Farewell To The Gloria Days

In my first year in New York I discovered the Temple Bar, which was my first foray into living and loving the night life and culture of NYC. They used to have a hostess by the name of Gloria, who was apparently a dental assistant by day. She would shave her eyebrows and paint in large black rectangles in their stead, and she was the coolest person in NY for me at that time.

Temple Bar closed for business on January 1, 2018. I spent the evening for their final New Year's Eve party there saying farewell to a bit of New York history, as well as a large chunk of my own personal history.

iPad Driveby Test Run

I finally bought an iPad Pro today to get my digital drawing on, about 14 years after I first wanted to take a laptop and my Wacom to draw at the queer men's drawing salon I had frequented back then. At the Apple store I would sketch on their test iPads and these are two such results.

Current Mood, Done

Current Mood
I did the first sketch of the young man shortly after the presidential elections concluded last year, when my frustration and fears were so overwhelming I didn’t know what to do. So I drew. It’s a bit on the nose, but the feeling of drowning felt apt. I didn’t finish it initially, because it was too frustrating to think about, and honestly I hoped that feeling would go away, that the situation would improve. But as the year progressed the attacks just mounted and spread: on Women. Blacks. Transgenders. Gays. Muslims. The Poor. The Middle Class. Science. The Environment… it just seemed to go on and on. The mood might lighten some days but it was always there, it was always the Current Mood. So I would go back, and draw some more, until it became a series, a triptych. It seems appropriate to post this today, a few days before the year ends. I hope the mood changes, for the better.

Posey 2

I was trying to do it without a reference but I found the perfect reference today in the pages of Zara. So I retooled the body a bit, nothing too far off from the original, because I was already headed in the right direction. But it DID require very subtle changes, which is probably why it was so hard to get. I'll hope to flesh this out more later.

Youth

Male models seem to get younger and younger in their countenances. And as someone who imbibes what the fashion crowd are putting out, I'm subscribing to the aesthetic, at least for now.

Posey Face

The sketched body pose yesterday necessitates a facial angle as well. Although as I tried to draw a face I liked, the features I lay down kinda changed the angle as I made choices that changed the original proportion...

Posey

There's a certain pose and angle popular in fashion right now that I'm trying to capture without actually referring to a photo. Not sure I got it.

Merry Xmazenaida!

Holiday Greetings form my Venus of the Rice (in seasonal holiday gear)!

Sally 2

A few tweaks here and there, but in simple drawings they're super important.

Sally

My friend Meeling once asked me to do an icon of her, which I did somewhat based on the work of Julian Opie, but which evolved with my own style, such as it were. Her friend Sally wanted one, too, so this is my first attempt.

Tilterrific 2

The second time around the drawing becomes just an interesting doodle to continue, so I don't care about it and just draw without intending it to be permanent or saved as anything significant. But if it gets too interesting, then it evolves into A Piece, which then ironically removes the  element of not caring how it turns out that made it cool in the first place (drawing automatically usually yields the best results).

I changed the pose to something less awkward but also more expected, but it's better. This thing is halfway between meh and hmm.

Tilterrific

I was experimenting with Kyle Webser's Tilterrific Brush and the Rougher version too, and just doodling this vaguely 50s/50s looking man.

Bleedy

I was reading an article on the maser himself, Mats, and I was inspired to try his bleedy techniques again. But don't do it after you've had what is probably cheap tequila. Ugh, bad results and headaches (not in that order).

Backside

I have this idea to do a fully painted drawing with this pose. Or at least something similar. image to come

I Gather 3 (Nape)

Well, not quite. I kept the profile and got rid of everything else when I changed his hairdo. I do that sometimes. I also post late, apparently.

Innocent 2

A little bit more work on this guy who may or may not live up to his name haha! image to come

Mannequin Days

I met up with an old friend Vince from my women's accessory days, and we discussed his impending move back to the Philippines, and how he wants to open up his own fashion atelier. We talked ab lot about the models who reigned in our heyday, becaus we were considering mannequins for his shop. It reminded me of my old days in visual, so I drew an old style D.G.Williams head that I recall was named Doreia.

Whitespace 6

I was looking for possible #TBT posts for Instagram when I came upon this old drawing from Summer. I had always wanted to flesh him out some more, but instead of him, I ended up fleshing out his background. There's a story here now...

I Gather 2

I'm surprised I never picked up this sketch again, but I needed something to work on tonight instead of creating something from scratch. This is one of those sketches were I have a clear idea of the subject, but not necessarily of the style. Gotta sort this one out...

Current Mood 11.13.16, part 7 (done?)

I was feeling rather hopeless in general so I was going to finally finish and post the Current Mood triptych, but then Jones won in Alabama, and I'm feeling a little more hopeful today. Still, I think I finished this part of the three. This is an incomplete version (I turned off some of the layers) but the trans figure, which I was finishing, is done methinks.

ZodiacDog

I did illustrations at work today for the upcoming Chinese New Year, which I should post a bit of here. I'll try and bring a copy home tomorrow to pose.

editL Well, here's his face.

Innocent

That's his name. He works at a store near me and I liked how he was dressed so I snapped him to draw him later. Much later...

By Your Name

I saw the wonderful movie Call Me By Your Name, and while I loved the idea of the handsome, brash American to fall in love with. I might be speaking heresy saying I didn't fall in love with Armie Hammer. He was sexy and likeable, but I was really much more intrigued by Timothy Chalamet. That said, this image is sort of an impression of Hammer's character Oliver, who in my mind is also alternately played by Matt Bomer, and John James of Dynasty fame.

