Amy @ GO FIGURE

Here's 3 "blind contour" drawings from last night's Go Figure. I got out of doing these for a while, but I came back to it last night- I like doing them because the "mind's eye" tends to create it's own continuity of line, and it's always a surprise as to what exactly you are going to get. Surprises are what makes life interesting to me. These drawings are more about feeling and character than acurate depiction.

1 more of Erin

Here's one more of Erin- a 20 min. pose. I had a slightly different point of view with all of these due to the new floor chairs I bought- I was much lower to the ground.

Erin@ Go Figure

Here's Erin from last Monday's Go Figure. They are 1 min., 2,2,5, and 5 min. from the top. All colored pencil except the first- reg. pencil.

Cassandra @ GO FIGURE

Here's the elegant, amazing Cassandra from last Monday's Go Figure. It was a coincidence that I just bought a red colored pencil that day and that her hair was more red than usual... or was it? Go figure.

Viktoria @ Go Figure

Here's 3 colored pencil drawings of the retro-looking Viktoria from last night's "Go Figure".

Lady J at Go Figure

This is the 3rd time Lady J has been to Go Figure, and she didn't disappoint. She had some great shoes and a feather fan as props, and she couldn't help moving her hips a bit to the "Son Cubano" music. These are all colored pencil, starting with a 2 minute, 5 min., 20 and 2 tens at the end. One of these is a "blind contour" drawing- it's pretty obvious which one...

Carla @ Go Figure- 2

Here's Carla from last night's Go Figure- she's been once before...
She has a great expressive face and a long, skinny body- very interesting to draw. These are all colored pencil.
I was trying to heed Steve Brodner's advice about "swing". He graciously replied to an e-mail I sent earlier today asking for some creative criticism. This is partly what he said:
"I would love to see each element affecting all the other elements more. If one thing is bigger, how than does it change the other elements? Did I ever mention the subway car or elevator? When a new person enters everybody else stands differently. All the things in your piece are dependent in a way on each other. Your work is really good and you should be getting work. But I would keep working on this idea of integration, or Swing; something I always shoot for."

To me, the word "swing" rang true like music- each instrument depending on the other and integrating to create movement, energy, and rythm- like linework, composition, and the individual features of a face working together to create caricature.

Sarah on the Mic

Here's the last of the Sarah Silverman sketches (she gets the most out of her mic...) Now, which one to use?

More Marina

Okay, the real reason I didn't post more last night was because my scanner was giving me problems and I was tired. Now I fixed it, so here's a few more of Marina from Go Figure on Monday night; the first two are 2 minute sketches, and the last is a five minute caricature of her.

Marina @ Go Figure

Here's the sophisticated Marina from the last Go Figure. I had a few good ones, but this was the best, so I'm just including one this time.

The Return of Go Figure- with Marianne

Here's a few sketches of Marianne from last Monday night's "Go Figure" which just made it's triumphant return. It's now located at my friends- Shea and Osha's apartment in Williamsburg. If you don't get my e-mails about it, let me know and I'll put you on the list.
The first 2 drawings are 5 min. poses, and the last is a 20 min. They're all colored pencil.

Sarah Silverman

Here's a couple of preliminary sketches of Sarah Silverman for my next painting for Faces and Names. I'm in the middle of one other and might do one more after that. Unusually, I found a lot of good reference material for her, so I want to do as much as I can.
First I have to finish another Rolling Stones painting, which I'm almost finished with.

Punta Cana

These are a few quick sketches I did in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where I was vacationing the past week with my family. The first one is at the pool-bar where the bar stools are underwater; all bars should be like this.
The second one is of the beach outside our resort hotel; there is an old ship-wreck about a mile out from the beach. My niece, Grace, is in the lower left hand corner.
The third one is at Suana Island- about 2 1/2 hours from our hotel, and features my Dad, who turned 70 this month. The water here is amazingly clear and warm. Apparently, this is where they filmed the Blue Lagoon. About half-way out to the island is an area of water in the ocean which is really shallow and clear- it only goes up to your waist- it's really interesting.

Samuel Leroy Jackson

This is the Samuel L. Jackson painting I did for Faces and Names (159 w. 54th St.) last Fall. I just got a good print from "Baboo" which is my new photo and printing place. No more Duggal- they're much too expensive and didn't give me what I wanted last time.
This is oil on wood and I think it's 3' x 4'.
He's one of my favorite actors; I hope he can come in and see it...

Preliminary drawings of Stones

Here's a couple of preliminary drawings I did for the Stones painting of a couple of years ago. I have to search for the other ones...

Seiji-san

This is a quick caricature of my friend, Seiji, from Japan, who I met last year in Central Park. He's also a caricaturist and does some good stuff.

Zion @ Go Figure

See- sometimes we actually have a guy model at Go Figure- our second one in 7 months- so it is rare.

The Fishs

Here's a painting of the Fish family I did last Summer. It's oil on wood- 30 x 36".
The color in the photo is not completely accurate.

Bari @ Go Figure

This is Bari from last night's Go Figure drawing session. She was a good model, but I felt like I was a little out of practice, so I'm just including one drawing.

Art's party

This was from a party that I worked at; I drew all the heads from life at the party, then superimposed them on Hirshfeld bodies in photoshop as per my client's request and filled in any blanks with my own bodies and/ or background where needed. This took much longer than anticipated, and probably would've worked better if I was allowed to draw my own bodies, but it was an interesting experiment anyway.
We had a discrepency with the price of the extra work, but I think we resolved it in a reasonable fashion. My client felt free to criticize my work to get leway for the comprimised price and prided himself on the fact that he was a businessman. I'm not often fond of businessmen.