Capturing the City

Each of these artists have a unique way of capturing the places they live and visit.

Downtown El Paso by Tim Razo


Marché rue La Fayette by Alain Bertin


Panoramic wheel by La Ola


Subvergence by Sharon Frost


Kunstmuseum Stuttgart by Flaf

These are the people You Meet on the Streets

Today, I took a walk through the streets of NYC, and I ran into a few people. I didn't know the people I met, but I knew that they were people I should know. In fact, the more I observed their beauty, elegance, and eccentric behaviors, the more I felt I had met them in a past life. In fact, I had.

You see, we walked into the club the other night and as the lights spun and people moved their bodies in tune with the music, you couldn't tell who was who. You just knew that the shadows and lights kept your eyes in a gaze that only the artist could capture. When we walked out, it was icy and snowy. We knew we would fall, but we just moved in motion as if the music was continuing to spin around in our heads. That's when it struck us, this is a person...this is ice and snow...this is a person on ice and snow...

After we spent all of our energy dancing, slipping and sliding home, we were extremely hungry. When we finally got to our door step, we met him. He was actually standing there naked and starving. We went upstairs, grabbed a blanket and took it down to him along with a fresh sandwich that we slapped together. He was eternally grateful.

When we finally settled into our comfy flat, we were zapped. We fell asleep and began dreaming. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever imagined, but this is it. My head was pounding... life was thundering... blissful death... stampedes! stampedes!. It had encompassed me!

And then I woke up. I realized all of it was a dream, but they... they were the people I had met on the streets that day.

The Brothers McLeod Sketchbook

Many current animation artists are also illustration artists. I'm am continually inspired by their work. I recently found The Brothers McLeod and their short films. Wow! That's really all I can say. Below you can watch their short animation, Sketch Book No. 1.

"The Brothers McLeod first appeared on the animation radar when they were short-listed by BBC Talent for the New Comedy Awards in 2001. They achieved this with their first short 2D animation Highlights: Sports Day about a sports radio station’s attempts to commentate on the Piddle-on-the-Wyre village annual event."

[ Brothers McLeod on YouTube ]

Oh yeah... on another film note: the Oscars are tonight. Who do YOU think deserves an Oscar? The best thing I found was that you could watch the Oscar Animated Short films here.

samesame! the scribble project

So... you're looking for another reason to scribble some more? I was. So I created a scribble for samesame! the scribble project. (You can find mine here.)This simple daydream is a fun project that Lisa Currie recently started. Artists and illustrators from all over have begun scribbling on behalf of samesame! And some of my personal favorites include...

Now, download your very own samesame! by clicking here. Then, send it Lisa's way, so she can publish your scribbles for the world to see.

And on top of that project, Lisa recently created good vibe notes. If you want something new to do or are just lacking ideas for a new piece, these projects are a good way to get you brainstorming.

Beetle Love

If you enjoy insects or the anatomy of colorful creatures, you'll most likely enjoy the beetle collection that Leslie Brenden has recently been creating. Her sketches have the intricate details that make some souls ache. These strange creatures take on a beautiful element with her pen, ink, watercolor, and Prismacolor pencil sketches.

"Though Leslie’s influences tend to be somewhat obscure, strange and often a bit macabre, she is an appreciator of most art forms. She is quite often inspired by imagery-often in nature that is sometimes considered “ugly or creepy” by most, which brings us to the project that she is presently working on. Leslie calls this project her “Beetle a Day” journal.

The project was born as Leslie has always watched and learned from her husband's extensive entomology hobby. She is always willing to help with his collecting insects and arachnids-killing jar always in tow. While listening to him talk so respectfully and admirably about his fondness for the amazing beetle, Leslie decided to draw some of his favorites using sources from specimens in his collection 'to' photographs. After several beetle drawings, she was hooked. The colors, shapes and visual diverseness got her hooked. She began to read about each beetle that she drew becoming more and more intrigued. The project began when she decided to commit herself to creating a beetle a day. Since the project started in early January this year, Leslie has received many inquiries as to whether or not she planned to publish. Though that was not originally her intent, Leslie and her husband have discussed the possibility and are presently courting the idea." [via Leslie Brenden's Artist Biography]

Diana Koehne

I've been a fan of Diana's characters for a long time now. They seem to express experience of the world in a way that is both humourous and moving. And I love the rawness of her mark making.

Change, by Diana Koehne

Untitled, by Diana Koehne

..., by Diana Koehne

Cupid Shoots...

He misses! ah... shucks... I didn't get struck by the love arrow. Or did I? Or did you?

Today is the illustrious holiday of Saint Valentine... or as some of us like to say, "the hallmark holiday." The hubby and I really do little to celebrate; in fact, we're brewing beer, and I'm labeling bottles this afternoon. However, I thought I should highlight some of the more interesting sketches that Valentine's Day brings our way during this special time each February.

bouquets of flowers...

love...

kisses...

sex...

more sex...

Cézanne

I have never liked the impressionists. Instead I prefer those who came before, inspiring and informing them - Degas and Manet for example, and those who were influenced but individual, such as Cézanne. I'm currently reading a book about Cézanne's watercolours which is the inspiration for this post.

