Silly waddle

2011-02-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

2011-02-02T15:14:00.002-05:00

Almost time to move forward in a new and better direction.

2011-01-29T16:50:00.001-05:00

Another go at Eder (ether?)
He likes the funny ones.

2011-01-29T16:47:00.001-05:00

Angie! Trying to punch up my color a bit.

2011-01-19T15:00:00.001-05:00

2011-01-17T11:24:00.001-05:00

2011-01-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

2011-01-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

2011-01-13T02:31:00.001-05:00

A quick figure drawing that I was happy with from tonight's figure drawing session.
When my quick drawings shapes fit together well is when I become truly happy.

2011-01-10T16:51:00.001-05:00

2011-01-10T16:50:00.002-05:00

Another attempt at the gent below. A little extra cartooniness!

2011-01-10T16:48:00.001-05:00

2011-01-10T12:50:00.002-05:00

Yet another memory drawing of a coworker!
I think this one has a fairly strong sense of likeness, honestly.

2011-01-09T17:44:00.002-05:00

2011-01-07T16:24:00.002-05:00

Another memory drawing of a coworker! This time it is a facepainter!

2010-12-25T16:10:00.002-05:00

Another memory drawing.

2010-12-14T15:15:00.002-05:00

Joenelle!

2010-12-14T15:11:00.002-05:00

I liked this demo a bit. I drew it of a super cool cat that is going to The Art Centre for Illustration!

2010-12-06T15:18:00.001-05:00

Another!

2010-12-03T02:27:00.002-05:00

I struggled with this one for a long while and I`m still not 100% with it. But I`d prefer to get it done, move on and return to it later with fresh eyes rather than sap all of my inspiration trying to get one memory drawing ``perfect``.

On to the next!

2010-11-29T02:16:00.003-05:00

A drawing from Dr. Sketchy's. The gigantic black spot on her chest is a tattoo. I'm thinking of making this a painting.

2010-11-25T02:27:00.003-05:00

Went to figure drawing again tonight for the first time in a really really long time (probably a year, shame on me.) I felt super slow and like I was drawing with mittens on or something as none of my lines were hitting where I wanted them to. I'm really excited to get to another session.

2010-11-23T14:14:00.003-05:00

Another memory sketch of a coworker. The skintone went waaaaay too dark waaay too quickly. I'll redo the drawing after I work with her again. I'm not 100% on her eyes either and I think if I nail her eyes that'll bring the whole drawing together.

2010-11-21T14:31:00.003-05:00

One of my co-workers, Ryan Shaw!
From memory, I'm not 100% sold on the likeness as I've only met the cat twice... but I'm sure I'll draw him again soon. He has a great face for caricature!

2010-11-19T18:22:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite gents that I've met through the Caricature convention:
The indomitable Andy Urzua.

A warm up drawing and trying to learn how to color without a foamie.

2010-10-14T02:24:00.003-04:00

I decided this morning that I would make something cool before I went to sleep. It just ended up being a self-portrait. I did a few other things but not much that I can show off here yet, unfortunately. I used photo reference for this one as I've misplaced the mirror that I normally use for these self-portrait paintings.

India ink. White gouache. Photoshop.

2010-10-12T00:41:00.003-04:00

Hadn't originally intended to post this... but I prefer posting it rather than leaving this space completely void of updates.
Best,

Ed

2010-10-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

Oh. And I also drew these recently. Nothing special, just figured I'd share something.

2010-10-02T15:59:00.002-04:00

Finished a sketchbook in Montreal and had to buy a new one. It feels good to be finished that silly sketchbook that I've been carrying around for the past few months! I've been doing a lot of interesting things in it... and as it was started in Montreal it turned into a sort of travel journal for me.

And the weather gave me plenty of time to sit in cafes and draw... a little too much time, honestly. Haha. But c'est la vie. It's good to finally have something to post.

