Illustration: Paris Metro

 It's September and this is the first drawing I have done this year. I will sometimes do 20, but this year is a tough one. After losing my dad, I wasn't motivated to draw or do much, but this summer I was inspired by some work my friend Mike did based on photos he took on the London tube and some video tests another friend did in Paris.  This image is not like really any of my work in that it isn't an isolated subject (I think 18 figures in this one) and it's a "full painting," meaning, to me anyway, that it’s a fully realized environment and composition - not one plain or stylized background. 

It was a bear to get started. I bought a new iPad and the new Apple Pencil and Procreate had updated over the year a bit. This meant that nothing worked like it had, and I spent an 8-hour day swearing and being frustrated as a menu popped up blocking my work every time I touched the screen, and the pencil kept randomly switching from drawing mode to eraser mode, and I would constantly erase the work I had just done. I had to adjust the program settings and the pencil setting on the iPad end to get it all working again. 

I used a paintbrush for 90% of it and didn't obsess over making people look too realistic and instead tried to capture their expressions and body language in a looser fashion - something that has always eluded me. I drew it on a 30-inch canvas, so it's pretty big. I don't try and get all the details perfectly even on the train cabin. I did add a little refinement in Affinity Photo as Procreate is lacking in some of those features, but if I took those out, you really wouldn't see a difference. I think I captured the experience of looking into a passing train and not seeing everyone in there clearly defined. Some of the figures are sort of mysterious, and I like that. 

(detail)

Illustration: Leaf

 

Another leaf drawing. Have not done one in a while, haven't drawn much in a while! I just wanted to draw something and also to use Krita again. I am definitely out of practice. 

Illustration: Piccola pour keamy

 I drew this for my friend Keamy, it's his new cat. She is a little darling. I had done a portrait of his previous cat, Olive. Procreate ink with a little colour added for interest. 

Illustration: Panda Roux for my grand-nephew

 My nephew's sons wanted me to make drawings for them for Christmas this year. They requested dinosaurs (and they will get them for their birthdays next year) but I decided to surprise them with something unexpected. After a trip to the zoo, the oldest was obsessed with Red Pandas and the youngest is obsessed with bugs so I'll give them prints of those things instead. 

I haven't done a procreate drawing all year! I had been doing at least one drawing a month but I just don't have the time and constant interuptions have made it impossible. Hopefully I can get back on track. I am not really happy with how I do hair and fur in colour artwork so far. This is better than my normal but I think I am missing something I can't put a finger on. 

Illustration: Trinity Church reflected on Hancock Building

 

This was a longer term project... over 6 weeks. I am not sure how many hours but it was 40-50 maybe. I didn't realize until this was done that is part of a series of 3, really 5 that started in 1989. I original took a black and white photo of the reflection and then years later used it for a pen and ink drawing. In the drawing the reflected parts were all done with stipple work. I gave that drawing away. something I regret since I gave it to someone I no longer have any contact with. I don't even have a photo or photocopy of that drawing. Then I did a drawing of a crane reflected on the Hancock which was fast and easy. That encouraged me to to try a large one of the old John Hancock reflected in the new one. Then I sort of forgot I did all that until I came across the original photo and decided I should maybe redraw that illustration for myself. On a visit to Boston I took all new reference photos and then... forgot about it again! Finally I started but instead of a pen and ink I went full colour. 

This has about 20 layers, the window frames are on one, the interior lights we can see through the reflection are on another and then a couple for the sky etc. When It can time to paint the church I went window by window. Since each panel had 3-6 layers I had to merge them down as I went or maybe crash the iPad with literally 1000s of layers open. I would draw for a few hours and then look at the illustration overall and see I still have something like 87 window panes to do. I kept pugging away until finally it was done. 

Below is a closeup of the part of the drawing. A both complimentary and frustrating part of doing something like this is when I send it to anyone they think it's a photograph because they are almost always looking at it on a phone and never realize the work that went into it. The other image is the original 89 photograph. I could not get the exact angle matched up because there is a lot more stuff going on there now and that angle just wasn't available and other things were blocking the view. 

Illustration: rue de la Visitation 04

 

Another house on the the way to my gym/pool. This was not in the best shape for a long time and a few years ago fell victim to fire. After the fire there was a major renovation that kept most of the original details and restored it to perhaps more than its former glory. 

This was a rare case I didn't hate the drawing until the end when it was near finished. It came along much more smoothly, thought slowly. Lots of bricks. I think before the fire it was all painted pink! 

Illustration: Loretta

 

My nephew has an every growing number of dogs these days. I was at his farm for his wedding and sure enough, a new one! She was so cute! She was also really active and getting clear shots to work from was a little challenging. I think this has some life to it and movement. 

Illustration: 1915 rue de la Visitation

 Finished another building I see on my walk to the gym. I will do the one next door as well soon, it's more interesting building. As usual, I HATED this until I was almost done. Then I was fine with it. maybe it says something about not giving up or maybe I'm just not looking at the process of doing these in a positive way. I like the end results and I guess that is what matters. 