Cézanne was actually ridiculed for his drawing and painting abilites when he first moved to Paris. And looking back over his early sketches it's clear that they were awkward, yet as he developed his belief that he could put the whole design of the universe in the drawing of an apple, or any ordinary thing, his drawing developed a sensitivity of line and his paintings, though still extraordinary in their use of colour, were subdued and tamed.

Self Portrait, by Cezanne

That he did achieve his aim of drawing the universe in an apple is beyond question in my opinion: his late paintings depict the sublime and it is this which makes them so arresting as well as his method of using colour to depict form. His paintings are both deeply and fully observed representations of the world, yet abstracted at the same time.

Mostly we know him through his oil paintings now, but his watercolours also reward time spent with them. He uses a similar technique of paint application as he did with oils, the paint is applied in small strokes and build up to represent planes, but the application is looser and the soft translucent watercolours glow with an almost ethereal softness.

Mill at the River, by Cezanne

Large areas are often left unpainted, (unforuntately I haven't got an example to show you) allowing the paintings and sketches to breathe. And again there is the unique, masterful ability to produce work which is at once both representational and abstract.

How did he do this? I mean, of course we can see the brushstrokes, study the technique if we wish, even attempt to make copies and apply those techniques to our paintings but would they capture the sublime? I doubt it. How he drew and painted, the style he developed, was the result of so many factors: his sensitivity, his rejection by his peers, his determination, his belief in his goal and his obsessive nature which drove him to continue even though he was ridiculed.

This has been a very brief look at Cézanne, I hope you've enjoyed it.

Balance

Balance refers to the ways in which the elements (lines, shapes, colors, textures, etc.) of a piece are arranged.
[ via About.com: Art History ]

Balancing Act by by theway is a perfect example of balance using asymmetry. When I saw this sketch, I had to comment about the "balance" of the composition... (mostly because I liked the punn on words). Aside from that play on words, I also found the sketch to be rather intriguing: conceptually and elementally.

This sketch by Danny Mansmith also tends to display a nice sense of asymmetrical balance and literal balance.

Although Peter Hart's Giant Tortoise is not 100% symmetrical, it is probably the closest to symmetry that I can find within the Community Sketchbook. Plus, it's a great sketch.

One can also have balance but not necessarily be balanced. Obviously, I didn't find a good example of this, but I thought it seemed peculiar.

Lovely Day!

Today was a lovely day. People strolled the streets, and people thought it was springtime. I thought I should share a couple of sketches that display the way the weather has affected us lately.

F is for Forest... by Question Josh


Sketchbook, pavement cafe. by Peter Hart

The bicycle wasn't what I expected!

[ PREFACE: This is an introduction to a series of short stories. The short stories use images from the Community Sketchbook, and tell simple stories about life. The images used are sketches by the Community Sketchbook artists; and of course, the rights remain their own. ]

It was a lovely day here in New York today. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining as I walked down the street this morning, reflecting on all of the beauties of the world.

The thing that hindered the beautiful beginning to my day was the bicycle that I once thought was mine had now been reclaimed by its rightful owner. Unfortunately, I had already dismantled it, stripping it of its cables and rust. Although I had spent hours working to create something simple and new, I realized that the only right thing to do was to return it to its owner in one piece... not the dozen that it was currently in.

So I set to work re-assembling the bits and pieces. The only problem remained that I had never attempted a feat of this sort before. You see, I wanted a naked bicycle, not one with gears and brakes!

This task really caused my brain to hurt and made me want to escape.


Now that the bike is back in one piece, I can finally feel somewhat accomplished (and pleased) that the owner will once again have her sentiment that belongs to this possession.

Now, only one problem remains: I need another bike to re-create. And the other thing is... I feel overworked and underpaid!

blue

Recently I have been ridiculously attracted to the color blue. The following blue sketches are a few that inevitably jumped out at me and offered up a nice dose of inspiration.

Bobby Pin by Jade M. Sheldon



untitled by Danny Mansmith

untitled by Question Josh

Drama

Looking through the Community Sketchbook group on Flickr I was really struck by the sense of drama in the following works. They are all very different, but each conveys the sense of something happening - a new revelation in the storyline, something terrible, or a pivotal moment:

AgentMicroship, by Tim Razo

I love those lines, and his expression - it says so much about his personality.

geen, by Nina Roos

I have been a fan of Nina's drawings for a while now - they are expressive and layered, always hinting at something, but tantalisingly, they withhold the answers.

new sketch, by Esta.Sketch

She describes this as 'more confusion than shock' but either way it heralds a moment of change in the character's story - and I must say for me it recalls exactly what I felt when I heard my door lock behind me and realised my keys were inside, along with my phone, money etc. etc...

to sleep or not to sleep

I haven't been able to sleep the best lately, so when I read this cartoon by Question Josh, I thought it would only be appropriate to post sketches that related to the theme of sleep.

Nov 30, 2008 by Question Josh

Although the characters in these other two sketches do not seem to be sleeping, they look like they may be relaxed.

sketchbook 01 by Tim Razo


Untitled by Jade M. Sheldon