2010-09-04T12:19:00.004-04:00

Sorry about the lack of updates... the way I upload photos to my computer hasn't been working for essentially a month and I can't figure out another way to get the photos from my phone to my computer to the internet for all of you wonderful folks to see. But... on the other hand that simply encourages me to do more drawings out of the park.... unfortunately I've been working a ridiculous amount of hours and unfortunately haven't been able to do much drawing for myself.

But! I do have one measly update for you. Have a memory drawing. Hope I can update this thing again soon.

2010-07-25T11:29:00.000-04:00

Charles Bukowski: Roll the Dice

2010-07-23T11:58:00.004-04:00

I was a part of the Dr. Sketchy's Retro show again this year. It was a fantastic experience getting two paintings finished on a really short deadline and it really taught me a lot. I think I may be starting to get addicted to painting on a tight deadline.

2010-07-22T01:07:00.007-04:00

I've been mostly working on my speed lately. But on the slow days I try and take the time to do fun stuff; unfortunately (or fortunately) I haven't had many slow days lately.

2010-07-14T11:43:00.003-04:00

The princess was a reject. The mom didn't think it looked like her daughter. Albeit not the best drawing in the world... I thought using the forced smile the girl gave me as part of a frog kissing gag was funny. Oh well. The last one is a memory drawing of a guy who refused to sit down for me.

2010-07-12T11:09:00.004-04:00

2010-07-11T10:45:00.003-04:00

Here are the finished drawings from the Keyhole Sessions Sneak Peak exhibition(ism). I wanted to wait til after the opening gala before posting the drawings. But I still recommend checking them out in person as my stuff has always looked significantly better in person than reproduced on a computer.

1214 Queen West. Gladstone Artbar til Tuesday at 5pm.

2010-07-06T11:47:00.003-04:00

I've been on and off drawing wise over the past few days. I think I was getting burned out for a little bit and my drawings were suffering. But hopefully, if yesterday was any indication, my drawings are back on the mend and I'll be doing good stuff again. I really enjoyed a couple of these and tried to visualize a lot more while I was in the process of them. Except the baseball guy... his face deserved my more realistic treatment... although the body is terribly boring.

2010-07-03T23:33:00.003-04:00

My drawings were more park sketchy today. Weird, but not a bad thing.

2010-07-02T08:36:00.001-04:00

Say hello to Metalhead Jesus.

2010-07-01T13:13:00.001-04:00

2010-06-17T20:09:00.004-04:00

Went out to see Eagles of Death Metal last night and it was brilliant. So I decided to do a warm-up sketch of Jesse Hughes, the frontman of Eagles of Death Metal.

He eats, sleeps, breathes, shits and fucks rock and roll.

Can you dig it?

2010-06-14T22:25:00.004-04:00

Just some quick demos for today. The first black and white drawing was under a minute. The second black and white was between 1 and two minutes and the other two were close to 4 or 5 minutes each. No photos of the guests this time, unfortunately, but I hope you can trust me on the likeness at this point.

2010-06-09T22:20:00.007-04:00

I just wanted to share some drawings from The Keyhole Sessions which I have been trying to attend fairly regularly. I really rather enjoy it as it is a little bit risque, a lotta bit sexy and I absolutely love it when two (or more) models interact. The interaction adds an entirely new dimension to your drawings and keep me from simply copying and forces me to figure out how to compose a drawing to tell the story of their interaction.

Oh. And I also drew baboons and orangutans at the zoo... a good while ago now.

2010-06-06T21:54:00.003-04:00

I had a really good drawing day today... It felt like I could really just do anything I wanted and the drawings came out accurate. Even my quick cute caricatures were significantly stronger today. Still trying to figure a lot of things... but I'm super happy with my drawings so far this year.

I also had the opportunity to draw a handful of people entirely with Goldenrod, Sienna brown and a little scarlet red for areas with blood close to the surface.

2010-06-06T12:26:00.005-04:00

Just some fast, cute demos...

2010-05-31T20:22:00.001-04:00

I love drawing girls with underbites.

