I attended a demo at a local art store over the weekend. It was geared towards watercolor portraits. The instructor answered tons of questions but only had enough time to paint for an hour.

Here's a quick caricature sketch of the
live model in his snazzy velvet tux.(brush pen & grey marker)

Sausalito

Quick lunch break sketch near a small moat right off the freeway. There's usually a couple of ducks cruising the waters, but I was lucky enough to witness an egret fly in and hang out.

Visited Berkeley over the weekend for some lunch and grabbed some coffee at Peet's, just enjoying this warm weather...in November?!

Plug 2

I've been posting a lot of Star Wars sketches lately, but I wanted to share a unique illustration that I have on my wall. It's a Darth Vader that I commissioned story artist John Hoffman to create. John's one of the sickest illustrators I've met with an amazing character design style. Check out his blog to see some of his latest projects: www.monkeyfeather.blogspot.com

Now my Ralph McQuarrie post card illustrations don't feel so lonely. LOL.

The Dragon

Awhile back, I visited my parents in Seattle. We did a lot of walking, hiking and....eating......oh yeah and sketching. Notice the person wearing shorts and hoodie. It's Seattle! What was I thinking?
This sketch was done at the cemetary where the legendary Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon, were buried. It was somewhat exciting, yet a bit sad being there. But I was glad I took the time to pay my respects.

Star Wars sketch dump

Continuing on our trip around San Francisco, and I as the tour guide, Josh and I hung out at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic). After geeking out, we sat down to do some sketching. Josh was sketching a Wookie head shot, while I sketched the life-size Boba Fett on display

Inspired by our ILM visit, we decided to collaborate on an ARC trooper (Advance Recon Clone Trooper). Josh laid down a blue pencil sketch, I added a couple layers of watercolor for color & texture, Josh inked it, then I tweaked the whole thing in Photoshop. All that for one sketch? LOL. The process went rather quickly...less than an hour.

Josh has been requesting a Darth Vader sketch illustration ever since he saw my digital sketch back in May, so to his surprise he got his wish in exchange for his efforts in flying down to Cali to hang out with me and Olivia.

(Click here for the process)

Chinatown

During my friend's (Josh) first visit to San Francisco, we roamed around Chinatown for a couple hours. We took a short break to do a couple of thumbnails before we headed out to explore other neighborhoods.

Sketchcrawl 20

Whoa! Another massive turn out of 60 + crawlers. This time I recruited Josh, a good friend from art school in Seattle, to join us. I wasn't too familiar with the Mission District Area and ended up parking at a (recommended garage) on 23rd and Potrero. Later realizing it was a 15 block hike to the starting point! My bad, Josh. LOL.

Fortunately, we arrived at the meeting point just in time. The group was still ordering coffee and chatting outside. I managed to meet up with Enrico to receive my "Venice Chronicles" book with a special watercolor plate inside! (that is definitely getting framed)

Fantastic stories & adventures!!!
Order your copy here

Some sketchers decided to crawl elsewhere, but a group of us decided to stay and and sketch outside of Que-tal Cafe.

Here's my first sketch of the day... just at the corner of 23rd and Guerrero. The person sketching in the front, with the "shell-toe" Adidas is the talented Pete Scully (from Davis).
Sitting at the corner block gave me the opportunity to meet Kenny. I can't believe he traveled from Concord? But glad he made it out for his first Sketchcrawl Session.

I was approached by several passer-by's inquiring why there were so many people sketching today? So I referred them to the forum for more info...hopefully we'll see some new faces at the next crawl?

Upon wrapping up, I ran into Nancy Lorenz and her friend Sybil. Nancy is the talented person that created caricature (felt material) characters at the end of Enrico's "Venice Chronicles". Check it out!

After packing up, Josh and I tried to meet up with another group...but ended up getting lost. We ran into Vern and Rick on Mission St. They traveled all the way from Walnut Creek (just like Kenny). Along the way we came across Jackie and her cool bike. We joined her for lunch at a delicious Taqueria' that she highly recommended. She was right....The burrito's were filling!

After lunch, Josh remembered spotting some lucha libre masks a block away. So we decided to tackle the challenge of drawing as many as we could.

Nachooooooooo Libre Mask!

