Postal Sketches

2012...

2012-01-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hellos...
I'm very sorry for the long break. The holidays and a brand new job in a new county has me all scatterbrained. To make up for this, we have 2 guest artists coming up this round. The next post should have 2 spreads for your enjoyment.

In the mean time check out Chris' recent illustrations and Matt's designs.

Cheers to another colorful year! Thank you for sticking with us.
...Cins

Round 8...

2011-10-31T05:05:00.000-07:00

I love the evolution of our sketchbook. Life's been crazy and so is the art inside this project.

Thank you to my artists, as always.
Happy Halloween All!

Spread 42...

2011-10-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

Barbaric Mysical Bored by Jen Herr.
mixed media

Game O' Death (spread 41)

2011-09-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

Continuing the Bigfoot theme, I decided to draw things from Bigfoot's point of view. Actually this is just a scene from Game of Death, Bruce Lee's last (unfinished) movie where he fought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yes, Kareem. The basketball star kicks Lee leaving his giant footprint on his chest. The rest is filmmaking history.

Spread #40

2011-09-21T20:27:00.001-07:00

-by Eileen Bertumen

Spread 39er

2011-08-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing the tree theme, I wanted to put the two pages stuck together to some use... There's some tactile fun to this one that you have to feel in person to get. [Hope it doesn't jam up the pages following it.]

-ck

Spread 38

2011-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

by Rachel Peterson

Spread 37...

2011-03-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of flying with this sketchbook, just not this little birdy. It might not have life in it anymore, but it sure as hell will have some color. I may have gotten a bit carried away from my original vision.

I'm mailing the sketchbook out of California for the first time to Rachel in Oregon next!

Two Years Old...

2011-03-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

A few days ago was Postal Sketches second birthday! Life got a bit busy for our artists during round 5/6, so we've been slow to post, but we're still drawing. I went to China for a while, Jen moved, Eileen and Jeff got married in Hawaii, Matt has been freelancing like crazy and Chris released comic books and displayed in art shows. Even when life gets hectic, we haven't forgotten the project, so keep watching for posts. Thank you for the continued support. Round 7 commences soon!

Captain Alfie

2011-03-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

Actually this was supposed to be a straight illustration of Hitchcock until I messed up the right eye. Since I couldn't use my precious "ctrl z", I made him into a pirate. I think it worked out for the better.

35

2011-03-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

Here is Jen Herr's wonderful display of Typography for spread 35!

Spread Thirty-Four

2010-11-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Don't ask me how I came to this realization, but by "regular speed," I mean 13 - 21 mph. A cheetah typically runs at 70 - 75 mph. Oh yeah, and I opted out of using color this time because I don't think it's been working for me! =(

33

2010-10-26T05:10:00.001-07:00

Here's another duo of creatures. The sketchbook did indeed make it up to a rainy San Francisco for A.P.E., but I couldn't find time to draw in it. We did talk about how cool dinosaurs are on more than one occasion over the weekend though, so here they are:

Dozer-Rex and Tricera-bot!

I think I would have wanted these as toys as a kid. And they would say stuff like this--

"Hey Rex, who's that terrible, awful, unpleasant, dreadful, horrible, frightful lizard over there?"

"Him? Oh, that's Thesaurus."

spread thirty two...

2010-10-07T21:52:00.001-07:00

We're rearranging round 5 and 6 a bit since I will be traveling for about a month. In the vain of fabled creatures, I drew a dragon phoenix duo. I can't help it, I've been drawing phoenixes all summer. I needed some calming colors; I wish the blues came out better in the scan.

...cindy

Matthew Dow Graphic Design

2010-10-07T08:56:00.001-07:00

Postal Sketches regular, Matt Dow, has launched his portfolio website! Check it out here.

The Predator Hierarchy

2010-10-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

The dragon from the previous spread looked more like a cockatrice when I drew him. So just in case you are wondering, the Predator Hierarchy goes Flamingo: Hyena: Giant Cockatrice. Actually . . . isn't it strange that the Cockatrice and the McRib have never been seen in the same room together? Anyways, I decided to leave it in pencil to match the previous artist's pencil sketch.

Spread 30...

2010-09-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is a quick sketch of a painting I might do later on. I really liked the paper idea of the previous artist so I took that and made a paper scroll dragon. I'll leave the rest up to interpretations. Enjoy!

Guest Artist: Eli Trinh

2010-09-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Eli Trinh is an art freak and our new guest artist! He admires anything in the creative field ranging from architecture, graphic design, music, products, machines, movies, etc. Right now Eli is a freelance designer, illustrator, and graphic design. He's worked in games, animation, toys, products, clothes, you name it, but in his spare time he works on his own paintings hoping someday to get a gallery show going. Eli's favorite candy are those small Mexican strawberry tamarindo ball candies from the ice cream truck.

