sketchbook -Bacchante- ball-point pen

Feeling very adventurous lately.

I have lived around New York City my whole life and never tried this before:

Decided to take a random train and get off at a random stop.

My spontaneity landed me in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Found many new and unusual sights. In addition to an awesome health food shop which made the most amazing sea moss smoothie.

Upon further exploration I found the Brooklyn Museum. On the top floor I decided to take advantage of a lounge-like area in which resided a marble sculpture entitled Bacchante by Frederick William MacMonnies.

I took about an hour and a half to just meditate on the forms of this work and created this sketch of it.

PRATT Draw-A-Thon -part 1

This past weekend I attended one of my favorite annual art events, The Draw-A-Thon at The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Starting at 7PM Friday night and running until 7AM Saturday morining, this massive event is a true test of each artist's and model's endurance and passion for their craft. Stretching over twelve hours, filling seven rooms to capacity with artists of all ages, skill levels and practicing a variety of mediums. All working to capture the performances of eighteen models in poses which would impress some yoga instructors.

This year I beat my personal record of nine hours by lasting eleven hours. After the pizza break at midnight the drum circle performs and their energy is contagious. I had such an adrenaline high that I crashed as soon as I got back to my car in the morning.

As you could imagine I was quite productive in this time period so I have over two hundred drawings to sort through and scan. I will be posting some of my favorites very soon.

I highly recommend this event for all artists. It is such a thrill to be a part of the energy which is stirred up by all of these creative minds under one roof.

For the love of the commute

10in x 10in ball point pen on paper


I love my commute to work. Seriously.

It gives me two hours a day to draw from a host of unique characters. On the trains I am given countless free models who challenge me with their original costumes and restless movement.

Below is one of the more stoic characters I have encountered. This man sat still for almost fifteen minutes. This is unusual because most people cannot sit that still for that long unless they are asleep. But I prefer the people who are not sleeping because I never know when I will loose that pose.

Drawing fast everyday helps me capture the essential elements of my subjects. Plus, the unpredictability keeps my sort attention span occupied.

Hooray for Jury Duty!

I had jury duty yesterday. I love to think of it as an extended
figure drawing session.

Unfortunately I got called to a case so I only got about two hours
of drawing time.

But I think you will see the characters I captured are quite unique.




ballpoint pen on paper 10in. x 10in.

Figure Drawing -warm-ups-

My new weapon of choice;

Copic WIDE -extra broad- markers

They look like sharp chisels.  The large tip allows for the broadest range of line width which I have ever achieved with a marker.  I really enjoy throwing down huge shadow areas then, without switching tools, delicately adding wispy lines.

one-minute poses (one color) 24 x 18

one-minute poses (two colors) 18 x 24

*These drawings were done from models found on 

drawing-tutorials-online.com

It is a great site filled with video tutorials 

in all areas of drawing and painting.  

I highly recommend checking it out.  

It has useful information for all skill levels.

One last note: the middle value would dry up quickly while I was drawing.  I found that misting the tip and inside the cap between uses helped refresh the ink flow.

sketchbook: Commute

Gain/Loss (subway sketches) 

ball point pen + acrylic

sketchbook pages

I love to sketch on the subway.  

There are so may unique models to choose from; 

all interacting and overlapping.

The unpredictability of the people's movements makes me work 

to capture their poses quickly.

I work in ball-point pen on the train, then add the color back at my studio.