Urban Sketching #3 - Cafe View on Granville St, Vancouver BC

Here's a sketch done sitting at a window seat at the Bump N Grind Cafe on Granville Street. I used a mechanical pencil, micron pens sizes 01 & 005, and a light purple ZIG Art & Graphic Twin brush pen. I spent roughly an hour one the drawing.

Urban Sketching #2 - Coco et Olive, Vancouver BC

Another cafe sketch, this time at Coco et Olive on Main & East 21St, Vancouver, BC. It's a nice cafe with sandwiches, quiches, delicious baked goods, and most importantly good coffee.

I did this sketch while I was there for lunch a few days ago. The sketch took roughly a half hour. It's drawn with pencil, micron pens sized 01 & 03, and a black & light purple ZIG Art & Graphic Twin brush pen.

And in case you're curious, this is what I had for lunch:

Tomato & olive quiche with a curried lentil soup. Delicious!

Urban Sketching #1 - Pure Bread, Vancouver BC

Here's a sketch I did a little while back at Pure Bread, a great bakery in Vancouver's Gastown. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the neighbourhood. If you go there, get the lavender earl grey scone!

Everything in this places looks and is delicious...

The sketch was done with pencil, micron pen, & an old brush pen in a random sketchbook. Roughly a 30 min sketch.

Happy Chinese New Year! - Year of the Sheep/Goat/Ram

Here's a tiny print I made for the "It's a Sheep Show" at Hot Art Wet City in Vancouver, BC. The whole thing including the framed is 4" x 6.25".

Grey Paper Sketches - Old Bells & Bent Bangles

I picked up a toned grey paper Strathmore sketch book the other day and I've been experimenting a bit with different mediums to use in it.

These are the first few sketches I've done in it so far. The old bells were drawn with an old black pentel brush pen & a white Gelly Roll 08 pen. The drawing of the bent bangles was done with a 01 Micron Pen and the same white Gelly Roll 08 pen.

 

Old bells

Bent bangles, earrings, and a hair clip

I'm hoping that i'll have time soon to try out some different combinations of pencils, inks, white gouache, and other pens to see what I like best.

Life Drawing at Dr. Sketchy Vancouver

Here's a couple sketches I did Sunday night at Dr. Sketchy Vancouver.

For anyone not familiar with Dr. Sketchy, it's life drawing mixed with burlesque dancers, acrobats, or costumed performers. It runs twice a month in Vancouver, and is definitely worth checking out. Artists and non-artists are all welcome!

Commander Kruge - Oil Painting Portrait

Here's a painting I recently finished of Commander Kruge from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It's for the gallery Hot Art Wet City's upcoming show Revenge of the Art Show. All artwork in the show is inspired by movies that came out 30 years ago. If you're in Vancouver, BC, come check it out! The opening reception is on June 13th from 7:00 pm, and the show runs from June 13th to June 28th.

The portrait is a 6" x 8" oil painting on wood panel.

The finished painting

The underpainting

Distillery District Sketches V - Trinity Street

Here's another sketch from the Distillery District of Toronto, Canada. If you're ever visiting the city, it's a neighbourhood worth checking out.

8 x 8 Oil Painting

Here's an oil painting I recently did for "The Checkerboard Project" at the Sante Fe Gallery in Owen Sound, Ontario. The inspiration comes from a doorway I took a photograph of in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande while I was in France last year.

Coffee Girl Sketch

Quick sketch of a girl and her coffee. :)

Moleskine Sketches - St Cirq Lapopie, France

Here's a couple sketches of St Cirq Lapopie, a beautiful French village I had a chance to visit a few months ago. I'd love to go back there some day. It's definitely an inspiring place to wander around.

Not-so-Monthly Maps II

Well, I think my idea of having a monthly post about maps was well intentioned, but isn't something I'm going to be able to continue, at least on a consistent monthly basis. I've discovered that I've been spending way too much time working on maps, and I've completely neglected to do other art. I love making maps, but right now I don't have the time needed for them and my other existing art projects.

That being said, here are a few maps from a little while ago. They're all a bit different from each other stylistically, and I'm not entirely sure what I think about them yet. I was trying to experiment a bit with how I draw in order to figure out what I like and what I think works for me.

The first map was entirely an excuse to try drawing trees in a different way than I normally approach them. I think I like the effect but I won't know for sure until I explore that route a little more in some bigger maps. 

The only thing about the second map that's different than the way I usually draw dungeon maps is the trees just outside the cave. I think I need to come up with some better trees :P 

The purpose of the third map was to come up with a way of drawing waterfalls. I like the way that one worked out.

The last map was really fun to make, but I'm not sure how successful it is in conveying that it's a multi tiered city. I haven't figured out a good way of showing elevations in maps that are so small and so dense. It's also a bit hard to see some of the tunnels, and to make out what's going on without having to stare at the image for a bit. I'm sure drawing bigger would definitely help with some of that.

Monthly Maps I

I've decided that since I like drawing maps so much, I'm going to try to do a monthly post about some of my maps. 

Here's a couple maps of some coastal areas that I drew not too long ago. They are both drawn in a moleskin sketchbook using micron pens sizes 005 and 01. 

A Few More Octopuses

Here's a couple more.

Quick Octopus Sketches

Here's a couple octopus sketches that I did for http://weeklysketchart.blogspot.ca/