Twitter is a viper’s nest. I’m just going to slide back on here like nothing happened. Here’s a bunch of notes I’ve taken at the New York Horological Society, and other wristwatch-related events. I got sucked down the rabbit hole maybe a year ago as our politics deteriorated, my depression really kicked off, and I subsequently became obsessed with time and timekeeping.  Featuring: Jack Forster of Hodinkee, Dr. Rebecca Struthers, William Massena, Nakajima Satomi of Grand Seiko, Kathleen McGivney of Redbar, and Roger Smith.

Met crowd 🖼🎎

This happened on my run and I felt like a wizard.

Different types of location drawing from around the Upper West Side.  Central Park, and making dumplings at the back of the new Jing Fong.

Big news! On February 27th, I’m honored to be a part of the Stories Matter (part 2!) panel at the Society of Illustrators. The Stories Matter series is the brainchild of Jensine Eckwall and Jonathan Bartlett, who envisioned the forum as a way to discuss the role of illustration in a larger cultural context, tackling ideas such as representation, inclusion/exclusion within spaces in the industry, and the dangers of the singular story. The first panel (which you can listen to here) was a huge success-- it was standing room only, and had hundreds following the stream.  Richie Pope will be moderating the panel this time around, and I’ll be joined by these amazing people: Yao Xiao (who did the above comic), Alexandra Zsigmond, Cathy G Johnson, Odera Igbokwe, Ron Wimberly, and Shannon Wright. It is not lost on me that the Society, which, as an institution, largely functioned as a “good ole boy’s club” for much of its early existence, is now hosting diverse groups of current creators and curators to come and talk about their experiences. As our industry changes, and as the demographics of its practitioners change as well, we need spaces like this from which to say: we’re out here, and our stories matter. Again, the panel will be Saturday, February 27th at 1PM EST at the Society of Illustrators in New York. It will be live streamed, and you’ll be able to submit questions via the SOI twitter. Show up, speak out. 

At the Greyhound station in Wilmington, DE.

Also, the comic just happened to me this morning after getting breakfast. That was New York's way of welcoming me back.

Submersion

There's a Howard Pyle maxim that says: "Throw your heart into a picture and jump in after it." Earlier this week, Marshall Arisman told us that George Bernard Shaw said to "Saturate yourself in the problem. Then wait." Yesterday, I was getting dinner by myself after writing a bunch in studio on an editorial assignment. I had been writing for a couple of hours, going through the ideation process, and nothing was really jumping out at me. I ordered a kind of sad little sandwich and salad, and watched a guy shotgun a beer while I waited for my food. I saw two boys walk in with their father, and watched the brothers race each other up and down the length of the restaurant.

I watched the smaller boy run almost headlong into a body builder guy who was leaving, laugh, and bounce off his leg. The body builder did that very New York mildly annoyed glare, and walked out the door. I envisioned another scenario though, where the body builder got really angry, and was suddenly armor-clad. And then the kid was suddenly like my mom, who used to tell me stories about shooting bats out the sky with a slingshot in the rural Philippines, and the kid felling the giant body builder with a well-placed shot to the forehead. 

And then suddenly, halfway through a chicken sandwich, I had a visual for my illustration. 

I accidentally dropped a knife in the lake.

Columbus Park with my friend Anna and future classmate Liam O'Donnell. Also, burlesque figure drawing at the Society of Illustrators with my buddy Gant Powell. 

I polished off half a sketchbook in a week. I think that's some kind of record for me.

Drew with new friends: Vesper Stamper, one of my future classmates at SVA, and Jardley Jean-Louis. We were at Lincoln Center Out Of Doors drawing different dance troupes, and High Line Park.

Drew some armor with my KCAI buddy Zoe Van Djik, and then I ran some errands. I got called a chink while crossing the street near Washington Square Park, and then 30 minutes later I got interviewed by a guy from WNYC about what I thought about how Ebola was being covered in the media. 

I went out drawing before I had even bought pillows for the apartment. 

Deconstruction at the Met today.