I have to update my blog, template and all, to add new, modern things.
I hope not a ton of pop-ups, etcetera. Still, this is a recent sketchbook page I actually worked on today!
I’m setting up a Patreon link, and also have a cool illustration thing I’m going to share soon!
Please stay tuned!
Newish sketchbook pages.
You know, I used to put up a drawing every day, and felt unhappy if I didn’t.
But these days, while I’m still drawing a lot, I’m not blogging as much.
Social Media is strange. I loved Twitter, but they seem to be doing as much as they can to ruin it.
Instagram is supposed to be the place, but they want you to put in “reels,” and their format for graphics always cuts something important off.
Facebook … I’m not getting what they’re doing with it. My notifications seem to have disappeared.
But even though some things need updating, this is still my space. “Have a great day,” as others are wont to say. I’m still surviving, and have new, interesting things to share.
Old old self-portrait. Mid 2000’s, I think.
Sketches from the waiting room of the Queen Elizabeth Health Centre in Montreal. I was there to accompany a friend.
No one seems to mind me doing this. Cat and maus are imaginary….
Back in the early 2000s, I got to do a workshop at Montreal’s Blue Metropolis Book Festival with the great Gene Luen Yang. A movie adaptation of his graphic novel American Born Chinese is currently coming out.
The book the movie is based on is an amazing exploration of being young and having a Chinese background when you are living in North America. Certainly opened my eyes to a lot.
Here are a couple of drawings I created at the workshop. Not brilliant character design, but I was collaborating with the rest of the people at the table, and most of them weren’t artists.
He told me some interesting things. For instance, one of the hardest parts of drawing was getting your characters to stand up straight inside the panel. (computers can fix this, of course, but then you don’t have nice original art to sell).
His other point was to have one story happening on the page, but then implying a second story going on inside the characters’ heads.
But the coolest thing for me at the time, was hearing about Avatar: The Last Airbender. I picked the series up on DVD from the local video store, and it was a revelation to me.
Things seen outside my friend’s back door window. Painted in watercolour in my cheap Dollarama sketchbook.
Like, from about 2018 or 19? I used to put these up when I did them. But got out of the habit, what with Facebook and all taking over from personal blogs…..
Now this critter was painted on incredibly lightweight paper (one of those make your own greeting card packs). She cockled up very badly, but I was able to flatten her.
Reminds me of a story about a job I worked at, colouring cels for an animated TV show that never made it to air….
Got a ton of thick, good quality watercolour paper lately.
So, I’m just trying to paint, without worrying about ruining good paper. Not all of these are masterpieces, or will go on walls.
But they feel good to do.
Watching the paint dry, as Jill Thompson put it. I wonder what she’s doing, these days?
I sort of love backwash, which is supposed to be the worst sin in watercolour, anytime. But I think it’s cool and interesting.
Just trying to keep this thing up to date. I still use it. I don’t know who visits it….
Tags: cat, watercolor, watercolours