2010-05-31T08:40:00.003-04:00

I've been having a lot of fun at the park lately. I'm trying to push fast, accurate exaggeration right now.

2010-05-21T21:54:00.001-04:00

I had a lot of fun with this one.

2010-04-11T01:16:00.004-04:00

I think I read something about how the darks are your design. How you can do anything in them so long as they reveal the lights correctly. But that is such a painting thought, isn't it? Or at least a thought that exists within portrait painting.

I've been taking photographs recently and it has taught me a little bit about composition. I really like it because it makes you approach every situation with both spontaneity and analysis. And if the photo isn't brilliant, you can evaluate why instantly, recompose an re-shoot. But, as always, there is so much more to know. And I'm really looking forward to pushing myself this summer in a variety of ways. I want to draw a lot. And I want to make good money. And most of all I want to be constantly learning and improving.

Maybe I'll post more stuff soon.

E.

2010-04-06T12:08:00.002-04:00

I have really missed figure drawing. If I can I'll try to do it more during the summer, hopefully I'll be able to shake the rust off.

2010-03-25T00:04:00.001-04:00

2009-12-15T02:13:00.002-05:00

a 5 from Dr. Sketchy's that I spent some time cleaning up and coloring.

2009-11-28T14:45:00.001-05:00

This is what's currently on the easel. It's a toughie because all I have for reference is what little I can remember.

2009-11-27T12:22:00.001-05:00

Yep. I think I'm going to call it done.

2009-11-26T01:19:00.004-05:00

Just one in progress. This one has been exhausting so far. But as soon as I sit down to paint it is enthralling. I tried to be as accurate to my reference as possible without becoming a slave to it. Oftentimes I find it hard to maintain the truth of my work; being too busy exaggerating anatomical rhythms to be accurate.

Unfortunately it's in one of those pensive moods. I know it isn't finished but it doesn't seem to want me to work on it at the moment. All I would be doing at the moment would be refining unfinished areas (like the hands, face and feet) rather than adding anything to the overall image. It needs something... I know it. But I simply don't know what that something is. Maybe I can sleep on it.

2009-11-24T09:07:00.002-05:00

This was certainly something of an interesting one to paint.

edit: and sorry to beat a dead horse... but I touched the other painting up a bit as well.

2009-11-23T08:27:00.004-05:00

Let's call it a good six hours of work.

It was honestly a ton of fun, and once I jumped the only problem I had was the fact that I really was mixing "colors" without a system. Once I learn how to mix the color I want efficiently I think things will be a million times easier and ten million times more efficient and a quadjillion times more fun.

Oh. And I really should have worked the drawing out further. The easiest part was the face because it was the most worked out... the rest was a lot harder due to the fact that I hadn't worked out all of the problems I needed to.

2009-11-23T02:46:00.006-05:00

Oh yeah. I also did a painting of that adorable girl I met in the summer. I think I still need to mess with it a bit... but I took a break from it to do other stuff and completely forgot about it.

added the edited painting.

2009-11-23T02:35:00.003-05:00

Three hours in on a painting I started on a whim.
I don't know how big it is... probably 24x20 or so.
Painting bigger is a lot easier and faster than painting small.

2009-11-22T08:28:00.001-05:00

When I'm bored with nothing else to draw sometimes I draw skulls. They are rarely remotely anatomically correct, but I find skulls fun to draw.

2009-11-20T06:34:00.001-05:00

Just something I drew tonight to see if I could practice inking a variety of textures and then I decided to color it midway through.

2009-11-19T01:51:00.001-05:00

I did another boobie drawing. Not as big a fan of this one... but its still cool.

2009-11-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

The colored and uncensored boobie drawing I did.

And some drawings from yesterday that I cleaned up today. And some others that I didn't clean up. I told you I'd start editing a bit.

2009-11-17T04:15:00.002-05:00

A gift for a friend.
He likes juice.

2009-11-17T01:57:00.004-05:00

I was at York lanes today and got bored of just drawing floating heads. I know they don't all sit on the same groundplane... but I thought it was a better idea than randomly placed on 8.5 x 11. It was a lot of fun. I might go back tomorrow and do the same thing... or maybe I'll head back to Yorkdale and do it there.

