29th SketchCrawl

A great turn up on Saturday (60 people!). It was a nice and sunny too. A big thanks to Eclecticbox once again for coordinating the day (and to Lapin for the super map with timetable included).



These first ones are from Passeig de Gràcia, the starting point for the Crawl. The first one is of the building Cases Rocamora (it's on the corner of Carrer Casp with Passeig de Gràcia). The other is a detail of one of the many lamps (dating from 1903)
that decorate Passeig de Gracia, by Pere Falqués i Urpí.


Some people taking the weight off their feet, Passeig de Gracia.


The second sketch is of the building "La Uníon y el Fénix Español" (1927-1932) by Eusebi Bona i Puig, located on Passeig de Gracia. The first drawing is a view from Plaza de Catalunya, where I went while the main group went to the restaurant.


After a quick sketch of this girl,in Portal del Angel, it was time to meet up at La Boquería. No one else had turned up yet, and as the entrance to the market was hectic, I continued on sketching around Las Ramblas. This is the one area of the city where you'll find people drinking from enormous beer glasses!



The first sketch is of the building Casa Bruno Cuadros (also known as Casa dels Paraigües- House of the Umbrellas). Built in 1858, the present day facade was remodelled in 1883, by Josep Vilaseca Casanovas (who also designed Barcelona's Arco de Trionfo). The bottom floor of the building once housed an umbrella shop, hence all the oriental umbrella motifs outside. The second sketch is of a statue outside the 17Th century church, Igelsia de Betlém, Carrer del Carmen.

A Touch of Happiness

Photo of my daughter's hand, taken on a trip to the park on her first birthday! She's brought a year of fun and happiness to our lives.

27th Sketchcrawl

We had quite a large turn up for the Barcelona group this time (great to meet everyone) Luckily the day started off with sunshine (we had a lot of rain the previous days). These first two are from the rooftop of CaixaForum, looking towards Mnac, although I'm not sure what buildings they are (they pop up from among the trees).

Showreel

Finally got around to editing an upto date version of my showreel. It's posted on my portfolio blog for those interested in taking a peek! It features a lot of scenes of this little guy, Lindbergh, from Acció's "Cher Ami". He's the zany character of the movie. He's taken a lot of bad knocks on the head as his obsession to learn how to fly constantly ends in disaster!

Goodbye April

These are done looking from my window, inspired by people below. They are not blind drawings this time. I used a marker that has a brush-like tip. When I scanned them they reminded me of vectorial line work, which kinnda lead me to colour them like this. I don't know where the style of displacing the colours originates from(if anyones knows I'd love to hear) but it's something I see alot here in Barcelona (eg.). For some reason I always relate it to Jazz music.

Estos están hechos mirando desde mi ventana, inspirado en la gente que pasaba. No son Blind Drawings. Están hechos con un rotulador tipo pincel y una vez escaneados a mí me parecían líneas vectoriales (creo es porque estoy acustumbrado a hacer dibujos más sucios) así que decidí ponerles un poco de color. No sé de donde viene el estilo de colocar los colores fuera de sitio (si alguien lo sabe que me lo diga, por favor), a mi siempre me recuerda a imagenes relacionadas con la música jazz. Es un estilo que he visto mucho aquí en Barcelona(eg.).

Blind Drawing

I recently had to animate using a brush-like tipped marker, which was a bit intimidating, so to break the ice I would start the morning with some blind drawings looking from my window. I love using this exercise as it usually gives some funny results- which is what drawing should be all about, having fun! Although some times it's hard to even recognise what the subject is (see if you can find the traffic light in my sketch!) the results usually have a free and broken feel to them. It also forces you to really look. The van was on the corner just below my window but the building is at the end of the next block, so it's a good exercise for the eyes to focus on something in the distance when you spend so much time pinned to the desk drawing. Also, as I never get to use colours while sketching outdoors, I thought I'd give these a lick of paint once scanned in.
I was first introduced to Blind Drawing by the Life Drawing Instructor at Don Bluths. His name was Lorcan and was an Art Teacher from the National College of Art and Design. When he first explained this exercise I thought it was either a joke or the guy was mad! How could anybody draw without looking at the paper! Just didn't make sense! Now I can't imagine sketching without it! Fellow Barcelona sketchcrawler Lapin is also a big fan of this method, please check out his work here.

Últimamente tuve que animar usando un rotulador tipo pincel. La idea me intimidaba un poco así que para romper el hielo empecé las mañanas con unos cuantos "Blind Drawings"* mirando desde la ventana de mi casa (*dibujando sin mirar el papel -si en un momento dado quieres mirar el papel hay que dejar de trazar). Me encanta este método porque da resultados muy divertidos y dibujar se trata de esto - divertirse. A veces es dificil reconocer lo que acabas de dibujar (a ver si se puede encontrar el semáforo que hay en mi boceto!!). También es un buen ejercicio para los ojos después de muchas horas dibujando en una mesa de luz. La furgoneta estaba aparcada en la esquina debajo de mi casa pero el edificio es del final de la siguiente manzana. Como nunca logro usar colores cuando dibujo en exteriores, me apeteció añadirles un poco una vez escaneados.
La persona que me introdujo en este método de dibujar era el instructor de dibujo natural en Don Bluths. Se llama Lorcan y era profesor del NCAD, Dublín. En principio pensaba que era una broma o que el tipo estaba loco! Cómo se puede dibujar sin mirar el papel! No tenía sentido! Ahora no me puedo imaginar dibujar sin este método. Lapin, que conozco del grupo Barcelona Sketchcrawl, también es aficionado a este ejercicio. Se puede ver su trabajo aqui.

