Jack the Ripper

As I have had Victorian costume on my head, I did this today.  Kind of more grim than I had planned on, but I decided to just go with it:

Dickens Faire

I went to the Dickens Faire in San Francisco the other day do some costume sketches.  A lot of fun, as people really go all out with their costumes, and stay in character!  There are definitely a good sized steam punk contingent there, but mostly it seems people try and stay realistic to the time period.  Originally I had planned to hit a model salon but by the time I got there (kind of late), it was finishing up, so I was relegated to trying to sketch moving targets of opportunity, relying often on memory.

Here are some more successful ones:

Bartender

Cad

Standing room only at the Adventurer's Club Lecture.

Rough gentleman

Victorian cellphone use

figure drawings

Watercolors...it has been several months since I've been to workshop, so not bad for all that.

I was particularly pleased with this two minute pose (almost without fail, I get the most interesting results in the quick poses):

This was 20 minutes I think..done on toned paper with a bit of gouache:

 Either 10 or 20...don't really remember:

This last one was 15 or 20:

vampire centurion?

...or capuchin monkey in Roman armor?

Salesforce Tower going up fast!

A relatively quiet Sunday afternoon.  It had been a while since I visited this construction site, and it's pretty mind blowing how fast it has been rising:

Although my focus had been on the tower under construction, I was a little thrown off by the complicated angles and glass patterns on the building in front of the site.  In my attempts to de-emphasize it, I decided to knock it back in value, which in retrospect, I think I went too far.  The building (with the exception of the tinted glass sheath) was actually a bit warmer, and I should have just kept it as it was.  As a result, not only did I half-ass the other individual windows, but the buildings don't separate very well.  Meh!  Next time.

ink

...on location at Embarcadero Center looking down Davis.

shock troop

Shocking.

I needed a  reason to cover up a bad painting, haha!  I don't love the helmet, but I was thinking a bit about these VR goggles that seem to be the 'latest thing'...

from memory

Walking down into the Mission from Noe Valley a while ago, the light was kind of interesting so I tried to remember it and put it down later.

Finally slowly learning and remembering to slow down appropriately when painting; and particularly with watercolors..Some of this actually turned out to my liking.

robot

For fun...done in Painter, with which I've been familiarizing myself lately.

Medusa

...for fun.  Also to test out painting gouache and watercolor on top of casein.  Every now and then I like to spend time rendering heads, but always feel like 'normal' is just not interesting enough, haha!  In this case I wanted to make her snakes suggest actual hair somewhat.  Still need to work out a couple more of the snake heads...

UPDATE: worked out the snake heads a bit more as well as other small bits here and there. 

Longshanks

Faun

A friend of mine and I are trying to do daily sketches for fun.  The goal for me is just to get something down quickly and not be too precious or worry about shading or color..

We had done this for a while in the past (back then it was once a week) but as these things go, we ran out of steam after a time.  Glad to be doing it again!

This was from yesterday:

A famous bridge

Not terrible I guess.

Worked a bit larger and tried to be a bit more disciplined about waiting for paint to dry and let watercolor be watercolor.  Still need to get better at planning.  And not get freaked out by so many girders.

I have no explanation

...except that the image appeared in my head one day and I had to get it down.  I think I was vaguely thinking of a Hindu god or something like that.

Ancient one

This arose from an thumbnail that I was just messing around with.  Probably calls for a tad bit more detail (like the feet?!), but...

I guess it's a combination of centipede, tardigrade, and a Lovecraft-ian 'elder one'.  Fun!

Eviction in SF

Some good friends of ours are being evicted from their home of more than ten years.  They put up a sign in their window (much to the chagrin of the new owners of the building, heh heh!) reflecting that fact.  Stories of evictions are ever present in SF these days, hanging uneasily in the air everywhere you go.  It is certainly wrenching to witness it at close range.

I went to do a sketch of it, and it was kind of a bizarre experience.  It was a beautiful afternoon, people were idly lazing about in the park with their dogs, this cry of despair from the building hanging over them.  Did it give them pause?  Who can say.  One fellow was doing his qi gong exercises nearby, completely immersed within himself; not far from him, a homeless guy was sprawled out.  Truly, a microcosm of San Francisco today.

not-SF

A sketch inspired by a recent urban hike in San Francisco.  Probably should have spent more time on the cars...

Our city is already so recognizable, so I felt compelled to alter the skyline a bit to keep me interested.  Future SF?  Judging by the number of high-rises going up lately, maybe not so far off!

after a bit of a hiatus...

...back to figure drawing workshop.  Another great model.  A pity I was a bit rusty.

I'd forgotten...

..just how large 2'x4' is...at least for the likes of me!  One of my few oil paintings from a few years back.  Inspired by the Mad Max movies.

Road Kill