He has prints sold by Disney at http://www.acmearchivesdirect.com/product.jhtm?id=1982&cid=484 and some work published in some Disney books. Check out his blog http://elitrinh.blogspot.com/ and his site at http://elitrinh.daportfolio.com/

Spread Two-Niner

2010-09-09T02:49:00.000-07:00

The lines on the face from the previous page reminded me of notebook paper-- so this spread turned into 'Stationary Wars' or something. This is the type of world my head would be in if I were in a cubicle all day~

[Calligraphy pen, H2O + xylene transfer from a book about space exploration]

Spread Twenty Eight...

2010-08-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

After a dark round of imagery, I thought it was time to make things sunnier. Sunglasses wise that is. The idea I had in my head looks nothing like my final result. My night of drawing turned into a stab at using mixed media and going for a more graphic style than I'm used to by playing with Sharpies.

Life has been busy for the Postal Sketches artists. I have a new guest artist lined up and I'm eager to see what comes out of round five!

Technically, Spread Twenty Seven =)

2010-08-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since it seems we were on the concept of all things scary, I googled "blacula" and in the image bank I found a photo of Little Jon and I simply couldn't resist!

Summer Update 2010...

2010-07-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Since our sketchbook seems to be resting in Orange County, I thought I'd bring you an update on the activities of some of our artists...
Chris will be showing at the Huntington Beach Art Walk 222 July 21, 2010, 6-9pm. New original screen prints from the "Nouveau Robotica" series will be available.
Matt has been on a mission to declare McRib sandwiches the new ambrosia.
Animation Duo, Eileen and Jeff stopped by Gallery 1988 LA's "Crazy 4 Cult 4" show opening night. This is a fantastic show that is open until July 30, 2010.
Cindy has also been frequenting art shows, most recently Brandi Milne's "My Heart Shall Not Fear" and Natalia Fabia's "Fashionable Aftertaste Without End", both at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City.
Sorry for the delay. Hope to be posting new pages soon.
Have a fabulous summer!

EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

Frankenstein and Leon ('The Professional') are pretty similar if you stop and think about it, which is why I tried to combine the two in this sketch.

Spread 25

2010-04-29T16:25:00.001-07:00

Working from the Frankenstein-like imagery from Aaron, I wanted to see the character come alive. I mostly drew this at a local Drink & Draw session where I showed off the book's many talents to the folks there.

I've been playing a lot with mixing media recently so this one is quite a real patchwork-- inkbrush pen, coffee stains, Higgins color inks, and watercolor. I'm pretty stiff in the morning so I thought adding coffee might help...

There was just the tiniest smudge where Frankie's left elbow ended up from the previous sketch so I decided to use that as part of the texture.

Now the page for the next spread is all wrinkly from the water.... Matt can have fun with that~

Spread Twenty Four...

2010-04-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

"I carried over Cindy's heart, and that's my Stickman character that I draw over and over. I had the idea and the sketch for a while, then I went to a coffee shop to finish it all off with ink and whiteout." -Aaron Little

Chris Kawagiwa Illustration

2010-03-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Chris has launched his Illustration fan page on facebook. Click here or on the image to join in on the page if you like cookies :P He'll be posting storyboards and other fantastic illustrations!

Guest Artist: Aaron Little...

2010-03-26T08:42:00.001-07:00

We have a new artist for round four. Aaron Little is a gallery artist, graphic/environmental designer. He likes traditional drawing and painting, graphic novel illustration; digital painting, graphic design, music and video editing; fiction writing. Aaron has a BFA in Illustration at CSUF and recently showed at Hibbleton gallery.
check out his work on coroflot: illustrator/designer
Contact at: aaron.little@gmail.com

4887 miles...

2010-03-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

One year ago yesterday, the sketchbook for Postal Sketches was purchased, and it was first mailed out two days later. We have finished 3 rounds of mailing and invited 5 guest artists to help us mix it up. I used mapquest to add up all the miles, including trips to Chicago and San Francisco, and the sketchbook as traveled about 4887 miles so far! Thanks for all the art and support. I'm anticipating another fantastic year.

spread twenty three...

2010-03-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Keli's depiction of Princess Langwidere inspired a sketch of disembodied parts. Actually, a lot of things have been reminding me of pieces of bodies like this arm pillow and this lap pillow, haha. I've been going through an obsession with the human heart, like most girls, but probably not as literal.

