Category Archives: craft

Experiments with Colour

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Well, that was interesting! I got a hankering to experiment with pastels the other day. I am not sure why. Then I remembered that I had a similar urge some years ago but had not got past the phase of actually investing in a few bits of equipment. So I dug them out and found a bit of time to experiment. pastel_experiment_18_jan_2015_small It is not a medium I’ve really done anything in before and I have a feeling it is a good additional way of exploring technique, and feeling out colour design for parts of the book later on. Who knows? Anyway, all I know is that without my […] Click to continue reading this post →

A Special Graphic Novel Panel!

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graphic_novel_event_postcardI’ll be on family leave this semester (because… see here), so that means I’ll be intensely busy with other matters most of the time, and will be doing a lot less in the areas of teaching, events, committees, etc. But there will be some things here and there, including things that I’d promised to do before I knew I’d be taking leave. One of them is a discussion on graphic novels for the Harman Academy of Polymathic Study here at USC. (While sitting up bleary-eyed with a very small person in the wee hours of Monday morning I designed the graphics for the postcard they will use for advertising the event. They kindly asked me if some samples of my work could be used, and so the graphic above is what I came up with (they added the logos and event info), made from parts of pages of the work-in-progress book.)

In various ways, the graphic novel is a nice example of the confluence of lots of disciplines and different modes of communication, and as such is a good “polymathic” topic to discuss with the students of the academy (part of the point of the enterprise is for them to learn about how going beyond the narrow constraints of subject or discipline can be of tremendous value, so they study people and creative endeavours that have benefited from that approach – see their website for more). I’ll be joined on the panel by Professor Henry Jenkins (from the Schools of Communication, Cinematic Arts, and Education), and Professor Dana Johnson (from the Department of English), both of whom are real experts in the graphic novel – they are involved in teaching the form, and […] Click to continue reading this post →

A Contract With…

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Good News Everyone!

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The other day I put my signature on a contract to publish The Book!! Some of you might know about my somewhat unusual book project. It is a graphic book, written and drawn by me, all about science. Please tell your friends about it, especially the ones who think that the standard popular science book is not for them. This is very much not the standard popular science book, precisely because I want to broaden the range of people who read about science. The graphic book form has been stunningly underused in my field (physics) and I want that to change.

I used to say “graphic novel style book”, but because of the (well known) problematic naming convention for the form, I’m trying to stay away from that term, because people get confused about what the book is. (Not a novel, for example.) Anyway, it is a highly unusual project that I’ve been excited about for some time, and blogging about from time to time. The last year has seen me doing less on production and more on trying to explore the publishing world to get it in print. (I really do mean printed on actual paper, or I’d have explored other options by now: The self-publishing world has matured interestingly, I’ve discovered in my researches.)

That venture into the world of dealing with publishers turned out to be a huge adventure I ought to write a book about… All I will say here is beware of pitching too original an idea to traditional publishing people. If they can’t […] Click to continue reading this post →

New Live Model!

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Sorry I’ve been quiet here the last week. I was busy with helping complete the acquisition of a new drawing subject! Within 24 hours of said acquisition, I found a few minutes to do a quick pencil sketch of him (as it turned out) in my notebook, through my profound lack-of-sleep fog. (I did a little bit of extra chiaroscuro finish work on it later on.)

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This is a whole new challenge, since: (1) his physical features are of course quite different in proportion to the usual grown-up faces I often draw, (2) when he is actually still enough to draw, I really ought to (2a) be catching up on […] Click to continue reading this post →

Grabbing Fun Shapes

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culver_city_building_8th_dec_2014_smallA quick sketch of a building in Culver City, done while waiting for a meeting to finish (I was in my occasional role as chauffeur). A very classic and pleasing combination of shapes for Southern California. (I splashed on ink and colour later on, once home).

In other news, I’m all ready for the last teaching event of 2014. I’ve written, typeset, and checked (multiple times) the final exam for the graduate electromagnetism class. There are some interesting things on there. I hope they like it!

-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Cabinet Caper!

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Remember I mentioned that I was building something? Well, I finished the project:

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The usual thing happened. I could not find the right kind of cabinet that fit the space and function, and so decided that I might as well build one designed to fit exactly what was called for. It holds all the living room media needs, and keeps them discretely hidden away (no electronics and cables everywhere) until called upon. The top chamber opens up to deploy a projector (the holes […] Click to continue reading this post →

Monday’s Quarry

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red_line_guy_24_11_2014_smallMonday’s quick grab on the subway on the way to work. I claim that one of the most useful aspects of the smartphone is its facility for holding people in predictable poses in order to be sketched.

