Anca with Back Bag

One in a while my company (a furniture manufacturer) makes some awesome leather bags or pouches using the same leather for furniture upholstery. This time it'a very cool back bag in black leather. My co-worker Anca likes it so much she is willing to pay to get one.

The Whimsical Musician

Finally put the orange scarf on Orange!

Orange Playing Bass

Met Orange for coffee yesterday. He had the perfect outfit: light blue shirt, orange scarf and dark cranberry corduroy pants. His outfit was screaming for a sketch! But I forgot to put his signature orange scarf on him in this sketch :(  Will have to add it to the next one.

Blundstone Shoes in Acrylic

I probably should do some sketches about the Oscar nights...but I didn't. Instead, I worked on the Blundstone shoes again...this time in acrylic.

Blundstone Shoes

My first pair of Blundstone shoes! Bought the shoes yesterday and I'm so looking forward to spring so I can start wearing them!

Lynn

Wanted so much to capture my friend Lynn's old hollywood glamour in this black and white photo. This is one of my first attempts. I'll definitely revisit this portrait later.

I'm Wearing Red Today!

It's still kinda sorta Chinese New Year right?

Eyes

Saw a striking photo this morning on FB and felt I had to capture this into drawing.

Sophie Blackall: Again

Copied Sophie Blackall again from her Missed Connection, an illustration book based on the stories from NYC Craiglist's Missed Connection section. I'm craving for this book now.

Fell in Love with Sophie Blackall's Illustration

Came across Sophie Blackall's illustration yesterday and was immediately fell in love with them. The clean lines, the paled soft color schemes and the details of patterns on the clothes wrapped me up like a warm blanket.

Revisiting Shane

Also redid the sketch for Shane. Really think I captured her look much better than one month ago. I have started using the new Moleskine sketch book and I'm enjoying everything about it: the size, the feel of the paper, the color of the paper...everything.

Revisiting Vanessa

Redid the sketch of Vanessa's profile. Tried ink and focused on the lighting.

Final Class Assignment

This is the final work for my final class assignment. I'm sad the class is over but I'll keep my sketches going!

Girl in Shadow

Just saw this image this morning. Loved it and felt compelled to capture it on paper.

Concept #2: Reflection of Skyscrapers in the Bird's Blood

This concept is more dark and serious.

Concept #1 for Class Assignment: Paper Bag

This concept is centered on the paper bag mentioned in the article which is used by the volunteers to pick up the injured and dead birds every morning in the financial district in downtown Toronto.

Prepping for Final Class Assignment

Time flies and within a blink I'm already expecting my last class in a few days. The final class assignment is a challenging one: an editorial illustration for an article appeared in last year's New York Times about how urban development in Toronto has affected the migratory birds. I'm still in the brainstorming process.

Final Caricature of Orange

This is the final caricature of my friend Orange. I really had a fun week working on his caricature!

Facial Expression

More facial expression study for today.

Prepping for Class Assignment 4: Studying Orange

Spent some time on Orange's facial expressions based on his photos and my imagination. The top right one is both his and my favorite. I think I'll work around that for my final assignment.

My "New" Bag

Pam bought a canvas bag many many years ago. She didn't like the original red color and tried to dye it into black. It didn't turn out good. She tucked the bag away and only found it again in the basement 2 weeks ago. When she offered the bag to me, I was elated! After all these years it's got this natural distress look that people would pay hundreds for. It's very big, so I'm taking my big sketchbook, lunch, snack, and pretty much everything in it and I still can't fill it full. NICE!

Prepping for Class Assignment 4

Class assignment 4 is facial expression studies and doing a caricature of someone. No one is more qualified for this project than Orange! I met him at Lynn's movie night party. He has such a distinguished look, messy hair, slightly crooked nose, his eyes piercing with intellectual insights. It'll be a fun week doing sketches and drawings of him!

First Acrylic

First acrylic on paper! For some reason the gangster-like feel is missing from the pencil sketch. Maybe I need to change the body color. Tonight I'll remake the piece onto sanded pop can. How exciting!