Cover of Sketchbook No. 65, ink and sticker on book cover

I finished my 65th sketchbook last week. It took a bit less than four months, which is pretty fast for me – though it doesn’t really matter how fast they go, if the artwork inside is decent… and, for this one, I think it is.

First page of Sketchbook No. 65, ink and watercolor on paper, about 8.5″x11″

It’s mostly chock-full of drawings that I do on my train commute from Jersey City to the Bronx (see here and here and below) but the best drawing far and away is this one I did from the rooftop where my wife Carrie works.

This is a drawing I did of a park site on the Bronx River:

Bronx River at Concrete Plant Park, brush pen on two pages of Sketchbook No. 65, about 11″x17″, 9 January 2013

It’s called Concrete Plant Park – a former industrial site, now a river park. I now work for the Bronx River Alliance – which I am really enjoying. The Bronx River has a lot of the same issues as the Los Angeles River, which I used to work on.

Men on the 2 train, brush pen on paper in sketchbook No. 65, about 8.5″x11″, 28 February 2013

Lots of time commuting!

Woman on the No.2 train, brush pen on paper in Sketchbook No. 65, about 8.5″x11″, 5 March 2013

Actually I really enjoy drawing on the train. Often folks will see me and praise my work, start conversations, etc. It’s good practice for working fairly fast and spontaneous… you never know when that person is going to get up and get off the train.

Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, brush pen on paper in Sketchbook No. 65, about 11″x17″, 7 March 2013

In March, Carrie and I took a trip to Los Angeles, got married, and I got some sketching done there. Above is Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

That’s all for now! More of my sketchbook stuff here.

Woman on the #2 Train, brush pen ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 65, 25 February 2013, about 8.5″x11″

Commuting from Jersey City to the Bronx, I have a lot of time on the train – just over an hour each day. So I’ve been filling a lot of pages in my Sketchbook No. 65 drawing folks riding on the train. These sketches are uneven – sometimes folks move or get up, or someone stands in the way. Nonetheless, it’s really good practice for drawing in a way that’s not too precious. For the two I’ve posted here, I was lucky to have a good 30-45 minutes working on the same model, so did more-or-less full-page portraits.

Man playing videogame on the #2 Train, brush pen ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 65, 27 February 2013, about 8.5″x11″

Mostly I’ve been using a Pentel brush pen, a la Craig Thompson, whose style I love.

Lots more transit rider sketches here, here, here – and tagged bus, rider, sketchbook, transit, and/or train. (Sorry I am kinda inconsistent on how I tag stuff here.)

Queens, NYC Street – 45th Street at Greenpoint Ave, ink and watercolor on paper, 23 February 2013, 6″x6″

This is a fairly quick ink and watercolor streetscape I did last weekend, while my fiance and I were in Queens for a few hours. It’s not necessarily a great composition (I meant to get the sidewalk in, but misjudged) or subject matter… but good to finish a piece and post here.

It was a cold rainy day, so I sat inside a cafe at this corner and looked for what view seemed more interesting. I started drawing the upper corner of the metroPCS sign, then worked my way around the piece.

Lastly, it’s kind of another of my urban tree portraits… because composition is centered on the tree. I felt like that tree was pretty gnarled and complicated, and I ended up simplifying it a bit… not really on purpose.

Manhattan skyline looking east from top of Carrie’s work at SVA, ink on paper in sketchbook, 8-30 January 2013, about 11″x17″

I took a long time to finish this drawing. It’s a view of Manhattan from the rooftop of School of Visual Arts (SVA) where my fiance Carrie works. It’s roughly looking southeast from 21st Street and 7th Avenue. I did an earlier quicker brush pen drawing from the same SVA rooftop, looking southwest. It’s a pen drawing across two pages of my Sketchbook No. 65.

I spent five different days drawing this one… though probably about ten hours total, because a few times I was up there and it was so cold that I could only draw for a couple hours. Today the weather was warmish, and I am starting a new job tomorrow, so I drew for about 5 hours total, and finished it off.

I am really proud of it!!! I think it turned out well… but if you look closely, you might find some mistakes (mostly places where perspective doesn’t quite line up correctly.) But I  even kind of like the mistakes. The mistakes are part of working directly in pen, with no pencil beneath.

I typically only work on a drawing in a single sitting… but coming back over and over makes for a richer, more detailed image. In some ways this drawing reminds me of this earlier oak trees drawing – only because I had the chance to return to the site over and over and develop a highly detailed drawing.

Here are a few photos of the work in progress:

iphone photo of Manhattan view that I sketched, taken on January 8th 2013

When I first sketched, it was late on a cold sunny day (above), so you can see a lot of form shadows in the upper left of the drawing. (Subsequent days were more overcast, so the overall light source is a lot less clear.)

photo of early state of the Manhattan skyline drawing – after 2 days work

I started with the tallest building in the middle left, then did the full skyline, then worked my way to the nearest buildings.

