Been channeling R. Crumb this afternoon to come up with a nice portrait for a special client. Had a great day walking around the SoHo and West Village area in Manhattan. Ended up at my gym on 14th St. and then “Cup of Joe” coffee shop before getting on the “L” train back to Bushwick. I wish I could freeze everyone in place for a few hours sometime so I could draw everyone I see. There were some great faces riding back to Brooklyn with me today!
Sometimes just cartooning is fun. I met a guy named Steve Silver at the National Caricature Network’s annual convention in Raliegh, NC last Nov. He does a lot of character development for animation. I sat in on his drawing seminar and got re-inspired to design characters and just plain draw more. I had fallen in to the habit of only drawing when I had a job. That just got me in a rut. I’ve been trying to pay attention to the gesture of my figures even in a more conservative composition. I’m even trying to get the gesture of a landscape or automobile.
This week’s Sports Illustrated Players article illustration.
This is a quick pencil doodle I dashed off after waking up late this morning after being up ’til 4:30am finishing my deadline for The Week Mag. This is actually my self image I have after most all-nighters…. I don’t know what is in the bottle. Coffee in juice form?
My portrait. It’s under the Jan. 25th entry.
Clayton Cubitt came to my studio to do a long portrait of my girl, Molly Crabapple, and asked if he could do mine. He called it stealing 5 minutes of your soul. Not feeling that I had one to steal, I told him to have at it. He sets up a shot and clicks start on the video button of his camera. My job was to hold still and stare at the camera for 5 minutes. This is me holding still. I apparently can’t do this simple task.
The show was a blast despite a miserable cold drizzly day in Manhattan. I might have sold 2 pieces! Maybe I’ll break even on this car club thing yet.
This was for Crains NY. Last week. Lloyd Blankfein and John Mack. CEO’s who now have to watch their budget. In other news…
I’m having an art show at Manhattan Classic Car Club. 250 Hudson Street at the corner of Hudson and Broome. It is my fine art stuff which involves some nudity that would never be seen on my illustration website. It would be banned by every spam/firewall/scary work filter crap around. Not good if you want an art director at work to visit your site! My fine art site (fharper)is a little more personal and not so worried about work sensors. Probably why I don’t make a living as a fine artist! Anyway, if you’re in NYC next week, (Oct. 28th 7-10pm) please stop by!… That’s a ‘67 Chevelle SS 396 big block V8. and it purrs like a pissed off dragon.
This might be a couple of parts. Last week I was in San Diego for the big Comic Con. It was definitely great for recharging the creative batteries. Change of environment, people, and monsters. I’ll start this part with the illustration I did for Sports Illustrated. I sat in a coffee shop right across the street from a beach. My friend Patrick occupied his time snapping photos, telling stories and bringing me espresso. Patrick is in a band with his friend Chris and we were listening to their new CD that just came out on Earwig records. In my opinion it’s a fantastic CD!
SI was about Iraqi athletes being barred from competing by China. Boy, they really get the concept of the Olympics, eh?
I guess it’s safe to post this, Sports Illustrated Players article (June 27th issue). New one starts tomorrow morning for me.
Thanks to the rabid fans of Wizards of the Coast for screwing up my relationship with them. By posting my only 2 illustrations I’ve done for them in 10 years on a big message board you just made it my last job I’ll probably ever do for them… so yeah, “thanks” fuckers, luv ya.
Some more Mermaid Parade stuff.
These are a few pencil drawings in my sketch pad. Just a few people I see on the subway.
I took about 200 digital pics at this year’s Mermaid Day parade in Coney Island Brooklyn. I won’t dump them all at once here.
