Michael Collins Caricature Award award

No, no speeches here, but thankyou to the MCAA for commending me for a couple of my pieces for 2009. There were some absolutely draw dropping artists including Luke Watson, Simon Schneider, David Rowe - the list goes on and on. Just fantastic!

Dr. Sketchy's Melbourne - 2009 Finale

The final of the year? It's pretty much December again! Yikes! Ah before I get teary eyed and sentimental, Dr Sketchy's was on again, and please, everyone get down and support this great thing in 2010. They have a facebook group so it'll keep you up to date with all the happenings.

Anyhoo, dashed in today and then got out the watercolours. Today's theme was a Christmas card to Dr Sketchy's. The girl came out all anime like above. Why? I have no idea. Catch you again next year!

25th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

Post obligatory blurb soon..

UPDATE: OMG I forgot to post my blurb!! Doh, too late

Melbourne! The 25th Worldwide Sketchcrawl is on this Saturday the 21st!

Get your pens (pencils whatever) ready because November 21st 2009 marks 5 years of global Sketchcrawling.

What is it you may ask? It's (as the blurb once said for a banner over a year ago) "taking a day to draw your city, its people, and get a little closer to the world around you".

Like minded people, doing what we love doing, and you get that warm fuzzy feeling inside that people in every corner of the world are doing the same thing.

It's a chilled out day, and no, you don't just sit and draw ALL day. Come and go as you wish. We draw, chat about life, food and a drink afterwards if your so inclined.


Weather is looking fantastic and preliminary meetup spot is the Melbourne Museum at approximately 10 - 11 am! Keep y'all posted! Tell ya friends! More info here

Sketchcrawl forum

Wedding Commisions

Reading back on of my posts, I realised I say the word 'fun' alot...so I'll refrain from saying that. Much like the word 'basically' and 'ummm' and '...' etc etc. These guys were great to work with and have a awesome sense of humour! Hope you guys enjoy them too :)

Nintendo DSi Plein Air Painting

It only seems like yesterday the DSi got released in Australia...in fact it was only April as I scan through my emails. Here I am as part of Nintendo propaganda at the launch 'party'.

Then...this week they announce the DSi XL ! And no this isn't exciting for gaming reasons. I was thinking, hell, this is getting closer and closer to the portable cintiq I've been waiting for (as opposed to the normal DSi which used to be the portable cintiq I've been waiting for).

So to celebrate, on a glorious sunny day in Melbourne, I whipped the old friend out and began painting a plein air with Colors! The best thing about Colors! is that it records your paint strokes, so I uploaded it to Youtube. Mind the aristocratic music.

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Melbourne - 19th Oct '09 Part 1

Dr Sketchy's Melbourne was, as always, alot of fun. I think they realised I was a regular there and bought me on stage to pose the models. Not that that's something I want to show off about. It was rather embarrassing - "errrr sit there, aaaanddd ummmm yeah yeah, that's good". Met some interesting people from different industries too, so I think the ball's beginning to roll. Particularly as we lead up to summer!

I have two more pics I'd like to share, but for today, I thought I'd share these two, touched up in PS. I remember seeing a video of some master artist dude using traditional, scanning them in, and then going over the top of it digitally. I'm beginning to understand why. It's sooooooo much easier to make those 'happy accidents' with traditionals I reckon. And it makes it enjoyable wondering what would happen. Here is a charcoal based image and another one using coloured pencils! I don't think I've used as something as primitive since, like, primary school.

I wonder what you guys think about using traditional media?

And, in Progress...

Many of you may or may not remember me posting up WIPs ages ago on this painting. Well, this is a post to say that yes, I'm still going! A waaaay to go, but hey I'm chipping away at it. Although the project sometimes goes on the backburner, the subject is always at the top of my heart. **cough, cough , cough**

On the subject of watery paintings DrSketchy's Melbourne is back this weekend with the theme 'Under the Sea'. Exciting stuff! I hope I'll be able to make it down, but it's a heads up at the moment

Life Drawing - 07 Oct '09

Done with NuPastels (as apposed to Old pastels) imported from the good old USA. After trying to look all over for them in Melbourne I had to get them online on DickBlick. My verdict...meh, not so much different from the ordinary stuff but mmmmmmmaybe, just maybe, pastel relies on the surface more.

