Late Updaters Anonymous

Hello, my name is Ajani...
*Deep breath*

...and I'm a late updater.

I can tell you that I've been really busy, and it's hard to manage things while getting adjusted to a foreign country, along with a million other excuses.
But the fact is that It's been more than a month since I've updated, and I'm behind on so many things.

I hope I can really be on the ball with things from now on, but I can't make that promise really. I am having a lot of issues here, and my environs are not as suited as I would like them to be for updating this blog.

In any case, it's not all for naught, and I do and will continue to update. I just don't want to disappoint people and say that I'll update every week to have some crazy event happen that prevents me from doing so.

The bottom line is, that I am here, I am updating. Don't give up hope, there is a bright future for this blog, I just have to work out a lot of kinks in my own life and get myself back into things the way they were before.

Alright, so enough of that...without further ado, I present the sketches.





If you weren't aware, part of the reason I'm so busy is because I teach middle school English here in Japan. The above picture was a sketch of the "Sports Day" practice session that they had in september.




One of my favorite sketches thus far. Guy is definitely getting his 40 winks.



I briefly (and I stress briefly) was going to a studio here and had an opportunity to make a few dozen prints of one of my sketches. It's not the best in my opinion, but it was a good experience. I like printmaking, but I just don't have time to do anything with it now.

Pittsburgh Bus

I went back to visit NYC last weekend and was somewhat shocked to realize how truly smooth the subway ride is. Here at home in Pittsburgh, the weather has dropped below freezing and I have begun getting around full time via bus. It is a bumpy, curvy ride not conducive to sketching but I have taken up bus photography so I can sketch people at home while looking at their photos on my computer. Here is the first of these sketches, a self portrait on an empty bus. 10"x12" pencil on cardboard from an ikea curtain.

Worn Out

Some more sketches from the subways of Osaka.

Living in Japan I've seen a whole new side of "tired."
I'm some how able to survive and get things done, but I'm just tired all the time.
Mentally fatigued, muscles worn, eyes droopy, every last inch of me is worn out.

And more than I, the people I see everyday often look exhausted...
All around me I hear words like "Tsukare" and "Shindoi" both words to express "tired," and both often heard and important vocabulary here.

So, witness my tired sketches.

Tough Beginning

More sketches!
So, in the beginning I had somewhat of a hard time being here in Japan. I guess it's a big jump as far as getting adjusted goes...everything looks like it won't be different, but it only appears that way.

Despite that, I still was able to get my sketches done. So here they are.



People on the train and the rest are scenes from a park in Nishiohashi I was in while waiting to get some business done with my apartment situation. Getting an apartment, by far, was the biggest hassle/hurdle to overcome in Japan. It's just ridiculous...



Old man sleeping. On the way to Morinomiya.



Older lady sleeping and a middle aged (maybe?) lady with her bag. En route to Nara to pick up a futon.

First scans from Osaka

Finally, the first of many scans from Osaka, Japan. I don't have a lot of time to write today, but please enjoy the pictures.

Comments are appreciated.

A Quick Note

日本から見ている方、ようこそ！

今はちょっと日本語にできる方にささやかなメッセージを書こうとします。

もし私の日本語が正しくなければ許してください。

とにかく、HPは長い間に更新しませんでしたのでこのブログにリダイレクトされました。
今はHPの再開のためにいろいろ準備をしておきます。

なるべく早い目に再開したいから出来たまでお待ちください。

ついでにこのブログを是非見てください。

このブログのテーマは地下鉄のスケッチ・クロッキなどの絵です。
そのためにNYの色んなアーティストとイラストレータさんが集めて各自の作品を展示できます。

私はもちろん自分のNYと今にいる日本のスケッチを載ってますけどほかNYの特別で変わった味とスタイルを表す人がいますので良ければ楽しんでください。

見ていただいてありがとうございます。

Farewell NYC

Finishing up the sketches from my last sketchbook, before I came to Japan.
So from this point on, all my sketches will be from Osaka, where I currently am living.



Waiting in the the Philly airport for my trip to back to New York. I got to speak to an interesting guy who builds/engineers plane engines and things like that. He was pretty knowledgeable on all things Celtic, and wants to retire in Ireland. I really appreciate conversations like that.



My former roomate on the subway.




Some guys hanging out on the A.




A stocky man sleeping on the A.



Some West African men (I'm assuming that because the shirts they were wearing had West African pattern work on it) heading uptown on the A.

Omatase

Hello all.

I apologize for being so behind on things.

Here's what happened...I moved to Japan.

Right now, I'm living in Osaka, Japan, and I'm teaching English as a new experience.

I've been here since mid-August, but it wasn't an easy thing to get through, and I kept neglecting to update. On top of that I didn't have internet until about a week ago. That was a nightmare...

So here I am, a little more adjusted to things in Japan, and ready to catchup with all the sketches I've made in the almost 2 months that I haven't been on this site.

But now that I'm in Japan, can this still be nycsubsketch?

Don't fret, because I will still update. Luckily, Japan has a great transportation system and I have to take the subway about everyday to get around.

So, I have a backlog of drawing, maybe 40-50 pages of stuff to post.

