Posted by Gus | 0 Comments

Alcatraz – San Francisco – Quick Sketch

Below is a quick sketch of Alcatraz as viewed from the Marina Green parking lot from April 2010. This was done after attending the ad:tech conference.

Moleskin and Tombow Mono 100 2B

Read More

Posted by Gus | 0 Comments

WonderCon 2009 and Kinokuniya San Francisco

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend WonderCon 2009 and after that I took a quick trip to the Kinokuniya Store in San Francisco, CA.

Saturday was practically a 12hr day for me, from getting up at 7am to getting back home at 7pm, and a lot of fun and discovery in between.

I purchased a ticket in advance, so that saved me from standing in one of two lines inside of the Moscone Center. There was however a very long line outside that wrapped around the block on the way in. Good thing it wasn’t raining at that time.

What was it like? it was great, initially I didn’t see great costumes but as the day progressed I got to see some really cool stuff, like this transformer below.

From SFRichardT @ Flickr.

Another cool thing to watch was our good old friend R2D2 (a couple of droids actually) yeah they attract the attention of everybody old and young.

From veggierebel @ Flickr

The following site contains more info about these droids, www.artoo-detoo.net – now there is another way to be creative.

Mark Hamill

From bonniegrrl @ Flickr

Carrie Fisher
Image no longer available

However I didn’t get a chance to see Sergio Aragonés, when I visited his booth he was not there. I recall I purchased a couple issues of the comic GROO (which I found yesterday along with my old incomplete collection of Thor – from 1984 – amazing that so many years have passed and I still have them)

Image no longer available

As you can see this was one busy day! I also had a chance to attend a few panels / presentations and visit Enrico and his  friends (in two separate booths).

Below is a copy of Mia by Enrico and a copy of Rose and Isabel comic by Ted Mathot – read both comics non-stop in one sitting, and now I want to know what happens next.

I have been following Ted’s blog for a while and just recently started to read some of his old posts. There is quite a lot of information there to learn from  (thank you for taking the time to share).

Lastly, I managed to take a quick trip to the Kinokuniya store in San Francisco, with the only mission of finding those pencils (I was also out of time, so it had to be a quick visit).

I found both brands I was looking for but for the Tombow Mono 100, you have to purchase the whole box and they didn’t have the grade I wanted,  so I just purchased (Mitsubishi Hi-uni) pencils, two for my wife and two for me… to try them out (2B and 5B).

That was one busy Saturday!

Read More

Posted by Gus | 0 Comments

San Francisco SketchCrawl #21

For me SketchCrawl events are more than the participation of the event itself, they are also opportunities to discover a little more of San Francisco and  any other location I may be visiting. I believe I am not the only one participating in this discovery. I often hear people say “this is the first time I have been here” or “I always wanted to come here but for some reason have not.”

This last SketchCrawl was once again a discovery, I live about one hour away from San Francisco and after all these years of driving thru the Golden Gate and the Waldo tunnel (the tunnel with a rainbow painted on it) I just cant help to continue to marvel at the beautiful views from various locations as well as other structures / buildings. Strangely enough I have not fully explored all the areas of the city as much as I would like, however I hope to be able to spend more time doing so in the future, so that I can concentrate more on the actual event of sketching.

This time I thought it would be great If I could drive to the Legion of Honor museum, and perhaps sketch outside and around the area. I also read that if you pay to enter the Legion of Honor museum, you can also enter the de Young museum with the same ticket on the same day.

I spent some time a day or two before the event analyzing the area via google maps, to figure out what path to take to get to the museum, so I was technically all set to get there, except I didn’t really get there (oh, I drove by it on the way to the meeting point but didn’t stop – I ran out of time).

Back to the story… after I crossed the Golden Gate into San Francisco and was driving on Lincoln Blvd (part of the 49 Mile Scenic Drive) heading towards the Legion of Honor museum. I noticed a small parking area to the right of the road with what appeared to be a path leading to the coast, so I thought hmm since I have never been here… lets stop for a bit and check this area out.  It was an opportunity to view the Golden Gate from the opposite side of Fort Point. The view is nice and there are a couple of trails, one leading down to the ocean.

I managed to do only two sketches, I spend a good portion of the day just enjoying the view, going down the trail with a sense of adventure and then working my way up a lot slower, meeting along the way equally challenged individuals resting, for once it was nice to be in the shade… no fog on that day.

Below is the view from the top of the trail, facing west towards the Pacific Ocean.

On the way down the trail there is a viewing area, where you are able to see most of the Golden Gate.

If you know of any other places to discover, please share!

Read More

Posted by Gus | 0 Comments

SketchCrawl #21

Here we are once again getting ready for SketchCrawl #21

Artist in 95 different locations will be participating on January 10th, 2009. I can’t wait to see all of the artwork of SketchCrawl. It is going to be great, it always is… I really enjoy viewing the artwork at the end of the SketchCrawl event both in person and online. It is always interesting to see how different people interpret and express on paper the same item and/or environment that you are also looking at.

I also wanted to share with you a picture of the “Official SketchCrawl T-Shirt” yeah! Very nice T-Shirt – Top Quality material and print, well worth the price.

For more information about participating locations for this and future events, please visit the official forum.

You can purchase the Official SketchCrawl T-Shirt at the following location.

Read More

Posted by Gus | 0 Comments

International Animation

Yesterday I had the opportunity to view some amazing international 3d and 2d animation.

The event was held in the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) theater at the Presidio in San Francisco, California, it was very entertaining, well worth the one-hour commute to the location.

This even was made possible thanks to the International Animation Association, San Francisco chapter ASIFA SF and Animation World Network, the short animations were selected and presented by Ron Diamond.

Please click here to find out how to become a member of ASIFA SF, some of the events like the one mentioned above are only open to current members, one of the many benefits of joining.

I absolutely loved La Maison en Petits Cubes which was directed by Kunio Kato, it was an unique and refreshing way to share with the viewer life memories and the passage of time.

The other two that caught my attention were Skhizein directed by Jérémy Clapin, very clever way of explaining the problems and dangers a 150 ton meteorite can cause when one is struck by it, and Kudan directed by Taku Kimura (Trailer).

We also had the opportunity to see Glago’s Guest directed by Chris Williams and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (I saw John Lasseter name in the credits) as well as Presto by Doug Sweetland / Pixar.

I liked the other animations as well, but the ones mentioned above were my favorites.

If you have a chance see if you can get the opportunity to view them, they were all great in their own right.

Keith Reynolds Can’t Make it Tonight by Felix Massie
La Maison en Petits Cubes by Kunio Kato
Kudan by Taku Kimura
A Mouse’s Tale by Benjamin Renner
I Slept with Cookie Monster– Kara Nasdor-Jones
Franz Kafka’s: A Country Doctor by Koji Yamamura (Present at the event)
Glago’s Guest by Chris Williams
Hot Seat by Janet Perlman
Presto by Doug Sweetland
Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin
KJFG #5– Alexei Alexeev (Present at the event)

Thank you Ron Diamond, ASIFA SF and ILM for this event.

Read More