Pastel and Charcoal have been my mortal enemies but a few bloggers have inspired me to pick them up again (at least on the occasion). Ben Lo's life drawings for example are just...gorgeous. My dream is to get to the dexterity and richness of Bill Cone's stuff ....a dream, a dream...

Hey Hey, it's ... Masterchef!

Awhile back, Sarah rang me up and said, "y'know who'd be good to caricature? The Masterchefs. They're all different sizes and shapes..." My mind drifted off after that as I tried to figure out what that show was all about.

Fast track to today where a second Australian Masterchef series has just started against the fan fair of Hey Hey it's Sat..."Hey Hey"'s return. Will it claw its way back? Ehhh you never know.

Anyway, what I do know is that after Masterchef aired its first season, eeeeeeeverybody suddenly became an expert, plating up, presenting, how moist something tasted. blah blah. So my thinking is, if your gonna cook something good, you may as well have their ugly mugs hanging in your kitchen, watching over your shoulder - pushing you, judging you!

Or you can just look at it and have a laugh.

YOU can purchase your piece of Masterchef by buying this print from my Deviantart page! . I'm trying this all out right now, so let me know how it works for you!

Hopefully it fits with your kitchen decor. If not I'll be posting up my Gordon Ramsay soon so you can hang around for that!

Life Drawing - 30 Sept '09

Little bit of fun today - whipped out some ink pens, exaggerated form etc. Good to change it up a little once in awhile! woot!

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Melbourne - 20 Sept '09 Part 1

Dr Sketchy's in Melbourne has moved to 'the Order of Melbourne' if you saw my photo on Twitter the other day! It's a really good move I reckon, more accessible for people like me who can only take the tram to places.

And to celebrate, there were not one but TWO models to draw and draw inspiration on. So much so I decided to paint one of the quick sketches I did on that day. It was probably the most quirkiest poses I've seen for awhile so I tried to do it justice! I may colour it in one day, so stay tuned, or not. And for reference, here is the quick 5 minute sketch. Couldn't get as much info down because there were two models, but I just got enough!

24th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - Melbourne

I believe we are slowly shaking off the wintery blues as a small handful of folks came out for the 24th Worldwide Sketchcrawl!! Woot! We are slowly, slowly posting our stuff up. The next one will be in a couple of months or so. Soooo get in touch if you're interested - when there's a whole batch of us, it's a lot of fun!

Sketchcrawl Melbourne Thread

Life Drawing - 16 Sept '09

A very inspired artist

Behind some people and drawing on the floor. Good times.

Life Drawing - 10 Sept '09

I kept hearing 'Oh they have life drawing at QV' and never knew there was space for a studio. Let alone life drawing in such a posh building. But I'm happy to report, life drawing at No-Vacancy is awesome. A trendy vibe, big glass windows, with young people wandering past thinking what the hell is going on. They started again last week in Melbourne and held every Wednesday, so come along if you can!

Also, Dr Sketchy's AND Sketchcrawl is coming soon. Pondering if there's enough interest out there. But again, give me a buzz and we can join hands like kindred spirits!

(top drawing is 20mins, bottom I think was 2 mins)

Yum Seng!

Friends of mine recently had a wedding ceremony - and what a jolly night it was too. Lots of catching up and yelling and all that brewhaha. Inspired by this post on Tomo Tabata's blog, this is a painting I did for the happy couple as a wedding gift in it's pixellated camera phone goodness. Yes, for the busy weekend it was, I completely forgot to take a photo of it myself, and quickly took this after they recieved it. I did a mini recording of it too, so hopefully I can share it with you all soon.

Yum Seng as they said it on the night...oooor something like that

I'm on YouTube, sorta

If anything, all those years bumbling around of YouTube have amounted to something. Uploading my work to YouTube! As boring as it is, my username will be my own name http://www.youtube.com/user/NoriTominaga , so, I suppose I better start recording more stuff, get more harddrive space, and all the other stuff I have to do.

