An article/rant/annotation to an illustration. A #Hackney bar and its flies.
This picture is not as sad and blue as it might at first seem, I promise.
It is early in the week and the pub becomes the territory of the most outspoken drinkers. Raised somewhere between Churchill and Harold MacMillan, a night such as this is time for them to spin out a yarn of nostalgic fantasy. Encouraged by the lack of a crowd and with space to fill, statements start to fly.
In the opening rounds the barman athletically hits back with factual blocks and reality-check haymakers; statistics and personal experiences are given. Two histories cross examined, one where 1982 means Thatcher and the Falklands, the other renders Reagan and the AIDS crisis. Stoicism and national pride vs mental health and realism.
In the latter rounds the barman is fatigued, swaying on the backbar, glasses begin to stack up as form begins to drop. The older men seem stronger than ever.
The barflies come in close now, they scrutinise his generations work ethic and make wild political comments on poverty, immigrants and the minimum wage.
The barman is close to sheer bloody despair, he maintains his defence and focuses on breathing while maintaining his professional stance.
But at the end of the night the barman knows HE will ring that bell, they will politely leave and they will return again in a week and maybe, just maybe there will be a change, common ground or maybe at least polite silence.
But what these interactions have given despite the salt in the eye is community and an exchange between generations, culture and class of those participating. No home is ever straight forward, no relative without their good and bad traits and in a world where we often slide into echo chambers online or in our physical environments, the pub is still a place where society is family, face to face, pint to pint. Or maybe it's just a room with alcohol on tap?
I’ve been doing ink doodles somewhat like this since the early 80s but I have to give a shout-out to Visoth Kakvei for greatly influencing my style the last couple of years.
It's crazy to think that we've been in a pandemic for a year or to think we could ever get used to this new way of life. March 13th, 2020 was the day everything stopped for me: it was the last day I went to school and the last day I went to gymnastics for 5 months. The promise of two weeks' time, something I somewhat desperately held onto. Going into this, no one knew what to expect, it was the first time many of us saw life as we know it stop. Quarantine has definitely taught me a lot emotionally, mentally, and how to reach out and work through (and what bad panic attacks feel like :) ). I think it also goes without saying that I got through most of this because of the people around me, and I can't say enough how grateful I am to be surrounded by such amazing people. So, here I am. Life is still pretty rocky, but it's a process. Thank you to everyone who's been along for the ride so far ❤
Mixed media (pretty much every type of pen/marker I have is in these somewhere). Recovering from surgery last month, slowly learning to sit upright again, thinking about flowers. :)
Our Dining Room is my favorite room in the house. Every family meal we eat at home happens there - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meal times are our sacred family time to share our day, our thoughts, our struggles, our successes, etc. We do have a breakfast area. But aside from homework, projects, or reading the newspaper, the breakfast area doesn't get much use unless needed for overflow from the dining room when we have visitors.
My new method of finding something interesting to draw - now that I'm mostly at home, like everyone else - is using StreetView. I use the app to search interesting places around the globe. This one is a sketch of somewhere near Lagos in Nigeria.
What startet as a somewhat mindless marker-sketch at a cafè while having a conversation later came out as a pretty cool cityscape. Probably inspired by the movie Tekkon Kinkreet, which I watched previously.
This is a graphite pencil drawing of a hunting hawk somewhat loosely based on a photo. The reference photo is from: Birds of Prey by Paul D. Frost (Paragon Books Ltd 2006) and credited to Martin B Withers/FLPA. I found the book in the Goodwill a couple of month ago and was much inspired by the beautiful photographs.
It was supposed to be a blooming cherry tree but somewhere in the proccess it turned toward a scary dead tree like from Sleepy Hollow of Tim Robbins ;)
an observational study, photo reference is somewhere in here: http://www.petnyaku.com/photo/kucing-dan-anjing-kalau-ngantuk-ya-nguap-aja-gak-peduli-tempat/
I generally make marks on something every day, but I'm really TRYING to do it purposefully in one singular location (journal). Here is a successful attempt from that particular day. I'm also super lazy, which means I never go up to my actual studio and only use what's out on my computer desk.
I was supposed to be doing homework yesterday. I did not. Instead I drew fan art of random thought bunnies me and my friend wandered through. So...enjoy. Floofs cuddling and being grumpy. Medium: Procreate on iPad. Time: I have no idea, wasn't paying attention.
Llyn Mymbyr, Snowdonia. This view looking in the opposite direction to Snowdon. First time using a Uniball UB-150, but the paper allowed it to bleed somewhat so the lines were a little heavier than intended. I think it would benefit from better quality paper or a finer pen.
I can't believe October is already here, and it's startling how fast time is moving. I shouldn't be up this late, but I wanted to make some art, especially given how today has been (8-3:15 'in school,' 3:15-10pm doing homework). The honest answer is I just feel down. I can usually phrase things better but my brain is fried. Everything is non-stop, the time I have to breathe seems to get shorter. Anyway, it's 11pm, I should get to bed.
Mostly wet on wet technique and then wet on dry for the white paint. I used a Mont Marte Round 2 brush and Reeves watercolor paint tubes.
Also concocted my very own magic watercolor paint that made the black background somewhat similar to gouache.
I learned this painting from one of the best artists named Maria Raczynska.
I'm really enjoying the good star wars content that we got lately, from respawn's Jedi: Fallen Order to the mandalorian and the rise of skywalker
Hope you guys like this quick baby yoda drawing.
Prints available on my inprnt:
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thegameworld/baby-yoda/
Due to COVID-restrictions, Edinburgh urban sketchers have been sketching virtually in Catalonia using Google street view. Here’s one of my contributions. It’s somewhere in Amposta ... unfortunately, didn’t take note of the actual street :O Pencil, brush pens and posca on coloured A4.
