Sketchbook (Moleskine Vol. 3)

Nov 2006-Sep 2007

This sketchbook chronicles the selling of my childhood home, a two-month trip to Europe, and my eventual move to San Francisco.

In retrospect, this time period feels particularly dense with lots of change in a relatively short period of time. Rapid life changes are not something I willfully seek. Once I landed in SF, I stayed in the same house for the next 12 years. I might still be there if my wife didn't want to find a new place to live.

I think in many ways, this reluctance to seek change is a reaction to this time period: leaving art school, losing my mom, my childhood home, and then moving to SF with a bunch of not very close friends, all my tightest bros had moved away for collage or something new.

The primary anchor of my life had been lifted, and I felt adrift and untethered in a way I had never felt before.

Materials:

Moleskine Notebook, Radiograph 3x0/.25, Parker ballpoint pen, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, Graphite pencil (probably 2B), Tria markers (now discontinued), Walnut ink,

Some visual musings while watching "A Scanner Darkly," a list of things you shouldn't keep in your pocket, and a drawing of a coffee roaster.

A drawing of Stan Ford. I used to spend so much time sitting in cafes, drawing people. It's a great place to study faces in the wild. I have always had an obsession with old circus graphics. There's something about the over-the-top spectacle of them. Old things give you a window into another world, even if it's just the world of the past.

I have always had a love for fantasy art. I grew up playing RPGs and Magic, and it left its mark on me. Frank Frazetta's book covers are something I discovered later on. Copying his work is always informative, especially if you like ripped dudes and curvy women.

Also, a drawing of a tree eating a bird.

I must have gotten a Wii around this time. Very exciting!

I drew this tree branch while supervising kids at my child care job. I think I was later told that I needed to watch the kids more closely and spend less time drawing. to be fair to them i was paying little attention to the kids while I drew this.

Also, a copy of a Dave Cooper drawing and a princess.

I have always struggled with drawing backgrounds. Back then, I almost never would. Combining a scene with characters never seemed to come out how I wanted. At the time, this weird drawing of a mutant robot rabbit felt more fleshed out than most of what I had drawn before. It also incorporated this "x-faced" rabbit that has been showing up in my work for years.

One of the pages from my two-month trip to Europe: places I visited included Paris, Bologna, Rome, Prague, Vienna, Cologne, and Amsterdam. I saw a bunch of cool stuff, hung out with cool people, got really sweaty, ate a lot of bread, and didn't sleep a lot.

Another page from my European voyage. Things of note: an old man riding a razor scooter. I also saw police officers on rollerblades. The right side of this page is mostly taken up by the only drawing I did while high in Amsterdam. This was before legal marijuana, and being able to openly buy and smoke weed inside cafes was amazing. It was mind-blowing, and I loved it. I made a little sketch diary of my full Amsterdam stoner experience, but I decided not to include it here.

Back in the States, here's a drawing of the villain from a story I was writing with a friend of mine. Unfortunately, it never went beyond a few chapters and some sketchbook drawings, but it was exciting to think about.

Additionally, there's an overdrawn rock, a drawing of an ex-girlfriend, and a quote from my little brother.

A drawing of a girl with two left hands being chased by an irate monkey, and another drawing of a girl showcasing her sausage balancing skills.

A Naked lady, and an alternate way that vampires are made.

At this point in time, I now live in SF and I'm basically trying to be stoned constantly so I don't have to face the terrible loss of my mom and childhood home. I hang out with my little brother frequently on the weekends because I love him, and it would have made my mom happy. Mostly, I just try to escape all my feelings. I probably had some fun, but it's clouded in weed and repressed sorrow.

Good times.

Check out the video walk through here

Thanks for looking

-Aaron