A Quiet Moment Amongst Friends

How To Make Your Own Sea Monster

My friend Jake C was cooking recently when he noticed that his silicone oven mitt looked like the Loch Ness Monster. He followed a few simple steps to turn it into a real sea monster. Here's how you can do it at home:

Step 1: Put a silicone oven mitt on your hand and hold it out so it looks like a lizard. 

Step 2: Put something on the mitt to make eyes and nostrils (buttons or olives, it doesn't really matter).

Step 3: Take a digital photograph of the mitt. (Jake used his cellphone to take and edit the photo, so you don't need to be a genius or rich, okay?)
 
 

Step 4: Import the photo into a digital art program and add a bunch of fog, hills, and waves. You can also add optional features like fish, boats, or the moon. Have fun! 

Step 5: Send it to all your friends. 

That's all there is to it. I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a sea monster. 

 

Hey, Everybody, I'm Back: 33 Phoenix Drawings

33 drawings, ink on paper, digital color, 2010

A friend, Cielo L, approached me recently and asked for help designing a phoenix logo for a website she's creating. I told her that most of my drawings look like low-budget children's cartoons, but I'd be happy to give it a shot. I started by making a few rough sketches, then I drew a few more, and then I got really into the concept of the phoenix, and ended up sketching phoenixes for days and days.

There are numerous versions of the phoenix myth throughout the world. The basic story involves a bird that catches fire, burns down into a pile of ash, and then is reborn as a new magical bird that lives for hundreds of years until it catches fire again and the cycle repeats. I was so busy drawing that I didn't have time to do any research on actual phoenixes. All of these sketches are based on my pre-existing knowledge. 

Here are my thirty-three best drawings. Even if you're the kind of person who hates phoenixes, I'm sure you'll find at least one of these that you like. 

 

 

 

UPDATE: So many phoenixes! I'm going to take all these drawings to Kinkos and make a zine called The Phoenix Tribune. It'll consist entirely of drawings, photos, essays, and poems about phoenixes. I'm going to leave stacks of it at coffee shops all over town. I'll keep you posted. 

UPDATE 2: Cielo isn't sure if these are going to work for her site. (What?) Apparently there are other artists in the running and she's going for a very specific type of phoenix. (But I thought I drew all the types!) Either way, I'm glad I did this. By drawing forty-plus phoenixes in two weeks, I've grown far more comfortable with the concept of burning things down to nothing and starting over again.

Mystery Tree

Doodle, ink on paper, 5 x 20 inches, 2010

  

No one knows what type of animal lives in the hollowed-out interior of the dead tree. It's not an earless rabbit, that's for sure.

The Gentleman Lion

Drawing, pencil on paper, 5 x 8 inches, 2010

 

Over the weekend, I spent six hours watching basketball and drawing. I grabbed a magazine that was lying around my apartment and drew a lion's head that was part of the cover story. Then, instead of drawing a normal lion body, I drew the body of Arthur Conan Doyle, who was featured in another story.

UPDATE: I just realized this drawing could easily be mistaken as a pictogram for a dandelion (Dandy + Lion). That's not what I was going for, I promise. 

A Safe Space For Your Cellphone Art

As the decade draws to a close, everyone is walking around with camera and internet phones. Many of these phones now have art programs similar to MS Paint or Photoshop. To take full advantage of the technological riches of our time, I've dedicated the Friend Art photo gallery on the right side of the page as a place for friends, or friends of friends, to contribute photos or any art created with a mobile device. 

Here are some recent examples:

While riding the train to work, Jake C used the iPhone app Brushes to draw a vengeful wizard standing amidst a pile of slain knights.

 

Anna U, my sister, used her phone to snap a photo of the birthday cake she made for her boyfriend Mike. 

 

She also took this shot of Native Americans at the Natural History Museum in New York. 

Nico C took a snapshot of some mannequin legs next to a football advertisement. 

 

He also used his quick reflexes to capture the exact moment when his toilet screamed at him.

And this last piece is my own mixed-media contribution. I made a doodle of a ghost catcher, photographed it, and gave it a title. Catchin' ghosts. 

Cellphone art is easy. Please send it in to aquietmoment@gmail.com.