Jaws

I had a night of insomnia recently and found myself on the sofa watching old movies. One of those movies was JAWS and I couldn't help reaching for my sketchbook. This is a (quick) sketch of the shark hunter guy who became lunch at the end of the movie. Behind him is easily the worst shark drawing I've ever created but it certainly needed to be included.

So I got to thinking about an artist I was led to by an instructor at RISD. I was beginning to experiment with a cross hatching style (you can see my more recent cross hatch illustrations in the FRED portfolio on my website) and my teacher sent me to the library to check out Murray Tinkelman. It seems he was plagued with insomnia (if memory serves) and did much of his work late at night while watching TV.

Check out Murray's stuff. It's so much better than my (quick) sketch above and he certainly would have drawn a better shark. http://tinkelmanstudio.com/portfolio.html

(I'll draw a new shark soon for a future post)

Optimism

An illustration I recently completed about thinking positive. It's a new year, and despite tragedies occurring all around the world (Haiti immediately springs to mind), we all do our best work when there's hope/positive thinking. I read recently that approximately 50% of American households donated to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti- that kind of outpouring goes a long way to OFFER hope.

The quote I used in the illustration is a little pedestrian when considered with what I wrote above, but I just love the message it sends to us as individuals:

"The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser- in case you thought optimism was dead." -Robert Brault

Martin Scorcese at the Golden Globes

Last night, Martin Scorcese accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award with a gracious acceptance speech (after a wonderful intro by Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio). My wife commented that he looks like an exaggerated character- an actor playing Scorcese.

It was fun to draw him but since it was my first time I missed opportunities to really caricature his very black glasses and his rounded nose. Thankfully, this won't be the last time he wins an award...

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New York sketches

Illustrations from a recent NY Starbucks visit. The guy at the top kept nonchalantly touching his nose- the things you have to put up with when secretly drawing people at a coffee shop!

A series of quick sketches of people around me.

A couple of women- one seemed to think it was a good time to take a nap despite the lack of open tables and the number of people circling. BUt it was nice that she kept so still so I could draw her.

Happy New Year!

This is the New Year's promo I'm emailing out to all of my clients and potential clients. There's so much catching-up to do after the holidays and the new year that I wanted to make it quick and simple.

Yeah that's supposed to be me. No, that's not really my hair and I (thankfully) do not own a tuxedo t-shirt.