Utopia Moment sketches and writing by Jack Ruttan and friends

More Friday evening stuff, back at the bar. Above is a drawing by Marr which I watercoloured, and dressed up the people to make a 1960s scene, like I remember from Yorkville, Toronto’s glory days.

Below is sort of by all three of us. I did two characters, Marr did a character (on the left), then Rick inked it, but I inked Julia Roberts (uneven hair and all).

Marr’s cat, inked by me:

Strange drawing, which shows what Marr and Gagnon get up to when left alone:

Later, I challenged Rick to a game of pool, and lost. He proceeded to rule the table, so I sat back and sketched. Here I didn’t capture the hot girl pool player he also beat. But since I think people will want to see what she looked like, I’m working on a separate, more legible drawing of her, for another time.

Lots of action at the Montreal Monthly Comic Jam last night, at the Cock N’ Bull pub!

The Jam happens every last Thursday of the month at the pub, 1944 Saint Catherine Street west (Metro: Guy), around 8 pm. I’m going to try to place a link to our facebook page: [link]

Below is some of the Jam gang watching Youtube movies with jamster Ray Bishop:

My sketch of Ray, which he thought made him look too stern:

It was Eric Theriault’s birthday, so Nicolas Plamondon and Rick Gagnon gave him a few swings:

Maybe not one for every year, but enough to show that we love him:

Some areas of the bar were rather dark, so this book-light equipped beer mug came in handy:

The hands of Jeff Leblanc, in the very act of creation:

Nicolas Plamondon — quite a cool and young cartoonist. Visit his site in the links at right:

Sirkowski and Kurt Beaulieu:

Mathieu Bernier, sitting across from Kurt, was drawing quite a funny likeness:

Kurt himself was drawing his usual subject matter:

Art is everywhere. Strange modelling-clay decorations on a post I saw on the way out:

This is a guy from a Love and Rockets comic book I drew as an exercise in inking. Kind of dull. I prefer doing my own stuff.

I got an interesting cartooning commission you might hear more about, later. Just practicing for that!

I’ve been that way for the last couple of days, so lacked the energy to do very much. Feeling better today, so I thought I’d post some stuff. Tried taking snaps of it rather than scanning. Just some drawing I’ve been doing affected by things I’ve been reading and watching.

The girl cats are enjoying the sun. Three cats, and they can’t all seem to fit on the window seat, even though I expanded it. The new black and white girl is always there, and the other larger cats seem to take turns (or, it’s whomever gets up there first). Today, it’s Mrs. Boggedy sharing the sun with Nora Small Cat.

Nothing too exciting today. I’m sick with a cold and trying to pamper myself!

The Gang in this case is me, Rick Gagnon, and Marr. Did a pile of drawings, at our usual haunt, the Cock N’ Bull, after 5 pm. Fridays. That’s happy hour until 7!

Rick and I finished the above drawing last, but of course it was the most elaborate one, so it goes up first. Kind of had a Jack Davis vibe to it. It started with a head I drew in the middle, then Rick put in most of the rest. We both did a great deal of the inking, giving the other person directions in case the pencils weren’t clear, about where the light was pointing, etc. Some debate on little points, but usually we’re on the same wavelength.

The people beside us were amused at all of the effort and discussion over minutiae that went into producing something like that. “Do you think you’re putting enough work into it, yet?”

The thing with these dark, elaborate drawings, you always feel there’s one more thing you can do to make the picture just a little bit better. So it’s rarely finished, just abandoned. That’s different from simple drawings, which can be over-laboured on, and you have to watch out.

The stegosaurus below rocks. I think I’m pretty good at forms of things, while Rick is ace at tones, and placing blacks. We learn from each other, doing these.

Nora the cat wasn’t actually at the bar, as she is in this drawing I did, but some day she might slip into the bag and show up. “Why aren’t you feeding me, and paying attention to me, every moment?”:

Marr did some nice drawings in his own little book. He said he never wants to fool around with lights and darks, and so got a lot of chiding from us two. Still, I think he enjoys the interaction and collaboration, and hope he takes the chance to stretch his abilities.

He does like to do things his own way, however. He was unhappy about the mouth not lining up below, but I think it worked great.

