ARE WE THERE YET?

No, we’re not… And I’m feeling a bit pessimistic and kind of anxious. Let’s say I’m talking about the weather but you can easily interpret it any way you want, like a painting ☺ (I’ll talk about this further along in my art history section). Maybe spring is not coming to New York and will pass directly to summer without collecting $200. Sounds stupid, but I think I can get away with my theory. After all, in these times is amazing how many people believe in astonishingly weird things, like 2012. You know, I may be a little selfish, but I’m planning to get my degree that year. It will be a shame to get this epiphany so late (or so early, depending on whom I’m comparing to) in life in order to perish with the rest of the world. Which brings me to the good news. For all the people that are not familiar with my background, I got my business bachelor’s degree back in 2000. I was young and studied really hard back then. Ten years later I decided to walk a different path, so I applied to the School of Visual Arts to get a bachelor in fine arts majoring in cartooning. This career consists of four years: freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior, like most bachelors do. The good thing is that I got credited for my humanities classes that I took a decade ago. So I had a meeting with the chairman of cartooning Mr. Thomas Woodruff and he helped me to get some sophomore and junior classes together for next fall. He was totally unimpressed with my art though ☹ haha. After looking at my portfolio he questioned the fact that I could manage such workload. I guess my experience in business helped me in some way because I ended up negotiating and presented myself so sure of my abilities that I got exactly what I wanted, to finish my career in three years and to get my classes with the superstar teachers for the following year. It seems that I just have to finish two more years to get my degree; but wait a second… my real degree for me is my master degree, and I’m not talking about an MFA (which I may take by the way), but completing my challenge to draw for 10,000 hours. I guess it will take a long time but stick with me. I will not let you or myself down.

A friend of mine told me that my anecdotes about New York were not relevant for this blog. I obviously discussed with him the fact that this is MY blog and I just write what I feel like. I’m not just showing my artwork, I am telling a story. A story of a guy who thought there was nothing more out of life and found himself in a labyrinth of sorrow, boredom, and self pity. I found a cure, and if I could find a way to inject everybody with this epiphany I’d do it. Nevertheless, I found that writing this blog is the best way to express my feelings and hope for anyone to get on board the train on time (which is never late by the way). Still, I had to find a way to let myself, and my story known. I may have found the way, or at least a better way. I’ve started to follow a lot of unknown people from twitter who happens to share my passion in comics and art in general. I didn’t know if anybody was going to follow me back, but you know what, they did, at least some of them. I’m pretty grateful for the follow backs and for their selfless and inspiring comments about my experience. I have a greater audience and now I feel more pressure since I have to deliver a great entry for my blog. For the new ones, my grammar may not be excellent but what I say (or try to say) is totally honest. Thanks for following mates! (By the way, I’m not Irish I’m Ecuadorian. I just like the word “mates” ☺).

Also, another good news is that I got preapproved for my credits in art history that I was planning to take in the summer in Florence, Italy. I’m so excited for three reasons: 1. I’ll finally perfect my Italian language. 2. I’ll get ahead in my requirements and what better place to take art history than where the Renaissance took place, and finally 3. Back in 2000 when I got my degree in business, I planned a trip to Florence to study arts for once semester. It was an attempt to get my artistic impulses out of my system. After all, I haven’t yet taken the RED pill (which makes you embrace the sometimes painful truth of reality). I don’t know if it was cultural shock, or if I missed my girlfriend so much, or if I really was tired of studying and was eager to start earning some money in the real world, but I failed miserably, and it was one of those times that I just couldn’t complete my task. I felt sad and always regretted not staying for the whole program. I guess the joke is on me now. Anyways, what happens when you fall of a horse, you have to get back on! (Fun fact: Where was this phrase originated? I’ve no idea, but found hilarious one of the answers “From a very clumsy cowboy” ☺)

During my spring break I watched a very interesting video that I bought online. For anyone interested in drawing realistic portraits I highly recommend it. I’m talking about Darrel’ Tank “Five Pencil Method” www.fivepencilmethod.com. It is very instructional and his technique, although very slow, when mastered it, it has the feeling of the real thing. Also, if you were suffering from insomnious, I’d guarantee that after an hour you’d be asleep ;). Not because it’s not amazing what he teaches, but because he has a relaxing voice that combined with the sound of the pencil strokes it has a somniferous effect. I used this method in the following drawings but have not yet tried it in a portrait.

