A few life drawing sketches

Sketchbooks

The value of a sketchbook cannot be understated. The dimensions, the stock weight and colour, the feel of the outer cover, the binding: all particular to an individual. For some (myself), there can be no compromise. Canson used to make my sketchbook, a 7 x 9" Casebound canvassed hardcover, probably 80lb manilla textweight stock. It took light watercolour washes, and my ballpoint dug in enough to make use of noticeable lineweight variance. It was discontinued in 2007.

I tried a handful of alternatives, but none suited me. Too large, too small, stock weight too light or too heavy. It had actually somewhat stifled my enthusiasm for journaling, disappointment within the first 10 pages. So late winter I finally got fed up and decided to bind my own books. I bought an 18x24" pad of offwhite, 80lb textweight stock, which could again take light watercolour washes. I trimmed out 6 sheets per page, 8 x 9" each. I found some scraps of hardboard at HomeDepot for use as the hardcover and spine, and sprayglued canvas material to it. The pages were perfect bound with bookmaking glue. 2 books, 66 pgs each. Below are some pics!




They've held up pretty well so far, a few pages have had to be partially re-adhered, but more or less a successful project. Making them was fun, but filling them up is even more fun!
I may have been kind of inspired by my crafty friend Rosemary Travale, check her out! She's made a bunch of scrapbook/sketchbooks in the past, as well as everything else I can think of.

'Cabinet Athletes'

Digging through my archives, I came across this incomplete personal project from early 2007. The idea was to show another side of the (then current) members of the Bush administration. A little browsing revealed some physical activities each character was involved in during their younger days: Donald Rumsfeld played football (and wrestled) in University, Condoleeza Rice took figure skating lessons as a child, Dick Cheney wrestled (and played football) in University, and Alberto Gonzalez had pipe dreams of playing baseball professionally as a youth. Didn't get to sketching out George, but his activity would (of course) have been cycling.

The end product would have been a series of stylised 50's-era posters or 'trading cards.' Perhaps I will apply the same concept to the current administration...

mock-up of a final layout

dick cheney

condoleeza rice

alberto gonzalez

donald rumsfeld

LD

I've been to a few life model drawing classes recently. Not that I'd forgotten, but what a great reminder of how much fun it is to draw large, with a nice stick of conté.

(ballpoint pen)

Twenty-Oh-Nine: More Doin', Less Tryin'!

Well, had some password trouble when blogger switched over to google accounts exclusively, but that's all been resolved now. Only took 20 months. Wow... what have I been up to?
In terms of illustration, I launched my website www.rosekat.com last January. Two pieces were chosen for American Illustration 27, which was a nice recognition. My pal Alexei had some excellent work selected as well. Shameless Magazine published my first cover illustration last fall, neat!

I was recently laid off from my 9-5, so I'll be (happily) focusing more on illustration and design work in the near future. Sucks to feel the kick of the recession as it settles in, but I'm happy to have my routine shaken up! I'm working on some new things, so stay tuned for more regular posts!

On a personal note, my Grandma Helga turned a milestone 80 years old in December! She continues, through her kindness, sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude, to be an inspiration to her family. I'll leave this with a few snapshots from the past while.

mock cover for birthday celebration

screenprint by Heather Stainback, I took some
matte medium & a heat gun to it

Oh boy...

The Sheridan Year-End Gallery show is just days away! We've all been working hard to present ourselves and our work appropriately, ending our 4-6 years (depending) of studies at Sheridan! If you're free this weekend, swing on by the Steam Whistle Brewery for some inspiring work!

Check out our promotional web page for details at www.sheridanheadlines.ca

I'm working on a site that should be up in a few days, which will act as the main point of access for those interested in what I do as an illustrator. In the meantime, here is a link to the video I threw together in After Effects for my computer animation class this year.

See you soon!

No Pain, No Gain

This is the first editorial I did this semester. It basically illustrates the need to sometimes 'pull a few teeth' in order to succeed (if your measure of success is fiscal profit). The original version had the doorknob kind of floating in space-- my thanks to Marco for the suggestion of adding a context (the door and panels).
'Lexei and I were dickin' around with channels in photoshop the other day, and I really dug the red and yellow version, created simply by deleting the cyan and black channels. Hoo- ha!

Ack!