2009-11-16T10:59:00.002-05:00

I've finally managed to get a fairly accurate representation of my paintings online. Both my scanner and my camera seem to color my images away from red and yellow and towards a bright blue, my camera very much so but I also have to compensate for the lights that I use.

But here it is; A painting I did of a drawing I did earlier yesterday. It was a lot of fun to just "treat the paint like paint" and explore that venue while still maintaining a sort of visual vocabulary in order to create a structure within the colors. After a certain point I got all confuddled by the new language I was creating and started, by virtue of a confuddled brain, ruining things, but that's okay because although the final isn't as structurally sound visually as it should have been, I learned a lot and it was a fantastic experience.

Thanks Andrea, I'll try to keep letting paint be paint.

2009-11-16T02:07:00.004-05:00

I went to Yorkdale again today, having missed Bobby Chiu's Sunday Subway Sketchgroup. I had a lot of fun as I went with my drawing buddy Andrea... and I find it always helps to draw with a buddy, as you can work off each others energy a little bit. Maybe that's just caricature's talking, but I like it. I promise I'll start posting more finished looking stuff rather than just sketches sometime in the future.

2009-11-16T02:05:00.001-05:00

A skull from memory from last night. I drew a whole page of them but I like this the best... I promise I'll start editing the good ones out soon, but for now I just love the fact that I'm drawing a ton.

2009-11-15T03:34:00.001-05:00

Just a memory drawing of two guys I saw in Yorkdale today.

2009-11-14T21:57:00.001-05:00

Went to the mall today and sketched for a bit. I need to draw faster.
Someday soon I'll post more finished stuff, but I'm kind of in a frenzy to get as much drawing done as possible at the moment and it is fantastic.

2009-11-13T22:33:00.002-05:00

I didn't really get a chance to get out of the house and draw today. So I decided to try my hand at digital caricature. Unfortunately I find I end up copying the shapes too much rather than truly analyzing the way forms interact and the uniqueness of the individual. But here is my second foray into digital caricature. Woo.

2009-11-13T18:11:00.000-05:00

I was at the bar again, so excuse the drunken scribblings.

2009-11-12T18:21:00.002-05:00

Oh. And I almost forgot I drew a little bit yesterday too. I should have drawn more, but I was out with one of my super adorable best friends eating fancy food at a fancy restaurent. But I managed to squeeze some drawing in beforehand so it was all okay.

2009-11-12T17:14:00.012-05:00

The ISCA convention was amazing. I don't think that I can say that enough. I wasn't there to win any awards, or try to impress anybody. I was just there to have a brilliant time hanging out with my friends, partying and drawing non-stop. It was an absolute blast, and I really can't wait til the next time I see them. If I can survive and manage to save up for Cripplecon I am totally going, if I can't then I'll see them again at the next ISCA con in Vegas, baby. But without further ado; here are some of the drawings I did while I was at the con. My apologies for the distracting flash.

2009-11-11T03:46:00.004-05:00

I went to the bar tonight and drew for a bit. It was fun, although it sucked that I got lectured for half an hour by a highly inebriated acquaintance.

2009-11-10T02:27:00.002-05:00

Another 5 that I really enjoyed cleaning up. I think I might try to go to bed now.

2009-11-10T01:00:00.003-05:00

I liked this drawing from Dr Sketchy's tonight. She was a fantastic model.
5 minute pose, but I spent a couple minutes finishing everything off.

2009-10-26T15:08:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to paint better, as I have two paintings that I'd like to finish as gifts for people before the end of time. So as the paintings simply were not working out, I went ahead and started two others to learn how to think more like a painter might. Two different approaches. But some of the way I like to paint is starting to make sense. The first was far superior halfway through. It had a lot less bullshit going on and was by far a stronger painting... I reached that point of "Oh. It looks good. I'll just make one more dab at it..." really rather quickly with it... and after that final dab all I was doing was trying to bring it back. I really need to learn how to move forward rather than simply trying to save what I've already done. The second one was created, mostly, out of color leftover on my palette.

