San Francisco [RESULTS]

Saturday June 21st 2008
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redhen
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Location: Sebastopol, Ca. USA

Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by redhen »

What a great location, perfect weather, and just plain nice group of people. I counted 8 of us who came down from Sonoma County that day! I'm enjoying checking out the forum every day to see all the sketches worldwide. I don't know where the time went; I only did two. I admire those of you who are so prolific!

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missamelia
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by missamelia »

Ok, my mom's been bugging me about getting my pics up here! And I've just been lazy. Great work everyone! It was a fun Crawl!
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Hope these are dark enough for PCs... If not, there are other versions on my blog. (http://www.gogeckogirl.blogspot.com)
jim.mortensen
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by jim.mortensen »

So this was my third consecutive drive up from LA for my third consecutive SF SketchCrawl. Even though I got into SF at 2AM, picked up my great (drunk) friend Terrence and his lovely (and drunk) wife Lesa, drove them back to Berkeley and passed out around 3:15… then woke up at 9 for the Crawl… I still had a great time.

Here’re my Crawl results. I think I’m going to switch from pen/Ink to pen/Watercolor. I keep hitting this weird mental barrier about 15 minutes into each drawing where I’m thinking “Man I’m adding too much detail all around. Maybe I should block out large swatches of black just to drive the composition stronger.” So what i’m going to try next time is starting out with large blocks of watercolor to get the general shape & feel, then go in and add detail with ink.

I will just have to remind myself to stay light.

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It's really humbling to be in the presence of such great artists. I'm excited for the next SC.
marc_taro
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by marc_taro »

I missed out on the official day - but I found some time tonight to go nightcrawling! This is down at civic center on van ness....

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John D
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by John D »

Sorry, it's taken me so long to get around to this but I really enjoyed having another look at everybody's work. OK and I got a little too involved with it also. But everyone likes a compliment, don't they?
Pica -- Ha, me too. So, thanks for your compliment on my work.

Eli -- Yeah! Beautiful puffy clouds with that delicate wispiness at their base. That's the sky we had that day alright. I love that kind of icing-on-a-cake surface you can get with gouache even though I don't know how to spell it. I like your jumble of figures, how you caught individual idiosyncrasies that define a character. It's funny how you let these bits of typography migrate around on the pages.

enrico -- Thanks for the compliment. You did a pretty nice job on that lighthouse with the bridge arcing overtop. You can see everyone else thought that had a high level of difficulty too. Your lighthouse glows like it's got a heart of amber in the middle of all these girders and brickwork. When I parked my truck and saw that view of the city with the fishing pier out front, I knew it was a thing to draw. I love the way you make the cloud formations and the surface of the water. They seem animated at the same time they are calm. The view back toward the Marin Headlands is my favorite. That great projection of bridge reaching such an incredible distance to the other side. Nice! And as always, your character captures are funny and friendly.

emil -- Wow! solid stuff there. The wrought iron fencing grid with one of the octagonal towers behind is so clean and your really get a sense of the structure there --things well built. Nice scale to your ink-wash of the bridge tower. Going from the inside to the outside. Your drawing opens out to the atmosphere and depth of these great grand spaces. The plant hanger an ornamental touch, so easy.

seeker -- I like the search for form and silhouette I always see in your pictures. Lovely clear color in the watercolor and an interesting composition with the bridge arching over the upper edge of you lighthouse drawing. Everyone seemed drawn to that image. The tiny lighthouse left behind in the grand rush towards the modern. And I thought those cannons were remarkable too! Nice trees and especially nice the jagged edge of cypress foliage. You must have been up above, looking down toward the parking lot with the city distant in the background and the tree still rising up to your eye level. You've made it seem almost bucolic. Ahh, that skyline etched on a perfect sky. That's the kind of day it was!

PaintMonster -- Thanks for your compliment. I think I changed a couple things around (ha!), so I'm not so sure the first one is still "the best"

Joan T -- Thanks for the compliments. Truthfully, I did all that drawing in several sessions on different days, knowing I would not be able to sketchcrawl with everyone else. It looks like I did a lot that day but most of my time on Saturday seemed to be spent in traffic.

frosti -- Thanks for the compliment Frosti. I get a real sense of dimension from your watercolors. That tower rising up feels solid even with the break-away to plain paper below. I thought they were fascinating too. Nice sweeping abstract composition of the arcing bridge overhead. Kind of a spidery feeling to the blue-line drawings of the lighthouse and the bridge span. I'd want to see them more clearly.

crgcas -- Thanks for the compliment.

martha -- Thanks for the compliment. And for the photo of me from last sketchcrawl and for the excellent tutorial on re-papering a moleskin and for the excellent links to artists who make their own watercolor kits. And on top of that you do absolutely lovely floral watercolors in a backyard with apparently more bunnies than Beatrix Potter.

