May 22nd - 27th Coffee shop drawings

I went to the Silverlake Jubilee last weekend, and had a great time. But initially, as I walked over to the Jubilee, I started feeling a little bit anxious because I wasn't carrying along with me a sketchbook to draw people. This desire to draw more was a little nuts, I know, particularly when you take into account that I had been drawing at Casbah for over an hour right before I made my way to the Jubilee. Like I said, a bit crazy. But drawing is kind of my crack. I know that one day, sooner than I think, I will wake up in a daze, not knowing what day it is, surrounded by the pages of the inked, finished pages of my comic book. And then, with a shaky hand, I will pick up my sketchbook and a pencil, and feverishly continue to draw. Come to think of it, maybe the story of the Red Shoes is a much more apt analogy than the crack... hmmm...

These are the very last pages of the sketchbook that I just finished filling up - I'm not quite at the whole filling-a-sketchbook-a-month pace that I was at in high school (since, unlike in high school, my having a social life nowadays kind of gets in the way of drawing every minute of every day, you know), but I did finish up this sketchbook within the course of 3 months, which I still think is pretty cool. These last few pages of the sketchbook were done at Casbah, Literati, and, to change it up a bit, Intelligentsia in Silverlake, which is a few doors down from Casbah. Yes, I finally caved in. What did it, you ask? I had been to Intelligentsia a few times before to draw people, and didn't really like it that much because I felt like the pastries and tea were overpriced (and as I've mentioned before, I don't drink coffee), and, if you're not a big fan of sitting outside (which I'm kind of not, depends on my mood), the seating arrangement inside is a little funky/unwelcoming/uncomfortable/not conducive to drawing people/arrrgghh. So, for the past few years that it's been open, I've been like, screw you, Intelligentsia, and your $4 pastries and awkward views of people I want to draw! But as I always see interesting looking people/smoking hot men sitting on the terrace outside of Intelligentsia whenever I pass by, I decided to give it another try. So you can imagine my delight when I poked my head in earlier this week, and I found that they actually have pastries there now that cost $2.50 - holy crap! Better be careful there, Intelligentsia, or your hipster clientele will think something is wrong with the pastries that don't cost $5. Whoa. Anyway, I did sit inside, and I ended up doing the drawing of the two chicks sitting on the stools, and the one of the woman with the short hair, that you see here. So I guess I'll be sitting down at the counter or chilling on the terrace of Intelligentsia when Casbah doesn't have that many people to draw. There are worse things than hanging out at a coffee shop that has a tendency to attract really good-looking people...

Oh, and if the two people who read this are wondering, yes, the second drawing from the bottom is indeed of me, done from memory. Sometimes, you just have to draw yourself looking sassy, bad-ass, and kind of awesome.