We met another water color artist (Carol), chatted a bit, then packed up and headed for the end point at Muddy Water's Cafe. Once again, we caught up with Vern, Rick, Jackie and John and began exchanging sketchbooks. Before we knew it, Sketchcrawlers completely took over the cafe!

As always, great to meet everyone during the crawl. I'll either catch up with you again at Ape-Con or at Sketchcrawl #21. Thanks.

IF: Vacant

Found a vacant house in Albany over the weekend. I speculated that it may have been a victim of the housing crisis. For whatever reason it may have been, it took little time for the vegetation to take over and move in--rent free.

2 minute pose

Just getting back into life drawing sessions.
I'm a bit rusty, but here's one that was fun.

Benicia Sketchdump

Stopping by for some breakfast and mocha at Java Point Cafe in Benicia, Ca. Sketching at this angle was quite painful on the neck. I don't recommend it.

Walking passed First Street Cafe.

One more sketch before heading home.

Sausalito - part 2

Here's the latest set of lunch sketches from Sausalito. The
top sketch was a combination near the Harbor Bay marina.

The bottom sketch was a great find. Just outside Arques School, where a handful of boats are renovated.

Plug 1

I'd like to share a new book that's releasing this month by Enrico Casarosa, who has been a huge influence to my art work. Just observing his Hayao Miyazaki inpired style, Enrico has taught me to loosen up more when drawing in public......and not to mention using watercolors again (I had such a horrible watercolor experience in college and vowed to stay away from this uncontrolable medium! - LOL)

This book will definitely be a great addition to your bookshelves and coffee tables.

ORDER HERE

The Venice Chronicles - a travelogue in pencil, watercolor and varying shades of silliness. Hardcover,144 full-color pages, by Pixar artist Enrico Casarosa. Take a stroll through the side streets and canals of Venice in this colorful graphic novel, meeting at the intersection between Carnet De Voyage and Love Story.

(all posted images were created and belong to Enrico Casarosa)

ORDER HERE

Hardcover: 144 pages

Publisher: AdHouse Books

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0981845509

ISBN-13: 978-0981845500

Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 4 ounces

Sausalito - part 1

Here's a couple lunch break sketches in Sausalito.

Sketchcrawl 19.5

I took my pal Zach to experience his first Sketchcrawl in Emeryville, Ca. We stopped by the food court for some dinner and sketching. I had an old half empty sketchbook that Zach put to good use. He couldn't stop talking about all these cartoon ideas in his head, so I showed him how to thumbnail his ideas....and he ended up creating a rather entertaining comic strip of a green ninja vs. an orange ninja. I wonder if his inspiration had anything to do with my vest color and his hoodie?
After a large bowl of Pho, I warmed up with a couple sharpie sketches of 2 people eating at nearby tables. They didn't look too thrilled with what they ordered for dinner?

I ended the evening with a quick sketch of the food court.

Foo Dog

Sometime spelled "Fu Dog". Either way, they are Chinese Imperial Guardian Lions. I've seen similar statues at plant nursery's and clay pottery stores while driving down Hwy 1 and Hwy 121. But I definitely remember seeing Foo Dogs at the San Francisco Chinatown Gate (Sketchcrawl #2 & 17). But this particular one was found in the living room of my friends Anna and Marie. I thought they were kidding when they told me it was called a "Dog Fu". It's believed that they possess mythical protective powers and usually are displayed in two's.

Faber-Castell brush pen. They're waterproof!!!

(Recommended by Emma Coats and John Hoffman's blog).

Rock on!

What's better than hanging out with good friends on the weekend and playing "Rock Band" & "Guitar Hero"? I spent countless hours jamming with Gem and June on Rock Band. Playing the Bass was fun, but the drums were definitely my favorite. Here's Agatha rock'in out to 3 songs in a row. Notice the difficulty level rising. These games are soooooo addictive!!!

Joker's Wild

Joker's Wild....that's an understatement. Here's another design with a "Frosty" touch to the infamous Dark Knight villain. I anticipated painting this one with a flatter color palette, but couldn't resist adding the smeared facial paint and wrinkles to the Joker's face. From there, I just went crazy. This is still a work in progress piece with other elements that Josh Frost layed out. Stay tuned and don't touch that Bat-channel. LOL.

Super-Hero

Here's a collabo with one of my close friends (Art Institute alumni), Josh Frost. He's been cranking out character designs and sending them my way to color. Here's the first "Hero" character for an animated music video project still in pre-production stages.