I'm hoping for a local gallery artist to get back to me this week, and the sketchbook will soon return to Chris!

round three...

2010-03-17T15:37:00.001-07:00

The highlight of my week arrived in my mail box today! Since it's suddenly a nice day out after our little earthquake in Socal, I thought I'd take pictures of sketchbook outside. The corners are getting a bit worn, and we have a few fun additions to the cover after round three. I love the drippy ink on the edges of the pages.
So during round three we had four guest artists, lots of feathers and whimsical drawings. Thanks to all my artists! I can't wait to see what round four brings...

Spread Twenty Two...

2010-03-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks for letting me draw something in the sketchbook! Since Jeff drew characters from my favorite childhood movie I decided to draw a scene from another movie I used to watch as a kid: Return to Oz. In this disturbing '80's film Dorothy returns to oz and meets Princess Langwidere who decapitates women and uses their heads as fashion accessories (left). She also makes new friends like the talking chicken billina, the tik tok man, and ozma of oz (right). Hope you guys like it! :)

-Keli Sakamoto

Guest Artist: Keli Sakamoto

2010-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

We have a new guest artist coming up! I am pleased to introduce Keli Sakamoto!!

With a major in Psychology, Keli is currently working on her second major in Graphic Design. She's an AMAZING writer, an illustrator, and video-game connoisseur. She also loves tree Octopi, staring endlessly at the computer or tv screen, singing horribly, sockng pandas, and sending 9th graders to deserted islands to battle it out to the death (her words, not mine!)

Here are a few samples of her recent work:

Oh yeah, and she also hates nature.

Spread Twenty-One

2010-03-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hi gang! Here is my sketch inspired by my lady's artwork. Since she painted a very famous blonde (Gwen Stefani), I thought I'd paint the second most famous blonde...Buttercup from the film/book The Princess Bride! Hope you guys enjoy and can't wait to see the next piece! Thanks!

-Jeff

Spread Twenty

2010-02-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by Tawny's message, "Rock with it, baby!" and I thought, what rocks?. . .Of course, No Doubt freakin' rocks!!! =) I've included a few notes and lyrics to "It's My Life" because I was also moved by Tawny's journey to find her place in the art world.

Postal Sketches Street Team

2010-01-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

The Postal Sketches Street Team just hit up Pop Monster in Torrance!

(No, I did not take that Aaron Carter Postcard)

Spread Nineteen

2010-01-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

"Rock with it baby" is a phrase I've been using lately because I've been making a lot of mixes. Rock and roll has been the main influence in my drum and ukulele practice pushing me to play faster and more aggressively.

For my sketch, I wanted to experiment with shape and form contrasting simple rock like shapes against hand done typography. I didn't plan the end result, I began by drawing one type of thing and then used half of the composition to draw something different. Then I joined the two together.

My life is faced with many dualities; I'm experimenting with my various styles of drawing, and experimenting with my music, practicing drums and ukulele. I'm enjoying letting it flow to see what happens organically in the moment.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T14:43:00.001-08:00

Thank you for your support in 2009!

Guest Artist: Tawny Rose

2009-12-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

we have a new guest artist coming up! i am pleased to introduce Tawny Rose...

she's a designer, photographer and artist. she also loves bikes, ukuleles, and hamburgers with french fries. Tawny went to Art Institute of California and does graphic design for Roadtrip Nation.
see? she made this awesome poster:
i hijacked this information from her site and her facebook. now its your turn to check out her site.

website: http://www.tawnyrose.com/
email: hoot@tawnyrose.com

Spread Eighteen

2009-12-24T00:50:00.001-08:00

Inspired by Matt's sketch of clocks and a sole man in a destroyed city, I decided that I wanted to do a typographic study of disintegration and destruction. I chose to use Bodoni as I think this typeface contains some of the most beautiful characters ever designed. Drawing the lovely curves was an exercise in worship as creating the characters by hand really made me aware of the intricate details of each form.

As we close on the year, I thought this sketch was pretty representative of 2009 as the economic crisis definitely affected all of our lives. I hope everyone has a restorative holiday and a wonderful new year. Next we will see the first sketch by new member, Tawny Rose!

Invasion of the Masters...

2009-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

While we wait for our next spread to be posted...vote for our friend Josh Kemble on Threadless!

Time Enough at Last!

2009-11-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

Alright, here it is, sorry it took so long to get this up here but its been a busy couple weeks! . . . inspired by the clocks of the last spread and a Twilight Zone episode, our protagonist's finds himself in the near distance future with all the time to draw in postal sketches but with no one to send it too. Oh what a cruel mistress Time can be . . .

