Sketching at the beach
4.05.2009
The last few days have FINALLY been warm enough to hang out at the beach (albeit in a hoodie), so yesterday and today I brought my watercolor pad along. Although it's China, this area has an interesting European influence dating back to the first World War, and a lot of the architecture still reflects this. Anyways, I drew some of the European-looking homes across from the beach and the surrounding foliage. I decided to go straight to ink because A) frankly I didn't have the patience for pencil, and B) I didn't need it to be perfect. And it isn't. There are a few obvious perspective issues and mis-drawn angles, but overall the idea is there.
It's pretty entertaining to be an artist here, though. Chinese folks, by nature, are super curious, and are quick to form a crowd when anything unusual catches their eye. And an American dude drawing buildings is, apparently, pretty unusual. At times I had almost 20 people crowded around! Sometimes I wouldn't say anything, and they'd never bother me (probably because they assumed I didn't speak Chinese), but once in a while I'd ask if something looked right, or get an opinion on the angle of a rooftop or something. Even minimal knowledge of Mandarin will make the locals flip out, so usually a brief conversation about what I was doing in China, where I was from, and whether I was shangban or shangxue (studying or working) ensued. The kids were pretty hilarious, too. This one little girl was super insistant on watching me finish drawing one of the houses and kept whining "Wo yao kan yixia! Hen piaoliang!" to her mom ("I wanna keep watching, it's very pretty!"). I thanked her in Chinese and she responded in ENGLISH, "You're welcome!" Super rad!
Anyways, I've included a pic of my drawing/painting so far. It's got lots of work left, but it should be done after a few more sessions. I'm going to add a giant monster crashing through a building in the background. Otherwise it's just boring, yanno?
I'll get a better pic of this in the morning. Lights here in the apt SUCK.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:12 AM,
2 Comments:
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At 6:39 PM,
Karaku said...
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Nice! A little bit homesick..
It is your fault. -
At 12:37 AM,
Disney said...
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Man I love the curiosity. Especially from the very young and the very old. They are the cutest. Also, I like the pic the way it is but then I'm just very boring Yanno?