2009-10-10T03:12:00.007-04:00

Here are a couple drawings; some recent and most quite a bit older.
Freddy drew a caricature of me recently that influenced this one a little bit I think. I like the drawing, if even I look beefier than normal.

I did this at Sunday Subway Sketchgroup a little while ago. I liked her posture and the shapes just seemed to flow and fit together wonderfully. I truly enjoyed drawing it and I think it shows.

I'm working on a poster at the moment with a pretty epic description. And this is just a failed study as the structure is all sorts of messed up. Sharks have gotten a lot harder to draw since I was 12.

One of those self portraits I did a long while ago. I still like the other one better.

A drawing of a girl that I had a crush on and wanted to see romantically. It didn't work out at all. But, she's still a pretty cool girl. Was going to write a depressing, none-too-specifically-about-her autobiographical comic about how we met, hit it off, how it made me feel all tingly inside and then how things quickly escalated into too much drama land. But I have a few screws loose myself, to be honest. If you haven't already noticed. I may end up doing it, in fact I'd really like too... It's just I'm not the best at writing comics... I end up being far too ambitious with my shot selection, and I give up midway through roughing things out as I have the compositions figured out in my head but can never translate them as I'd like to see them.

Another drawing I did of myself... I really enjoy drawing myself... I guess in a variety of different styles. It is honestly tons of fun.

I was at the zoo with Andrea and Catherine and I drew a kitty. One of the few drawings I did that day that didn't turn into a gigantic pile of flat mud milkshake. I ought to color it.

A Dr. Sketchy's drawing. I won a cupcake. It was a pretty tasty cupcake. Granted of course... everyone won a cupcake that night. But still.

A caricature I did of someone on the drawing board at the beginning of the summer.

You ought to see the gigantic pile of recycling I have after sorting through my drawings.

2009-10-01T02:08:00.001-04:00

I forgot I wanted to draw every day. I think I remembered how much fun it is.

2009-09-16T00:44:00.002-04:00

Just a work in progress.
He wanted a caricature from me last year, but as always I never got around to it and I thought that both Andrea and Oli did better jobs than I could have done.

Any criticism so far? It's not that caricatured, and I want it to be more caricatured... but I also really just want it to look like him.

Thanks,

Ed

2009-09-11T02:15:00.002-04:00

This was fun. I did a few others out of boredom today, but I like this one the best. Still has its problems, but I'm learning that the only way I really learn is by constantly fucking up and failing rather than simply perfecting to the point of masturbation. And it's that idea that everything has to be perfect that keeps me from having fun with my imaginative stuff. So here's to fucking up.

I'll post the other one that I like later.

All the best,

Ed

2009-09-04T08:55:00.002-04:00

Finally a couple good drawing days. I really think I'm starting to see the caricature now... I still find it hard oftentimes. And I disagree with my execution a lot of the time after the fact, but I think I'm finally getting some okay designs out of my live caricature stuff. The two things I still need to work on is to really get my shapes to fit together tightly, I get it sometimes I find, but other times they don't quite work. The other thing I really need to strengthen, I find, is my sense of structure. There are a ton of other things that I definitely need to improve... but those are my two biggest weaknesses... That and humor (the hard one, heh).

Just used peach in the shadows to unify a little bit.

I love the way light hits some people's faces.

Late at night is much harder, I find... but I like this night drawing for once. At least I like the drawing of the woman on the right better than some.

Two interesting children.

One of the cutest and most interesting people I've seen. This drawing isn't as good as the second drawing I did of her, I don't think. But it started the first good drawing day off. And she was absolutely fucking adorable too.

2009-08-26T00:04:00.001-04:00

I think I'm finally learning how to caricature. Now I just need to learn how to color...

2009-08-19T00:59:00.000-04:00

Just a quickie before bed.

