ShihoSketches

Illustration Friday: Packed

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:40:00 +0000

A quick break-time drawing on this week's IF theme, "packed" - I usually travel with one carry-on suitcase only, regardless of the length of the trip. Moving will be another matter altogether....

This doodle also came about as a reaction to how we as taxpayers may end up shouldering the bad housing debts that caused current financial crisis - I've been following the news a lot lately, so maybe that's why my drawings have taken a political turn.

Musician Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:34:00 +0000

It's been quite a while since I've sketched musicians. I had an opportunity to do so a few days ago, so here it is - it was very fun to draw!

Illustration Friday: Clique

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:52:00 +0000

It seems like the Left-Wing Blue group and Right-Wing Red group do not speak to each other...this is my take on this week's IF theme, "clique".

Illustration Friday: Island

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:02:00 +0000

For this week's IF theme, "Island": This describes how I can be caught up in my own world, and a reminder to look beyond my boundaries.

In Memory of 09.11.01

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:04:00 +0000

What's New

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:45:00 +0000

My portfolio is featured in What's New section of theiSpot.com - it's the 4th link on the slideshow. In addition to my regular sketches and doodles shown in this blog and on my website, I have illustration work on theiSpot.com. Visit the site to feast your eyes on wide variety of artwork!

Illustration Friday: Clutter

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:33:00 +0000

This is for this week's IF theme, "Clutter": yes, I do need to get rid of things....

Sketchcrawl: Venice vs. Venice

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:06:00 +0000

I thought it'll be fun to compare sketches I did in Venice, California a few weeks ago with sketches I did in Venice, Italy a few years ago. Venice, California is modeled after Venice in Italy - it has canals with boats and ducks, though buildings surrounding it are way newer than original Venice.

By the way, I don't know how to arrange the images so that they are aligned nicely on Blogger :-( so sketches might look jumbled on your end - leave me a comment if you know how to fix this....

Venice, California:

Venice, Italy:

Illustration Friday: Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:28:00 +0000

This is a quickie, fun post for this week's IF theme, "memories", since I'm concentrating on updating my "real" illustration portfolio this week. I want to remember my dreams to see if they offer me illustration ideas and possible predictions about my life - I have a journal and a book on dream meanings by my bedside table - but this is what happens most of the time! (Few dreams I do remember are very ordinary, nothing about flying or having superpowers....)

Illustration Friday: Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:13:00 +0000

I'm updating my website, so I'm rummaging through my image archives. I found a digital doodle that I decided to develop into this week's IF theme, "Routine". This is a reminder to myself to make drawing time into a daily routine, whether or not my sketches turn out spectacular or scrappy...

Illustration Friday: Sail

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:59:00 +0000

It's been quite a hectic summer, and am now catching up with Illustration Friday and life in general. This is what I wish I have: a motorized device that can sail across town, bypassing traffic!

San Diego Comic-Con

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:28:00 +0000

Here are some sketches of passersby while I was watching the SILA booth at San Diego Comic-Con last week. Lots of people there were wearing interesting costumes, though I am particularly fascinated by hats and bags.

Sketchcrawl: New York City

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:26:00 +0000

I attended Illustration Conference in New York City earlier this month, and participated in a special SketchCrawl in New York City, where a band of illustrators roamed through the city and sketched along the way. It was hot and muggy, but so fun and exciting, especially since I met the SketchCrawl founder Enrico Casarosa and his friend/fellow SketchCrawler Ronnie Del Carmen!

We went to Thompkins Square Park. It's amusing to me to see people in New York sunbathing in the park - I guess there's not much choice if you're far away from the beach. The greenery with dappled shadows on cobblestones feels very East-Coast summertime. I also caught sight of a tree with lots of pigeons hanging around.

Here's another view from the park, looking out to Avenue A and St. Mark's Place:

On the way back to the hotel, I did some sketches in the subway. It was a good chance to do a gestural drawing while riding a train, something I don't get to do a lot in L.A. since I drive so much. Hopefully I get another train drawing in - I'll post it on this blog when I do!

Sketchcrawl: Eaton Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +0000

It's been too long since I've stepped away from the blogosphere, so I thought I get caught up on showing my sketches. Here are the sketches from last Sketchcrawl. It was a blistering 100-degree day, so I sat under a shady tree and sketched trees and creatures that were in my sight. Summer is now in full swing!