But yeah, after speeding it up, I realised how hypo it all seemed. I hope a little boy in a France or somewhere doesn't fall over in a seizure...In that case I'd probably run to the other side of the world. Somewhere like France.

Train Sketch

I'm beginning to like the lighter, more handwriting style of ballpoint pen, although it's taking longer to create form, it does give you patience to build it up. Here's a trendy sorta lady sitting, reading the paper on a gorgeious sunny day. I did a photoshop touchup to bring up the whites, but I'm gonna have to bring a white pencil with me soon.

DSi Painting - 'Going Down'

A little painting I did with my DSi and the nifty Colors!. Then Nintendo decides it means nothing by blocking it on their latest firmware update!! Boo Nintendo Boo!

In regards to the pic, well, I had nothing in mind really and shapes led to shapes and colours and, yeah, you get that. May take it into Photoshop one day and fix it all up.

Tram Sketches

A bloke who's always tapping away at his laptop on the morning tram. Never seen him without it. He somehow sat right in front of me this time, so I got him with my Signo pen. I'm trying a lighter ballpoint at the mo, so hopefully I'll update you all how it goes.

Mini Break in the Mountains

I think I was having withdrawal symptoms for awhile there - no internet! Yikes. But alas, it didn't matter as the real beauty of the mount dandenongs made it a non-issue. We stayed in a great little barn called Arnica Views - I've stayed in a few accommodations in my time, but nothing like the experience you get here. Anyway the first little sketch was done in the guest book as a little thankyou to the hosts and the other was a still life I recorded, TRYING to get glass looking somewhat like glass!

23rd Worldwide Sketchcrawl

In Melbourne winter, you know it's gonna be bad...but today, to have a sketchcrawl, was absolutely horrendous - wind, rain you name it, it chucked it down. I know I've done southbank before, but I needed some shelter and somewhere slightly quiet and most importantly clean toilets. This particular one was done inside the Southgate Shops, overlooking the Yarra and towards flinders. I thought just black and white will do today, it's about as eerie as it got!

Sketch of the weeeeeeek..

So, to my horror, my trusty ball point pen ran out of ink this week and I dug around to the deepest darkest (and dirtiest) parts of my bag to get some drawing apparatus out. And here it is, pencil! Went to the Riot and bought a few pens to stuff into my bag, ah, normal transmission resumes.

Pushing on

Think I lost something in this version, but the scheme feels more like a 'me' painting. I think I'm gonna refine my drawing tomorrow before I knuckle down on Sunday arvo...hope it works out!

Hair...hair hair

Sooooooo just blocking in still until I'm somewhat happy with the way the colours bind. It's taking awhile as always. I was thinking something Tina Turner-esque for the hair...nnnnnno. Anyway the base is there, we'll see how it goes

Blocking it

Still a little unsure of some lighting situations and how to bend it to suit the story I want to tell. But yeah...update today. Woop.

Seh's birthday painting '09 WIP

Usually I keep this under lock and key but this year, I thought I'd reckon I'll spill it and get feedback along the way. Sarah knows so it won't be such a surprise, but anyway, you can't win them all. So here is the initial sketch of detail and the feel of the piece. I hope I can get it finished by the end of July, so I'll keep y'all posted!

In a gallery!

Welp, in all it's blurred camera phone pixellated goodness, here's my painting wedged between others at the Brunswick art gallery! The whole experience was alot of fun and can't wait to give it a shot again. Till next time!

Dr Sketchy's Melbourne 25.06.09

After missing out last month, I was really wanting to get back into it all. Today's model was the beautiful Frankie Valentine, and again she threw alot of drawing challenges. She was tall and leggy and her lips were pouty but smooth. As always a lot of fun and this was Dr Sketchy's Melbourne's 3rd anniversary !(mouthful)So if you wanna head down, especially during these winter months get more info at thier [URL=http://drsketchymelbourne.com/]blog[/URL].