These drawings were part of my “journal project”. I have to finish 100 drawings with different papers and different materials. To tell you the truth I’ll be drawing just 50 because it is really time consuming due to my perfectionist nature. Also I’m repeating some materials but mixing them with different papers it still it shows a lot of variety within the drawings. Also I’m including a drawing of myself done with a Wacom tablet in Photoshop, and for all who knew me as an athlete and runner, yes, those are the right proportions. This life is for chubby people ;). Also, there is a photo of myself that I included in my presentation just to present photo paper. This project is helping me a lot to get more comfortable with getting the proportions more accurately and faster just by observation. These are other examples:

Now I’ll show you my in-class drawings. This was actually a model we drew last semester. If you can look for her picture in my previous entries you can find her. I hope she’s better depicted now, but I understand now that drawing good depends on your training, on your practicing, but also depends on how are you feeling that day. Sometimes you just can’t get it right, and sometimes you just do it beautiful and effortless. It’s like the chairman of the department told us in a presentation: “some people have the TOUCH to put things down in the paper, others do NOT, but that does not mean your work won’t be good” I guess he’s talking about a natural inborn talent. Well, I don’t believe in talent, maybe as a result to reading “Outliers” from Malcolm Gladwell (Highly recommended for people who wants to pursue their dreams no matter the odds). One drawing is done with my regular technique, and the other we just had to draw the contour line, but as my teacher puts it “draw as playing the violin, very delicate”.

Contour drawing

We haven’t done anything remarkable in my painting class. I guess because we have been painting an abstract with geometric figures. It is not my cup of tea. In any case, I painted it with acrylics and NO USE of tapes for the borderlines. The trick is to have patience. I hope you like it because I tell you the truth, I don’t. It’s OK but I think anyone could make this, especially if using Illustrator software. My next painting project is free and I know it will be very rewarding. I’m planning to mesmerize my audience (Are you called audience even though you don’t use your sense of hearing? Can you be called spectators? I don’t know, readers sound kind of simplistic! Must investigate).

Abstract Geometric Painting

COMICS!!! ☺ This is a sophomore class that I’m taking even though I’m a freshman as I write these words. I love it! We had two projects since my last post. The first one is about genre. At first I was so excited that I could illustrate a sci-fi comic, even a western, but you know what the professors assigned to me??? ROMANCE! I guess they did it because they were sure I wouldn’t go into that field without being assigned to me. Or maybe it was some cruel joke in order to see me like a cockroach struggling upside down (sounds better in Spanish!). Hey, I’m romantic enough, but I thought to create a romance story was beyond my capacities as a writer or plotter. Well, let me tell you that I’ve enjoyed it and I’m very happy with the results.

CONFLICT p. 1

CONFLICT p. 2

The next project had to be done in 3 hours. We are presented with a keyword at the beginning and in three ours top we have to structure the story by doing thumbnails, drawing with pencils, inking, and lettering. Believe me, it is a very intense project because you usually finish one complete page in one day, and that’s being generous. It looks somehow rushed but guess what, that’s what it was intended to look. The purpose for this project is to learn different approaches to get the job done, probably faster. This is based on the 24-hour comic, created by Scott Mccloud (guru of comics). The same principles apply and you have to finish it in a day. A lot of cartoonists have done it and it’s like a challenge you feel that you have to take. I will definitively do it one day (you see, ONE DAY hahaha I’m hilarious!!!). The keyword was MOON, and because my brother is a faithful believer of the Mayan prophecies of the end of the world at 2012, and every conspiracy theory people on YouTube are willing to promote, that was the first thing it came to my mind (Sad, isn’t it? ;)) I did it in four hours (Remember the part about me being honest).