Emma's Room

These are photos of the 2 drawings I did last year for my daughter Emma's room. Done with pastels and coloured pencils, the idea was to have simple shapes and with an emphasis on big smiles to project a happy feeling. She didn't pay much attention to them until recently when she suddenly started laughing at the cat. Then she made a connection between the cat and the dog and now laughs everytime she sees them both before getting her nappy changed and afterwards (although not much laughing is done during the act of nappy changing. It's more like a Houdini performance!! I never knew a baby could turn and twist so fast!!). The other stickers of animals were bought in a DIY store. ( Since the photo was taken someone pulled the parrot from the wall!)

Son fotos de dos dibujos que hice para la habitación de mi hija Emma. Hechos con pasteles y lápices de color, la idea era usar formas simples y resaltar las sonrisas grandes para dar sensación de felicidad. No se fijó mucho en ellos hasta hace muy poco cuando de repente empezó a reirse del gato. Luego asoció al perro con el gato y ahora se ríe antes y después de cada cambio de pañal (aunque mientras se lo cambiamos no se ríe mucho, se parece más a Houdini con tantos giros y vueltas para escapar!). Las pegatinas de animales los compramos en una tienda de bricolage.

Avinguda de Gaudi

These were done on the Avinguda de Gaudi (it's the avenue right beside Sagrada Familia). They are just a little selection done from between August to October. They are of people sitting in the terrace of a wonderful icecream shop (for those who like icecream it's a must!!) that can be found on the way going towards Hospital de San Pau. People sit for hours chatting. I was just sitting on an ordinary street bench looking on (sob!) although more than once I had an icecream before starting to sketch! I feel like having one now just thinking about it!. Once scanned, I decided to digitally colour the more cartoony ones.
Son de gente tomando helados en la terraza de una heladería (muy buena por cierto, hay que probarla!!) en Avinguda de Gaudí, cerca de la Sagrada Familia, en direción de Hospital de Sant Pau. La gente se queda charlando durante horas! Yo solo observaba desde un banco normal de la calle (snif!) aunque en mas de una ocasión me tomé uno antes de empezar de dibujar! Me esta entrando ganas de comer uno ahora solo pensando en ello! Una vez escaneados decidí colorear los bocetos más cartoon.

I aslo include a photo of the sculpture "El Bon Temps Perseguint La Tempesta"(1978-79) by Apel-les Fenosa. I think it means either the good times chasing away the bad or the good weather chasing the storm (¿algú sap?). It can be found on the last block of the avinguda before arriving at the Hospital de San Pau. It's not supposed to be a great photograph, the idea is to simply share an image from this part of the planet with those who may never get the chance to see it in person.
También subo una foto de la estatua "El Bon Temps Perseguint La Tempesta"(1978-79) por Apel.les Fenosa. No pretendo que sea una buena foto sino es simplemente para compartir una imagen desde este parte del globo con los que quizás nunca puedan verlo en persona.

26th Sketchcrawl

The results of the Barcelona Group can be viewed here. Barcelona Sketchcrawl
Se puede ver todo los resultados del groupo aqui. Barcelona Sketchcrawl

Long Time No See !!!

Oooopps! Almost 8 months have passed since the last post! Fatherhood hasn't allowed me much free time for wandering around sketching. So, catching up with where I left off the last time, here's some sketches from the Poble Nou area of Barcelona. These are from last Summer, so it's funny looking at them now and remembering how hot it was while sketching (to make it worse I did them during lunch, possibly the hottest time of the day). They are from the little sketch book I once mentioned (8 months ago!!), so the quality of the scans are not great. The yellow grainy paper is impossible to scan.(any suggestions would be very welcome!
These are the last batch of sketches I got to do in Poble Nou. After that I've only had time for some local sketches of people. They'll be posted real soon!!

Today my daughter is 9 months old and her first tooth appeared this morning!


Ya han pasado casi 8 meses desde que colgué el último post! Ser padre no me deja mucho tiempo libre para ir dibujando por ahí. Continuando por donde lo dejé aquí tenéis unos dibujos hechos en el barrio del Poble Nou de Barcelona. Son del verano pasado y es extraño verlos ahora recordando el calor que hacía (son de la hora de comer). Están hechos en el pequeño libro de bocetos que mencioné hace tiempo (sólo unos 8 meses!!!) y aún no he encontrado la manera de escanear este papel amarillo y granulado. (se aceptan sugerencias).
No he podido hacer más en este barrio de Barcelona. Después sólo tuve tiempo para dibujar gente más cerca de casa. Los colgaré dentro de poco!!!
¡¡Hoy mi hija cumple 9 meses y esta mañana apareció su primer diente!!