So it is a New Year etcetera! I've, as have many of you, become way too lax in the past few weeks, so it's time to do some work and lose some sleep!
These are some character sketches I did last year for a children's story my talented cousin Amber Neumann has written, about a stubby giraffe named Percival. He embarks on a journey with some friends in search of the Golden Boo Boola leaves, in order to eat them and grow tall like all his kind. Strangely I've misplaced the actual Giraffe sketches for the moment, I'll update them when they're located.
*Found some giraffes

Quizzical

Dropping a few quick sketches from the book. I've been sick the last few days, which has been quite humbling; not having the energy to do anything is terrible, especially when there's so much to be done this time of year. My family has been weirded out by my lack of enthusiasm. It's nice to know e reminded that you're appreciated for who you are, and missed when you're not quite yourself. It's impossible to spell 'quizzical' in scrabble without a blank letter, by the way (That's my Gramma Helga with her 'thinking' face on).
Happy Holidays!

Oh, here's to Nataly's toe acting normal in the New Year!

Match Point

I made a bunch of match boxes to hand out to friends tonight... but plans fell through and the fun is not happening. So I have this pile of matchboxes sitting in a bag. They were fun to make though, and look neat! Hopefully I'll meet up with some folks before Christmas.
Hope you all avoid severe colds!

Christian

Ding

Done! Sweet deals.
This is the last piece to officially end the semester. I finally busted out the water-soluble oils and boy, did I have fun! The working theme for the assignment was 'memory'. I decided to comment on past relationships. It's on three 14"x14" wood panels. There were originally three chicks, but I decided I better include myself (Sorry Rebecca!). 15 year-old love doesn't count anyways, does it? Sure it does.

I love my book

Here are some pages from my book. Sick!

Good Morning

The First (proper) snowfall of the season lay itself across the city last night. I had actually thought old man winter wouldn't really kick us in the pants this year, but he's a crotchety (if not untimely) fellow. Better than freezing rain though!
I found a few scans last night of sketches from some time last year or the year before. So here they are!

P.S.: Give Chauncy my love.

Quick drop, just a few things I've done recently. The portrait is of my friend Brea, from a new sketchbook I've recently begun filling-- it's kind of a Life Drawing book more than anything. I'll throw some stuff from it down in the not too distant future. The damned book seems to be taking precedence over my actual projects! Yeargh.
The fish is a spot illustration of sorts for... well, nothing in particular. It could be applied to growth within markets or shrinking environments etc etcetera.
As a side note, I've had a few discussions recently with Rosemary and friends as to when a dot becomes a circle. I mean, a bingo dauber is pretty fat, like the size of a nickel, but the mark it makes is still considered a dot. If you had a bingo dauber a mile wide and pressed it against a surface (the moon?), would it still be a dot? Dots are defined as small... but how small is small? What constitutes a dot?

Wouldn't it be nice if the world were Cadbury?

Very busy lately... less productive. It's like every morning I open a window expecting a flock of parrot's to invite themselves in, but instead they all end in a heap under the sill with broken necks. I don't think parrot's even move in flocks.
So a few pieces I've done recently, not curriculum-related.
As a side-note, if you haven't yet listened to the Dears' latest album (somewhat inappropriately titled) 'Gang of Losers,' give it a peek. And everyone should listen to a decent amount of Chris Smither.

The Straight and Narrow

There aren't enough hours in the day, it is true. I don't think our program was designed with actual people in mind, rather machines who need not rest. A few more sketches.
Apparently I look Polish. My ancestry can be traced back to the Free City of Danzig, which is now Gdansk, and part of Poland. It was German back before and during WWII, though. My Grandmother spoke German and was raised with German traditions. Anybody else get a visit from St. Nicholas on Dec 6th? As per tradition, us kids used to leave our shoes by our bedroom doors, and if we were good, he'd leave candy. If we were bad... I usually got coal. I didn't mind though, it was fun to burn anything back then!
I watched a film on Ralph Steadman, on his process work when he was creating the Leonardo bio. He is inspiringly confident in his work, he quite relishes the element of chance. So I drew a loosely Leo-inspired charicature in response.
And hands. Love hands.

Trebuchet

Trebuchet it is. Hello and Welcome to my blog... oh gad. I'm not much of a journal keeper when it comes to words, but I keep a sketchbook on hand, from which will come the subject of future postings. Below are a few pages from the book I carry in my satchel-- the brunt of which are observations made while travelling to and from campus. Ballpoint IS the shit. Enjoy!