If you like to draw and want to be involved in comics in any way, I’d highly recommend 3 books that you can buy now at Amazon: Making Comics by Scott Mccloud, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, and Comics And Sequential Art by Will Eisner. You won’t regret it. Also, there are a lot of exercises and homework so you can get to practice in an instructional but fun way.

Let’s talk about computers!!! Mmm… let’s NOT!!! I love Photoshop but we are now learning InDesign, which I hate! Si I’m just going to show you my Han Solo colored using Photoshop like I promised in my last entry. Voila!

Han Solo painted in Photoshop

Finally, how to interpret a painting? Any way you want! But still you have to be aware of the key words to analyze or critique a painting: composition, figure, ground, line, color, intention, etc. What really amazes me is how easily art historians can find metaphors for everything. There is a particular painting named The House of Cards by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, which is shown below. Can you notice that there is an open drawer with two cards; one shows its front and the other its back. Well, my teacher told us that the one that is blank represents abstraction, and the other represents illusion. Really??? I couldn’t help asking how did he know that? Did the artist at one point said or wrote that? He got a little annoyed with my question and explained to us: “We don’t know what was the intention of the artist, what was in his mind is impossible to know for sure. What we know is what is in front of us in order to start a conversation. If we don’t do this, we may as well bury the painting!” I guess he’s kind of right, but at least I got him to admit that sometimes the art critiques are 75% bullshit.

House of Cards by Chardin

I think this is it for now! I hope you enjoyed the ride! And for the people who live in New York, please DON’T TEXT AND WALK, believe me, it’s as dangerous as texting and driving; mainly because who’s going to hit you is texting also… Watch out for the bikes too!!!

Godspeed,

José Luis

I'M A BREAKER!

“In order to break the rules, you should know them beforehand. If you don’t know them, it just does NOT count”.

You can say that I’m breaking into comics, or into the world of art, or into college, or even that I’m breaking into the city of New York, but most of all, right now I’m a breaker because I am in SPRING BREAK. I have a whole week’s vacation and as I’m writing these words I’m currently in Miami, resting, procrastinating, and recovering my strength in order to go back to New York for more. I’m pretty sure that some hardcore professor of yore had calculated the exact date for a student to get worn out and decided he or she needed a whole week’s off to regain his or her energy. KUDOS for him! Should have won a noble prize for this.

I’m so happy for not having to ride the subway for one week. Don’t get me wrong, I really love the fact of getting into a train and go anywhere in the city without the need of a car. I’m depending only on my own two legs and the best reason is that I don’t have to park my car!!! But you even need a break from good things, right? What never ceases to amaze me is that sometimes the driver just doesn’t know how to drive the train. I’m not sure if he’s in a rush or if he is not familiar with the pressure sensitivity of the accelerator, what I do know is that if I don’t get into the right position, I may end up in the floor. The worst thing of that, of course, is that you look like a damn tourist! For the next blog I will draw a sketch of this position, the way pros do it, with NO hands! ☺

I want to talk about hostility in the Big Apple. I know this city is well known for it, but it is amazing where you can find it. To help make my point, just figure myself walking down in a very crowded street. I was having a “profound” conversation with a classmate of mine when I slightly touched a blind woman while passing by. Of course I said "I’m sorry"… but she started yelling at me, insulting me. I repeated my sincere apology for invading her personal space (which is an issue I will have to get into in a future blog) but she just didn’t care and even made the assumption that I was distracted because I was talking with my cell phone, which I was clearly not! I had to stop paying attention to her and keep walking while she was still yelling at me. For crying out loud, I did NOT need that aggravation, and I don’t want to be insensitive, but I guess that walking in New York by yourself is not the best idea for a blind person. Still, if they have to do it, that deserves respect, but keep in mind that there is the slightest possibility that someone could bump into you. Well, you have to get used to the yelling and the insulting and it will surprise you who is willing to do it to you. Like one song says: “Live in New York once, but leave before it makes you hard”. I think I’m hard enough so I’ll blend in ;)

