Tommy Kane's Art Blog

Folding Chair

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:08:00 +0000

Figure drawing is all about folding chairs. Every place I go has every variation of old folding chair ever sold. From cheap falling apart plastic to ancient 20 pound metal ones, they are all accounted for. The trick is to grab a good one. The model sometimes uses one too which leaves one less for the masses. I'm now drawing the things because they are so precious.

Model Socks

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:07:00 +0000

During one of these rare cold days in new york, the model asked if she could leave her socks on halfway through. Then she went for the scarf too. It was a nice change from the usual.

Collaboration With John Casey

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:07:00 +0000

This is my first drawing collaboration with another artist. John Casey is having a gallery show in California. He draws a hand and a pair of pants and then asks different artists to make it into a work of art. Each artist gets a different drawing of the pants and hands. Of course, I turned mine into a vegan statement. I like this collaboration business.

Popeye The Vegan

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 11:38:00 +0000

Most people are unaware that Popeye is vegan. I'm sure they also don't know that Lisa Simpson, Bugs Bunny, and Brian Griffin are also vegan. If they can do it, then so can you. Brooklyn based, Popeye the sailor man understands very well that a meat based diet requires 18 times more land than a vegan diet. That is why he's never eaten any.

Kane's Anatomy

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 11:18:00 +0000

I have enrolled in a new drawing class called KANE’S ANATOMY. Sometimes I get distracted because the instructor is very attractive. The good thing is that I’m the only student in the class. Some assignments are weird, like going to a figure drawing class and then finishing the page sketching skeletons at the museum of natural history. The squirrelly professor makes me sweat over every line. He’s not a big fan of my little striped bubbles but he let’s it slide. The teacher doesn’t know it yet but I may begin to cut classes to give myself a break from his intensity.

Minerva's Class

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 11:35:00 +0000

At the spring street studio figure drawing class there are a lot of really old dudes who attend religiously. Many times when I’m drawing I get pulled out of my deep sketching zone by a strange sound. I stop and listen, “what is that?” It always turns out to be one of the old dudes. It’s either their bizarre labored breathing or empty stomach gurgling or some other belching type tune. Every 12 minutes one of them has to pee which is a whole other adventure. You’d think I could just block it out by now but somehow it distracts me every time. I need to get some ear buds.

The Doctor Is In

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:40:00 +0000

When I go figure drawing, I now feel like a doctor. I see more naked bodies of every shape and size than most people will in a lifetime. Plus I have to stare at them so intently and memorize every square inch to be able to draw them so accurate. It's just like medical school except I don't recieve a degree. It won't be out of the question for some of the models to start addressing me as Doctor squirrel.

Pigs On The Barbie

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:27:00 +0000

Pigs have been found to be mentally and socially similar to dogs and chimpanzees. So maybe it would be a good idea not to barbeque them. Being vegan has its rewards. You're healthier and you feel better spiritually.

Breasts

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 11:14:00 +0000

I was drawing the two girls sitting next to me at Big Object Studio, life drawing class in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When I showed them what I was doing, the girl with the long hair said, "aren't you Tommy Kane?" Why yes. Turns out we met in my neighborhood a few years before. The world is shrinking.

Sketch Class

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 12:06:00 +0000

At these drink and draws, I’m the only one who doesn’t drink and draws.

Bubbles

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 11:01:00 +0000

This is what happens when I vape my own artwork.

Maya

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 10:58:00 +0000

When I showed up at one of my life drawing classes recently, I realized I forgot my glasses. This basically rendered me blind. So I decided to go with my colored pencils to try and hide the drawing battle that was about to take place due to my sight hinderence. This braille sketch came out better than I imagined, that is after I got home and was able to put on my glasses to actually see what I'd done. Next time I will try this without using the bird box method.

Commingle

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 11:48:00 +0000

As I’m doing life drawing, I’m also constantly designing how it all looks on the page. It’s not just random sketches but part of a journey to where this kind of exercise will evolve my so-called art.

