Friday 30 March 2012

Give us the @*%&$£± money!

On Monday night in a dank dark cellar somewhere in Brighton two innocent bankers were subjected to a long and violent interrogation by a couple of nasty ne'er-do-wells (Steve the Muscle and Matt the Hat) from the East End of London. This sordid scene was being filmed by Paul Spencer to be used as part of a series of filmed inserts to be used in the one man play Ten Men about the 1960's gangster, film star and lover of Princess Margaret- John Bindon which Paul is directing. The other banker (not visible) was Mark Xavier Harrison who also good a good thrashing. Fear not dear Blogger for these arty farty types were not permanently damaged in the fracas.

Monday 26 March 2012

Sweet Marie

A few drawings from my last life drawing session for 3 weeks. This is my French friend Marie who's been having a rough time lately. Even the young and beautiful have problems.  I'm off to Mallorca for Easter where there are no life drawing classes that I can find. I've done so much lately that a break from it will be good I think.
Here are my drawings from a session last April called "Still Life" organised by the indefatigable Kate Shields. It was themed around famous poses from great artists including (my favourite) Egon Schiele. Kate and the girls did a brilliant job of recreating these poses to live music and the whole thing was MCed by the totally fabulous Rosy Carrick. These are my best efforts from that night.

Friday 23 March 2012

Brandon Kitouski's work

I've been recently getting into the artwork of various digital artists and here's one that I particularly like- Brandon Kitouski. This image appeared in a recent issue of the magazine Imagine FX which is brilliant if you're interested in digital art and the process of achieving it.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Some further yet even more life drawings

Today's lunchtime session at Jake's featured the amazingly long and willowy figure of Johanna who is wonderful to draw. She had a military cap on for most of the session and is off to New York tomorrow. Lucky girl. Here are my best ones.

TOM- The Old Market launch night

On Tuesday night here in sunny Brighton at The Old Market, Jake Spicer hosted a free launch party for a new regular life drawing class to be held there every Wednesday night. The evening ran from 7.30 til 11 with a bevvy of beautiful models (including a man) posing in two rooms for the gathered artists. We could drink and draw as there was a bar and the whole thing had a party atmosphere and was great fun.
At one point in the evening, my fellow cartoonist pal Geo Parkin and I attempted a jam drawing which consisted of a half hour's worth of 5 minute poses by the lovely Laura (longest legs ever) and the fabulous Frankie (longest hair ever) while we swapped places and filled a large piece of paper with our scribblings. (see attached)
It was a great night and I hope the class does well.
Big ups to Jake and all his stunning models. Especially the wonderful Miss Potts who is the one with short dark hair in these sketches.
We are very lucky here in Brighton and Hove to have so many life drawing classes to choose from. I spend a lot of time in Palma de Mallorca where I can't find any and someone was telling me the same is true of Paris, which seems unbelievable.Check out Kate Shields' new class in the Art Residence Hotel. She will also be starting a new class at the Sussex Arts Club where Bill Donahoe runs an excellent Tuesday night class featuring the best background music in town. There's room for everyone as there's an increasing appetite for drawing which, in my 'umble opinion, guv'nor, is therapeutic and almost a spiritual experience. I'm going now before I get too cosmic, man!

Friday 16 March 2012

Further yet still even more life drawings

At yesterday lunchtime's session at Jake Spicer's studio the gathered throng were attempting to capture Feryal's fabulousness  for posterity. Here are my scribblings.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Still yet even more life drawings

On Tuesday night the Sussex Arts Club were treated to a rare delight. Our model was the acrobat and circus performer Jill who always reminds me of Wonder Woman despite the lack of lassoo and glass plane. Here are my best efforts of the evening. Also, part of the scribbling throng were fellow cartoonist Geo Parkin with whom I am collaborating of a book of drawings (watch this space) and
- Lorks A'Lordy!- my old compadre and other half of Sleazy and Cheesy- Mark Harrison.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Today's Life Drawings

I went to the lunchtime life drawing session at Jake's studio and enjoyed sketching the always elegant Frankie- the girl with the longest hair I've ever seen. Here are the best ones.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Charity Fashion Show

Last night my friend and neighbour Hamza Arcan www.hamzaarcan.com/ and I were invited by fabulous Feryal who was giving massages www.bloominglotus.co.uk to draw at a charity fashion event at Madame Geisha, a small bijou night club in Brighton.
The charity was Rise www.riseuk.org.uk/ for domestic abuse victims. We were to draw anyone who wanted immortalising and if they liked the drawings they could buy them for a contribution to the charity. We were bunged away in a dark corner at one end of the upstairs bar which wasn't ideal as we could hardly see who we were drawing but once we got going we didn't stop for 4 hours.
We were both drawing in pastels as it's quick.
We had a constant line of victims from the off including all the models for the fashion show who had amazing hair, make-up and costumes and were all gorgeous.
Hamza's style is very flattering and very flamboyant with lots of colour and all the girls were really impressed with how he made them all look like Godesses. Mine leans more towards caricature.
There was mother of one of the models there who wanted to be drawn. She was a bit large so I thought I'd copy Hamza's approach and be flattering. So I did a slimmer more attractive version of her which she hated in comparison with Hamza's drawing which made her look like Ursula Andress in Doctor No.
In my defence I told her, "Hamza draws a fantasy version of the sitter whereas mine is nearer the truth." She said, "THEN LIE!" Some days you just can't win. It was great fun though and Hamza and I made a great team. Now available for weddings, birthdays and bar mitzvahs!

Monday 5 March 2012

Jake Spicer's Grimm Tales Drawing Circus!

On Saturday afternoon from 1 til 7.30 the arty-farties of Brighton and Hove gathered in the Sallis Benny Theatre to draw the weird and wonderful extravaganza organised by Jake Spicer and his coterie of fabulous creatures. Jake himself read extracts from Grimm's Fairy Tales while the gorgeously clad and unclad models acted out the scenarios as the eager artists drew them. As the event was a sell-out, there were no extra seats to move around to and it took a little while to get a good view and settle into the proceedings but once under way you were swept along by the flow of the models and the hypnotic live music so that the whole thing became a dreamscape for art. It was all rather wonderful and superbly organised by Jake and his team. I hope he does another one soon. Well done sir!

Friday 2 March 2012

More work avoidance exercises

My new passion takes place in bed and it's not the obvious one. I  love lying in bed first thing in the morning drawing. Before the deadlines of the day impinge it's great to clear the mind and take a stroll through the psyche with surprising results. This time I had an idea I wanted to explore of putting unlikely combinations of people together who share a surname. This meant a bit of reference was needed for the faces but I used my laptop so I still didn't need to get out of bed. Then I'll scan the sketches into Photoshop and add colour. Oh well, that's enough fun for one day. Get on with the paid work Cemmick! Those bills need paying!

Thursday 1 March 2012

Yet even more life drawings

These are from Bill's Tuesday night class at the Sussex Arts Club off Bond Street when the fabulous Feryal was modeling for us. Here the best ones.