New Sketchbook ワ～イ!

I recently had gotten a new sketchbook after finishing my 3rd sketchbook in NY...so that would be 3 sketchbooks within 5- months, I think that's pretty good pace.

So for my new book I decided to try out a moleskin. This is what the masters used, so maybe it will add something to my sketches. They're really nice...but there are some bad in addition to the good points.

Good=
-They are small and pretty portable
-It's bound in some sort of leather like material and has a very nice presentation.
-The paper is pretty nice, it's toned too which could work for me if i decide to get more instense with my sketches.
-They handle felt marker and ink pens pretty well, so far the micron tech pens and staedler brush pens work the best for me.
-It's bound so that you can do a whole spread as one page; you can open it flat with no problem. This is probably the best thing about moleskins.

Bad=
-The paper is way too smooth and doesn't hold watercolor, sumi ink, or loose graphite and charcoal very well.
-They're expensive
-The size can work against it sometimes, it's good to carry around but obviously my workspace is limited.

What sucks the most is that it doesn't take the mediums I mentioned above...I heard fabriano makes a smallsized watercolor sketchbook, but I haven't found one yet. If only the moleskin had more absorbent paper...it would be perfect.

Anyway, here are some pics that I have scanned in from it. Enjoy!

Resolution

Ok ok, I'm going to post some pictures up next time. I disconnected my scanner because my room is really small and in order for me to get good reception for my wireless net I had to make room for my pc to get in range.

So for a while I'll be scanning sketches in from school.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent; get some emotion out.

I returned to New York Jan.6 and it wasn't that bad really. I had spent the previous three weeks in Miami in generally nice weather amongst friends. Though I was dissapointed that I didn't get to expand upon my artistic endeavors while I was Miami, I did enjoy my stay. The main thing was that I got a chance to relax. About a week after I arrived in Miami I realized just how stressed I was. It was ridiculous.

I basically fucked up coming to New York so early. I came with no real plan, just a passion for drawing, and about $500 from my job over the summer. One of my first mistakes was not securing an income or a decent place to stay. So I ended up living with my uncle in Queens, which I didn't like very much and added to my stress. After enrolling in school about a week after I came to NY my stress level soon increased two-fold. My days involved a 3hr total commute back and forth home, having to wake up early to get to school by 8:30, and getting out by 6pm most days to get home at 7:30-8pm, doing homework once and a while and going to sleep late, sometimes not at all in order to wake up on time.

What really did me in though was that I didn't have any real support in NY. Yes, it was a lot to handle but it was infinetly worse that I had no job or financial links to rely on, and no social backing, i.e. friends to get me through this.

I did meet some cool people, made a few friends, but with school and everything, I have yet to have really good friends that I feel totally at ease with and so on.

I could write a book on my many failures with girls, so I'm not even gonna go into it.

Anyway, with all of this, by finals week of fall semester, I was honestly an inch away from a total nervous breakdown.

So, I needed to go to Miami more than I ever thought I would. I really calmed down and unwinded.

But I've been back in NY for about 3 weeks now and though I've changed things to make my life less stressful (schedule, housing, job) I still feel that my social life or lack thereof is subtracting from my experience here in the big apple.

I guess I'm a social retard in a way. I often don't know how to react to people and am very quiet and shy most of the time. I really have no idea how to remedy this, because I'm sure if I was more open and outgoing I would be a lot happier but I can't just turn on a switch labeled "awesome" and become so.

Actually I should've mentioned this before, but when I came to NY I actually was a lot more social and less shy, but somehow the lonliness, stress, and rejection from a few girls here and there kinda stunted my social growth and it's just difficult getting back to that somehow.

So, my mom called me today to see how I was doing and I talked about this a bit. She said I should be looking for some female company...I just told her that I'm terrible with girls to just save her the schpiel. But she also suggested that I take a sport. Which is a great idea, Brian also suggested this. I just need a bit of money, which I don't have at the moment. I was thinking I would like to take a martial art, it builds confidence and strength.

I just wanted to get all that out, because I don't really get to talk to many people about that, I don't really have anyone to vent to up here.

On more positive matters, my classes seem pretty decent. I like my painting class especially, cause it seems like we're going to do a lot of very interesting techniques. Our first painting is a landscape done in a flemmish style like what Rembrandt used. Awesome, no?

There are some new students too in some of my classes, and they seem like nice people. This one girl Mayumi really reminds me of Tanya, they kinda look similar too since they're both Japanese/Filipino mixed....crazy.

Heh, I just wrote a comment on one of my friend's blogs about thinking positive and I wrote in my own blog something that was 90% negative...oh well.

Shocked and Confused

So, this morning I checked my grades for my first semester at Pratt. I really thought they wouldn't be this good, like I would get a high chance of B's with a sprinkling of C's here and there. Guess I was wrong. The only thing I expected was the C- in my painting class. Basically he gave me that because I came late and had 2 abscences, which is ridiculous...but that's the policy of the school, attendance is vital.


