woosh!

nebula

spiraling star birth

red white black

some new friends made for inspiring company for a sunday evening art session

those abstract swoops are what happen when I put pencil to paper and just play with line. Not sure what the talon-clock thing is all about, just kinda happened

"my sister got lucky, married a yuppie

Took him for all he was worth

Now she's a swinger dating a singer

I can't decide which is worse"

Ninjaspy at Funkywinkerbean

my energy was all spent from sketching Endast, so I only got a few. Just couldn't keep up with Ninjaspy's energy

Endast

Endast played a helluva set

Funky Winker Bean

metal show crowds are fun to draw

blue planet

Incoming

This one didn't turn out like what I had in mind on the outset, but it's pretty fun anyway.

Happy accidents

a happy little doomsday rock hurtling towards the north pole

sweet

We Found The Body

heavy on the thrash

faces

a few heads from the crowd at the Funky Winker Bean tonight

Just a baby nuke ...

spiraling nebula

doodles

meet Jake, the cake headed refridgemobot

Affy added some personality to the drawers

she also locked a dude in my dishwasher ....

huh ... that would explain why the drain is busted ...

onward

life drawing philosophy discussion

Less talk

more walk

artists block

It's a bitch

Funky Winker Bean

fresh venue, always fun

This place is a great spot for a metal show, I'll definitely be back there soon (though my ears still ring from forgetting my plugs at home) similar vibe as Astoria, but much much closer to my apartment

I do appreciate the sight of a dozen metal heads with hair past their shoulders head banging in unison like some pagan worship ritual

Rain City Art Mob

Saturday was the first art mob, and it went pretty well! Chose to meet on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, which was a bit of a bunk decision as that street is currently being rebuild on all sides plus the weather was threatening drizzle so once everyone was there we headed down to the Library Square atrium. Future art mobs will most likely be hosted at the same spot, it's more flexible with easy shelter from rain and access to the oh-so-crucial creativity catalyzing coffee.

The chemistry to the afternoon was super fun as a good number of the artists had not met each other before. Grabbed some beers and eats at the Beatty Street Bar and Grill after the sketching was done with

The next few weekends will be busy, but eventually I'm hoping to make the Rain City Art Mob a weekly gathering

started off with a bunch of brush-tip-pen crowd sketches

after moving to the library switched to a felt tip pen to draw some robits

blast from the past

Got to catch up with a friend from back home this weekend, Janna was in town last week so we hit up a show at the New Media Club. I left my sketchbook at home for this one, opted to dance my ass off instead. The first band was pretty mellow, but the next two kicked up some synth and it was good times.

anyone know who the bands were? (I didn't get a chance to write down their names, was too busy dancing) It was Thursday, July 1st at the Media Club.

The Tale of Tanner Talstrom Kalstrom and the Hula Hoopin Hippie Hotties

Friday evening I finally got to see Fixed Fragmented Fluid, Michele Gagne's improvised abstract jazz animation experiment. Definitely groundbreaking, the sounds produced by the musicians were mind bending. Some satanic deal must have been involved to endow Peter Evans with the unearthy ability to make a piccalo trumpet sound like a tuba. Paul Plimly's erratic motion at the piano were mesmerizing, especially when he started reaching into the instrument and messing with the strings directly, a hand-plucked harpsichord. His chemistry with Lucas Niggli was uncanny, they were reading each others minds from across the stage. The experience was far over my head, I was totally overwhelmed by the assault of bizarre sounds. If you're into experimental music, this is right up your alley

After the show I headed to Brady's for Tanner's Birthday party/triumphant return. Can't believe we tapped out the keg so fast. Epic dance party ensued.

Saturday featured hooping at a park by the seawall and absorbing some of this "sun" that I've heard so much about. I had forgotten about the giant ball of fire our world orbits. Manage to take myself out with a hula hoop. Apparently putting it around your neck and spinning it as hard as you can causes it to smack you in the face. You win this round, physics!

Later that night after the pairs had gotten back from Aziz Ansari, Tanner discovered the joy of drunken Nun-chucks AKA Drunk-chucks!

The impulse struck to draw on the dishwasher, so I handed Dr Omis the marker and he got to it while I sketched what I thought it should look like. The resulting conversation was as follows

Zeke - Dude check this out

Dr Omis - What's that?

Zeke - I'ts a M-----F----- ODing and frothing at the mouth

Dr Omis - That's cool, I drew a kitty!

Kelly contributed this wonderfully unsettling piece

Some Basic Inquiry practicing from earlier today

some "meh" gestures. Wasn't feelin it yet

switched to charcoal for some negative space and value

dual-wielding chalk/charcoal style

charcoal long pose

that took way too much time to scan and comp. I really messed up her feet, this was the fourth attempt to make something worth posting and it's ok from the calfs up at least. Not sure if it's worth submitting to the drawn festival but it's the best so far.

