i had no idea andrew warhola actually worked as an illustrator for a time. not an earth shattering tidbit of info but i find that interesting, nonetheless.

liisa is a toronto girl that you’ve probably walked by and maybe noted her 5’11” frame (amazons!!!) but you’ve probably seen her in many a fashion magazine and not realised it. her mouth is what helps me immediately recognise her but she’s otherwise quite chameleon-like to me like another model i seem to like to try and draw. i’m told she is quite the antimodel, from an attitude perspective, which is always a good thing. i can’t remember where i got this image from but i may try and take this further, illustration wise. liisa winkler in moleskine.

below are drawings from a session at ocad quite some time ago. i think this was the first time i had gone in a while. life drawing is such a love / hate thing for me. i’ve been going more regularly as of late and i feel like my drawings are getting tenser and tenser. the drawings are definitely messier and i dare say less organised. i think i’m trying too hard but i still love the challenge of the setting and the various ways one can challenge oneself to draw differently. i’m not sure how much it shows but during these sessions i am trying to draw a little outside of my comfort zone.

i guess maps was the song that first made me pay attention to the yeah yeah yeahs. i think their latest album is one of the few i wasn’t disappointed by this year. it sounds a little more produced than i expected but it works for me. i like the balance of synth they put in; some bands have tried hard to do this and it’s just been baaaaaaad. yes i’m talking about you, coldplay. i’d say my favourite track is zero. brian chase, karen o, and nick zinner (not in that order) in moleskine.

i’m actually busy with projects if you can believe that so posting frequency is getting even lower. not much to say about this one. photo by hedi slimane, in moleskine

my search for good new music is usually fruitless but one day i came across thunderheist. i’m not going to say that their stuff is for everyone; their debut isn’t particularly deep conceptually or lyrically. the electro-beats are pretty good though. if i had to say, theirs is like junk food music but the junk food is really good. they could really bring it to the next level though, if the ripples don’t stop at the surface. toronto’s own grahm zilla and isis salam in moleskine.

i have tried some staedtler brush pens in the past but the nibs are essentially foam dewdrops or something with no bristles. they’re decent for some effects but i think i like their results more on smoother drawing paper. texturewise, well, it’s not so easy to achieve this (for me, but i could just suck). i should probably just watercolour more but the lazy genius in me loves the compactness of brush pens and i’ve found one that works for me so far. i wish they’d release coloured inks for it here. it’s not without it’s quirks as well but the range and precision can’t be beat in my books. you judge? above is the pentel. this is with the staedtlers.
also, i don’t know what to call these? drawings? paintings? the ink seems waterbased so….watercolours? my ignorance knows no bounds.

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.