1 ASFD-168 02 Light, Color and Design I A- 2.00
2 ASDG-109 02 Typographic Design I A- 2.00
3 ASFD-143A 03 Drawing I - Figure A 2.00
4 ASFD-143B 02 Drawing I - General A 2.00
5 ASFD-212 01 History of Illustration A- 2.00
6 ASGR-151 02 Intro to Computer Graphics B- 2.00
7 ASIL-100 01 Painting I C- 2.00
8 ASIL-101 03 Illustration I A- 2.00

Almost over...

So of late, I haven't been in the best of spirits. It so happens that this week is...finals week. So of course I have a lot to do.

Today I finished 3 of my classes, General Drawing 1, Figure Drawing 1, and Typography. I worked all weekend on the final assignments for that class. In the end they weren't bad, but I'm pretty glad that I don't have to take typography again. I'm quite terrible at those kinda of technical things, so my work wasn't very strong.

So, now I have 5 more classes. For wednesday I have a painting to do for extra credit, a book cover for illustration which i have not started and a book which i almost done with but will still be a bitch to finish.

Bla, so on to the next order of business...
I went to a jazz show yesterday at Nick's pub in Harlem, it was pretty nice. It felt good to go because when I drew I felt the energy of the music get into me and I think I got some pretty nice drawings.

I actually wanted to describe this feeling more...but I'm kind of burnt out from school today, and I wrote about this in Japanese earlier...so...yea.

Anyway, enjoy the drawings.

＿|￣|O

負けた。
愛の戦争では片思いで怪我した。。。
じゃ、結局で彼女はもう恋人あるから僕のことはNGだ。
中にはいろいろ気持ちか考えが浮かんでる。。。不満、悩み、後悔、痛み。。。
やりすぎてると思ったので仕方がないな。
何とか、胸の中に空っぽな感じしてるん。
今何を出来るのかよく分からない。
。。。誰か幸せの道を導いて下さい。

Other than that bit of emoness...finals week is next week. Which sucks, because I don't feel like doing jack. I feel pretty out of it, like i'm in some weird form of purgatory, waiting for my judgement or whatever else is next.

I have my volunteer position to look foward to. I start training next week. Also, I'll be in Miami on the 20th.

Almost forgot, I moved to Manhattan. I live with 3 other people and 4 cats...two which are slightly annoying because my room is their hangout and they get hair all over my clothes and bed. Everything else is cool though, can't really complain. I'm pretty close to school now, only 25min taking one train instead of 90 min by bus and train. The extra hour of sleep makes a difference.

No other news, just thought I'd say that and get that stuff at the top off my chest, it's really getting me down y'know.

Felicitations!

Ah, finally things are changing for me. My stale life in Queens will be exchanged for a hopefully better life in upper-west Manhattan starting in Decemeber. I'm a bit excited.

Anyway, I have a new painting to show. It's a portrait of my friend. For my painting class my teacher offered an extra-credit assignment: do a portrait, so I did, last night from around 8:00-11:30 or so. The result is the picture you see before you. It looks much better in person though. Granted though, it's not perfect, but I learned and I realize my mistakes.
More to come soon, probably more personal things since I'm in a good mood.

Watercolor sketching

So, I finished the skecthbook that I started when I came here. In a matter of 3 months I filled that book, not a white page in it. Just about the whole book is subway sketches, me just sitting there on my commute to and from Manhattan. Anyway, so I needed to try something else for a change. I had gotten the hang of drawing people with pen and the subject matter (the people on the train) have started to get a bit boring...I see the same type of people everyday. So I decided to try something new...

Watercolor sketching. I went and bought a pad and devised a method of keeping my water secure by putting in a baby cup...but that didn't really make for a good method.

First of all, I was using regular brushes, a regular set of watercolors and the baby cup. So on the train it was hard to hold everything correctly and still be able to paint.

Secondly, that baby cup wasn't as secure as I thought it to be. On the often shaky train I got water all over the floor and myself, and one time I left the cup in my bag and it spilled all over the place somehow.

So, eventually I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he said I should look into buying water brush pens. Kinnokuniya had them supposedly. But actually, I found a whole set at Utrecht for $15. It worked pretty well, but then I saw that the brush was kind of cheap and ended up going to Kinnokuniya anyway.

The pens are awesome. Now I have a handy little set that can fit in my hand making watercolor sketching an almost effortless activity. Without this I don't think I'd really have gotten into watercolor as much as I have now, it was all so mendokusai before...

Well anyway, I put up some sketches that I've done on the train, enjoy.


My first attempt at watercolor sketches with the crazy set up I mentioned



I ease in to things with waterpen. The girl is someone in my painting class, and the rest is just me teaching my friend how I paint with some random sketches.