Got a huge ol marker at opus the other day. Dr. Omis an me are coating the windows with doodles and tags

yknow

for giggles

Meet Death/Tron 5000 the gentlemanly refridge-mo-bot

Catching up

Meet Terik and Steve

grew up with these guys in the lil' ol' prairie town that is Neepawa, MB

High school in a tiny town can get pretty dull, so there were a few garage bands trying to make the most of an unhealthy amount of free time (all that peace and relaxation can really get to ya)

by 10th grade it was my band, Steve and Terik's band, and set of junior high kids calling themselves "stuck to your jumper"

My band lacked talent but made up for it in Gusto

Stuck to your jumper ..... was about as good as you'd think a band named "Stuck to your jumper" could be

Steve and Terik's band actually knew what they were doing

We put on a half dozen shows, renting out the town's community run theater and art gallery along with a soundsystem from a guy one town over

Flailing around stage mashing out power chords, arguing at band practices and lugging around equipment were some of my favorite times in High School, and actually putting on the shows ourselves rocked. Big props to these guys for sticking with the music, it's a ballsy move and touring around is a rough way to spend your days, it takes stones.

This Friday they came through Vancouver and played a short set at the Astoria. I barely managed to get any sketches of them before they had to pack up and let the other guys take the stage, a real drag seeing as the "other guys" were ... dissapointing.

I'm not a big screamo listener; if I want hard sounds there needs to me more technique (see -> NinjaSpy or System of a Down) Continuance had real talent and put on a great but short set. I could tell these guys have been steadily improving since their already awesome high school jams. The other bands were just wailing on their instruments haphazardly. Points for enthusiasm, and the crowd loved it, just not my thing.

muscle shirt jersies, baggy toques and mesh back trucker hats with long hair/beards is the uniform of the day for this sound.

Ninjaspy practice session

basement complex, heavy wood door on rusted iron frame

colorful room, walls painted with bold psychadellic art, two drum kits atop wooden platform to right, an array of wires, amps, speakers, guitars

Evidence of many, many practices dot the room

a spare set of earmuffs shields me from the sonic barrage that was whipping itself into a storm around me

At their show, their massive amount of motion made drawing with accuracy impossible, resulting in frantic scrawls of suggested resemblance, but now in a well lit session, minimal motion, they come into focus

Metal, ska and reggae .. it's a fresh blend, gives their sound a great range. Too many bands are all up with no downtime and it flattens their performance out, but Ninjaspy is all over the map, jumping from sound to sound like .... well ... ninja

Thanks for the inspiration, Ninjaspy. Lookin forward to the next show

-Z-

nood dood

this summer = best yet and keeps getting better

back to Basic

Hit up Basic Inquiry for the first time in two and a half months. Loose gesture session, had some fun with it. This girl knows how to friggen pose, pushes all the right parts, twists in great ways, super fun to draw. I'd forgotten what it was like to draw someone who's actually holding a pose! Woulda had twice the results but a hunger pang knocked me out early. Seems like I can't go two hours without eating these days. I gots the hunger.

Little Black Book

at the concerts, a big sketchpad is needed to get that loose flow working

been trying to draw small with ink to keep from getting stale

here's an art dump of ink doodles from my little black sketchbook. Love that thing. Usually it's filled with my rambling illegible notes, but about a quarter of the pages get used for doodles

The Rickshaw on a Sunday

First time heading to the Rickshaw, great venue, awesome times

Kill Matilda played a short-n-sweet opener, next band had a great classic rock vibe



Ninjaspy was intense. I want-nay ... NEED to get my mad sciencey goggle headset built already, this guy had a great one with a laser and everything. Also; I must have a kilt.


Powerman 5000 rocked some faces too, but by then all my drawing mana had been spent so I just enjoyed the show. You can tell the really pro stadium-conditioned groups by how they move. The real pros know how to hit poses and control the crowds energy, it's great

Fools Gold at the Biltmore

Great band, uplifting sounds. Added listening to them while dancing on the beach at sunset to my "Vancouver Summer To Do List"


Some of the crowd. Apparently wearing toques indoors is the in thing to do now. I didn't get the memo


Drawing on both sides of the paper is making the scans look kinda messy. They don't show through that well when you look at the originals. Besides, when you draw big and do 40 in an evening, you can't afford to get finicky with that stuff.

a drawing can never be replicated. You can record the patterns of light that bonce off it and trace them onto a grid and pulse the patterns through fiber optics, but you can never replicate the drawing itself and the imprint of a mind that goes into making it.

PS; sorry the layout of the scans is getting messy. Photoshop is glitching out from too much art. If I keep getting faster this room is gonna start smelling like burning plastic every time I try to comp my scans

ugly ass photos

These will have to do until I get to a big scanner

Madama Butterfly -> Pub 340

Thursday night was crazy

After work I headed to the final dress rehersal of Madama Butterfly at the Queen Elisabeth Theater, having been invited there to sketch the performers. Having never been to an Opera, it was a huge inspiration. I set up my giant easel right above the pit band in front of the first row of seats. With the stage on my left and the pit band in front of me I caught enough bounce light from the stage lights to see what I was doing without totally ruining my eyes, though a small clip light would have been helpful

Most of the sketches were done on my giant pad, so I'll scan those ones later when I have access to a better scanner. This wimpy little 8.5X11 thing is way too tiny. Even the medium size sketchpad required multiple passes and comp to get these images you see. Gotta invest in a big ol' flatbed soon ...

Leading man. It was crazy how he used his whole body to project, his head would jut out with each bellowing note


Loved watching the conductor, so well animated


Finished off with a sequence of gestures for the last scene


After that was done I headed down to Pub 340 for the metal show to jar my senses. Tanner was in town for the night so we got a chance to hang. After trying to be quiet so as not to disturb people at the opera I was ready to rip it up, so I pounded a few back and started headbanging while I scrawled faces and poses of the bands and crowd. You can see my inebriation progress in the sketches