Next, Rick’s drawing of one of the annoying business types at a nearby table. Even if they are a pain, and Rick certainly makes no secret of his feelings, he still is pretty gentle with them graphically.

That’s as opposed to me, because this was a nice lady on the other side as drawn by me. I’d never show her this, and probably, if I ever took a job as a mall caricaturist, be run out of town on a rail!

This last one by me is Tony, the funny old busboy at the bar. Always seems to be behind you, when you don’t expect him, reaching for your empty glass. He’s a nice guy, though. Just a little “Addams Family.”

Drat! Forgot his funny little short tie.

A girl from an ad for milk, and a stupid little boy.

Oh heavenly frosty father, wash away our sins with your snowy grace. Amen.

I don’t know if this is sacrilegious or not, but to me it’s pure Montreal.

Black gouache is tricky to spell (no, this morning it just seems to roll off the keyboard), but fun to do. Also very fast. I’m still doing this on the el-cheapo sketchbook paper, because I’m too lazy to tape it down to stretch it, but that’s the way of things. It also helps me work out those values for the more elaborate drawings. I continue to feel as if I’m progressing, reaching another plateau in the work. which would be fine, if true. Would like to market it a little more skillfully, however.

This pic obviously has something to do with the Oscars which are going down on the weekend. I don’t care much about them, but still end up sucked into watching them, for I don’t know what reason. To see what people are wearing? Does it matter that much to me?

I did some work I’m happy with today, and more of less kicked off for the rest of the day. Might work more this evening. But here’s a wash drawing, with something earlier I actually drew in the subway, when it wasn’t bumping around too much. So, he looks like their guardian spirit, or something.

Here are a bunch of faces I drew last night, while watching a DVD. Not always so great trying to paint while watching something, esp. an interesting but relatively contemplative film such as Two Lane Blacktop, which demands more attention than an action flick, or similar. Generally, I wait until playing a flick again for the commentary track before I draw too much. That way, it’s more like listening to radio, and you can pay more attention to the paper and brush.

Nonetheless, these faces are more inspired by the film rather than portraits of people in it. I’d have to pay more attention to details such as shapes of noses, etc. Sometimes I’ll snap a frame I like off the screen, with my digital camera. Not great quality, but enough for my needs.

I enjoy practicing this more saturated style, since it’s new for me, using the dark colours. Tricky to do and get right, but that’s what practice is for, which is the purpose of most of this. I can also work on getting the likenesses, and then the drawing will have reached a whole new level. It’s always cool to feel you’re acquiring skills, rather than just doing one thing over and over again.

Precious few visitors, it seems, but the numbers were coming from points in the day, so you’d have to add them up to get a daily total. I’m not going to share that with you!

Above, a painting loosely inspired by the terrific cop thriller Infernal Affairs, sort of the Hong Kong version of The Wire, but with twists and turns.

Below, a bald guy on the same page, inspired by nothing at all.

Wow. Painting dark in watercolour is hard. Or, at least involves different skills than slashing away at a light picture. With light things, there’s always a chance of overworking something, and spoiling it. With these, there always seems to be something else you can do, which will make it a better, more interesting picture.

I’m worried that the over-all effect of these is a little kitschy, but that might be because of using a “horsie” as a subject. Also, you have to be way more accurate in terms of forms, or else you risk falling into the surreal. Not that that’s always a bad thing. Still, I dig horses, having worked with them for a summer job way back in the 1980s.

The drawings here, as they’ve been on most Saturdays since I’ve been blogging, are from the previous evening spent drawing with friends at the bar. Sadly, Marr was doing family stuff and wasn’t there, but Rick Gagnon and I were.

We drew a bunch of stuff. Above is a drawing I made on the metro, inked and interpreted by Gagnon. There were all these little discussions that night. “Is that a bowl? It looks like a bowl.” “I don’t care, I don’t remember what it was. Draw what you see.” Anyhow, It’s easy to ignore all that, and just enjoy the freaky, funny drawings.

This is a drawing by Rick, which I started inking. He put in background, and I added an animal.

It’s a badger with a luggage handle. “Have you checked your badger?” That was Rick’s idea.

This is a gentle soul from another table. Drawn by me and ably inked by Rick. The girl from next door to the bar at the dollar store, or at least impressions of her and her tattoo, make an appearance here.