Cameron _C -- I love the emerald clarity of that view back toward the city. When the sun comes out and starts to heat up the land, it also brings out the wind, the waves and surfers of all types. Did you see all those kite boarders in the Bay? I've never seen a paddle boarder but in your drawing. Cool.

splinesmith -- You've got such an easy sketch style. It's like breathing. A light touch, yet everything so thoroughly in place it's really solid. You're floating along the highway toward distant hills, one minute; Then looking out over the courtyard to the parapet and tower on the other side, the next. And WOW! you really got a grip on that bridge superstructure. I can really feel the wrap-around of the brickwork walls; How the bridge tower rises up gigantic over the Fort and the projecting march of bridge out over the Golden Gate. Nice how the bold dark lines isolate, the foreground so it doesn't get lost in there. Small touches of warm or cool color. A certainty or construction. You could teach us all a few tricks. And then everything melts in your hand like an ice cream in a cartoon! Funny commentary on the day. Thanks for that, too. Now listen, I did my drawing in several sessions -- but you really got a lot done that day. Super!
I love the directness in how you worked that view from the parking lot extension looking out toward the Marin side with the long reach of the bridge and a splash of wave on the rocks. The little figures are just superb little sketches. I especially like the facial concentration and goofy muscularity of the guy with the soccer ball. And the grouping of sketchcrawlers. Sweet!

othbot -- I like the light touch you have with colored washes over line. You seem to pick out just the right details dabble over them effortlessy for a moment and then move on leaving a delightful record of your visit. I don't want to say "cute" because it's more than that. The lavender and ochre color lightens the mood. The figures are friendly. Yeah, yeah, delightful is a word I'd use.

gary -- You've got an eye like a camera. Bang, Bang, Bang you got that and that and that. 1 2 3 I could probably fix my drawing of the bridge arcing over just from all the information I can get out of yours. I really like the detail work on all this. Nice observation of the cannons and mortars. Really interesting the way you're picking up on oddly satisfying compositional elements. Even things hanging off the page are interesting. Love your drawings Gary!

biotron -- I really get the scale and mass of that bridge arcing over with a jarringly intense red network of beams and girders. Your blue-line treatment is superb with cannons and mortars and popcorn clouds. Skill in the treatment of individual characters, the capturing of a gesture, an expression.

mr.sch -- Thanks for a compliment.

redhen -- You make drawing look so simple, so straightforward and clean. I like the kind of details you captured and the economy of line, the prettiness of color the light touch. It's so pleasant and unhurried. Your world is so orderly and everything makes sense. Comfortable and charming.

missamelia -- I wish I had such talent at your age. I could imagine all these people together in the same drawing. Your sketch style is light, open, fast and remarkably solid. Sort of high-energy observation. How did you catch that little boy from down below him? You couldn't have had more than a few seconds . . . and yet it's all there. The bicycle helmet, a timid gesture, the tiny fingers, a bold stripe down the pant leg, some folds and shadow in the simple draping of a t-shirt. An upward gaze in awe of the grandeur before him. He's probably never seen something so big, a place so open to the sea and sky, a building so massive. This is really interesting. You've captured so much just right there. It sets the imagination off on all sorts of tangents. I like too, the little scene at the Hot Dog Vendor. I don't wonder how you drew it. I'm thinking, "Give that little girl a napkin, or she's going to drip mustard all over her front!" Ha! you got me. And you're probably thinking, "Oh, this is so incomplete, I didn't have enough time." But you did make something complete in that very interesting way. The woman on a bike is fast work too, and so certain. Wow. She looks comfortable, she looks bored, she looks like she's just about to turn around to go back up the hill again. It is with equal certainty you picked out that lighthouse too. And I like the scan sitting crooked on the page. This is casual, you say. I'm relaxed about it you say. No big deal. But it's nice work you've done here. Real nice.

jim.mortensen -- Same place, but you make it seem so different. It's like Tim Burton did the sketchcrawl, with weird characters and dark, mysterious places. The abrupt close-up blocking the odd perspective in the distance. The sky aglow with luminescence floating eerily over dark silhouette of land. Characters from the land of odd lounging and laughing and yakking at their ease with the lighthouse looking like something out of Jules Verne's science fiction beneath the mechanical spiderweb of overarching bridge. I especially like Goth-girl devouring a book.

marc_taro -- I'm glad you put in some pieces even though you couldn't make it to the sketchcrawl. It's always a pleasure to see that explosion of ink you put into your drawings. Really a dramatic black and white style. Full of energy and intent. I like the way you pick out an area of interest and really work it. Such certainty of hand. I always enjoy it. Your nose for architecture and architectural detail is superb, as always.
John Deckert
www.johnd.com
Eli Harris
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by Eli Harris »

I keep coming back and I keep getting more and more excited about the posts. The work everyone is posting is phenomenal. Such personality traits and wonderful lines coming through in the work. It makes me want to do this more often. Cheers again to everyone involved.
Xavier
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Location: Bay Area

Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by Xavier »

All these sketches look really neat! I like the different styles and takes on Fort Point. That area was really nice and interesting to draw.
missamelia
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Re: San Francisco [RESULTS]

Post by missamelia »

John D- Wow, thanks for such a compliment! I appreciate that you took the time to write all that... I'll have to write it shorthand, but I agree, everyone did such nice pieces. Everyone I meet at the Crawls seem so talented and humble, and it shows here on the forum.

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