An Ultra-Styled Art Night
It's My Sketch Night
Do you like to draw? How do you feel about beautiful women? Drinks? It's all going to be at Folsom Street Foundry, Monday, February 24th. Oh, and it's free to attend.
You may already know of my clothed/costumed live drawing sessions, Pompsicle which ran every week for over 2 years in the Sacramento area. After my move to San Francisco, the sessions have continued in the capable hands of Ryan Cicak until last month when their venue closed. Anyway, I've been looking for a way to bring the ultra-styled art nights here. But it had to happen in the right way. A bigger, better way. And finally something has clicked in San Francisco!
My partner in crime, Amanda Storey will be modeling in vintage roller-fashion while we sketch , drink and snack. Even though this is a bit last minute, we want to show the good folks at Folsom Street Foundry how popular this sort of event can be. The place is huge and beatiful, with a bar, snacks, and lots of seating.
Bring your own sketching supplies.
Folsom Street Foundry
Monday 2-24, 5-7pm. 21 & up
1425 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Bag 'o' Movies: Success!
Walk Hard ...and some Paranorman
What happens when artists get together and draw from one movie that was pulled randomly from a sack? For the night of Feb 21st, 2014, I invited artists and movie lovers to Zerofriends' San Francisco store for Bag 'O' Movies. We put our favorite movies in a sack, pulled out one DVD and drew while the movie played on the big screen.
Donta Santistevan's selection, ParaNorman was pulled and we drew from that amazingly animated film...at least for half an hour. Due to some technical difficulties another film was pull from the bag, Walk Hard, The Dewey Cox Story. My movie. Totally by chance, I swear.
This went over even better because, aside from being one of the funnies movies ever made, it was better to draw from a live action film rather than something animated. Our personal styles were allowed to shine through like a freshly polished, farmhouse machete.
So this will be a regular thing! At least, I will be putting on some kind of event at the Zerofriends SF store, once a month. Let me know what you think. More Bag 'O' Movies or should we try another challenge next time?
-Ben
Ben Walker
Ben Walker
Lauren YS
Lauren YS
Josh Ellingson
Lauren YS again for the Win!
Bag 'o' Movies, Live Art event at Zerofriends, SF
This Friday, February 21st from 6:30-8ish I will be hosting “Bag ‘o’ Movies,” a live drawing event at Zerofriends, SF! Contributing artists will place a favorite movie in a bag. One of these movies will be selected at random then the artists will create works based on that film as we screen it at the shop. The works created will be available to purchase, and we will have a few giveaways as well. Everyone is welcome to join us. Hang out and watch or even draw along with us!
I'll be joined by:
Zerofriends SF is at 419 Haight (at Fillmore), San Francisco, CA.
Be on the look-out for the bags 'o' goodies I'm leaving around San Francisco in anticipation of Bag 'o' Movies!
And check back for photos and artwork from the event!
Live Caricatures from The Edwardian Ball
This last weekend, San Francisco saw the 2014 Edwardian Ball. I was invited to do live caricatures of attendees, Friday night. Here are a few of my favorites.
Yahoo! Poster Illustration 2014
I was recently asked to illustrate the poster for Yahoo!'s Master Inventor ceremony for the third consecutive year. Yahoo! chocks up a lot of patents. This yearly event recognizes the most innovative software engineers within the company who develop these patentable technologies. This job is a worthy challenge because patents and software engineering isn't as easy to pin down visually as say, a White Stripes show. Plus there's the challenge of getting the likeness of 8-12 engineers who live all over the world.
For this year's poster, my concept was to do something inspired by 80's electro-pop acts and imagery, specifically, Kraftwerk. The idea was to recall the excitement for computer technology that accompanied this time in musical history.
I put together some quick instructions for getting reference photos which were sent out to everyone being recognized. When I got all the photos back I laid them out in Photoshop, trying to keep perspective and their (estimated) heights in mind.
Then I Google Image searched "Mens suit," etc. to find dressed up bodies that loosely matched the engineers' bodies and poses. If you're wondering, I think this is fine because I didn't use any specific details of these pics. They just helped me flesh everything out in my mind. Photoshop's distortion tools helped with this step too.
Using as many layers of tracing paper as necessary, I drew all the dapper dudes (Yes, women are recognized too. This year, not so much). For a job like this I have to use my lucky pencil, a violet Col-Erase. Yes, I drew hands for no reason.
With the pencil drawing done and scanned I created the line art in Adobe Illustrator. I have to say thanks to Clay Butler for his Youtube tutorial on "inking" in Illustrator. Last year's poster was created with real-life ink on illustration board and colored in Photoshop. I went the vector direction this time because the folks at Yahoo! may ask me to re-arrange, or otherwise change the caricatures. Creating the final piece in Illustrator makes changes a lot easier.
Under the line art, I added another layer for basic shapes to fill out the suits and create some highlights bringing out the guys faces. Add some basic shapes and titles and Boom! the poster is ready to print.
Thanks for reading.
Live Art at The Edwardian Ball 2014
Photo courtesy of Edwardian Ball
As I celebrate this morning with a Hazelnut-Absinthe Latte, I am excited to announce that I will be part of the Edwardian Ball, 2014! I will be drawing attendees Live, Friday evening (8pm-2am, Jan.17).