Postal Sketches Progression

2009-11-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

I thought this one would be pretty interesting . . . it is a snapshot of the progression of the sketches as it slowly overtakes the white canvas of the empty pages. Pretty cool, huh?

Spread Sixteen!

2009-11-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

Here it is! In all its splendid glory, spread sixteen by the amazingly colorful Rachel Peterson. The origami swans were a nice touch. There seems to be a bird theme this round of sketches . . .

Comment from Rachel: "I had SO much fun covering the page with COLOR and textures! :D I was also inspired by Chris's small pocket watch on the previous spread (which is brilliant!)
I was watching parts of Alice in Wonderland that night too.... :D Definitely inspired by the beautiful and creative, playfulness s of that movie!"

Spread Fifteen...

2009-10-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

We've gone to the deep ocean in the first round, so thought we might climb towards the sky a bit. I was staring at that peacock for a while-- decided to go with some sort of feathered friend.
I had the sketchbook with me this weekend at the Alternative Press Expo in San Fransisco. I had a great time meeting folks and hanging out with some gamer pals who mentioned an upcoming game "The Last Guardian", which got me thinkin...
fun with big bird :]

(drawn in ink n' coffee, in a coffee shop~)

Spread Fourteen...

2009-10-06T12:50:00.001-07:00

so i took the sketchbook with me on vacation. i drew this during my flights to and from chicago. i currently have an obsession with peacocks and of course i was inspired by the crazy pattern in ichae ackso's page.

round two...

2009-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

so we finally completed round two, and i'm always delighted to see the sketchbook come back to me with new embellishments...
witty, huh? i love it.

Spread Thirteen...

2009-09-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

the long awaited spread thirteen is here!
the amazing ichae ackso covered this page in intricate, mind boggling detail.

Chris' Corvus Moon on Threadless...

2009-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

we're still working on all kinds of art, even without the sketchbook in hand. won't you vote for Chris' new T-shirt design on Threadless?

"A murder of crows
one finds a fanciful perch
almost haiku ..."

our other projects...

2009-09-13T11:15:00.001-07:00

in case you're wondering what some of the regular artists are doing while waiting for the sketchbook to come back to them:

cindy has been running around collecting artists autograph/sketches, most recently luke chueh's at his solo "inferno" at gallery 1988.
jen made this fantastic bulletin board with a frame and foam core; click on the image to link to her blog post about it.
and chris is preparing for a demo at Walsers; click on the image for the eintire flyer and info on the sessions.
if you want to meet chris, i suggest signing up for a demo session, it's free, but seats are limited!

summer break...

2009-08-25T15:17:00.001-07:00

my artists are taking a little summer break. sorry for the delay.
we all need a little breather though, don't you think?
we'll be posting soon though.

the sketchbook is on its way to Ichae Ackso.
this is his twitter, his myspace link, his facebook link and of course his youtube channel. he shows at galleries all over southern california and regularly at Hive Gallery and Studios.
i leave you with the link to Ichae Ackso's site bio on Hive Gallery & Studio.

Spread twelve

2009-07-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Jen's flowers made me think of Valentine's day and love and then naturally, Indiana Jones!

chris' website launch...

2009-07-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

our Chris Kawagiwa has finally launched his website! go see his art-ness here. now.

Spread Eleven

2009-07-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

I was totally in love with Rachel's use of color and wanted to do a bright, summery color study with reds and pinks. It's on to Eileen!

Spread Ten...

2009-06-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

The page I did was inspired mainly by Chris's huge eyeball monster. :)
I thought about what could be attached to it and came up with this gnarly deep sea like creature.
A lot of my recent sketches have been inspired by these crazy deep sea creatures that are thus so far unknown to man-kind.
Imagine what kind of creatures live 800 miles deep in the boiling waters of volcanic sea vents?
I took the liberty of having one of my creatures devour the Protagonist, thus furthering the narrative. :)
I liked the little submarines from Spread 5- they seemed to fit right in, where I want to be- exploring!

Thats all for now! I cant wait to see what Jen comes up with next!

-Rachel Peterson

guest artist: rachel peterson

2009-06-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

this round, we have a guest artist! Rachel Peterson is an amazing illustrator who is mainly influenced by nature and human anatomy on a cellular level.

Rachel went to CSULB, and earned a BFA in Illustration and a Certificate in BioMedical Art. She has shown in galleries in LA, Culver City and New York. Our versatile artist also works as a Designer and Graphic Artist. Check out her work on her blog.

blog: www.rachelpeterson.wordpress.com
email: rpeterson523@gmail.com

number 9... number 9... number 9...