Drawing in process about halfway done – from a couple weeks ago

Drawing in process – from earlier today

Follow these links for more urban scenes and more sketchbook work.

Sketches of folks riding transit, pen on paper in sketchbook, 11 January 2012, about 8.5″x11″

Above is a page I like from my latest sketchbook, number 65. It’s all folks riding the subways in New York and New Jersey. Below is a close-up of the upper right image.

Woman on PATH train, pen on paper in sketchbook, 11 January 2013, about 4″x4″

Lots more people riding transit in my past sketchbooks.

Cover of Sketchbook No.64 – 2012, about 8.5″x11″

I am just getting around to posting some highlights from my most recent completed sketchbook – Number 64. I finished it last month while on vacation in Santa Cruz. I had a great time there – travelling there for vacation with my fiance Carrie – met great friends of hers, ate yummy food, and drew a bit in books 64 and 65.

I finished this book pretty quickly – less than 2 months. Some of this is because I wasn’t doing all that much art outside the book. It’s something I need to do more is just draw/paint on loose paper, so I actually sell stuff (I hold on to my books.) Inside the book is mostly observations (as opposed to inventions) – mostly in my new east coast environs. The book is a different brand/type than I’ve used before. It’s archival – though it seems like the pages are just a bit more transparent than most of the sketchbook paper I’ve drawn on, so some of the scans show a sort of ghost image of the next page – oh well. (I prefer to spend time drawing, and not on trying to get scans to look just right.) (blah blah blah – show them the pictures, Joe!)

The cover of the book, above, isn’t all that remarkable. I added the Streetsblog sticker mostly so I could tell which side was the front. I recently contributed some art to a Streetsblog fundraiser auction – so I grabbed a sticker. I am a big fan of theirs in any case. Below is the first page. I painted yellow watercolor on top of green colored watercolor pencil.

page one of Sketchbook No. 64, watercolor, watercolor pencil and ink on paper, 2012, about 8.5″x11″

As usual, I’ve already posted some of the best images – follow the links to go to those earlier posts – they’re really the best stuff in this book.

These earlier Sketchbook No. 64 posts include:

Manhattan skyline – click for post with large image

a Manhattan skyline I am proud of, these eucalyptus trees, a downtown Tustin streetscape, three sets of air travel sketches (one, two and these comics), and drawings of folks at jury duty.

Here’s a streetscape I did in Brooklyn – on Fulton at Jay. It’s at night. Done with brush pen, good for getting a lot of ink down fairly quickly. It was one of the first really cold nights, so a street vendor selling coats, scarves, hats, etc. was doing a brisk business – they’re in the lower right.

Brooklyn Streetscape, Fulton at Jay, brush pen on paper in sketchbook, 10 November 2012, about 11″x17″

Here’s a page of some of my air travel sketches, an increasingly prominent genre of mine as I’ve fallen madly in love, and moved across the country. This was a day when I arrived back in L.A. and drew a man on the LAX shuttle, then drew the freeways as viewed from the Metro Green Line station:

man on LAX shuttle and 105 freeway, brush pen on paper in sketchbook, 13 November 2012, about 8.5″x11″

Here’s another view of the Manhattan skyline – drawn from the roof of the School of Visual Arts (SVA) building where Carrie works. It’s fairly quick – in brush pen. It was cold and windy… so there are some stray marks where I smudged and mis-drew, but overall I like it:

Manhattan view from SVA (Carrie’s office) rooftop, brush pen on paper, 5 December 2012, about 11″x17″

Lest you think I only draw buildings these days (and only work in brush pen), here are some people – on the train, and at the Jersey City Building Department offices. I used to draw people almost all the time… lately I do more streets/buildings. Drawing people is probably my favorite thing to do.

sketches of people, ink on paper in sketchbook, December 2012, about 8.5″x11″

Here’s another sketch of buildings in Manhattan. It was a cold day, so I sat inside a cafe and sketched the view out of the window. It’s an odd composition – all triangular, with some things very close by, and others further off. In the middle of the left page is the top of the Empire State Building. The bottom middle thing that says “spread?” is street art done on the subway entrance. It’s not completely finished, but overall I like what I did:

New York City view from cafe at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue, ink on paper in sketchbook, 7 December 2012, about 11″x17″

And, lest you think that all I do is observation these days, here’s an invention piece: a woman with medusa-snakey-looking hair.

sketch of woman, ink on paper in sketchbook, December 2012, about 8.5″x11″

Here’s the final thing I drew in this book: oak tree branches. Longtime readers know I like to draw trees – especially oaks. These are oak tree branches in a preserve area called Pogonip, right near UC Santa Cruz.