Illustration: Acrobat de la rue 02

 The last acrobat drawing in a while unless something weird happens. Didn't get much in the way of references this summer. There are a few acrobatic acts I would love to draw but unless I can get acrobats to perform for me I don't think I'll see any of that in the wild as the free shows get shorter and less acrobatic as the years go on. 

Drawn in procreate, I added some tone to the pants for not real reason but I like how it looks. The curly hair was fun. 

Illustration: Fierté 2024 (1)

Pride was sort of a bust this year. The parade was cut in 2 by protestors which made it seem like it was only an hour long which made a huge part of the crowd leave early and not see the second half. On top of that the usual people coming late and just standing in front of those who have been there a coupe hours making it impossible to take photos or even see what is going really got to me. It's too bad, I might not go again. I like the march and I like to take photos of the dancing people for reference in drawings. There are not many chances for that. 

That said this was not from a great photos. he was off to the side and at first just walking with 2 other guys when he broke ahead and started dancing, twerking... getting the crowd going. He was also, like his pals covered in solid gold glitter paint which if know that I think explains the shading in this drawing. I wanted to use pen and ink, black and white only - no tones - like my older drawings on paper. It's an artistic challenge to simplify to two colours but since I use stipple to represent skin and this guy was ALL skin the cramping in my hand was constant! 

I am also including the sketch because I decided to not make a super detailed sketch as a guide for the inking but instead use it to see if I could keep the "aliveness" (is that a word?) of the pose by using something less rigid as a guide. 

Illustration: Fred pour John & Jesus

 

A pet portrait for my friends John and Jesus of their new super adorable kitten. 

Illustration: Yoga - single handstand

 

Drawn with procreate over a couple months. I thought I would have time at the end of the day etc to do this but I never really did and was able to finish it today only because I had a contractor here for hours fixing my bedroom ceiling after a leak from above. It's Montréal Complétment Cirque in a week or so so maybe I will have more acrobat references to work from soon. 

Illustration: Lost in Space Robot

 

I have been pretty sick all week among other things happening and decided to do make an illustration just for the fun of it. I am not a fan of the TV show to be honest but I love the robot and I might do the spaceship and the chariot transport if I feel like it. 

I drew Robby the Robot a few years back, designed by the same guy, and was very happy with it. This I'm pretty happy with as well. I used 4 reference all of which differed in details here and there. So if this is missing or adds elements some purists don't like... draw your own. LOL

Infinity Designer - which is really the most comfortable vector drawing program I have used. Not sure what my style is with these things but there seems to be one. 

EDIT: Could not leave well enough alone and made the Jupiter 2

Another Damn EDIT: CThe Chariot, the thing they drove around in. It had curtains! 

Illustration: Dragon 1982

 This was found in a frame somewhere while clearing out my may parent's house. I had forgotten all about it even though I have a pencil drawing with this same dragon in it. Ink with watercolour with chalk pastels (I think). It almost fit in the scanner but not quite exactly. I sometimes wonder what else is out there still that I drew and forgot about. 

Illustration: rue Berthier

 

Another in my local house series. This one is also close to the gym as those are the houses I see most of the week. I think I like the brick houses, they look cool to me and I like the colour palette. 

Like a lot of there, the drawing looks much nicer than the real place. This building is cute but it is hidden by poles, electric line, meters... you name it. There really should a law against visual pollution blocking our appreciation of the places we see every day. 

Cartoon: Sheep (moutons)

 

More animals from Mobius Meadows farmstead. It was a bigger challenge than expected. This is the third iteration, the other two were... not good. mostly because I was too biased towards realism and couldn't seem to get my head around the cartoon part. In the end this came out OK. 

Illustration: grange - Möbius Meadows Farmstead

 

The barn at my friend's farm in Vermont. I drew it when it was much smaller. The original barn was hanging off a steep hill and in bad shape. he had it moved to a safer spot and built a much bigger barn around it. This is in the style of my last few colour drawings done in Procreate with maybe a bit more painting detail than the rest. 

Illustration: Carver Street, Provincetown, MA

 The last of these Provincetown drawings for a long while I think. I pass this house a lot from  where I stay to Commercial Street. I love the look but drawing it I saw there were a lot of signs of it having some maintenance issues. I didn't draw any of the trees etc around it to see more of the structure. 

Illustration: Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown

 

I hard a hard time seeing this place completely as there was always work being done on it when I was in Provincetown. It's set far back from the street and now has houses on either side and trees blocking a clear view as well. On my early morning walk on my last day I passed it and the trucks were gone! So I took a few reference photos and this is the result. Even with the workers gone, the right side was not really visible so I searched from old illustrations and photos from when the church was clearly visible. 

Illustration: Love N Happiness, Provincetown Massachusetts

 This was a different challenge. Doing the red on red on red paint job was what drew me to the building. I took away the power lines and other extraneous stuff from around the structure and then took away the little American flags and Xmas decorations I thought would ruin the cleaner look I wanted.