Exquisite Corpse

I had a week long teen cartooning class at ACAD this summer. The students were a really silent and well behaved bunch. far more than I'm used too but I managed to pull them out of their shells and pulled off some very impressive work.

Hulkamania running wild! Here is a piece I whipped up before their eyes to show them the process and some inking techniques using pens, ink, brushes, copic and prismacolour markers.

 

This student explores colour on her final layout.

Here they are hanging their pieces for final critique.
 
It's a tradition I keep........ I like to do something special for the final class.  I did some good old fashioned home baking at midnight the night before our final class. I baked enough of my latest invention: Reese Peanut Butter Cup and Oreo cookie stuffed brownies, for my class, the teen class next door (I didn't want to leave our neighbors out) and the boys in AV, the commissionaires who do security for the college and of course the extended studies administrative staff. It is because of their hard work that my job as an instructor at ACAD is fulfilling.

After the final critique, we all played a drawing game together called Exquisite Corpse. This is a game developed by the surrealists where you fold some paper and each person draws a different section of a figure without knowing what the rest looks like. When you are done you unfold it to reveal the result of the "blind" collaboration. We did this very quick as the critique took longer than I anticipated (that's a good thing!)

Even I got in the game by starting this head then passing the folded paper to one of the students.

This one fits well together, we did these in less than half an hour. More time would have made these even sweeter!

 I love the school girl motif and severed head on this one.

 Hilarious chicken legs.

 This flying one had some real kismet.

 Another bird, but with squid like tentacles for legs, very creative!

 

I did the huge lizard feet on this crazy mish-mash. The exquisite Corpse is a really fun and creative drawing activity. I got to keep most of our creations since it is rather hard to split the difference between us all, but I did offer them to take anyone they liked.

Here are a few of my students hard at work, they were a great bunch and I hope they found new skills and new inspiration to carry with them as they grow through life. I look forward to teaching more summer camps like this one!

This quote covers my sentiments when I teach and inspire my students.
 =:D

Studio Party and furniture update

That was a blast! From outer space......

Cosmic (AKA DJ LURK'N'BANG) seen making deals with his agent here,
came in and set up his equipment and spun some sweet tracks. New fact: It turns out we both share the same favourite Bob Marley song! Which gives me more reason not to worry 'bout a thing!

There is nothing like good tunes and  live performer to add energy and magic to a studio. Also I bought some snacks and beers, this helps too. I struggled putting together my new Animation Desk from the Quickdraw Animation Society.  Gerry popped in with his girlfriend Shilo to see what was up and to pick up the canvases he made at the November Canvas Building workshop.

Al Chu stretches some new canvases while EJ appears to be making shit happen, but you never know what really could be happening in that text.

Here the boys get down and creative with my PRISMACOLOR set. We talked a lot about integrity and following the dreams of being an artist. HOw we are each going about that in different ways, there is no road map for this after all, and how success means you have got to rise above.

I did some reorganizing in the studio. I got my furniture put together, mostly. I had to strengthen the joints by adding some corner brackets. I broke some shelf pieces a few times, this unit is put together in a ridiculous way. Plus I am missing a small shelf piece.  All this without directions! If I did this a second time I would be the master, unfortunately I did use up my entire night getting it to where I wanted. I'd rather be painting!

Collection prone

I filled out my collection of Copic markers the other day, I still have a few from the warm scale on order that should be coming in by September.  Anyhow, I use the back page of my Frosst sketchbook as a palette so I know the colors an their relationships. As you can see below, I have quite a nice collection started. I will add more subtle hues as I need them. You can see the missing warm gray scale on order in the bottom right. The color guide in the pocket is by Copic, a great way to keep track of what you have and what you need.

These markes are the shit, in my opinion way better than Prismacolor. For one they don't smell nearly as bad. You can refill them, and change out the tips. They are made in Japan with quality and care taken with each pen, they are even guaranteed not to dry out on the shelf for 3 years. Good investment for anyone who likes to draw and have bold permanent colorful markers!

Keys to the VIP and new art supplies

I just got the keys to my new Studio. I was awarded a  3 month residency from the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation. I'm stoked!!! It was too snowy to move in this week-end and I injure my Achilles Tendon in Martial Arts on Wednesday. I opted to take it easy rather than force a move on myself. It is weighing heavily in the back of my mind.....STUDIO TIME!!!

Today, I went out for lunch with my mom. We had delicious Vietnamese food, followed by a trip to not one....... but two art stores.  Often when I am spending money on supplies, I get a last minute feeling of guilt, which is really strange because other than food there is nothing more important for me to be buying than art supplies.  Supplies make more art, which may eventually lead to more money, but more importantly making art leads to my happiness. So why do I  feel guilty? Maybe its a bit of shame. I get so much pleasure from spending $4o on stuff at Swinton's Art Supply. It's like being caugth masturbating. I don't feel guilty when I blow money on anything else. Anyone else have this issue?