Red Light

I seem to be having a red moment... and an off figure, more of a caricature, of some 30s magician. I mean, why else would he have a wand? And a skinny mustache?

Red Chair

I was walking out to the gym and saw an abandoned red, tufted back rest chair. It had a nice shape and I thought, it might make a nice drawing if I did it very indie style and raw and naive. Not sure it turned out that way, but it was sketched!~

Red

In a drunken stupor (I had a drinking *date* with my ex trainer), I barely carved out time for a sketch last night, let alone post it in time. But here it is.

Black Phoenix

I was working out tonight and my mind wandered—and wondered—what a Black Phoenix might mean in the comics world, were Dark Phoenix was the ultimate evil incarnation of the Phoenix force? didn't really define it but I started a sketch.

Sneer 8

Am I literally or metaphorically fleshing him out? Because y'know, drawing his flesh.

Sneer 7

Trying to keep a momentum on this...

Sneer 6

It's been so long since I touched this, I'm wondering how I didn't see some of the mistakes I had been making! hindsight is truly 20/20.

Black Friday '17.4—Merci, Rene Gruau

I'm all about the minor tweaks these days. But I wanted to make sure the anatomy in his legs looked as correct as I could make it (without actually referring to anything—ah, the integrity of relying on memory).

Come Hither 4

I decided to retool him to post for Throwback Thursday, mostly because he looks so dated (but I would totally date him).

Eric

Saw a model online and really liked his bone structure, so I asked his agent if I could draw him /get him to pose for me. He did and as I was shooting, a young black boy came up, looked at him and asked, is he your father? (referring to me). Sigh. I'm old.

Swirl

A quick sketch in light of the fact that i'm too inebriated (Thanks, Dead Rabbit!)

Black Friday '17.3—Merci, Rene Gruau

People kept telling me the inked drawings I made with this Badass Brush looked very Gruau, so i decided to make a direct homage (a la his Jules perfume ad drawings)(always thought those were super sexy).

Ruddy Faced Boy

I was heading uptown on the train to water my friends' plants when I noticed the profile of the young man sitting next to me. He must've been no more than 19, maybe 20. He was carrying a lot of gear —sports, perhaps?—in his bag, and I had to keep myself from staring because I liked how his cheekbone line went straight to his lip line from the angle of his profile. I said, I wish I could draw this right now, then I remembered I have the Procreate app in my iPhone. I seldom use i, and it was because the finger control makes it hard for fine details. But I had time to kill and while it's not perfect, it has a nice, naive quality to it. Plus I DID get that cheekbone line down!

Black friday '17.2

As often happens when I make a throwaway sketch, I find something interesting in my rendering that I want to preserve and build upon. So this guy's kinda interesting--French? Hipster? Retro?--face feels real to me. Maybe a mix of Robby Benson and Matt Dillon? I just need to find discover the rest of him.

Black Friday '17

Since I'm earning more now than I was last year, I seem especially susceptible to the sales! All I've done all day, it seems, is shop online! I'm not even sure I really want all this stuff I'm looking at. Ugh, the allure of FOMO... Anyhow, this modely-y looking guy comes because I've been loking at models in clothing all day.

The Finger 4

I tinkered again, juuuust on details, but wiht the side of his head, and I cleaned up the fingers and did better shading on his hand. For me, it makes a big difference in NOT seeing the errors on the piece.

The Finger 3

A few tweaks and a slightly enlarged canvas later...

Current Mood 11.13.16, part 6

Updated line work on this, because it's still my current mood. Ugh.

Doing 3 separate images in a triptych was good a tthe time, but I have differing levels of enthusiasm for each drawing, not to mention an apathy that creeps in and prevents me from working on it because, yes, my current mood often feels more hopeless than not...

The Finger 2

I decided that his face wasn't good enough on is own, but was definitely a good starting point maybe for fleshing out. I started playing with odd colors and pretty soon I was playing in a way I've never painted before. I kinda didn't want to continue because nothing was the way I would normally work. But it's was one of thse serendipitous drawing moments, at least for me. Kinda New Romantic/post 80s with 90s color clarity or so I imagine).

The Finger

After I finished his facial expression to my liking, the boy here just kinda looked pissed. Like he wanted to give me the finger. So I let him.

Phoenix 2017

At least, a rough sketch of her.

Awaiting Clothing (Editorial Croquis) 2

I was too lazy to draw anything new so I decided to flesh out (so to speak) my old sketch form a couple of days ago. I used to do that all the time when I would doodle on the calendar next o the telephone when I was growing up. Sketches would start one way and transform, evolving over time the longer I yakked on the phone. These sketches, revisited, are just like that, I think.

Inktober 16—Fashion-y Styling, Redux

I wasn't happy with the rendering of the shadows on this guy. Dunno if this is accurate anatomy and shading, but it's what I went with (without any references). Looks fine to me, but then again, ignorance is bliss!

Awaiting Clothing (Editorial Croquis)

I was reading a menswear fashion magazine online and thought I would do some fashion illustrations and style the outfits myself (as I'm often wont to do). However I was just drawing the boy as a croquis until I dress him, so this is he, emoting in some imaginary fashion shoot that he might be dressed for later.

MHL x 2

I often start the night's drawing by opening the file form the day before, and turning off layers and making news ones to work form. Tonight I turned off the ink layer but didn't turn off the color layer, so I looked at it and said, what if I was to fill in the ink lines based on the colors I laid down for the original sketch? What I get is a similar, but definitely distinct, figure.

MHL 2

I thought I'd add some legs and flesh out this form. He's a little more stylized/cartoonish than my usual fashion figures, but I like it.