This was done today on the train.

and this was also done on the train. The lady in the middle is my friend I plan on painting her portrait before Wednesday for an extra credit assignment. Also I don't know what's up with that thing in the upper right, I just made it up, looks like an androgynous cat/human hybrid...sorry.

More Art

Just a small update to show some recent assignments for school...


A recent painting I did (last week)

My finished corn drawing...

Progress

I haven't really shown too much of my work since I've come to New York, mostly because I was just too lazy. But, I finally looked through my things and photographed a few things to show on my blog.

Looking through and selecting things to put up, I noticed how in such a short time I improved my work. It really is an amazing thing. My lines are more confident, and there is a definitive style to me work, and I can see that I've started to develop more of a sense on how to capture what I want.
It's only been two 2-3months, what will my art look like when I graduate in less than 2 years?






What I'm working on now...this will take me forever to finish...

All the red are from figure drawing class 20min-1hr poses


gesture drawing, 5min for each figure...


20min pose

Dumbo Arts

The big picture as far as things go for me in New York, is my involvement and exposure in the art world. New York is an excellent place to explore and create the realm of visual art. There are almost an infinite amount of inspiration for the creator and boundless activities and events for the viewer. So of course, I've been trying to get out to art related activities when I can.

3 weeks ago I went to the Dumbo Arts festival. Dumbo arts is a collection of studios in Williamsburg, one of the neighborhoods in New York which seems to collect a sizeable amount of

residents involved in art. At that time, many of the studios were open for public viewing and in addition there were various performances and festival like activities.

Williamsburg is also, one of the places I really want to live in at the moment. When I first went there, there was something about the air that attracted me. More or less, after though, there was a girl that I really liked (still like her even though I know I shouldn't). But regardless it's still a pretty nice place to live.



Anyway, the festival was nice. Though not many of the studios I saw had anything that really grabbed my attention, there were at least a few interesting things, inlcuding the flower sculptures and the medieval style christian paintings from the same studio. I forgot the guy's
name, but he looked like nicholas cage.

So basically, my journey went like this. It was a saturday, so I got up late as usual, and I headed towards my school for a reason I know have forgotten. Follwing that, I went to Dumbo and came across my fellow classmates who were on a field trip for their saturday 3-d design class.

I followed them for a bit, until the class was over. I'm sort of lacking in the friends department so I really didn't have much else to do after, and basically followed to of my classmates back to the area around my school and got something to eat by myself after they went home.

Again, I didn't have anything to do, so I went back to dumbo when it got dark and aimlessly walked around until I saw someone else I knew from school. I ended up not really doing much else after that, and went home somewhat late.

Anyway, it was still interesting to go to, maybe next year I'll find some more work that appeals to me more than this year.

Until then, here are some extra pics of Williamsburg and the festivities at the Dumbo Arts Festival. Click on them to make them bigger.

As of late

Last night was interesting...ok interesting isn't the word, it was great.
Lately, things seem to have been working out, I'm getting something similar to that feeling I had when I first came to NY and it seem like luck is back on my side.

When I first came here, it seemed like things were really going my way. I felt different, it was a new beginning, full of promise. I saw celebrities, I met great people, I got offered a job to work on the Sopranos.

But things didn't go so well as time progressed. I got quickly bogged down from the stresses of NY. I didn't see any more people, I had no friends, that job offer went out because I was confident in my abilities as an artist to follow through (i.e. I was afraid to call the guy back, and when I did finally a month later he never called me.). Also, adjusting to things such as the general rush of the city and living 90min away from what I consider fun and interesting things also took it's toll on me.

But somehow, things are back on track. After probably my lowest point in NY, I started experiencing those type like I mentioned before. I saw Graham Norton (around 8th ave and 13th st) and Yoko Ono (starbucks on astor pl) in the same day. I've been meeting great people through my ad on craigslist and I finally found out I'll be getting my financial aid money soon. So I feel happy that I can get an apartment closer to the city in January.

So anyway, last night...went to MOMA, saw some interesting artwork. Afterwards I went to a Japanese restaurant with my friend and his friends. Good times. I drew a picture of the waitress, which she has, so sorry, you can't see it. She said she'd frame it and bought me a drink. After I slept over my friends apt and had a crazy time trying to get to an interview tomorrow which I missed anyway.






I look pretty emotionless...but I was having fun, maybe I was just trying to keep my composure because I drank a bit much.

The Beginning of the End

I did it...
I dragged my feet for too long, it was time for me, Ajani to get one of these new fangled contraptions they call a blog.
...plus I was procrastinating all day and this distracted me from obligations, i.e. HW.

So what do I write in a blog? I guess the point of these is to inform people of interesting things. I have online journals, but I notice that most people, including myself just complain about things and rant. I also noticed that most journal users are teenagers.
I'm an adult now, so maybe it's time I grow up, in the technological sense.

Oh, blog...I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

Here's a quick doodle to commemorate this occasion.