I picked up a handful of Prismacolour, they were on sale for under $2.65 a piece. I took one of each color I didn't already have;  Scarlet Lake, Sienna Brown, Copenhagen Blue, Dark Green, Grass green and Aquamarine.  They also had colored sharpies for 50 cents a piece, I couldn't resist! I picked up; Lime, Turquoise, Peach, Aqua, Mint. I have an addiction to color, what can I say. I also picked up two gold paint pens for Katie Green to do a design on my motorcycle jacket as well as a $20 book on mastering sketching in 40 lessons. I feel that I've been needing a kick in the seat of the pants, I haven't had much time to sketch. I think the lessons in this book will help shake my laurels a bit, and give me a creative kick...... follow my blog in future posts and see.

Lovely, lovely colorful art supplies make me happy

Next stop: Inglewood Art Supply,  My favorite art store in town! Not only are they conveniently located close to my neighborhood, they have fantastic prices,  and give ACAD ALUMNI great deals. I especially like this store because of the people who work there, all the staff are courteous and friendly. (Hi Ola, sad I didn't see you there today, love the orange felt own magnet!) Inglewood Art Supply are having their annual Spring Canvas Sale. My mom paints Acrylic, she wanted to pick up a bunch of new deep profile pre-stretched canvasses. Canvas sale, hell yeah!!!! I have a new studio space, better fill it. The great thing is I can finally build and paint large canvases now that I have the space. So what can I say................

I picked up a whole roll, 50.3 yards of 15 oz. 72" wide unprimmed canvas. The roll weighed so much I had to get the owner Peter to help me carry it into the car, luckily it fit, but I had to squeeze in the back of my moms Matrix. Not only did I get 30% off, which really helps, that stuff ain't cheap you know.  There was a labeling misunderstanding and the staff felt bad and gave me a gift certificate for an additional $40 at the store. Yippee!! I will be back. In a way, it is like I got the stuff at Swinton's for free and I still get to go back and pick up some more supplies once I settle into my new studio, and realize what I need.

All I can say is today has been a great day!

More to come.....

Rojankovsky Fairy Tales

I love the nostalgic almost naive style and stories from the books I read when I was a wee lad.  They are so simple and pure.  Here are a few inspired by a recent view of John K, the creator of Ren and Stimpy's blog, which I follow.  If you like what you see here, why not follow mine?

These were sketched quickly in photo blue pencil/ HB then outline with a 0.7 Copic Multiliner an colored in with Prismacolor. I think this drawing will look spiffy once the paper yellows and the color fades.

Yes, we have no bananas

As they were eaten one by one,
their population dwindled, 
those that were left .............
..........began to turn.............

I sketched the whole bunch of bananas a few days ago.
(see previous blog entry, click here)
This is the final one that remained.
Well at least until the sketch was completed.

Sketched using HB for the initial outline and prismacolor markers for the rest.

In the meadow...

...we can build a snowman.

I'm sort of getting into the holiday spirit, but only because a vacation is near and I'm looking forward to seeing my family. I figured I'd use my Copics and Prismacolor and spend a little more time on a drawing in full color in my sketchbook.

 Here it is after night one, before heading to bed. I just couldn't commit to color at this point so this is all done in copic. The next day I found my prismacolor and completed the drawing below.

Brrrrrrrrrr.  I think I may do a little more blending later on the backgroun snow to smooth it out.

Pink Haired Cutie Honey

every time I see a well drawn and enticing cartoon cutie, I want to raw it. The thing is though, I fond them really easy to look at but really hard to draw well. At least for me.  Something I am going to work on improving.  I'm great at making them look ugly by using too many lines, but this little honey turned out. 

I fist sketched this with HB pencil, while simultaneously watching a "Nature of Things with David Suzuki" (I love that show, learning while drawing.) The lines were drawn over with my Copic multiliners (I tried out various sizes) and then the outer line was thickened and the colors were filled in with both Prismacolor and Copic markers. My collection of copic is growing as the Prismacolor begin to dry out,they can't be refilled an they stink way worse, so I'm switching over....slowly as copic's are twice the price;P

Serious ass kicking

Kicked some ass today!
I spent the day repairing some vandalism and improving the 'public artwork' appropriateness of my music box. More on that installation another time, or visit my website and click the NEWS section. I also picke up a tonne of groceries for my B-day bash this week-end. It will be raining, like it is now, so we will see how we do.

Anyhow.....

This drawing started out as representation of an object in my living room and developed until it became a superhero robot flying through the air seemingly after having his ass kicked an his cape lit on fire.  I really liked the position of the angling front arms and the thrown back head. The body I had a few problems getting into position but I am happy how the final piece turned out. It is just a sketch after all;)

HB pencil and prismacolor markers.

