Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
2:25 AM

I'm working on a series of illustrations this week for US News & World Report. Here's one of them in progress as seen from a Keegan's-eye-view. I'm always amazed at the sensation of working on a high-resolution image at 100% on my 23" Cinema Display. Based on this 300dpi piece of artwork, the size on my screen is the equivalent of working on a detail of a drawing that is 5 1/2" feet tall! I cannot wait until we have drafting table-sized displays, that we can lean on...and draw directly upon...and spill our coffee upon...

Click to see a detail at 100%.

Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
November 28, 2005 7:56 PM

I drew President Jackson upside-down. Click above for a larger view.

Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
12:35 PM

New York Magazine has published a holiday shopping map of Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue carefully compiled and playfully penned by MY invisibile woman, Corrie Pikul. The map is accompanied with wonderful illustrations by Steve Murray. Although his website does not reveal much (or even confirm that it's the same guy) it appears that this Steve Murray contributes to a illustration and design blog very similar to our own. Check out the shopping then check out the sites. If you do end up buying gifts in the stores mentioned, please say you saw the piece in NY Magazine. Then maybe they'll give Corrie some free stuff!

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
4:00 AM

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
12:11 AM

Posted by: bz (54 posts)
November 27, 2005 6:01 PM

* it is so hard to photograph books... but here's my somewhat distorted solution :)

* this is my 30th "official" sketchbook since starting count in 1995. the cover uses imagery inspired by my "5 senses" prints. for this image i just played around with the images on silkscreens and i only "registered" where i wanted to.

* the binding is a coptic binding / single needle link stitch.

* for the inside pages, i used a variety of graph papers as well as some english and japanese alphabet practice paper.

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
November 26, 200511:36 PM

On the left is a detail of a drawing I slapdashedly made while crossing Pennsylvania on a train this past week; just quickly sketching whatever I caught a glimpse of. To the right is a drawing/watercolor of a nice geezer who was sitting ahead of me. For anyone whose sketched much on trains, this over-the-shoulder pose should look familiar.

Click the picture for the full version of the ink drawing.

Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
November 22, 2005 5:59 PM

Above is a cityscape I am currently working on. Like my landscapes, all work has been done on site using my travel easel. Weather permitting I hope to enjoy (at least) one more session outdoors before having to head into the studio. Once inside I'll rely on digital photographs in order to put final touches on the painting. I'll keep you posted on it's progress and post a final pic once I am through.

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
November 21, 2005 9:36 PM

It's always nice fleeing the city to break bird with the family; crossing the Pennsylvania landscape along the train tracks.

Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
November 20, 2005 1:38 AM

One of the things on my to do list the past few weeks (umm...years?) has been to make some of my own sketchbooks with all of the nice paper I had imported from London's Faulkiner Fine Papers. They used to sell the BEST sketchbooks, the "Rivoli", when I studied in London back in the early 90's. At some point, the fellow who made them went out of business, and they haven't been seen since.

My efforts to recreate the glory of these sketchbooks have been mocked for years...But now that I have been schooled in the foundations of flatback case bookbinding (Thanks Nancy Loeber & CBA!), and I am in possession of a large stock of Rives' "Artist" paper (the successor to the famed Rivoli paper used in Falkiner's sketchbooks), the moment is soon approaching.

I am making a batch of these sketchbooks, as kind of a "beta" release to see how they hold up in the field. I'm reasonably sure that I screwed all of these up to a certain degree by gauging the paper grain's direction wrong. Any errors in these sketchbooks will be corrected in future versions!

These books currently consist of a series of signatures of paper stitched togerther (Herringbone stitch), with the endpapers and book-cloth hinges sewn on. The next crucial step is a meeting with the mighty and unforgiving guillotine at CBA, where they will all be chopped into neat, flush proto-books. Then I need to build their cases with binder's board and cover them with bookcloth. Then these neatly chopped text blocks will then be glued into their cases, ready for finishing.

I was quite delighted to see so many posts late on a Saturday night, that I had to post a shot of these books in their naked, pre-case state. When importing the photos, I thought it wise to make an alternating "poor-man's-3D" view of the books, as I am fairly drunk after returning from a neighbor's fun party. Enjoy.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
12:39 AM

Been fascinated with flies for some time now. Such low lifes. But in their minds, death and decay is so irresistible.

Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
November 19, 2005 8:07 PM

Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
8:04 PM

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
November 18, 200512:24 AM

I've been playing around with tree-hugger imagery such as this; emphasizing textures and silhousettes.