Illustration Friday: Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:02:00 +0000

This week's IF topic, "Fail" immediately made me think of the news about airlines going out of business while one airline flying their planes without proper inspections. Here's my take on a rather heavy topic...hope your week is taking off!

Illustration Friday: Save

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:53:00 +0000

Here's an old illustration I did that happened to fit the IF topic, "Save". This post is coming in very close to the deadline since I had trouble logging onto Blogger earlier in the week, and couldn't get the chance to get this post up until now...

Sketchcrawl: Balboa Park

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:11:00 +0000

Here are some sketches from 18th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - L.A. version. This time we were at Balboa Park in Van Nuys, with hopes of catching a glimpse of cherry blossoms...alas, most flowers were gone, and it was an unseasonally chilly, overcast day. It was still nice to spend a relaxing time in nature.

People BBQing:

Lake Balboa - (note the tiny patch of pink cherry blossoms still left on the tree):

Little red-haired girl feeding the ducks:

People on the pedal boat:

By the way, I haven't figured out how to lay out multiple images on Blogger posts so that images consistently show right after the text. If pictures and captions don't look like they match when you're browsing this post, now you know why. Do you know how to fixt this? If anyone who's reading this can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it!!

Illustration Friday: Homage

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:52:00 +0000

This is my homage to John Singer Sargent. He was an amazing painter who captured the light and likeness with swift, confident strokes. Having a great painting as a reference (this is based on the portrait of Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler) made the process of making this study very enjoyable.

He painted with oils and I'm painting here with Photoshop...mostly because I was never good at handling oils, and I'd like to practice painting digitally more. I didn't scan anything and didn't use any effects, just placed colors with brush and paintbucket and an occasional smudge tool, to get the immediate, fresh "painterly" quality.

Not too shabby for my first effort at digital portraiture...it's flawed when I compare this to digital illustrators who work in this mode exclusively (my favorite is Steve James at http://www.fridayeve.com/wordpress/ - I found him through Illustration Friday!), it was still fun and I'm discovering that my tendencies for flat, graphic shapes is showing up even here.

Illustration Friday: Pet Peeves

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:45:00 +0000

I definitely hate the sound of screeching fingernails on the chalkboard, so that would be my entry for this week's IF topic, "Pet Peeves". This is also my editorial illustration take on the financial crisis that education system is facing in my home state of California.

Illustration Friday: Heavy

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:37:00 +0000

This week went by fast - it was "heavy" in terms of scheduling and attending lots of activities for me. Before I forget and miss the deadline for this week's IF topic, "Heavy", here it is!

I thumbnailed a lot for this one...the topic steered my drawings to darker, less whimsical direction. That's usually OK with me, though I finally settled on this idea of "getting on the ball" as a positive reminder to myself.

Illustration Friday: Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:48:00 +0000

Clocks "spring forward" an hour ahead as of this weekend, and we have more daylight. I created this pattern to celebrate the season and to match this week's IF topic, "Garden".

Illustration Friday: Leap

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:39:00 +0000

I've been working on an illustration for this week's IF topic, "Leap", a little bit each day. It's now finished - it originally started as a companion piece to "Taking the Plunge", though I mixed in more of my current, graphic style. Hope you've enjoyed an extra day to take chances - Happy Leap Year!

Illustration Friday: Multiple

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:09:00 +0000

I tried to post this "multiple" times since I had trouble posting this image. I was doodling with Illustrator to see what kind of lines I can use - they're too thin to look good on the web, so I've learned my lesson! I guess this is as good as it gets...you can click on the image to see a larger version. I present you multiple flowers for this week's IF theme, "Multiple".

Illustration Friday: Theory

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Here's my take on this week's IF topic, "Theory". I drew this in Illustrator to see if I want to use this idea as a part of a pattern design in the future.

I was thinking of logos of fish with feet on car bumpers and the theory of evolution. This fish is extra-evolved because it has an opposable thumb!

Illustration Update: Shoplift Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Shiho Nakaza) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:38:00 +0000

My illustration, which appeared under "Illustration Friday: Grow" post got picked up by a UK-based online exhibit at Shoplift Gallery - feel free to stop by to take a look at variety of art and photography shown here!