2009-06-05T11:35:00.001-04:00

So yeah.

I made a kid cry.

2009-05-26T23:12:00.003-04:00

Another drawing from Dr. Sketchies the other night. Cleaned it up in the cafe at Wonderland today, and also at the coffee shop after work. I like drawing full bodies and cleaning them up. I just rarely have five minutes to complete one.... I either need to get faster or remember more.... or maybe just both.

Love,

Ed

2009-05-26T00:56:00.003-04:00

Today was rather interesting for me. I did my usual Monday routine, except I stopped by Curries to pick up some color sticks for Wonderland. And it was gorgeous out so I stopped by the nearby coffee shop and grabbed a coffee and a BLT and did the schedule for two weeks from Today starting Saturday. And I doodled in my book. But this recent sketchbook has been fighting me a bit... it's been asking me to draw the same old thing time and time again and I'm really rather frustrated with it considering how wonderfully creative the conversation I had with the previous book was... so I was tempted to pick up a brown paper sketchbook at the Curries but decided against it. And after that I went to AboveGround and picked up some clips and went along my merry way to school where I... didn't do much of anything. I ended up sitting outside in the sun and listening to my music for an hour... then getting a burrito and sitting outside in the sun for another half an hour before deciding that I really wasn't in the mood to draw slow drawings in a half lit studio. So I decided it would be for the best to bugger off and not feel guilty for it rather than sitting in the sunshine half guilty for wasting non-work day not working on anything. After which I went to the Java house and grabbed a pint and sketched and then went to Dr. Sketchies where I... sucked. I got three drawings that I liked... one of which I tried to clean up and ended up ruining. And another that I just got bored with after a little while... and I also got this:

So yeah. I think I prefer shitty cheap ass sketchbooks that I can just draw in to snobby sketchbooks that tell me what to do. Thanks to my buddy Fridge for picking this book up, and to Juan and Freddy for chilling out with me for the night and making my guilty work-free day complete.

2009-05-24T21:55:00.002-04:00

I really don't want this to become a caricature blog because... as much as I like caricature I find that I'm really not all that good at live caricature. I'm always in a rush to get things done, I never plan out the compositions for my body situations so they're always a horrible mess. I like doing it and I find that it really pushes me to strive for excellence... but I also find that... frankly, I suck at it.

That being said; I love doing it. If it wasn't for the fact that theme parks... suck and the pay isn't much better than minimum wage as an average over the course of a summer... I think I'd be prepared to do live caricature for the rest of my life. In fact, I think I hope to maintain it as a skillset because I think that it really opens your eyes.

Today was a weird one for me.

I started out drawing... really rather badly. But my first sale of the day was a fantastically unique and interesting looking boy that I had a field day drawing. And I did my best to exaggerate the hell out of him while maintaining accuracy. After that I was hit or miss for the remainder of the day.

Some of the drawings were just... bad. But on the other hand, some of my drawings I really rather liked. And the sad and funny part was when I had fans were always during my worst drawings of the day. Sad but true.

But as my colors have improved from abysmal to passable... I think this coming week I am going to push my coloring and go as far as I possibly can because it seems as if I am finally hitting a stride where I can exaggerate and maintain a likeness and still keep a decent amount of speed in the drawing. I still seem to spend a lot of time on my color... but I'm getting better and I can whip out parksketch colors when it gets busy, or I can actually take my time and figure out the coloring... but I find I tend to make the same choices regardless of whether I am analyzing or I am going further in depth... and that simply means that I haven't found many choices in my analysis to work with.

So this week... expect my colors to be... abysmal before they become better.

Oh. I did two drawings I liked today. One was of a girl, just a black and white head drawing... but she was one of the most unique and interesting girls I have ever seen. I wish I had taken a photo of that one. And the other was this one. I just wish the colors were stronger.

2009-05-22T01:51:00.002-04:00

I totally promise this won't become some sort of bad habit. I don't want caricatures to overwhelm my blog, honestly. But I like these enough to share.