So first I'll start out with my drawings from Miami.
Unfortunately, Miami, does not have a very advanced or useful (Unless you live in Downtown Miami) transportation system.

In addition to this, Miami just had a whole different sense, so for the most part my sketches were at my friend's house. It was hard to draw on the train (Metrorail) because of the arrangement of the seats and people took notice to quickly because they probably haven't seen people do what I'm doing much and because people in Miami have a different attitude in relation to this stuff.



The firt two sketches were how I spent most my nights in Miami. I hung out with some of my highschool friends and watched them play videogames. I'm not very skilled at videogames but I still enjoy them, and I got some nice sketches from this.






It was a little hard to get sketches done on the Metrorail, bug I got something done. Besides not really being able to see, or there not being much choice of subjects...people seemed noticeably offended or bothered that I was drawing them.
That older lady in the top right was giving me a face like "what the hell are you staring at?" Maybe she was just in a bad mood.



Three middle aged ladies on their way back home.



A guy and his son who was looking out the window with his sister(I didn't finish the sister).

Also, I want to give a BIG BIG thanks to Cara and Ami for still updating when they can.
I understand that this is an extra thing for them, but this website is an important thing for me and I hope that it can give you guys something in the future.

I had some difficulty getting my self in order in Japan, but I have a lot of things to upload from here. That you guys still updated was a big push for me, and motivated me to get things back in shape as soon as possible.

I will upload more later. So stay tuned.

Pittsburgh Bus #3

My third bus trip in Pittsburgh. This was on a morning commuter bus that drives on a special road called a busway - a highway that cuts across the city that only buses can drive on. It got me downtown in twenty minutes. Way faster then riding my bike.

Pittsburgh Bus

Another 5 minute bus sketch.

Pittsburgh

I've said goodbye (for now) to MTA and have moved to Pittsburgh, PA. I've been here for four weeks and have biked everywhere until yesterday when a serious rain storm hit. This is a 5 minute drawing from the 61C inbound. I was on my way to the Andy Warhol Museum to go see Robert Forester (of the Go-Betweens) play songs of the Velvet Underground. It was a sweet show. 

Back in the city

So I was in Miami for a little while and now I'm back.

Every time I go to Miami, it only takes a few days for me to know that I want to be back in New York City. I could go on about the various reasons why Miami isn't my cup of tea, but I'll let you know that the transportation system is a big reason why...if anyone has ridden the metro rail, or taken buses in Miami, you should know what I mean.

Anyway, enjoy some more sketches. The following are still from the good 'ol subway here in NYC.

2 Ladies and a Picker on the F, Wednesday Evening (7-16-08)

From West 4th woman on the F...
...and very Auburney woman to her left rocking some serious cleavage.

In fairness i think it was just a scratch.

A little behind

Sorry for the tardiness...right now I'm in Miami visiting my mom until next week. I was able to find a scanner to get some things scanned, but my setup is a little limited down here.

I have something to announce, and I hope to get that done soon...I just have to run some errands down here first.

Anyway, I'll continue to update with some more scans from previous sketches but I won't have anything "new" until I return to New York on the 29th.


This guy kept moving between two positions so I decided to just draw both while I can.




I actually didn't get as much time on this drawing as I could of because some guy saw me drawing and chatted me up. Anyway, nice guy...sometimes I do mind that people talk to me when I'm drawing, but I think I need to loosen up sometimes. I can always draw, I won't always meet the same people twice.

Small Book

A page from a tiny one page book I made at the open studio night at Booklyn.

Uptown A Train.....again

Bookmaking!

I went to a great open studio night yesterday at Booklyn. We were focusing on hand folded books done without stitching. I met some wonderful artists, made five little books and started sketching in one on the way home. If you're interested in book making I highly recommend a trip here.

Hard Times

This week has not been a good one for me, a lot of stuff going on...


Some girl in a dotted dress on the L-train, I wanted to draw the big guy next to her but he was big and I was a little afraid that he would rip my book apart...it turns out he knew I was trying to draw him and I guess was looking forward to seeing the drawing. Alas, I didn't have enough time and it never came to be.


A couple on the A-train, I'm certain they knew I was drawing them.


This isn't a particularly great page but if I really like the drawing of the boy laying his head in his sister who was wrapped in the towel. It was suck a cool image that I just went straight ahead in drew him even though he was staring directly at me. He got off one or two stops after i started though, but ran to the window behind me as he got off to scope my drawing of him.


This guy towards the bottom was looking pretty stoic and awesome, but it was kinda hard to draw him so I didn't complete his drawing. Oh well.

After the fireworks

A sleepy ride home on the A train on the fourth of July.  I couldn't tell if she knew I was drawing her. She would wake up for a few seconds and I would keep my eyes on my paper until she dozed off again. I'm endlessly thankful the A train is running this weekend. 

Independance Rain

It rained all day in New York...what a holiday.

Anyway, more sketches to enjoy. Just to let you know from now on I'll be backlogging sketches and posting only a limited amount so I can update more often.

So, I'll be posting more frequently from now on...though there may be a little break sometime next month, but I'll explain about that as I get more details.




This guy was awesome. New York has a lot of interesting people to draw, but I often see the same type of people. Rarely am I blessed by such a visage of awesome.






...Most read book of all time on the subway, The Bible.