A couple nights ago I caught Jeff Tweedy perform in Tribeca with my brother/invisibleman/superpal Jamie. Percussionist and wilco drummer Glenn Kotche opened the show and joined Mr. Tweedy and Jim O'Rourke for a short encore set (those 3 form the band/sideproject Loose Fur). They played a tune about a crack-smoking, sidewalk-surfing messiah and it was an all around amazing show.

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
November 16, 200510:25 PM

A follow up here to Keegan's post... it was beers, bongos and bohemia on east 63rd st. Being the mecca for illustrators, its an inspiring place to hang out.

Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
12:34 AM

Tonight fellow Invisibleman PA and I hoofed it up to East 63rd and Lexington to the Society of Illustrators to attend one of their storied Tuesday night drawing sessions. It's quite a cool scene there, though it may be a bit shocking for those used to more serene drawing environments. Grab a cold beer or a glass of wine from the raucous bar, then grab a chair and start drawing. There is always live music, and we've read reports of burlesque dancers as life models. One red feather boa was about as burlesque as it got, but both models were excellent and looked quite nice posing against the original artworks of some of the greatest illustrators in American history (NC Wyeth, LC Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell, et al). Drawing is every Tuesday night from 6:30 - 9:30, $15 at the door. There is also a session on the third Thursday of every month as well.

So on the right, I've posted a small sketch, done in the last 2 minutes of the evening, which I kind of like the most. And on the left, we have a rotund and jolly police officer, which is a sketch from my moleskine (further work done in the Lab), drawn from a picture i snagged somewhere on the web.

Why are they together? What's the story between them? Is she whispering something in his ear that's making him smile?

Click on the photo for a larger image of the cop. Sorry, no more of the lady to see.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
November 15, 200512:49 AM

This is a found photograph I picked up on a curb in Long Island City. Good condition too.
We get a free glimpse of lost progeny. Or at least a lost photograph. I was drawn to this one because the girl looks so undecided.

Posted by: bz (54 posts)
November 14, 2005 1:19 PM

here are some pictures from "excerpt".

i am waiting to get some better pictures which were taken by my friend olivia, but in the meantime here is a little preview of what was installed. i hope posting them here will inspire me to continue working with the apartment and their contents...

see the images here

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
November 13, 200512:34 AM

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
12:25 AM

Break out the black light for optimal viewing.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
November 12, 2005 9:19 PM

I've been strolling Brooklyn for street shots. Some days are good, but often you just stroll and nothing inspires. This is from one of those days.

Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
November 9, 2005 1:47 PM

'nuff said.

Posted by: bz (54 posts)
2:28 AM

12/1 : UPDATE: my piece got reviewed by art blog! (a pretty big thing in philly) :)
check it out!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

i am in an group exhibition photo west gallery in west philly which opens this friday. i was given a random photo (from Romania) to be inspired by.

i got a truck. (see top) i made a funny model (see bottom) it's too bad you cant see the back of the model. maybe ill repost. but for now this is it as its 2:39 am! i cant wait to see what others made.

also - my website is finally finished. come visit!

Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
November 8, 200511:29 PM

Here are some sketches of some women from my current mini-moleskine. This is mainly full of drawings done while riding on the subway (though not always people on the subway). Every once and a while I start a page with a thought like "I need to draw more women" and you get some stuff like this. The red across the scared woman's eyes was bleed from the scanner light. Works perfect!

Posted by: pa (190 posts)
10:42 PM

Via kottke.org I came across a video in which a small group of Hornets attack and destroy a colony of honeybees. An amazing scene which stuck in my head and caused the drawing above. View the video here.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
November 7, 2005 9:26 PM

this one is for a brighter war.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
9:03 PM

An image as familiar as hamburgers. Many childhoods hovered around guns and fake killing friends.
Mine did. This was drawn from a decal for your car.

Posted by: jamie (116 posts)
November 5, 200512:08 AM

I would put one of these on my lawn.

Posted by: bz (54 posts)
November 1, 2005 1:43 PM

these are images from my "i believe in coffee" book and this is my first gif animation :)

Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
11:56 AM

Above is a detail of another graphite drawing I 've been working on. Click above in order to see a pop-up of the entire image (thus far.)

Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
9:10 AM

I did the text for this in PowerPoint and brought in into Flash. Everyone rips on the PowerPoint, but actually it's one of the best one's out there for doing 3D text. Easy to use too.