Dachshund paintings

My girlfriend's dachshund needs an operation to remove a tumour and it'll cost thousands of dollars. I'm painting dachshunds for her to sell to help raise the money. There's a GO FUND ME page and the pics below are going on eBay.

Thanks!

'Western Dachshund'

'Explorer Dachshund'

'Hockney's Dachshund'

'Picasso's Dachshund' (eBay Link)

'Red' (eBay Link)

'Venice Beach Dachshund' (eBay Link)

 'Longhair Dachshund' SOLD!

'Flying Dachshund' SOLD!

'Pigeon' SOLD!

 'Running Dachshund' SOLD!

 'The Dachshund of Nob Hill' SOLD!

'Polynesian Dachshund' SOLD!

San Francisco Noir

SF based illustrator Ben Walker and I went on a themed sketch-crawl over the July 4th holiday. Inspired by a recent article in the NY Times on Dashiel Hammett's connection to the city.

We trailed Hammett all over San Francisco. We started at 891 Post St where  Sam Spade's detective agency was based in the Tenderloin. Then on to Burritt Alley to see the site where Spade's partner was killed. A plaque marks “On approximately this spot, Miles Archer, Sam Spade’s partner, was done in by Brigid O’Shaughnessy.”

 This is a view from Dashiel Emmett alley

With still no sign of Hammett we broke for lunch at Lori's Diner, on Powell to compare notes.  We gum-shoed it down to the Flood Building on Market Street, where Hammett was employed as a private dick for the Pinkerton's.

Near Union Sq. we bribed the doorman of a downtown hotel where Hammett was known to stay. There's even a suite named after him. . . 

Around the corner is Hammett's favorite hang-out, John's Bar & Grill. Still in business as a restaurant and now the HQ of the Hammett Society. The author is said to have written much of 'The Maltese Falcon' at a booth here.

We went inside and smooth-talked the dame on the front desk. She let us go upstairs and find the famous falcon itself.

Pinkerton's were on to us so we high tailed it through the Stockton Tunnel and laid low in North Beach. We had a tip-off that Hammett liked to drink at Tosca cafe but we lost him in the crowd. We sat outside a cafe and observed the wild-life on Broadway.

He was elusive, kept to the shadows but we're gumshoes and we'll find him. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon ... 

Digital Gesture Drawing

Testing out a new stylus and sketching app from Adobe on the i-pad Air. The stylus is called Ink and the drawing app is Adobe Sketch. I-pad drawing still isn't as intuitive as Wacom but these tools gave me a kind of wire-sculpture feel which is perfect for Gesture Drawing.

Time-lapse inking

A friend commissioned me to work up a version of the sketch I made of North Beach landmarks Vesuvio's and City lights Book store. I roughed it out in pencil, threw down a light wash then while inking it I thought I'd try and record it in a time-lapse video.

Gesture Drawing Class

This is a test video made under ad-hoc conditions; i-phone balanced above my shoulder on a shelf, me drawing while trying to keep an eye on the phone and the paper in view. Not ideal but several people have asked me to video myself drawing in gesture class and I hope to make some better quality clips soon. These drawings aren't very good and I break all the rules you're supposed to use but this will give you an idea of my approach. 1 minute poses and I'm drawing slooooooow! It's weird to watch yourself draw.

Jack-Jack Manhattan

This weekend the Cartoon Art Museum San Francisco holds its annual fundraiser at Pixar.It will be a day of 'Incredibles' events inc. the original crew (Bird, Mandrews, Ted, Kev, Tony Fucile) talking about the film plus an auction of 'Incredibles' themed artwork. I did this Incredibles/Watchmen mash-up: 'Jack-Jack Manhattan' 6"x6" Gouache & acrylic on clayboard. 

Keeping up With The Joneses

My parents came to visit back in March and I've been working on some paintings based on the highlights from our Northern California expeditions. We went on the Hitchcock trail; Muir Woods (Vertigo) and found the old schoolhouse at Bodega used in The Birds. The bleached cypress tree and sealions are from the 17 mile drive around Carmel. 

Legion

I painted a Stormtrooper helmet for Star Wars Day! Nowhere near as imaginative as a lot of the others you'll see but it was fun to create a Yoda camouflage. Thanks to Jeffrey Jon Pidgeon for the pix. More info here

City Life

Characters and dialogue snatched while tramping the streets of North Beach and the Mission

Leeloo

A Gesture Class model recently turned up wearing the 'bandage' outfit from the Fifth Element! She even had an orange wig and really looked the part.  She had been part of a stage version of the film and re-enacted the story in her mind as she posed.  It really helped give authenticity to her poses and the 'bracelet' nature of the outfit turned out to be perfect short-hand to define volume.  It was a really fun session.  I don't usually add colour to gesture sketches but I felt the orange hair and white outfit needed highlighting.

1. Thirty second warm ups

2. One minute poses

3. One minute poses

4. One minute poses

More Incredibles gestures

We had a model recently who was a perfect fit for some Frozone poses (plus some Mr. Incredible's too)

Wise Guys

These hoods need names . . .

Latest from the Gesture Lab

A selection of some of the characters I've been work shopping lately in gesture class.  It's interesting which characters emerge from the subconscious on each session. Sometimes they're inspired by the body type of the model or by a film I may have watched recently. After 3 years of regular gesture class I've now built a mental library of characters that I can choose from very quickly under the brief time limits we have. These are all between 30 seconds-1 minute poses.

Around Christmas we had a stocky, middle-aged male model who naturally became Santa Claus

Often models, male or female, will hit poses that I can't resist turning into Gollum

When the news of a sequel to 'The Incredibles' was announced I couldn't resist drawing Mr Incredible in that day's class.  We had the Michael Giacchino score playing and a model with the perfect physique. I've never drawn the character before so I need the practice!

Of course Frozone had to make an appearance too!

'Mr Smee'