I'm still working on some things... but the biggest thing I think I need to work on is... personality. I think my drawings are... just drawings. They really have no life of their own. Part of that is the fact that I seem to draw the same neck and angles on a lot of my caricatures...

I also noticed before that I never really exaggerated the external shape of a face... I always simplified it; So now I'm starting to push that a little bit. I'll try to work on more variety in my shapes and relationships... and I think I really need to start learning how to color or at least exploring it a lot more.

There's so much to learn.

2009-05-20T00:33:00.004-04:00

I've been trying to make my live caricature's better... I think I'm slowly getting better.

2009-05-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

The bottom drawing is one of my favorites in the sketchbook. Unfortunately I also find the actual drawing fairly weak... but the intent was there. And that, in this case, is more important to me.

I saw this guy hunched over on the subway.. and everything about the situation had the most depressing story and immediately my mind was empathizing with his silhouette. I mean, he just looked so sad. I know I didn't catch the emotion that well but it was a situation where I really tried... and failed. And it taught me that I need to shoot for that more often and fail. That is when I really know how to interpret and design and change things. I just find it hard to not be distracted by facial features. But I will continue to try to draw story.

Maybe some day soon I will have a drawing that has story that I can call a success.

Love,

Ed

2009-05-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

I rather enjoy this method of drawing, even now. It is both exaggerated but also retains a sense of design and a sense of the completeness of nature. Unfortunately it requires me to look both very accurately and very abstractly which requires an amount of time and precision that I typically don't have. But with practice I will be able to refine the process and draw like this a lot faster and even more accurately and even more exaggerated and hopefully retain even more of the rightness of things.

I also included a drawing from my imagination for shits and giggles.

Love,

Ed

2009-05-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

This is probably, in my opinion, the post that I have the most mixed feelings about.
I mean I like the drawings and all... I still am really proud of the top page. It's just.... the drawings are boring to me. That's all.

2009-05-06T09:41:00.001-04:00

Sorry about the shitty photos in the coming days. I don't actually own a scanner so I take photos of all of my work rather than scanning it. I've finally figured out a set-up that works pretty well too... after this photo set.

Okay. I'm starting with the drawing that I know that most of you haven't seen. (In fact, I'm pretty certain that only Oli, Doug and Adrienne have seen the drawing.)

So... yeah. I'm not too happy with it, but I like the intent of it. You see, I aspire to inspire. And when I find someone that I get along with well I tend to end up simply trying to push them... to give them some of the momentum I've gotten along the way. And I try to do it on a case by case basis. Some people I know I try to push by being incredibly critical and stopping them and forcing them to think about the choices they are making and if they make sense. Some people I try to push in the opposite direction and I tell them to stop analyzing the situation, stop having a plan and just do. And with some people, the only thing I can actually do to help them is to give them blank pages to work with and tell them they should go out in the sunshine and draw every day.

So, to all of you my wonderful friends;
Draw every day. And if you don't draw; simply find a moment to savor, and draw it all in.

Love,

Ed

2009-05-06T01:33:00.002-04:00

Two of my favorite drawings from today.
I swear I'll post more... in fact it is assured because tonight I have nothing to do and can set up automated posting until I run out of the drawings most of you have already seen!

Yay!

2009-05-01T11:40:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share this with you.. and maybe analyze it a little bit. I love horror movies... maybe not as much as some people I've come across, but I still love them.

I love this film by virtue of the fact that it masterfully uses a horror film shot selection... to the point of caricature. I mean, I felt more empathy for the characters in this film than I have for... just about any of the films I've seen recently.

It starts off very cartoony and flat.
Flat shot.
Cut in close. Still flat.
Cut to truck. Still flat, but the tone of the image is darker simply by having 70% of the image as a darker value.
Cut to hand opening door. Heavy perspective, Camera tilted diagonally. Everything is diagonals... There are no horizontal lines... After door opens, 50% of the image is black. 90% of the image is a dark value.
Cut to 1 point. Almost symmetrical composition. Downshot on characters. Characters almost being trapped by the shape of the houses.
Cut in to show handhold.
Stuff
Stuff
Stuff
In this sequence the important thing to note is the fact that every time the camera cuts it gets closer. Even the time each shot takes has decreased significantly.
And the first shot to break this rhythm is the shot establishing the nervousness of the girl..... Freaking awesome.
And then back to fast paced cuts.

