Sketch 365 – by Scott Hulme

I didn’t know what to draw tonight, but with iTunes running in the background, I struck on an idea.  I arranged all my songs by duration, and started playing all the one-minute tracks back to back.  Then I drew something associated with each track while it played.  An interesting exercise for several reasons:

• I was required to not only draw in 60 seconds, but also to listen to the song, pick an aspect of it, conceptualize an image for it, execute the drawing, and finally caption it.  Lots to think about.  Some drawings didn’t get finished (“the merry peasant,” for example).
• There was no time to go back and start again once the drawing had begun.  Even if it was going really badly (e.g. “serpent”) I just had to keep pressing forward.
• It forced me to pull stuff from my brain, rather than look up a reference image (which I probably would have done for several things like the lute and violin).

Trying to keep that pace was actually a lot of fun.  Before I knew it, I had spent the better part of an hour at it.  Click through to see all 45 mini-sketches representing songs ranging from 1:00 to 1:07.  Images are based on things like artist, song title, featured instrument, associated lyric, etc.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Went to the Alpine Zoo in Innsbruck today.  They keep just indigenous animals there, and have them in a series of enclosures spread over the side of a mountain.  When we got to the European bison area, we saw that they actually share it with a group of boars.  I assumed the zookeepers set it up this way because the two animals get along well.  Or so they did for a couple minutes after we got there.  Then one of the boars started growling at a (much larger) bison, who in turn ended up stalking the boar, then chasing it, then running it over a six-foot-high drop, where it took a header into the dirt before hurriedly scrambling to its feet, squealing and running off.  The bison kept at it for a while after that too.  All in all, well worth the price of admission.  So when it came time to sketch this evening, this is what came out.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

This evening, a friend of mine introduced me to Cynar, a wacky Italian artichoke aperitif.  (He himself is a wacky Italian, so I suppose it makes sense.)  I imagine people must find it to be a pretty polarizing flavor, but I liked it.  Then again, I eat Vegemite.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

A long travel day, but well worth it when you end up at the Hotel Rieser in the Austrian alps.  A fantastic hotel, run by Ernst und Gabi Rieser.  Seriously, book a trip.  Tell ’em I sent you.  It won’t get you anything, but you’ll be there, and that’s enough.

As for the sketch itself, there’s not much to it.  Just a bit of lettering practice inspired by their logo.  Like I said, it was a long day…

Finally got to welcome my cousin back to California today!  This guy rode shotgun on the 3000-mile U-Haul trek, and saw her through scorching deserts, blown tires, and (shudder) Graceland.  You’re a trooper, Bernie.

[Comments and critique always welcome]