I’m still doing this project in my Drawing class where I have to draw 100 figures. I guess they won’t be a hundred at the end, but they will still be a lot. This time I’m including six more sketches all with different papers and different materials. What I wanted to emphasize is the noticeable difference between a pencil drawing and an inked drawing. Yes, I’m talking about Han Solo, and for the sci-fi (and probably pop culture) illiterates, he is a character from Star Wars and not a “cowboy” as some people has referred to my drawing! Next blog I’ll show you the finishing product by coloring it digitally. As you can see, pencil is softer than ink (although it was drawn with a 2H pencil, which is a hard pencil). With ink you have to compromise some value, which can make the figure flat. There are some techniques to give more volume and contour, but in this case this was as good as it got. Notice that I didn’t use any washed ink to layer some form like I did with the big man in my last entry.

HAN SOLO - 2H PENCIL

HAN SOLO - INK

Also, I'm inserting two more drawing I did in class. I don't really like them for many reasons, but maybe the most important are the evident outline of the figure and the wrong portraying of the hands and feet. I will try to fix these issues for my next entry.

Let's get into painting. I have a confession to make; I don't enjoy much painting, at least not in the conventional way. I think is messy, and I have probably said this before, but I thought then that I didn't like coloring and now I know that is not the case since I fell in love with digital painting. Still, I think I'm learning a lot, but I can clearly see that my drawing skills are far more advanced than my painting skills. A good friend of mine at first could not grasp the idea that some of my drawings were very illusionistic, very real, but my paintings seemed a bit cartoonish and nothing like a renaissance painting would look like (This is really REALLY hard to achieve). It's all about the process and, in my case, I'm very familiar with the use of pencils and values of grey. In painting there are an infinite amount of colors that either work or don't work together. The visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements (like adjacent colors on the color wheel) is called HARMONY. Ladies and gentlemen... the well-known COLOR WHEEL!

COLOR WHEEL

Ok, moving on! The next painting is the main work of the half semester. We've been working in this piece for hours and hours. I think at the third session I was already bored with the subject matter. We did have a model dressed up as a pimp, as you can notice. Well, I may as well show it to you in order to get some feedback, but for the record, I don't like it that much. 

PIMP IN A CHEAP STRIP CLUB

I'm also inserting an assignment I had to make using different types of materials. In this case I used a clayboard for surface and I made the attempt to use color washed ink, which was a terrible idea. I got so frustrated that I ended up covering everything with acrylics. It took me around seven hours to finish this painting. I was really nervous about the outcome since this is a portrait of a good friend of mine, who's always very enthusiastic in noticing the mistakes in my pieces. He means well and he's building up my character because in this business you should be able to accept criticism. He really liked it (or so he says! :)) so I guess it was a complete success for a homework assignment.

THE MIGHTY KONO

For my storytelling class we had to make a NON-FICTION comic. Among the most popular types of non-fiction are: documentary, history, biography, and instructional. I chose to do an instructional comic since I have always enjoyed teaching. I had a blast making this two-page comic because I mixed three things I feel very passionate about: comics, running, and teaching. Also because a lot of friends in Ecuador are always asking me for help to run a marathon, and now I can just send this comic, so in the end it was a very good investment ;). I hope you enjoy it!!! And yes, that guy is supposed to be me :)

MARATHON COMIC PAGE 1

MARATHON COMIC PAGE 2

For anyone who is interested in the process of making comics I suggest this webpage http://dw-wp.com/, which I think covers maybe everything about it. It is also very fun and instructive. 