Smoke on the Water

I really wanted to draw this tugboat inspire by Disney but since it is stampede I needed to include a horse or something. So this is what came about. Notice the ocean is DEEP PURPLE. It was first drawn freehand with a Copic multiliner, outline with a Copic marker then colored in with prismacolor which meant that some of the Copic marker blue and had to be re-touched with Prismacolor black.

Also I wanted to include a post of my certificate I received yesterday for my Level 1 CKM.
All things in my life begin to blend and on some level I think my martial arts practice plays a huge roll in my life and my art practice. So here it is.....

 I forsee more and more of a blending of all sorts of interesting hings on this blog. So stay tuned!

If you are not already following this blog, please hit the FOLLOW button below in order to keep up to date, the more I have, the more dilighent I get on keeping my updates current. Thanks for your help and inspiration;)

Needing some cartoon color on this blog

There has been a bit too much black an white for me lately.
I needed some color an cartoon violence.
This is a pretty aggressive page, I really like it.

I used my Copic multi-liner 0.5 for the entire thing, if lines look thick it's because I rew them that way. I use my prismacolor for most of it, except the green background and floor. That was filled in with the extremely stinky and bleeding..... but less expensive Chartpak markers. salmon and Chartreuse. Great names, the colors are nothing like the markers look though;(

Some sources: the brute dog came from an old mighty mouse comic I think. The new styled yogi bear  giving Mr. Ranger a UFC style smack down/ground and pound next to my hot headed rendition of George liquor were things I was inspired by following John K's blog. The 'real' ghostbuster's  Slimer is above with the name of an awesome technical MMA fighter.

Can't rest on your laurels

Just 'cause I finished a painting and seemed to not be drawing on here for a week........
I know that you "can't rest on your laurels", you have to keep moving forward even if your new stuff isn't always as good as the stuff you just completed.

Another good saying that illustrates the point.........

"NO REST FOR THE WICKED!!!"

Sister Wendy Beckett, super hilarious an inspirational  art history host on PBS. I totally have a crushg on this particular nun!

This little surfer due was sketched from a toy that was less than an inch tall. I used Prismacolor to color it.

This piece was inspired by a Japanese Shunga print I saw. The girl is pink the boy is blue, unfortunately the scanner  have access to didn't pick it up.

Fire breathing dragon and a jack-ass. All the line work done with Copic a 0.5 multiliner.

Snails

I drew these with my trusty copic, and used both Copic and prismacolor to color them in.

Who doesn't like snails? I have a strange fascination with these little critters. 

PINK PIRATE SHIP

I drew straight into this one with my copic marker. It was colored in the same sitting with Prismacolor. It is based on an animation model sheet I found in the QAS library.  I have been wanting to put together a pirate ship model as well (3D). I have one in my studio and my plan is to paint it pink and blue, here is a quick sketch/mock up.

Would real pirates flee at the sight of this ship I wonder?

Son tatty and stickers

Mother's day is just around the corner. Inspired by an idea to get my mom a tattoo that say's son.  So here is the preliminary design. I'm going to print it out an make a sticker to give her as a gift.

I decided to create a sticker sheet out of some of my past drawings. I used an old packet of Avery 03383 sticker sheets I had in my studio. I colored them with Prismacolor so they would be bright and lightfast. Afterward I coat them with a UV protective Varnish so they wont fade and will be protected in the elements should they get some exposure.

Here is the sticker sheet I printed out and colored with Prismacolor. 

Afterward I coated the sticker paper with Golden Archival Varnish. (pictured below)

Then cut them out on a mat with a very sharp exacto-blade.

Parashu- Battle Axe

The Battle Axe that severs all worldly attachments and is most often held by wrathful deities.

Sankha - Conch

Blow on this.

Phurpa - Ritual dagger

Damaru - Drum

I have one of these drums although it is not made with skulls but beautifully turned wood. Thank god for modernity. The truth is the skulls used are more powerful magically if they are virgins who were murdered. I don't think I want that power on my hands. It was drawn with my copic multiliners and colored with prismacolor.

What I really love about this drum is it's purpose:

To summon the Buddhas and inspire them with SUPREME JOY!!!!

AWESOMENESS!

Kartika/Damaru

In order to better facilitate understanding of the various implements and meanings of the magical devices in most of my work I have been sketching them out with short descriptors.  Here is the first in a series. 

The Kartika is a weapon symbolic of severing all material and worldly bonds. It is a curved knife that is most often associated with the skinning of hides. The hooked blade for opening up the skin and the scraper for scraping the hide out.   It symbolized wisdom and the method as well as the severing of all conceptualizations.

It was drawn with my copic multiliners and colored with prismacolor.