I drew these in black and white, because I’m practicing computer colouring. Seems like a lot of work!
Tags: Animals, black and white, Brush Pen, horses, men, sketches, women
November 21, 2011
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A Kelpie, a Vampire; other things.
By Jack Ruttan in horses, men, sketches, women
November 18, 2011
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Comic Colour and Nasty Horsemen
By Jack Ruttan in horses, men, sketches
I’ve finally learned a comic colouring technique that’s relatively fast, and that I’m happy with. Check this series of youtube videos from the Overground Comic Company, if you want to find out more.
Meanwhile, I’ve been drawing a stack of things. Here are a couple of angry guys on horses a la Frank Frazetta for you:
Tags: Animals, ballpoint pen, black and white, Brush Pen, colour, digital, horses, men, sketches
November 15, 2011
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Roller Pen Drawings
By Jack Ruttan in sketches, women
Could call these “Pen and Ink,” but that seems too grand. The titles become dull also, because of the idea of putting something plainly descriptive in so search engines can find them.
Tags: ballpoint pen, black and white, Pen & Ink, sketches, women
November 13, 2011
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Arrr…. Ulllg….
By Jack Ruttan in men, sketches, watercolour
This guy is vaguely based on John Cusack from the movie “Say Anything,” but I was too lazy to draw a portrait. So he becomes “random guy,” because it’s too cold to go out on the balcony and draw people.
Tags: colour, men, sketches, watercolour
November 11, 2011
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Hard and Soft Edges
By Jack Ruttan in sketches, watercolour, women
I dislike ink outlines, but am working on hard and soft edges in drawings. Leaving the middles alone in this case, or giving them a gentle wash.
Tags: colour, sketches, watercolour, women
November 10, 2011
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Kid Pushing Traffic Marker
By Jack Ruttan in watercolour
This kid was pushing down traffic markers the other day. So I drew him. If you see this kid around your neighbourhood, tell him to leave the traffic markers alone.
Tags: Brush Pen, watercolour
November 6, 2011
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Fast and Slow Watercolours
By Jack Ruttan in men, sketches, watercolour, women
One of these was painted very quickly, the other very slowly. Which is which? Do you care?
Tags: colour, men, sketches, watercolour, women
November 3, 2011
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Pencil Portraits
By Jack Ruttan in men, sketches
Mahler
I’m working on my portraiture chops, by drawing some faces out of an old “New York Times Book Review.” Tough to be technically good, and still contain a hint of personality. But that’s why we practice with these kinds of things, isn’t it?
Young Orson Welles
Hal Holbrook
Tags: black and white, men, pencil, sketches
November 2, 2011
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Exploding Toothbrush Sequel
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's place
It seems that my exploding toothbrush experience wasn’t as unusual as the manufacturers claimed. Now Health Canada has announced a recall. They don’t make that model toothbrush any more. I got interviewed over the phone by Canadian Press. Nice to have a little effect on things.
UPDATE (Nov 3, 2011): Now I’ve got some fairly off-the-cuff quotes on Yahoo. Oh well, live and learn. Funny being on the other side of the interview pad. No great “explosion” of visits to the blog yet, but I hope people will check out the funny drawings!
UPDATE 2 (Nov 3) –the CBC has a story, thankfully without me in it. But funny comments: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/11/03/pei-exploding-toothbrushes-recall-584.html
UPDATE YET AGAIN: (Nov 4) Fark.com has gotten ahold of it, and someone linked my cartoon.
Tags: Activism, photos, ruttan's place
November 1, 2011
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Maurice Sendak and Kate Beaton Fail
By Jack Ruttan in UncategorizedBy “fail,” I don’t mean those two artists, who are great. Just my efforts to see them or their work today.
It took an effort, but I caught up with the Maurice Sendak “Exhibition” at the Jewish Public library. CBC radio on the weekend had told me about it. Unfortunately, the exhibition was 8 double-sided placards arranged in the lobby. Interesting information, but no original art, or even books to look at. The info was courtesy the Rosenbach Collection (I know the name, because Rosie the bookstore cat at S.W. Welch’s, the used bookstore I worked at in the 90s, was named after this famous collector). Too bad they didn’t send over a couple of things. Guess I’d have to go to Philadelphia to see that.
Had a slightly testy exchange with the man at the security desk when I asked permission to take a snap of the show. Apparently, you’re not allowed to photograph the JPL even from the street, but I don’t think they can enforce that. Anyhow, I’m a polite type, so no images.
I might, however (if I have time) do a little autobio comic about the trip over and the experience. I also had fun taking my bike onto the Montreal metro. All of these problems might be my fault, but interesting stories nonetheless. And someone said that I should do more autobiographic comics.
Next I pedalled over the mountain to the Kate Beaton launch at the Drawn & Quarterly store. This was already full to capacity at quarter to seven, and here’s the scene around seven o’clock:
THAT wasn’t going to happen, so I carried on and bought supper (ran into an old cartoonist buddy at the supermarket). Then to home.
I guess the moral is, you can’t always do what you want. Good bike ride, though.
Tags: books, comics, current events
October 28, 2011
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Pen and Ink Cats, etc.
By Jack Ruttan in cats, men, sketches, watercolour, women
Mr. Boggedy only WISHES he could catch rats!
It’s a pain thinking up clever titles for these posts of sketches, so I’m just going for the search engines!
Here’s my old pal, Howard Shore (with a random DVD lady):
Bonus! A woman pointing!
Is she actually wearing anything, or am I just lazy? Could have drawn a line for a collar or strap or something….
I’m actually going to work on making my pretty women less generic-looking. That means studying (and to a degree copying) pictures!
Tags: Animals, cats, men, Pen & Ink, sketches, watercolour, women
October 26, 2011
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Drawings of Thugs and Women
By Jack Ruttan in men, sketches, watercolour, women
Sorry, they’re not together. Some other time! The guy here is my trying to recapture impressions of this character I saw on the street, who could have been a thug ordered by Central Casting. Don’t think I caught the exact look of malice on his face which unsettled me, though!
Women in pencil, and colour:
Tags: ballpoint pen, black and white, men, pencil, sketches, watercolour, women
October 24, 2011
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Eric Drooker at Drawn & Quarterly
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, sketches
The other night I went up to the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore on Bernard Street, in the vaguely trendy area of Mile End in Montreal. Amazingly got a seat right by the lectern, with a view of the screen, as below.
Drooker’s event was billed as a Workshop on Art and Activism, but it was more like a performance. He projected pages from his graphic novels, and his New Yorker covers, accompanying them with stories, and music from a banjo and mouth organ.
A good deal of it was focussed on the Occupy Wall Street movement, and also the refugees in Gaza. Note the word “wall,” which applies to the partitioning wall in Gaza, and also the name of the street in New York.
It was a mesmerizing evening. Afterwards, Drooker took a group down to visit the occupation here in Montreal, in Victoria Square, but I had to go home and feed the kitties. Still, I’m inspired to do a few more socially relevant things. He exhorted us to get off the internet, and make stencils and stickers, to get to the percent of people who don’t have a computer, and don’t use the internet.
Below, a couple of drawings of people at the event, including Kevin, who helped set it up.
Tags: Activism, current events, montreal, Pen & Ink, photos, sketches