her music is a little unusual in that it sounds slightly fantastical. i’m not overly versed in her music but i found out about her after reading of praise she received from thom yorke, whose little band she opened for recently. her voice is at at times pj harvey, tori amos, bjork…and maybe even cat power. still, i don’t think you could mix her up with any of those ladies. she hails from britain. she’s half pakistani. while working as a nursery school teacher, she put together her first album, sheryl crow styles. natasha khan in moleskine.

i’m not too sure why i’m a bit fascinated with these birds (aside from the way the look) but i think it’s because of the different interpretations they lead to, depending on the culture. they’re scavengers, plain and simple. they’re smart but they apply their intelligence mostly for their scavenging ways. historically, those in the west seem to have thought them to be more ominous and negative on account of their blackness and what they eat. yet in parts of asia, they were thought of as gods. they’re just there, to me; just part of the chain of things. i didn’t know that they’re the official bird of the yukon. corvus corax in moleskine, 9×10″

i seem to do a lot of portraits but i do enjoy drawing the odd animal or two, among other things. i do prefer candid images or those that are simply uncharacteristic of the subject in terms of general perception. pandas always seemed to me to be rather harmless, sedentary beings so i thought that i would try one that looked, well, angry. i knew that they like to mow down on some bamboo action usually but i didn’t know that it is actually 99% of their diets. they are still taxonomically deemed to be carnivorous though and they do crave the odd bit of meat, fish, eggs or what have you.

i’m also fond of this checkered/basketweave texture/pattern as of late. i suppose i’m reminded slightly of pixels as well. in retrospect i probably should’ve tried more of a gradual enlargement of the ‘fadeout’ to the larger patches but hey. hindsight is a friend that shows up the party invited but a bit late sometimes. an angry asian ailuropoda or my boy dj panda in moleskine, 9×10″

yes this is a double post to i.f. sorry, couldn’t resist.

i was recently in chicago so it seemed a bit appropriate to put up a doodle of yeezy. i’ll admit that i do follow his blog. i’ve dismissed his music based on his arrogance in the past but music has been so blah in the last year that i decided to give 808s a proper listen and it’s not a bad album. he now seems tamer from that arrogance perspective and i think it’s cool that he regularly pays homage to other designers, musicians, artists, etc. he worships thom yorke, which presents some common ground. i like that he appreciates good design and art and that seems to have reflected in 808s. kanye west in moleskine, 9 x 10″

i’ve been frequenting blogTO for a while now and i like that they have a fair amount of news, guides, and general information about toronto. i don’t think the toronto star’s site even has a dedicated section to art. blogTO are pretty johnny on the spot with the ttc updates on twitter as well, which is a tremendous help. one thing i really like about the site is that they feature local artists with interviews, samples of their work, and of course links to their sites. i used a few as subejcts one day. luke painter, david trautrimas, dan bergeron, anna pantchev, and amanda nedham in moleskine, 9×10″

i suppose the parade of penguins that were depicted in that little movie educated me some more on these bipedal, endothermic, egg-laying, flightless, and, winged vertabrates. from i’ve read, at least within one breeding season, these guys are the model household: monogomous and equal to the task of incubation. i’m guessing the raising of the chicks goes along the same lines. anatarctic emperor, king, chinstrap, adélie, and rockhopper penguins in moleskine, 9×10″

i’ve gotta say that i love this show. it is somewhat formulaic but it’s actually really funny and well written. laurie definitely makes house work. i’m excited for tomorrow’s finale despite it meaning that i’ll have to wait a few months to see new episodes. movies have been pretty blah as of late and show’s like this have helped to fill the void and provide welcome distractions to “working.” good thing there are only a handful of good shows out there or i’d never get anything done. hugh laurie in moleskine, 9 x 10″

so this one was fueled by illustration friday‘s theme of hierarchy. i’m sure you can figure out how it came about. the order changes from time to time but the current order is:

1. in rainbows
2. ok computer
3. the bends
4. kid a
5. hail to the thief
6. amnesiac
7. pablo honey

apparently it was too easy to mix santi white’s old moniker, santogold, with some other dude’s oh so famous pseudonym of santo gold. an artist with probably one of last year’s best albums vs. some jeweler / filmmaker (infomercials!) that no one has heard of? uh huh. whatever her reasons, white decided to change her stage name to santigold. when i got into her stuff last year, her style reminded me of m.i.a. and lo and behold they toured together. that would’ve been a pretty dope bill. anyway, her album is ace and most probably has something for everyone. photo from flickr, i believe. felt tip pen in moleskine, 9″ x 10″.