Dave Grohl's Drum Kit

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:36:00 +0000

On my recent trip to Seattle over christmas, I went to something called The Pop Culture Museum. It is by far, the most expensive museum I ever entered. The price was $32 bucks. The space is huge with gigantic ceilings but then you enter these tiny rooms with the so-called displays and there is sort of nothing to see. After you visit the 4 miniscule rooms, which takes about 5 minutes you can then leave the place. I sat down in the "Nirvana exhibit" which is about 200 square feet wide and drew basically the only thing in there, Dave Grohl's drum kit. Cost me 32 dollars to sketch this, so at least enjoy it.

Colored Pencil Nude

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 11:53:00 +0000

When I'm at a live model class, I always draw with pens. This day I decided to give the old colored pencils a whirl.

Mankind

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 12:11:00 +0000

I have discovered a kooky old drawing studio in east chinatown that has tons of life drawing classes. It's a relic of a bygone era. The place is always full of men with white goatees, hands covered with pastel chalk, and multiple oil paint streaks on the upper thighs of jeans. I'm actually a youngster in this joint. The woman running it loves bones, so there are skulls, a full skeleton, and plenty of other relics about to sketch. Decided to incorporate them into my life drawing session. If the model saw this, he'd think I was a psycho.

Another Unending Life Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:13:00 +0000

This is a second drawing I did at the Seafarers International Union. This model knew how to pose.

Concrete Jungle

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 11:28:00 +0000

My drawing of the concrete jungle.

Black Glasses

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 11:40:00 +0000

I did this illustration at the The National Arts Club in NYC during a life drawing class. I began to notice the other artists were mostly all wearing black reading glasses to assist in their sketching. So was I.

Plastic Catch

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:30:00 +0000

More than 5 trillion pieces of plastic are already floating in our oceans. About 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. That's quite a bit of food for thought.

Dude Instead Of A Lady

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 12:48:00 +0000

I know all of the life drawing class sketches I've been posting are of female models. Occasionally there is a dude modeling at these events. Here you go ladies.

Tattooman

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 12:04:00 +0000

In a recent life drawing class, there was a Hells Angles looking guy who had arms like small telephone poles. He was in my line of vision while everyone was drawing their endless one minute poses. So I sketched him. At halftime the moderator wanted everyone to display their work and swooped in and grabbed my sketchbook. I didn't think anyone even noticed what I was up to. Tattooman turned out to be a nice guy who was more than shocked to see he was drawn by yours truely. I emailed him a high rez. Now I have a bodyguard when I draw at this joint.

Face Time

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:34:00 +0000

There is something called The Sketchbook Project. It's basically a library that holds thousands of PEOPLE's completed sketchbooks. Anyone can participate. You can purchase one of their standardized sketchbooks, then take a crayon if you'd like and make an X on each page and hand it back in. That sketchbook will then live in their library. No one is turned away. So there is a range from great artists to amateurs represented. A few months ago I was drawing near the library in Brooklyn so I stopped in. I introduced myself and showed them some sketchbooks I was working on. They were impressed to say the least. I told them I would do one for them if they liked. All work must be done in the exact same sketchbook that comes in 2 sizes. I informed them I could only draw in the larger size because I'm practically blind. They responded that I could only be given the tiny size and that the larger size was not being accepted anymore. I told them I could just get the larger size in any art store and I pointed out that we were standing in a room of thousands of that exact size sketchbook filled with crayon Xs (I didn't say crayon Xs to them but you know what I mean). Wouldn't they want to make one exception? The bureaucracy was unable to deviate from PROTOCOL. I could see that they were frozen. So they repeated over and over to me the talking points. "If I sketched nice Xs in the tiny 5 X 7 sketchbook, they would scan the Xs and put the book in their library." After hearing this several times, I realized it was fruitless and that I was unwanted. I guess its just as well because here is a drawing of a face I did recently. As you can see, I didn't follow face drawing PROTOCOL.

Daily Dairy Clown Show

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:40:00 +0000

21 million dairy calves are slaughtered for veal or cheap beef every year globally. A good reason to become vegan.

Merchant Marine

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:39:00 +0000

I did this sketch at a life drawing class at the Seafarers International Union in Manhattan. These artists will hold these events in any space they can rent with enough room to hold all the artists. A funny joint to sketch in for sure. I wore a little sailor outfit I own. Made everyone feel at ease.