In my Visual computing class we're learning about Photoshop. I love this software because you can manipulate every image in every way. It seems harder than it is, but then again, it is far more complex that I know. I really enjoy digital coloring, but using all the effects are also fun. I'm posting two assignments. One was an in-class assignment in which we had to recreate a recent dream we had using other elements in other photos. I end up with a giant octopus attacking some city... and what is André the Giant doing there?, who knows!?! The only thing we DO know is the fact that I'm more screwed up than I look! (Do NOT think about André the Giant, do NOT think about André the Giant!!! - Ghostbusters reference). Also, I did a Van Gogh painting using my Wacom tablet. A tablet is a device you use for drawing in Photoshop or any other painting software. You use a sensitive pen, in order to draw, paint, or select, onto a surface that is connected via USB to the computer. Because I'm so clever I had my computer connected to my 40 inch TV so now I can draw while in bed watching that huge screen. It's the best gadget I've gotten recently and the best part is that I don't have to use that tedious mouse for drawing anymore. 

ANDRE THE GIANT AND GIANT OCTOPUS

VAN GOGH SELF-PORTRAIT (PHOTOSHOP)

I'm not going to talk about art history at all. I enjoy it but there's not much to talk about, so I'd rather show you a picture I took at the Metropolitan Museum. I don't know why but I found this scene truly fascinating and inspiring. I wish I could get to that age and be able to draw with that enthusiasm :)

Enough about me, let's talk about you!... Wait a minute; there is no FREAKING way to know about you if you don't post a comment, so I encourage you to do so! :).

Well, I guess I finished writing this entry. I'm really tired and I have to get back to the pool to get some sun and drink a beer while reading my book. 

Godspeed, 

José Luis

GETTING HARDER... GETTING BETTER!

Signal #Fail

It is, for real! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still happy and can’t wait to go to class to learn new things, but the classes are getting harder; and not only that, also the weather seems to be getting colder. I know it’s no surprise in these months, but the weather has been horrible. A local friend of mine told me that it hasn’t been a snowstorm this strong since 96. Still, I’m adapting to the classes and to the weather.

What really puts me in a bad mood is the noise; after all, New York is one of the noisiest cities in the world with Nagasaki and Tokyo. I don’t mind a little noise here and there, but the problem is that is keeping me up all night. You see, when is NOT that cold, I have to open the window a little to get some breeze because I have no control of the heat in the building. The problem when that happens is that the horns of the taxis start to honk, the sirens of police cars start to sound, people start to yell or insult at each other, and on top of that it seems there is a construction of an east to west subway station right down the building. Let me clarify that I am in the fifteenth floor and I still hear all of it. Total mayhem! Without the proper shutdown, the next day I’m a zombie, and being creative is really really hard in that state! I knew this was the city that never sleeps! Now I know why!

I’m learning Italian as I ride in the subway. I take about 30 minutes to get to the school and 30 minutes to get back, so I bought the Italian Pimsleur method (highly recommended) with 30-minute lessons. The only problem is that I have to repeat out loud what they are teaching me, so I do, and people just think I’m just another crazy person riding the subway! Prego, grazie, molto, arrivederci!

Ok, I have a lot of pieces to show you so I’ll talk about my classes. In Drawing I’ve been very busy. Of course we always draw nude figures in class but the homework have been very interesting. There is a personal project that I have to present at the end of the semester in which I decided to draw 100 human figures using different papers and different materials. I’m spending about 1 hour each and I’m really enjoying this project, the only problem is that 100 drawings equal 100 hours and it is taking me a lot of time to keep up the pace. Still, I’ll do my best to finish them since by then I’ll have 100 more hours in my training hours. If you’re new to the blog I’m counting the hours I spend drawing or painting until I get to 10,000 hours; which are the hours a person must invest in order to master a skill, hence the name of the blog! (Clever huh!) I’m not going to show you all my drawings but just some of my favorites.

