Sketchcrawl 34: SF Ferry Building

SF Ferry Building

Saturday January 21st was the 34th World Wide Sketchcrawl, and after missing the last event it was nice to get back out there and spend the day sketching. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a few months and the Ferry Building is always wonderful to visit. I pretty much spent the day in front of the Blue Bottle kiosk outside since there's always a line and plenty of people to sketch.

There really was a guy with a wolf mask playing the violin, no joke!

I wanted to focus on people rather than environment and architecture. This is the only full page I finished, though there are a few more sketches that will appear in later posts when the pages are finished. The Farmer's Market that happens on Saturdays at the Ferry Building is always a treat, and never leaves you want of interesting characters to draw, hence the monster violinist on the page. 

Michael and the Blue Bottle Farmer's Market team are the best!

 I'll be adding some new updates with some really fun new work soon so stay tuned! Cheers everyone!

Not sure how my iPhone did this to the picture but I like it.

SOPA/PIPA

Book Trailer: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

So, this is awesome! I've been working with my beautiful and talented friend, Nina LaCour, author of The Disenchantments, on fictional tour posters for the band, The Disenchantments. Pretty soon the posters wil be available for purchase but this is the first look at one of the posters in the series in the world premiere trailer for the book that was posted on MTV.com.

Sketchbook: SF-NY, NY-SF

This lady was ready for Vegas, Hotcha!

Welcome to 2012! Before the Holidays my wife and I went to New York for two days and I tried to make the most of the short trip. I tried to set up a few meetings but who knew people would be so busy just before Christmas, and during finals week for those who were teaching. My wife was there for business so that left me with both days completely open. We stayed at the Washington Square Hotel which put us right next to the Arch and NYU. We were lucky enough to be there during a couple of days that weren't too cold yet as well. Though that unseasonal weather worried some of the natives it made us feel right at home.

Resurrection.

Christopher St.

Wonderful signage.

New York is a lot like San Francisco in that it's easy to navigate if you're used to urban landscapes. I walked for miles on our first day in the city and took a ton of pictures. I have to say that it's hard to find a good cup of coffee on the island, until Blue Bottle opens at Rock Plaza, but I did manage to find myself at Joe and they really nailed it. I actually went to find the Mud Truck but it wasn't at the corner they said it would be (Also see Stumptown). I plan on going to all these fine establishments next time around when I have more time.

Cobbles on the backside of NYU.

Joe wants you to get your crunk on.

Joe.

Also, New York loves meat, and it's a very serious matter there. The best burgers I've ever had in my life were both in NY. In my 2008 trip to NY I actually started my love affair with the best burger of my life at The Spotted Pig. I'm not a food blogger so I'll keep this part short but holy hell is that burger good! It comes with a pile of shoestring fries that are complimented with fried garlic and rosemary. Yes, it's still amazing to this day. for the next burger, subsequently our first chronologically of the trip, was at the wonderful Minetta Tavern. We got in late, Tues night/Weds morning and were starving and all wound up from the flight. We hopped on Yelp and there it was, calling us in with their pre-prohibition cocktail menu and their late night supper. The walls of this place have some wonderful caricatures hanging, and it exudes the character of an old city tavern ripe with history. Well, the burger there too is phenomenal! They have a more expensive version with 45 day aged beef but we opted for the purist route. I highly recommend going out of your way for these places.

Yep, there too.

Flatiron, say what!

...and the Met! Stieglitz show and Infinite Jest were amazing!

On a side note, if you're looking for good drink in the old style, try Amor y Amargo. It's owned by the good folks of Death & Co. fame but seems a little more accessible. They make their own vermouth that's on tap and it's worth stopping by just for that. Chris was our Barkeep and she was legit.

Happy 2012 everyone! May the New Year bring you happiness and prosperity. Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

Just like it says. Have a wonderful, safe, and fun holiday season. Cheers everyone!

Sketchtravel: My Page!

©eliwharris

I've waited long enough to show my page in the Sketchtravel book, and since it's published I think it's time to put it on here for all to see. I had a wonderful time at CTNX and would like to thank Dice and everyone at Stuart Ng for a great signing. I was completely humbled, as I always am in these situations, to be sitting next to some of my heroes signing a book with them. Although things went very smoothly, I was just amazed at the volume of people in line for the signing. It just kept going. A huge thanks to all who sat in the cold just to have us sign your Sketchtravel books, and also to the girl that had us sign her sketchbook. That was legit. I hope to see everyone again soon and be sure to pick up your copy of Sketchravel if you haven't already. Cheers!

Sketchtravel Signing at CTNX!

Bonjour! Sketchtravel has a home here in the states courtesy of Stuart Ng Books in Torrance, Ca. and I'm happy to announce the North American launch of Sketchtravel at CTNX this year. I'm so honored to be a part of this project and can't wait to see the gang in one place. I may be a contributor but, truth be told, there are Gods of the industry in this book and I'm supremely humbled and giddy about getting my book signed. If you're around Burbank, even if you aren't attending CTNX, please stop by and support the cause and say hello. Also, meet your heroes in the process. Thanks again to Chene, Stuart Ng, and CTN for putting this together. All the info is below, cheers!

Here are the details for the event: 

Day: Saturday

Date: November 19, 2011

Time: 6:00-9:45 PM

Place: CTN Animation Expo 

Marriott Burbank Airport

2500 Hollywood Way

Burbank,California 91505 USA 

The signing & party will take place in Parlor Room 123.

