Friday, March 21, 2014

Lunch break sketches

This week,  at a rare free noon break, I went out for a all carb + coffee lunch at a cafe near by work with my sketching pal, Sansu. Sansu is a talented lighter at day and an even more awesome talented illustrator/storyteller at night. I love going sketching with her, for she naturally carries this 'relaxed' approach to drawing, the world seems so much fun and full of unpredictable stories through her eyes! 

Like during the lunch sketching this week, as I was struggling to 'relax' to sketch, I set my eyes on this lady sitting at the table next to us, her look attracted me - elegant and delicate face features, long, lean, and straight neck, arms, and body posture, but wearing a very bulky thick wool sweater and a pair of big running shoes.... with all these thoughts, I scrambled a drawing of her .. for a longgg time.... then I looked over to see Sansu's sketchbook, she had filled pages of lovely fun sketches, and, that lady. 

To my surprise, as usual, how she saw her was so differently than I:


Don't you just love it? I am dying to know who this lady is through her eyes, and, that guy next to her, with the super man sign!

More of her sketches from the day: 




and of me!


Check out more Sansu's artwork here and here!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

This Friday - Art to Heart: Philippine Typhoon Relief Fund Benefit Concert + Art Auction!



This Friday night (3/21), 7:30~11:30pm, at The Uptown in Oakland,  a benefit concert and art auction will be hosted to raise funds for those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines. The event is organized by a group of people in art, animation, film, and video game industries who care and focus on long-term aid in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Many film makers and artists from Pixar have contributed their original artwork to the auction, including Pete Doctor, Ronnie del Carmen, Dice Tsutsumi, Ricky Nierva, Paul Abadilla,...,and many many more! 

And, certainly, ROUND ROBIN - me, Daniela Strijleva and Katy Wu, are back together, contributing our original bookplate paintings to the auction! Please come by and join the fun and help on the good cause!

The event is at: 
The Uptown
1928 Telegraph AvenueOakland, CA.

$20 cover (Ages 21+) 




Monday, March 10, 2014

Sea Ranch



The past few years, we've been joining our great friends for Thanksgiving at Sea Ranch. It's a lovely community settled along the coast of the Sonoma county. The style of the houses in Sea Ranch are consisted in bare timber wood frame structures and sidings, with an idea of blending in with the natural landscape. Walking along the coastal trails, you'd see herds of sheep grazing on the yellow meadow, wooden houses hidden next to spots of dark wind-shaped trees, waves pounding onto the shores with herds of sea lions lounging on the rocks, fog moves in and out of the coast...time seemed to be capsuled here,... especially, when there was no phone nor wifi reception. Here are some sketches I did during the last Thanksgiving, and a few from the past years.