He had a very elegant face and head, and was engrossed in his game, and I was done reviewing my lecture notes on scattering of light, so I went for it. I was able to get out my notepad and a pen and get a good fast […] Click to continue reading this post →

Chalkboards Everywhere!

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I love chalkboards (or blackboards if you prefer). I love showing up to give a talk somewhere and just picking up the chalk and going for it. No heavily over-packed slides full of too many fast moving things, as happens too much these days. If there is coloured chalk available, that’s fantastic – special effects. It is getting harder to find these boards however. Designers of teaching rooms and other spaces seem embarrassed by them, and so they either get smaller or disappear, often in favour of the less than magical whiteboard.

So in my continued reinvention of the way I produce slides for projection (I do this every so often), I’ve gone another step forward in returning to the look (and […] Click to continue reading this post →

Three Cellos

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three_cellos_14_11_14These three fellows, perched on wooden boxes, just cried out for a quick sketch of them during the concert.

It was the LA Phil playing Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos, preceded by the wonderful Rapsodie Espagnole by Ravel and followed by that sublime (brought tears to my eyes – I’d not heard it in so long) serving of England, Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

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-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Subway Glances

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Just a few grabs of parts of faces of people who I see on the subway journey to and from USC each day. Sometimes I get a good look, other times not… Sometimes they disappear before I get anywhere. I’ve been busy on other things (like prepping lectures and reading endless books and files for one duty or another) and so have not got as many done as I like to. This collection is about three weeks’ worth. Also, when travelling in rush hour I seldom get a […] Click to continue reading this post →

Big Draw LA

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Big_draw_la_11th_october_2014_1_smallThe Big Draw LA event downtown today (in Grand Park) was a lot of fun! There were all sort of stations of activity, and lots of people were jointing in with drawing in various media, including making masks (so drawings and cut-outs) and making drawings on the concrete plaza area using strips of tape, which I thought was rather clever. (I forgot to photograph any of those, but look on twitter – and I presume instagram – under #thebigdrawla for things people have been posting.) One of the most interesting things was the construction made of drawings that people did on pieces of slate that lock together to make a larger structure. Have a look in the pictures below (click thumbnails for larger views). There were several, but maybe still not enough adults involved, in my opinion (at least when I went by). Perhaps this was due to a “I can’t draw and it is too late for me, but there is hope for the children” line of reasoning? Bad reasoning – everyone can draw! Join in, all ages. There are events all around the city (see links below).

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The pursuit that had the highest proportion of adults was the costumed figure […] Click to continue reading this post →

Expo Line Chain Lady

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expo_line_chain_lady_8th_oct_2014So I looked up from my notes and saw this striking person in a remarkable, and presumably deliberately forthright, amount of chain-based jewellery. She had a heavy looking gold chain that started from one ear and stretch over to the other, with the slack resting on her chest. She had wrist shackles of some sort that were in turn connected via chains to rings on her fingers. It was amazing. I was frozen, mesmerised. I was mostly thinking about all the ways one could accidentally snag those things on something as you walk by and…

Then I was thinking I ought to get a record of this to show… But it is rude to anonymously take a picture of someone… Then I remembered. I could draw her, that’s what I do – what was I thinking? So I got […] Click to continue reading this post →

Make Your Mark!

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You know I’m a fan of mark-making. I think it is an important tool, as well as a fun thing to do. Taking the time to draw an idea, or your surroundings, brings a certain pace to the whole relationship that enhances it. You really have to look when drawing, and so you see more, and further.

Anyway, lofty babble aside, it’s Big Draw Month, internationally! So participate. Don’t get hung up on the – pardon my French – bullshit phrase “I can’t draw” that everyone reaches for. That’s meaningless and fundamentally missing the point. Get out there and have fun. Or stay in there and have fun. Either way… draw something. Then share it.

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(Incomplete companion to the sketches I posted two days ago. It is of some fellow who was also waiting while we waited for a delayed flight to Ann Arbor. Actually it was the 2nd, not the 5th, and a gate in concourse B, not C. I mis-labelled before scanning. Not that you care.)

The Big Draw has a website here, but your local city […] Click to continue reading this post →

Airline Routine

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Since it has been a busy semester so far, I welcomed the flights to and from Ann Arbor (on Thursday and on Saturday) as opportunities airline_sketches_4th_oct_2014_colour to get in a bit of sketching practice. One must keep in shape, especially for work on the graphic book project, when that resumes soon.

airline_sketches_4th_oct_2014 I did some partial sketches of live people while waiting for one flight, and on board the flights dug into the in-flight magazine for faces (as I’ve reported doing here in the past, see e.g. here and here), and found two interesting ones to do quick sketches of. This time I did light pencil at first, to allow me to get […] Click to continue reading this post →