I was struck by some of the unusual colours most of the small towns you pass through in Mexico seem to have on all of the buildings. Lots of bright colours, reds and oranges, not really arranged with any pattern either. Just whatever the owner fancies I guess. The building style as well was interesting, row-ish houses span whole blocks, with some unifying details, while other items like windows vary from building to building. Overall it makes for some unique visuals.





I snapped some photos driving by for sketching material and this is one of the resulting doodles. The line work is done in a very unpicky style, giving way to some light watercolour washes to capture the differences between each quarters.

There's a cool initiative that's been happening for a few years called InkTober. I'm not sure why I've only just heard about it, but basically for the month of October, artists from the world over, contribute drawings trying to produce a drawing day.

I haven't really kept up with the pace, but here's a brush pen sketch of Buffalo from this month. I'm always intrigued by Buffalo driving through it, seeing it's different areas. The revitalized downtown with arena and ballpark, the waterfront, the faded Rust Belt factories, the dense urban decay and the older spires and deco buildings that remind me of Gotham.

Here's a recent illustration I did for an article about what it's like being introduced to TRX - Total Resistance Training. Gyms continue to offer increasingly unique and imaginative ways to get fit, and TRX is no exception. The main premise is resistance band training, much of it while suspended in the air in awkward positions. To new-comers brave enough to try it out, it lends itself to getting caught tangled up in a bunch of strings, like helpless prey in a spider's web.

I wanted the drawing to tread the line between limbs flailing wildly and new found acrobatic abilities, while sticking with the prey analogy and showing a sense of vulnerability with negative space. The art was drawn and inked and then coloured and textured digitally in Photoshop. I also couldn't resist the Charlotte's Web reference, since really, how often does the opportunity ever present itself?

Being in the middle of planning a trip and appreciating the beauty of the European rail system, I think that this old drawing is fitting. Sometimes I marvel at the patience of previous projects. I pretty much avoid things requiring rulers at all costs, yet at some point I managed to produce an inked technical train station drawing complete with marker rendering. There are parts of it that are sloppy, but I doubt I'd have the patience to work out something like this today. Tastes and interests change, and I guess I'd just prefer to be on the train instead and snap a pretty picture.

New illustration out about a first-time golfer's experience trying to learn the game. Which, as it happens, was full of follies and frustrations. This one ended up a little more colourful than normal on account of the pink. As well, since the inking is looser than usual, I actually went in with some detailing and did a bit more than flat colours.

As a connoisseur of brush pen sketching, I got overly excited after stumbling across a little blog by artist Davis Chino. Brush Pen Paris features his sketches from a trip in Paris, soaking up the cafe culture. Everything has just such a great European feel, like an animated film vibe, of say, Ratatouille.

The drawings of interesting character studies are quite vibrant and loose, both keys to working with brush pens. Davis also has another more current site with other sketches, Brush Pen Breakfast.

A study in the philosophy that less-is-more, Tomine creates visuals with subtle yet highly competent brush work. His inking creates depth and emotion, all while not even seeming to be there. And his colour work isn't half bad either!