Human Draw In

Hey all... This past weekend we went to Napa to do some live art for an event called the Human Draw In. The idea was to get 60 artists together to draw in 1 hour shifts. After you're done, they hang your art and attendees can purchase it for $50, and all the money goes to charity to help disabled artists.

It was a fun event, really well put together and a great support for a good cause. The staff was energetic and friendly, and there were supplies if you didn't want to bring your own. All we had to do was to show up and draw. IC's shift started at 8:15PM-9:15PM. Myself, Shwin, Ant, Dyno, Tim G & Raw-Ul all participated, and they even had little title cards you put next to your area so people walking by could see what you were doing.

I was trying to come up with a good idea which would be easy enough to complete within an hour, because knowing me, I can spend a great deal of time on a piece trying to detail tiny things. I knew I wanted to use the colored ink bottles I had on hand and never really got to use. I also had some watercolor paper that was gathering dust. I wanted big blocks of one or two colors and then some kind of line work somewhere. While struggling with sketches Saturday afternoon, I just nixed it and decided to do another "hairrow" girl. This would ensure that I'm drawing something I already know how to do, so it wouldn't take up too much time.

I was suprised to realize when I sat down that I was a little more nervous than doing actual live art at other events. I think it was mostly because the atmosphere of the Human Draw In was a little different than other live events, seeing as we were working individually on small pieces of work. So in order for spectators to see what you were doing, they had to be pretty much all over your shoulder. Also, my live art is almost entirely done while standing... meaning I can move around, walk back and forth, look at my piece from afar, etc., etc. At the table, I had to sit down and sit still. Add that to the fact that for some reason, I had a lot of energy that night, so my knee was moving up and down like a jackhammer. The other difficulty, which I didn't even think about, was having other artists at the table. Trying to do fine linework when the table is shaking due to bumping, erasing, shifting etc. was hard on such a small piece, but I think I adjusted fine.

In the end, my piece was sold way before it was even finished. There were a lot of people there, so every 5 minutes there was a new person looking over my shoulder, but there was one lady in particular that was regularly checking up on my progress. Sure enough, when I was about halfway done, she asked one of the organizers if she could purchase my piece before it hit the wall. I was pretty astounded and proud at the same time, mostly because I didn't expect anyone in Napa to really want one of these girls. I'm not trying to stereotype anyone here, but let's just say that I know my demographic.

Anywho, here's some snaps I took of my piece and the nice lady (sorry, I forgot your name! I'm soooo bad at names) who bought my piece. She said it reminded her of her friend who does comic art in LA. I was secretly hoping it was one of the guys I look up to in the industry, but thats just me being vain... hahaha... here's the pix, enjoy!