused and a little oblivious. In truth, I'm not either of those things, at least not any more so than anyone else, I just look like I am. It also looks like there is a straw in my drink, but that's actually a cigarette, and let me say, just in case you haven't heard the news: smoking is a filthy, expensive and dangerous habit. I am down to 3-5 a day (cigarettes, not packs) and I plan to quit by January 20th, which of course will be inauguration day for my man, Obama. It was a deal I made with myself, that if he were to be elected, I would quit smoking.

On January 1st, here in Oregon, a law just went into effect that bans all smoking in all public bars. For the most part, I quit drinking quite some time ago, but I did like to go into a seedy tavern on occasion, and have a smoke over a Canadian Whiskey (which used to be called Rye back in the day), or a vodka & cran, or even just a soda water with lime. I was going to do it one last time before the end of the year, but it sneaked up on me like a pair of bargain house knickers, and before I knew it, it was too late. Now I guess my only chance is to go to another state, or make a shit load of money, by a house and put a bar in the basement where I could smoke, at least for now. You never know what laws the government will pass, sometimes I think they do it just to spite me. Anyway, it sounds like an awful lot of work for a smoke, might be less trouble to quit.

Happy New Year! (part II)

I have to be honest, 2008 for the most part, was a year of disappointment, frustration and disillusionment. Mistakes and miscalculations were made. I just read a quote on MySpace (but I can't remember who's profile it was, so I can't credit them). I don't remember the exact wording, but the gist of it was: Failure gives you the opportunity to do something over, but with new insight. Along the same lines, my friend, Pete (he's 91, incidentally) often says: I've never learned anything from my successes, only from my my failures. Fortunately 2009 is a brand new year, full of hope and promise (despite all the horrible shit going on in the world). It is time to take stock, and figure out the few things that have worked, and the many that haven't (and why), time to rework the plan and realign the hopes & dreams. Its time to put all this new, painfully gained knowledge to work. I'm looking forward to an exciting new year, with new art, new projects, and new successes, even at the expense of less knowledge.

-Cheers.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you & yours. This has been a year of tremendous disappointments as well as some incredible triumphs. So, I propose a toast to 2009: perfect health, great prosperity and much happiness to us all.

Cheers!