For homework I had to do my self-portrait. I really enjoyed drawing this since I wanted to prove to myself that I have gotten better since I got here. I’ll show you another portrait of myself I did last year around May. It is not a fair comparison since when I drew it I was looking at myself in a mirror, whereas in my recent portrait I used a grid on a photograph. The use of a grid helps you a lot to assure the correct proportions are done accurately. For instance, by observation you can draw an excellent portrait, but if you put the nose just a little bit up, or maybe one eye is just one quarter of an inch in the wrong spot, then it is a different person altogether. It is no cheating! ☺ Lot’s of artists use this method for accuracy. Still, it took me around 8 hours to achieve that level of realism. The first one, although I also like it, it has its problems on proportions and shading, making it very flat but the good thing is I got my essence back then.

Recent self-portrait using grids

Last year self-portrait by observation

It seems that this month has been very egocentric. In my Painting class I had to paint two self-portraits, but here is the catch. The first one I had to paint myself as a dog. I had to identify myself with a dog, considering its personality and physical attributes. I really didn’t want to choose a Bulldog and believe me when I tell you that I did a lot of research with no success. I drew the dog first with pencil and then I panted some of my facial features in order to get a resemblance. My friend Christian said very proudly, and I quote: “spot on!” ☺ I didn’t know if I should feel insulted or highly praised.

The other homework was of myself screaming! You can create your own narrative as to why I’m screaming in terror! When we were doing the reviews of the pieces, a classmate of mine said that it looked like something from the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), I couldn’t help to ponder that there has to be a lot of junk in that museum ;). I went to the MOMA the following week with my drawing class and although there are a lot of great masterpieces, there are also a lot of stuff that really looks like junk. One thing I learned in that museum when we were watching a horrible dancing presentation that consisted on a girl crying (she was actually crying for 20 minutes non-stop) and then dancing like monkeys and falling to the ground (the artists were professional ballet dancers) is that in order to criticize that “play” I should be aware of my “anxiety level”. I was really anxious so I guess it did its part. Reflecting on it, I guess my screaming in terror could be related to that play, although it happened before. I guess I could use my artistic license to change the dates. Mmm… ok, stop tripping! Back to the blog…

I’m having so much fun in my Storytelling class. I don’t know, I really like my teachers because it seems they really enjoy teaching. Also because this is going to be my career so what they preach I want to know! I can really see myself improving, not just in the sense of drawing, but also in telling the story properly. We had to do an experimental comic that they call the “foldie” comic. It takes this name because the reader has to unfold it in order to read the story. I was hoping to upload a video showing the unfolding of it, but I can’t seem to do it with Blogspot (There has to be a way though). Still, I think you’ll get the idea.

Front page

Back page

The other comic we had to do is a “portrait comic” that consists in describing a person by drawing his life in some panels. It is not a story per se, although I managed to create some kind of narrative in order to explain the routine and habits of my dear cousin Daniel. One thing I have to add is that when you ink a comic you really have to breathe in and hold your breath in order to finish a difficult line or stroke. I guess I should be studying competitive apnea in order to gain some competitive advantage among my fellow artists!

Dana's Portrait: On his way to Comic-Con!

I feel that in my Art History class I’m taking private lessons. I guess at 18 years old it’s not a really cool subject because they just sleep through the class. I’m so into it that sometimes I have to look indifferent in order to belong ☺. Seriously, we’re covering the renaissance and it is so fascinating, especially since I stayed in Florence for two months back in 2000. Anyways, it is hilarious that the teacher thinks that I’m the only “kid” (I’m 33 for those who don’t know) who finds his lecturing amazingly fun!

Finally, my only new class this semester is Visual Computing, as you may recall I had Sculpture last year, but it was just a one-semester class. In this class I’m learning about Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and InDesign. These are just the basic software for artists. I really like Photoshop because I will color my comics using this software. (By the way, there are 256 grays in Photoshop. I mention this because I didn’t know how many grays were in my prior post). It is a painfully long class but I need to learn since all my classmates (in this class they also sleep) were born with these softwares installed in their brains! I am the DOS and Basic generation of 96! The second she knew I was 33 she started explaining to the class what a Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, and Terabyte were. I was a little ashamed because I knew this was for my benefit. I did a pack of cards for Illustrator and a fast painted sketch of myself in Photoshop.