2009-06-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Continuing with Matt's theme of smaller stake wielding protagonists fighting larger adversaries...
I was a bit influenced by a movie I was watching called "Northfork" that had to do with angels, and also had some old Hellboy comics lying around. I liked Jenn's use of acrylic (?) so gave that a try as well.

--ck

Numero Ocho

2009-06-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

This scene taken from an icy tundra encounter was inspired by Cindy's snow queen.

Spread Seven...

2009-05-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

i was mesmerized by jeff's spread, just like everyone else. staring at all the fantastic characters, i wanted to do a fantasy character too. now i present you my snow queen. yes, i know her head is too big.

we're switching up the mailing circle a little bit. while i have the sketchbook this week, i may or may not be able to get another local artist to draw in it. after that, chris (spread two) and matt (spread three) are switching positions this round to accommodate vacationing.

round one...

2009-05-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

our traveling sketchbook completed round one and made it home on friday...i was ecstatic to find a reinterpretation of the original sticker on the cover. then looking at the sketches, i was amazed by the details we cannot see online. jpegs really don't do the art justice. i love what everyone has done so far. this wasn't the original intention of this project, but i think this collaboration is a good way to challenge each other and ourselves...

sketchbook beats...

2009-05-17T13:34:00.001-07:00

this isn't postal sketches related, but it is sketchbook related. hehe i love it.

Sketchbook Beats from Andrew Spirk on Vimeo.

amazing what a little music and animation can do.

Spread six

2009-05-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Here is my contribution to our sketchbook! Ei's piece reminded me to look back at all my dreams and inspirations throughout the years. I thought I'd pay homage to all the art that has molded me into the nerd/geek/artist that I am today! Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed sketching it.

Jeff Delgado

animation duo...

2009-05-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

in anticipation of our next spread, please welcome our newest artist...

Jeff Delgado [jeffdelgado] South Park animator, impressive illustrator, typical geek, and pending Mr. Eileen!
Contact at: yodathumb7@yahoo.com

jeff and eileen are engaged. i have decided to call them our Animation Duo.

Spread five

2009-05-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I finally got our new computer and I was finally able to post up my sketch. We haven't lost time though 'cause Jeff has already been hard at work on his spread =) Anyway, I was really inspired by the organic nature of Jen's sketch and. . .well. . .I guess I can't say too much about mine, but it would be fun if Jeff gets my reference!

twitter!

2009-05-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Postal Sketches is on Twitter as of today!
i may be over doing it with the social networking pages, but this IS a traveling sketchbook; socializing is a speacialty.

http://twitter.com/PostalSketches

follow us!

Spread Four

2009-04-28T16:19:00.001-07:00

Last week I read a headline on Yahoo! News that instantly struck me as an intriguing and resonant phrase: "All Octopus are Poisonous." I was inspired by the lone creeping tentacle from Spread Three and went from there. (Also, I know that "All Octopuses are Poisonous" is grammatically correct, but I distinctly remember reading All Octopus are Poisonous so I went with that.)

Sent to Eileen yesterday, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Our Fifth Artist...

2009-04-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome our fifth artist, Eileen Bertumen, to complete our mailing circle!

Eileen Bertumen [eiland] is an animator, graphic designer, motion graphics guru, and ping pong paddle perfectionist.
Contact at: totally_ei@yahoo.com

Any other interested artists are still welcome to do one shot spreads; just contact Cindy.

Ahoy! Spread Three

2009-04-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

Here it is! Long awaited and never to be duplicated, my sketch finally arrives on this blog. This sketch is actually based on a true story of mine . . . Next on the list get ready!

Spread Two...

2009-04-05T14:27:00.001-07:00

Keeping in the Greek tradition of sorts after the letter Pi-- I liked Cindy's colors too. There are some details in here that hopefully the next artist will catch... and release :P.

New Artists...

2009-03-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

Please welcome two artists to our mailing circle!

Jen Herr [les cahiers] is a foley artist, etsy extraordinaire, design lover.
Contact at: jen.herr@gmail.com

Matthew Dow [alive on the inside] is a freelance graphic designer, threadless illustrator, film artist.
Contact at: dowmatthew@yahoo.com

Spread One...

2009-03-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

for some reason, during our first chat about this project pi came up in the conversation...

Our New Project...

2009-03-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

i love a new sketchbook. every artist has a weakness for art supplies. this one i'm going to share, because this sketchbook has caught a case of wanderlust...this sketchbook will be mailed from artist to artist. each artist has one week to complete a spread using one element from the previous spread as inspiration and mail it to the next artist.
i actually got the idea from here, must give credit to the originals. hopefully we'll have fun with our own...