Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Been awhile since I posted via the WordPress Blog, so let’s do that, eh? Yes, the page itself still needs work. It’s on the list. Honest! In the meantime, here are a few tidbits and thoughts on those tidbits.
First and foremost, “NeverNever: Attack of the War Cats” is now in print and for sale! This is a rather spiffy thing for my ego, as it’s some of my best comic strip work and seeing it in print is really, in a word, neat-o. Even more neat-o is that I will be using it as my most current work portion of the application for the National Cartoonists’ Society.
Also in print soon will be Bill Holbrook’s next book “Kevin & Kell: Honeymoon 2.0”. I mention this for three reasons; 1-Kevin & Kell is a fun comic strip! If you’re not already reading it, you should give it a look-see, 2-It contains a foreword written by yours truly, and 3-Mr. Holbrook was kind enough to write me one of two letters of recommendation needed for my NCS application. He even suggested they make me a full member rather than associate, which is very flattering, albeit a bit scary!
This weekend I have a little event! I have been asked to do pet caricatures once again for Andy’s Pet Supply and Rescue in San Jose. They’re holding a craft fair/bake sale/mini carnival this Saturday from 12-3pm to raise money to keep their rescue efforts going. They were recently featured on TV for their help with a massive pet rat rescue and, honestly, I do adore rats. They’re fuzzy, ticklish, and happen to be my chinese astrological sign.
This brings me to the meat of this post, which is about finding opportunities to draw. I like doing these kinds of events because I love animals, it raises money to help them, I get practice sketching from life, and I get a little pocket money, too. It’s just one of those perfect scenarios. Be on the look-out for those. In this case, I’d seen that they were going to do a fund raiser a year or so ago, so I went in with drawings, introduced myself, and asked if I could help. That simple.
A Sketch Crawl sounds neat. This is when a bunch of artists get together and go from place to place, drawing what they see. Could be the people, the architecture, each other, the dog park, or the shot glass in front of them. If you can’t find a local group, start one.
Keep a small sketchbook with you at all times. I have one that’s purse-sized. You never know where inspiration or the perfect bit of on-site reference will hit. Be prepared.
What’s your favorite Sketching Opportunity?
Tags: Sketch