I’m going to tell you something that happened to me. I was in the subway when I saw a woman knitting. It seemed so amazingly hard the way she moved her knitting needles in order to create patterns. I though to myself: “that is way too hard, I could never do that”. But then I realized that I have never even tried it (I don’t want to but I hope you get my point). So the main question is: Who said you can’t do anything? Maybe you did, maybe the people around you told you that, or maybe you feel as it is impossible and there is absolutely no way you may be able to do it. I’m here to tell you “You CAN do it”. Whatever the hell you’re thinking, you can and by God you SHOULD do it. The second your defense mechanism starts filling your brain with nonsense and lame excuses just think that you really CAN. For now just TRUST ME and DO IT! If you want to be a space cowboy… well, it may be hard, but there is no law against studying aerodynamics and while in outer space putting on a cowboy hat and yelling “yee-haw” while avoiding some asteroids. Life exists so you can take advantage of it all, the pursuit of happiness is just another way of saying live up to your dreams because they CAN and they WILL become possible if you really want them to. I’m telling you this by experience, not a year ago I was thinking that this path was impossible for me, and here I am, now, sometimes afraid, sometimes challenged, but living my own version of the “space cowboy” in me. I thought to end this entry with some positive attitude. I guess 10 years ago I would have loved that somebody told me this with utmost confidence.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Godspeed,

José Luis

Pd.- I'm not the only artist in the family. Here I'm attaching a picture of a stop motion story about my grandfather done by my lovely cousin Cassandra! I know that in the future we'll have mutual projects! :)

BACK TO SCHOOL!

I must admit that I have fallen behind on my entries. I can always blame the holidays! The day I finished classes I stepped on a plane and went back home to Guayaquil, Ecuador. For those who don't know where it is, it's in South America, and yes, we have everything the first world has (You have no idea how many times I've had to explain that I do not live in the jungle). Ok, maybe not everything, but we do have clothes, technology, Internet, and a government, kinda. Still, it is a third world country and I couldn't love it more. It is after all, my home, and I was so happy to get the chance to spend time with my family and friends, to eat its exquisite food, and to laugh hilariously on the things that will never change over there. There was some resistance dressed up as inconveniences though, like an army of red blood cells fighting an infection and telling me to go away, but I'm not going to get into details because this is not a whiner's blog, this is an ARTIST's blog, and the smiles on my nephews faces on Sunday morning can compensate for any problem that could've happened to me. Still, like I said, I had an excellent time and the most difficult part as I said in my first entry is saying goodbye, again. I can man up and hide my tears but I know I'm falling apart at that time.

Still whining I guess! Well, not anymore because I have GREAT news!!! I received my grades and they were as I expected  (humbly speaking, of course). I have 5 As and 1 A+, but it is amazing how people always want more after they've achieved something, myself included. The minute I watched my grades online I was so excited that I sent a picture of my grades to everybody. My family and friends were so proud and at that moment I was very very fulfilled. At last, my efforts could be measured, and also, based on that effort, now I know exactly what I should do to get As in the following semesters. After five minutes I couldn't help to wonder why didn't I get A+ on all the classes. I know my comment sounds cocky, but I don't mean it that way, it's just that I gave my all out effort in this semester and I thought I gave my 100%, but I guess it wasn't enough! I have to work on that! In any case, it is a perfect score and I dedicate this to my family, friends, and faithful readers. I know it is not a Nobel Prize but let me enjoy this moment :)