Simply masterful... and that's just the opening 36 seconds.

2009-04-19T03:15:00.005-04:00

I was going to go into a long winded and heavy handed attempt at analyzing why I think the way I do.

But this quote works better;

It is better to solve one problem five different ways, than to solve five different problems one way.—George Pólya

2009-04-13T08:16:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to put the effort into updating internet-stuff a little bit more often.

So... here's a drawing from my new sketchbook.

For some reason girls with wedgies are intrinsically cuter than boys with wedgies.
Why is this?

2009-04-12T22:33:00.005-04:00

I don't know why; but for some reason I seem to be really sensitive to each individual sketchbook. I don't know how to describe it any other way, but... every sketchbook I have seems to have it's own personality. And draws from me different drawings.

Maybe it is the weight and the tooth of the paper, maybe it is the shape of the book... but every sketchbook is a teacher in it's own right. On a technical level, because the weight and tooth of the paper changes: certain mediums can be made more or less effective. Portrait or landscape owe themselves very naturally to different types of page layouts and compositions. And hell, whether the book is portrait or landscape makes me look for different types of people. It's hard to make someone reeaaaaallly tall in a landscape book without flipping the book so you're drawing portrait. It's simple mechanics, really.

Some books tell me they want me to draw in ballpoint. Some want me to draw in Col-Erase. Some want brushpens. Some want me to clean up drawings. Some even want me to treat every page as a finished drawing. Hell, even two books of the exact same manufacture end up asking for completely different things from me. It's odd; I'm odd, I guess.

I don't know what it is, but when I try and dictate my growth in one direction... sometimes a book will tell me that it won't have it and send me in a completely different direction, or simply send me packing. Sometimes a sketchbook is like a really nice riddle and it will only nudge you in different directions until by the final page you know how the book wants you to draw in it.

Having a sketchbook like that is like having a fantastic, meandering conversation. My previous sketchbook was like that. There was no real unifying mode of drawing. The closest I got to unity in there was the few pages of hand drawings interspersed throughout. It was a fun, if tiring sketchbook. It really put me through my paces, taught me a fine bit of humility. And I came out the other side feeling as if I've made a friend; and this is with an inanimate object.

My new sketchbook is a sketchbook I had from the beginning of my second year at Seneca, if I recall correctly. I was obsessed with two things at that time: Brushpens with real bristles, and beautiful sketchbooks that were works of art by their own right. Funny thing was, I had just finished a sketchbook with a brushpen and given it to my friend Dee. So I could use a brushpen effectively. I knew how I wanted my new book to look. I had every bit of the book planned out in my head... and barely 16 pages in; the sketchbook told me to sit down, shut up and that I should just stop right there. So I tried again... approaching with humility but still with a purpose of how I wanted the book to look. And still, the book wouldn't let me draw with it. "I won't have any of that nonsense," is really what it said to me. I mean, externally the book is beautiful. It flaunts a kind of quality. It feels like a thing of refinement and luxury. But it was looking down at me all this time; telling me to stop being vain. Stop being so selfish about us. Stop treating the book like an object; a means to an end. And, simply, treat it like a friend.

So... after a few hiccoughs to begin with I am beginning a new adventure. A new series of conversations with what I hope to be a very good friend. And so far, we've only had a few disagreements here or there about politics or sports teams, or whatever. But we are finally getting along.

So, I guess the lot of you now know how weird I truly am. But, if I can give advice to anyone about drawing in a sketchbook... it would be to start listening to it. Just a little bit, for me. You may be surprised about the conversations you can have with it.

Or maybe I'm just a little nutso.

Love,

Ed.