Painted in Photoshop

Sketch dump

I had no idea what this was when I visited the dental office for a routine cleaning. It reminded me of a dormant little robot, so I started sketching it. The doctor asked if I even knew what I was drawing? Nope, but I like it! Come to find out, it's a teeth whitening machine.

This is from a previous 1-1/2 hour ferry ride. I may color this up in the future.

This is an oldie....I think from an old army book. Why didn't I finish it? Arrrrrrg!

A quick doodle of a biker just after dinner at a Filipino Restaurant in Vallejo, Ca. Sorta looks like the biker is planning to use the banana leaf as a ramp to the delicious plate of "Crispy Pata"?!

Peanuts

I loved drawing Peanut characters as a child. It's one of the earliest form of cartoons that inspired me to learn about traditional animation, cartooning and illustration. If you could only see the hundreds of Snoopy doodles in my elementary school text books, LOL.

When you think of Peanuts, you think of Charles Shultz, the creator. But have you ever wondered who animated Snoopy and good ole' Charlie Brown? That would be the talented Peanuts animator Bill Melendez. He was the only animator aurthorized to work on Charles Schult's Peanuts characters and is better know for giving us "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

He was always working on short notice and with a super tight budget, which gave him the opportunity to voice Snoopy.....Wait! Snoopy usually never talks?!

Here's Bill Melendez in his Sherman Oaks studio in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately Bill Melendez passed away on Tuesday Sept. 2nd, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. May his work continue to inspire and entertain future artist/cartoonist enthusist everywhere.

4 years in the making

Enrico has set a date for the 20th Sketchcrawl extraveganza. October 25th!!! Here's a link to the forum to find out if a sketch group will meet up in your neck of the woods. If not, start one in your own town/city. This will be a huge one! Feel free to contact me with any question about Sketchcrawl.

(image created by enrico casarosa)

(Click here for painting process)

What planned to be a 1-hour speed painting exercise turned into a 3-hour exercise. It was truly a pain in the butt...especially the cactus stem in the middle foreground. So why didn't I just drop it and move on? It ended up becoming a huge challenge and I think that's really what drove me to finish. After the first hour, it was all about exploring layers of colors...wait, what colors? It's just black, green and yellow? Hahahaha. Somewhere in there are browns, 3 shades of green, orange and maroon. It's the 2nd hour that I started to enjoy the process. Then the it was the last hour that I just wanted to finish the darn thing. Great lighting exercise overall, I look forward to the next one.

Boxer

Awhile back, Olivia attended a dog & cat photo shoot for work out in Contra Costa. I tagged along for the trip, but unfortunately did not get a chance to sit in on the photo shoot. I did drive around Concord and checked out a couple comic shops and got stuck in traffic, but at least Olivia made a new friend. Her name is Gretta...the friendliest Boxer in the world. Hopefully we'll play with Gretta again at future photo shoots :)

(Click here for painting process)

Here's a 1-hour digital speed painting of Gretta. This was a fun exercise!

I had an opportunity to sell an illustration back in May and I wanted to share a few details in the process. I did a ton of thumbnails and kept hitting a wall when it came to adding brush pens. Here's a simplified Seattle Space Needle that didn't make the cut.

Next, is one of the many failed attempts at the Coit Tower. I made so many version of this famous San Francisco landmark that I ran out of ink in both my brush pens with just 24 hours left from my deadline. I stepped away from the drawing board and took another stab at it the next day.

After a trip to the art store for ink refills and two Red Bulls later, I decided to create a night scene instead. So this is the illustration that I was able to sell (wiping sweat from forehead).

It was truly a great exprerience and I look forward to sharing more stories of current/future commissions.

Tuk Tuk

Quick doodle just before eating Thai food in Vallejo, Ca. It's a Thai tricycle, also known as a "Tuk Tuk".

IF: baby

My parents adopted a toy poodle a couple years back and they just love him like a new born baby. Introducing "Max".....A fairly new addition to the family. I guess that makes him my....brother? Cool.

My mom has been dropping hints forever....for me to sketch lil' Max. I thought I'd surprise her with this huge painted bowl for Mother's Day. Shots out to the United Postal Service in delivering this in one piece (wiping the sweat from forehead).