Two-hundred and thirty drawings down and Seven-hundred and seventy drawings to go!
I chatted briefly with this slim and stylish fellow-artist at the Dick Blick store on Broadway (across for the California College of the Arts). We were both agonizing over the various thicknesses and colors of the Micron drawing pens. I think the guy behind the counter was a getting a little impatient, but understandably so. We were not only bonding over the fact that we both used Micron pens, but also over the fact that we both liked the same thickness of line and both of us only ever used black ink.
To this slim and stylish micron-pen-loving guy I make the following request: If you happen to stumble onto this blog and if you happen to recognize yourself, do drop me a note with a link to your own online gallery or even an invited your next gallery show. I’d love to see your work. We pen-obsessed sketch artists of Oakland have to stick together.
This drawing was inspired by a regular at one of my favorite local cafes. I go to there to work–to write, do some research, make some lecture notes–but he comes to the cafe on his break. He sits on a chair in the corner, drinks an iced coffee, and reads his paper. I glance over at him wistfully, enjoying the irony that we come to the same place for completely opposite reasons.
I spotted the guy in this drawing at the Mel’s Diner on Geary in San Francisco. He immediately captured my attention because he was doing to the unthinkable; he had dropped his keys somewhere near the bathrooms and he was actually kneeling down on that dirty floor–actually touching his knees to the tiles–trying to find them. Yuck. Fortunately, he did find his keys. Unfortunately, they weren’t anywhere near the bathrooms; they were on the floor under the table beside the one where he had been eating.
When I tell someone outside of academia that I am a African American literature professor, I am never quite sure what kind of response I will get. Some people respond by telling me how much they love [fill in the name of the last–or only–African American novel they read] . Others ask about my favorite novels, writers, or historical periods. I really enjoy answering questions like this. The man in this drawing fell into this latter category. When I told him about my research in the area 19th-century Black literary history, he told me about his own African American history research, as an amateur genealogist. He chatted with me for a good 15 minutes before I told him I had to get to my office to prepare for my first day of classes. He was waiting for his daughter, who is a new student at my institution, and he seemed quite pleased to be able to connect with a Black faculty member. I was equally happy to connect with a fellow Black history buff.
8-Rock.com comes back to Oakland for this one. Today’s drawing depicts a man I saw waiting for the 57 bus at AC Transit’s Mills College stop on MacArthur Blvd.
I do believe that this is the last drawing I’ll be posting from my Comic-Con 2011 sketchbook. I spotted this fan standing at the top of the giant escalator in the San Diego Convention Center. His retro-cool jacket caught my attention more than anything else about him, though the fact that he managed to stand at the top of the escalator without any of the staff people telling him to move it along was also quite impressive. For the backdrop to this drawing, I replaced the inside of the convention center with the San Diego trolley, which stops conveniently at a station right across the street from the place where the Con was being held. Look for my logo between the wires above the train.
The Comic-Con sketchbook returns! When I saw this guy with the skinny tie and green hair in an ’80s-style ‘do, I couldn’t stop looking at him. He reminded me of the cool punks and new wave dudes I used to see at all ages show at the E.B.A. Chapter House in Albany. Consequently, I given this figure a, like, totally ’80s backdrop in muted ’80s colors.
8-Rock
PS: I never was able to quite figure what character this guy was supposed to look like. Maybe he was the Black joker? I really wish I’d asked.
Here’s another drawing in keeping with yesterday’s back-to-school theme. I don’t know if Oakland students are in summer school these days, or if certain programs have a summer school component, but I saw this young man standing in front of Oakland Tech High School yesterday with a backpack over one shoulder, a basketball under his arm and a very serious expression on his face. The symbols on the right side of this drawing are all related to the theme of education and learning, including nea onnim no suaa, ohu, the Adinkra symbol associated with “life-long education and the quest for knowledge” (Source: West African Wisdom: Adinkra Symbols and Meanings).
Today is another short break from the Comic-Con sketchbook. These kids were standing on a corner somewhere along Broadway, either waiting to cross or waiting for a bus. I liked that they were all wearing the same uniform and all around the same age, but so many different shapes and sizes and haircuts. It seemed like a drawing waiting to happen.
The Comic-Con sketchbook continues. Everyone needs a little downtime, especially when you’re surrounded by a 120,000 of your fellow comicbook/sci-fi/fantasy fans. This guy was stealing a moment of repose on a bench at the bottom of one of the stairways. The bench was actually wide enough to accomodate three or four people, but I feel like the one-seater I’ve drawn in the picture better captures the idea of a solitary moment.
I spotted the guy in this drawing at the Mel’s Diner on Geary in San Francisco. He immediately captured my attention because he was doing to the unthinkable; he had dropped his keys somewhere near the bathrooms and he was actually kneeling down on that dirty floor–actually touching his knees to the tiles–trying to find them. Yuck. Fortunately, he did find his keys. Unfortunately, they weren’t anywhere near the bathrooms; they were on the floor under the table beside the one where he had been eating.