Oak trees in Santa Cruz’s Pogonip, ink on paper in sketchbook, 19 December 2012, about 8.5″x11″

Lotz mooooore sketchbook work here… and sometimes I post sketches at the Art by Joe Linton Facebook page and don’t quite get them onto my blog.

NYC Building at 21st and 6th Avenue – brush pen on paper in Sketchbook No. 65, 3 January 2013, about 8.5″x11″

Here’s a fairly quick sketch of a good looking New York City building that’s right around the corner from where my fiance Carrie works. The building is in Chelsea, at the corner of 21st Street and 6th Avenue. I kind of think of it as the Trader Joe’s building, because that’s the store on the ground floor.

I used brush pen. It was fairly cold out, so I worked pretty fast, and it shows – there’s a bunch of not-so-great lines in there… especially some of the shading… but overall it looks good enough to post here. Sometimes being in a bit of a hurry forces me to push through drawings that have a few errors.

Cell phone photo of the building – more or less the view I drew

Somewhat more frontal view of the same building

Above are two photos of the building.

jury room sketch, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 12 December 2012, about 8.5″x5″

I had jury duty earlier this week. I’ve never actually been chosen to be on a jury (I think I am too opinionated, too lefty to ever be chosen for this.) I have spent plenty of time sketching in jury assembly rooms, though. Here are a few drawings I did this week… nothing killer, but not so bad to sit and draw all day for one day now and then.

jury room sketch, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 12 December 2012, about 4″x4″

jury room sketch, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 12 December 2012, about 3″x3″

jury room sketch, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 12 December 2012, about 4″x3″

jury room sketch, ink on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 12 December 2012, about 3″x3″

I did four pages of jury duty sketches, all ink on paper in my Sketchbook No. 64, which is nearly complete. I’ve just posted a couple of the sketches that I thought were fairly successful.

See also one earlier jury duty sketch I posted here.

Awaiting de-icing on Delta Flight 821 from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, brush pen ink on paper across two pages of Sketchbook No. 64, 9 December 2012, 11″x17″

I flew back to L.A. from New Jersey yesterday. Above is a sketch I did on board the airplane while waiting in snowy Minneapolis, when I had a connecting flight to catch. The flight had a three hour delay. No fun ( I was a bit nervous about the snow, de-icing and all – though it worked out ok in the end) but I did get a good drawing out of it. I was glad to have an aisle seat so I could draw people sitting on board. I’ve done a bunch of similar drawings before – for example this earlier on-flight drawing. The above drawing is in brush pen, which makes for a lot of ink in a hurry.

On Delta Airlines Flight DL1833 Cincinnati to Los Angeles, pen on paper in Sketchbook No. 63, 6 September 2012, about 11″x11″ – click for larger image

Below are some hand studies I did en route from Newark to Minneapolis… where I had a middle seat. I’ve done zillions of hand studies before… though haven’t posted many here.

Hand studies, pen on paper in Sketchbook No. 64, 9 December 2012, 8.5″x11″

Both of the above drawings are in my Sketchbook No. 64, started October 28th 2012 and nearly done. I’ve been posting lots of my sketchbook drawings – click here for way more sketchbook work than you probably want to see. See also recent air travel sketches: my earlier airplane comic strip and my drawing of the airplane’s wing.

Tree and Church Streetscape – 29th Street near 5th Avenue, New York City, ink and watercolor on paper, 3 December 2012, 8″x8″

This is another Manhattan streetscape (more here, here, here) that I did recently. It’s sort of a tree portrait too (more of them here, here, here.) Below is a photo of the site.

Photo of the scene I drew

If you look at the lower right part of the photo, you’ll notice that I simplified the scene by leaving out a second tree that’s largely in front of the tall window at the lower right of the drawing. There was a just a bit of foliage – leaves – that I left off… they weren’t all that visible in the light when I first sat down… then the light changed somewhat, making them more visible.

The church is Marble Collegiate Church, built in 1854. The view I drew isn’t the taller and more dramatic front, but a smallish trio of towers along the side at the back of the chuch. The front is on 5th Avenue at 29th Street; my piece is along 29th Street. You can see the Empire State Building, too – it’s in the upper left corner.

I’ve been using a pad of 8″x8″ watercolor paper because I like squares and circles. In some cases, like my Flatiron piece, I feel like I shoehorned a vertical composition into a square frame… but, for this piece, I feel like the tree really fits the square pretty well (though I cut off some of the lower part of the tree.) Initially I was framing the square around the three pointed spires… but I just draw in pen first, so the composition doesn’t always turn out the way I expect it.

Lastly, the tree owes a bit to the style of Mike Mignola‘s drawings.