My fingers are ready for the fanciness. I've been doing some practice portraits from photos in old yearbooks and history books. Here are a few examples of these brush and Ink sketches on watercolor paper. You can see all of them, plus my antics at the Ball by following my Instagram, @ArtofBenWalker. See more pics of the Edwardian Ball by searching #EdwardianBall.
Success! A Bizarro Sketch Night Recap
Thursday was Bizarro Sketch Night, a Benefit for Jamie Baker. I want to thank everyone who made it out to 111 Minna to make some imperfect art with their "bad hand." Jamie Baker had a great time and we raised over $1000 to go toward his medical expenses!
I know people are crazy-busy and probably fighting off the next super-flu, so I really want to thank everyone who took the time to be part of this event and support Jamie! Amanda Storey did an amazing job as Hostess and saleswoman so I could get a few drawings done. Brad, Micah and all The folks at 111 Minna were super helpful and I can't thank them enough for hosting us! Definitely check out this space for your next event. And thanks to Last Gasp's Ron Turner for donating copies of Dan Piraro's Bizarro books in honor of the cause.
Thank you, Bizarro Artists!
The Man! Jamie Baker
Photo by Rosa De Los Reyes
Guest DJ, Aaron Delachaux
If you liked the tunes, you can hear more from DJ, Aaron Delachaux, at the Edwardian Ball this weekend! Oh, and I will be there too, drawing caricatures, Live. Friday, Jan. 17th.
Bizarro Sketch Night - A Benefit for Jamie Baker
It's Bizarro Sketch Night!
I've posted a couple times about my friend Jamie Baker. He's one of my best friends and had a tough year. Well, I have rounded up some of our favorite Bay Area artists, cartoonists and animators to give him a boost. Tonight we are all getting together at 111 Minna Gallery to create art with our "Bad Hand." for Bizarro Sketch Night. We will all put aside our egos and make some imperfect art. It will be fun.
Featured Bizarro Artists:
James Baker (Jamie)
Michael Capozzola
Josh Ellingson
Emonic
Josh Herbolsheimer
John Hoffman
Eric Joyner
Julia Lundman
Iggy Medeiros
Scott Morse
Joe Mur
Rob Reger
Isabel Samaras
Donta Santistevan
Marcos Sorensen
Nate Stanton
Amanda Storey
Nicomi Nix Turner
Jean-Philippe Vine
Ben Walker
John Williams (Super Ugly)
Special guest DJ, Aaron Delachaux, 8-10pm.
If you can't make it to this event, feel free to check out Jamie's YouCaring fundraiser.
Thank you!
Digital Live Art
For the last five weeks I've been spending my Saturdays at the Samsung demo booth at Valley Fair mall, Santa Clara. As the Sketch Artist, it was my job to show off the drawing capabilities of the Note 3 and the S Note app by snapping pictures of shoppers and doodling over them. After a few weeks I found that I got a better response from people if I skipped the photo and just drew a caricature.
Drawing with a stylus on a hand-held devise takes some getting used to, but now that I've found a groove, I think the Note 3 is a nice tool for coming up with loose sketches and color roughs quickly. Also, the auto-sketching features in the Sketch n Draw app is pretty addictive.
If you have a Samsung devise, you can join the Pen.Up art sharing community and see everything I made. Here are a few of my favorites.
Live Art, Live Free
(Rhymes with I've Tart, Give Me)
Well, I'm officially a "Live Artist" now. I'd better update my Resume T-shirt.
What is Live Art? It's really just what I've always done, but faster and in front of an audience. There are a few events coming up where you can get art from me, live on the spot. Oh and its all totally FREE!*
Thursday, December 5th, Goorin Brothers on Haight st.
Goorin Brothers is celebrating the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. This Thursday, Dec. 5th, 6-9pm, come out to the Haight street shop (San Francisco) and raise a glass of / to booze. Purchase one of Goorin's fine Heritage Classic hats, or one from my collection, and I will draw a portrait of you in your new hat. And yes, that counts as FREE art. First come first serve!
Friday, January 17th, The Edwardian Ball, San Francisco
The Edwardian Ball is easily my favorite event of the year. And its coming up this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17th-18th.
Friday night I will be drawing portraits of attendees. Yes, buying a ticket for this amazing event and then getting a sketch from me at no additional cost counts a FREE*.
Saturday night I will be there, dancing and cavorting with my lady.
Check out the Edwardian Ball artwork we put on shot glasses last year.
Saturday(s), December 7th and 14th.
Do you enjoy my app, Westify but wish I could add ridiculous artwork to your digital photos, instantly and in person? If you are in the South Bay Area on Dec. 7th or 14th, make your way to the Westfield Valley Fair mall and stop by the Samsung demo booth. It's right in the center of the mall, under the food court. I will be there all day, taking pictures on a Note 3 and adding weird doodles to them. Ask what we can print your customized portrait on!
Also 100% FREE
I have another, very special live art event coming up, but this one deserve it's own post. More info very soon.
Here are some photos from a previous live art event, Ben Walker's Wheel of Wildlife at Zerofriends, San Francisco.
Thanks for reading,
Ben