PLEASE NOTE: The signing is scheduled for 1 hour from 6-7PM.

Sketchbook: Halloween Vampire Hunter

"The night was still young, and the evil was old."

All Hallows Eve is upon us and, with most certainty, also are the night walkers. Here's to a safe and creepy Halloween. Eat candy, drink, and be ghostly. Cheers!

Sketchbook: For the Birds

These two little gems have been sitting patiently in my sketchbook since before the VM debacle and it's well past due for them to be shown on the interwebz. The first sketch of the birds is much prettier in person, since those little light brown shades are actually gold spray paint that gives the page a wonderful sheen when moved around in the light. One day the screen will grasp iridescent light but until then this will have to do. 

In the second I took a page from my good friend Roman Muradov's playbook. I truly love his lines and story telling ability as well as his innate sense of character without having to have a reference in front of him. His work is a real pleasure and that's why I wanted to emulate his process. I hope you enjoy these and I'll be sure to post more soon. Cheers!

(Edit: I've fixed my RSS feed so feel free to subscribe. If you've already subscribed earlier you may need to retry now. Cheers!)

It's Been a Long Time

Heal.

I've been missing in action for quite some time now if you haven't noticed. I don't like to neglect my blog but have I got a whopper of a story for you. If you can, stick around for this emotional roller coaster of a post and get ready to laugh and cry and laugh some more. What a month and a half it's been. Truth tell, I don't remember much of it myself. You see, it all started at the end of August and the beginning of September. The Bay Area was on the verge of it's first Indian Summer in a couple of years. Ready for the warm weather, bike rides without arm warmers, and sitting on the patio with a cold beverage, I was stoked. I had work lined up and a lot of fun things planned for the warm September month. Things were looking good.

So, that's obviously the best time for me to get a tiny headache. But this was no mere cluster bomb, it was the mother off all headaches as I would soon find out. This bitch had claws! And it was feeding time: Eli Bourguignon with a side of slow Braised Meninges was the special of the week. Feeding time!

Long story short, I went to the Emergency room twice, and was admitted to the hospital for six days. Somehow I had gotten Viral Meningitis in the worst way possible. I lost 20 pounds and continue to have headaches to this day. Although the virus has long left my body I'm currently recovering from the fallout of the havoc reaped on my body. It's been over a month and I'm just now able to say I'm getting better. If it weren't for my family and the support of my friends I'd be a mental and physical mess right now.

I hope I can regain some of my readers and have plenty to post as I recover from this. I have a few things about my involvement with Sketchtravel to post already so please stop by and pass the word along. Thanks for everything!

Tarzan

   This started out as a demo for my class to show how to take a picture with your mobile device and import it into Photoshop with the simple touch of a button. It was just a quick pen and ink sketch but I ultimately decided to color it as well. A little practice can't hurt. I'm currently working on a Tarzan project for Pictorical and this was a way to work out some design decisions. It's still not finished since the figure is floating, but it works for now. Enjoy!

Sketchbook: Heading Out

Acrylic, Ink, Watercolor, Vine Charcoal

Brush Pen, Acrylic

I've been meaning to play around a little more in my sketchbooks lately and really explore some simple techniques that I know how to use but rarely employ. This first page served that purpose and felt nice in the end. I rarely paint entire pages, or outline figures, with black,  so this was a nice respite from the norm for me.

The second page was an exercise in observation at the DMV here in Oakland. I editorialized a bit but there were some colorful people around that made the drawing come easy. I was surprised that this is as far as I got as I was prepared to wait all day to finish my business. I have to hand it to the Oakland DMV, they don't mess around. I was in and out in no time at all.

Summer is making an appearance this week in NorCal and it's about time. Here's for some warm days this year! Cheers!

Kazuhiko Sano 1952-2011

Kazuhiko Sano

On May 31st 2011 Kazu Sano  left this world, and though he is no longer physically with us, his emotional mark has been left on thousands, if not millions, of us around the world. There are so many things I could say about my personal experience with Kazu, but I fear I couldn't do his impact on my life and work justice. I had the honor and privilege of being his student for multiple classes as well as giving presentations in his classes after I graduated. It's not often that we find ourselves in the presence of genius, and I cherished every opportunity I could get to be in the same room as him. He was a beautiful, gentle, lover of life and his artistic voice will ripple through time until the end of days.

I did this sketch of him in the Spring of 2008 in my Honors Portfolio class at the Academy. This was a juggernaut of a class with some of the strongest artists I've ever known. We will forever miss you Kazu.

Sketchcrawl 31: San Francisco

Bronze, gold, and silver pens never seem to translate in photographs.

I struggled in the first part of the day. It happens sometimes, smiley face!

The 31st International Sketchcrawl happened a couple of weeks ago and I got some good face time with the old Sketchbook. There was a great turnout for the San Francisco event that took place in the multicultural Mission District. Known for it's miasma of food, culture, nightlife, hipsters, and families The Mission was a great place to sketch. There's a whole mess of good food and coffee places (even if they kicked San Francisco coffee staple Blue Bottle out) to keep things interesting, and the overabundance of lurkers with "special brownies" at Dolores Park really make you feel like you're getting the whole SF experience. I'll just leave it at that. Enjoy the pages and thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

Vis-Dev Explorations

New! That's all I have for you for this post. More to come. There was another major quake in Japan last night and I still have some original Faces For Japan available. All proceeds go to Artists Help Japan, so,  if you still want to help the cause you may as well get something in return, instant gratification. Thanks everyone!