I guess New York was broken hearted with my absence because the minute I got here she was very cold! Ok, I admit it was a TERRIBLE joke, but even Conan O'Brien has bad material from time to time, why can he get away with it and not me? Bottom line, this city is way too cold, but I'm getting used to it. It is snowing as I write this entry (Of course I have the heat on and I am very comfortable in my apartment ;)). Everybody loves snow, at least the people who is not victimized by it. I know it looks lovely, at least for a while, because afterwards every street is a slippery trap and all the white snow turns into a black disgusting pile of wet dirt! It's not that I hate it, it is just problematic, specially when you are late for painting class and you're running with your case of brushes and paints and a 5 feet canvas and suddenly you fall down in the middle of the street just when the red hand of the traffic is blinking. Now you can see my aversion to snow!

Another factor that is driving me crazy is that damn static. I'm talking about the infamous electrical charge that occurs when, in cold weather, you touch something, or anything (I'm not into physics so I have no idea) and you get an electrical discharge (You know what I'm talking about, it is quite impossible to not have done this to your little brother or sister). Why happens on cold weather you ask? Because of low humidity on the air! (Thanks Internet, I guess if you were wondering about it you could easily have done what I already did, but you didn't so I taught you a new thing today). There is no place devoid of that static, I touch a lamp OUCH! I touch the door handle OUCH! I'm even afraid to touch myself (Ok, that sounded very creepy).

Moving on... I don't have a lot of drawings or paintings because I've been away for 2 weeks for the holidays, and somehow my inspiration stays here in New York. This proves my theory that surroundings dictates the way we behave, and maybe I'll get more in to that in my next entry. Nevertheless, I did some sketches while I was in Guayaquil. They are not finished pieces; they were simple sketches that took me one hour each. A sketch should not be evaluated or judged, because it is merely a sketch. You like something and you do it fast in order to learn more about the properties of the subject or model. In any case, the first drawing is of my cousin Natacha and I love this photo that my mother took of her on our trip to Bermudas a year ago. I promised her that I was going to draw her the real deal! She couldn't help to say to me that I've drawn her fat, which is not the case, but I'll lose a couple of pounds from her next time ;) Love you Nats! Also, notice the blue pencil? I've become addicted to sketch with blue pencil because everything looks so clean; the only problem is that you can't erase it properly if you want to.

The second sketch is from Fidel Castro, and before anybody starts trying to figure out my connection to Correa (Ecuadorian president, who is believed to follow in Chavez and Castro's footsteps) let me disappoint you and tell you that I was bored to death at the airport, and hence, drew his face from a Vistazo magazine that I've found laying around. Still, I think it turned out pretty well for a sketch.

I must admit that I have tonal love. Tonality is the overall color effect of hue and value. Often one dominating hue is employed in various shades and values. I am addicted to tonal ranges, especially in grayscale. I have no idea why I prefer something in various tones of grey rather than red, or blue for that matter. I must really make a thorough examination of why this particular preference of mine, but the truth is that I love the many colors that the grey can give me. Of course, any color can provide this, but the neutrality of the grey, mixed with some blacks and whites... I don't know! it is mesmerizing! My next drawing was an in class work, so it is just a dressed up model with transparent clothes.

Finally, I was asked to draw a fruit, and based on the qualities of that fruit to draw a background. I decided to draw a pineapple. I asked my fellow twitter followers and they gave me some clever ideas, but somehow I couldn't let myself draw Spongebob's house! Still, thanks for the recommendations! I ended up drawing a pineapple lost in a dry land. The thing that I enjoyed the most in this piece is that I got out from my comfort zone. I chose another color of paper and worked only with graphite, charcoal, sanguine and sepia pencils. I did it in around 3 hours.

The next time I write I'll be sure to have more work to show. I miss my family way too much but on the other hand I'm glad to be back to do what I love. I do this not only for me, you know! I have already spent 300 hours drawing and painting and it seems a lot, but still 9700 hours to go!

For the aspiring painters, please, wash your hands BEFORE and after going to the bathroom, I preach only by experience.

Godspeed,

José Luis

9,700 hours to master art!!!