I-10 West

This weekend marks the end of my twice-a-week commute to Baton Rouge to pick up my wife from LSU back to Lafayette. Yes she graduated! I am so proud of her =)
One of those days of commuting, the traffic slowed down to a standstill due to an accident. I was on I-10 heading West back to Lafayette on the bridge over Atchafalaya Basin, I always thought this stretch of I-10 is very unique and pretty but never had the chance to stop and take a picture of it. So I whipped out my camera and took 1 shot, and today I transferred that to a page on my Moleskine.
Thank you all for your comments left for my take on St. John's Cathedral. I'll try to get motivated to draw on a watercolor pad with color the next time. =) For those who are asking, the Breaux Bridge Postcard hasn't been printed. The printshop's got too many in their hands at the moment. I will notify once that's ready ^^

St. John's Cathedral

A week after drawing Breaux Bridge, Iceman thought I should draw something iconic from downtown Lafayette, the St. John's Cathedral. I took a few pictures, but I just wanted to try it out with the highest point of the building. Initially I wanted to sketch it, ink it, and color it just like how I worked with Breaux Bridge. I got carried away with the details while sketching, and ended up having a full pencil sketch instead.I must say, I love pencil sketch, but not with buildings. It's difficult to get an even tone, and straight lines, and it's a lot messier because you need to use rulers and all. It's a lot more fun with water colors IMHO, and I might try to sketch the entire building and color it when I get the time and the mood to do so =)
Thank you all for your encouragement on the Motorcycle Ice Project. A lesson learned indeed and I don't regret doing what I did ^^ It's a great experiment anyway for both Iceman and me. And the postcard thing, I'll keep you guys posted if there is any news as promised.

Motorcycle Project

Someone might remember that I mentioned something about doing motorcycles on ice sculptures about a month before. No I didn't forget to post it, because my version did NOT make it to the ice and was completely out of specification.
Here is the sketch on computer which looks very similar to Jennifer Edwards' line art, and the bikes are Suzuki Hayabusa and Suzuki Katana for those who wants to know:-
The problems were many. First, you can't have too much detail on ice, hence the lines can't be too close to each other or the bits will drill right through and creating a lot of cracks. Secondly, the size of each ice block is 40"x20", there's no room to fit both of these to show any details anyway. Thirdly, ice sculptures work best if you draw on a flat 2D view, these have a slight perspective, the effects on computer might look nice, but due to the crystal clear nature of the ice, it won't translate well and the audience would not see what they were. Simply said, I broke the rules of the game, so I lost. But I learned the limitations of the machines, and it's a mistake I will always remember ^^

Thank you all for your kind comments on my Breaux Bridge sketch. I'll be heading to the printing shop in town tomorrow to see if there's anything we could do to market it as postcards. Wish me luck =)

Breaux Bridge

I've wanted to sketch the town I live in since the beginning of this year, and it's already May o_O! Time really flies, and finally I did it, and it's my first sketch of a town with buildings and cars, with a bit of WIP and I don't think I nailed any EDM challenge, boo hoo!
Breaux Bridge is the closest town to where I live, and I love going there to shop for groceries as people are just so friendly to you. There are a few antique shops, and some really classy eating restaurants, my favorite being Cafe Des Amis where they serve really nice breakfast and awesome Cajun cuisines throughout the day. The town itself is artistic and it shows. Murals, sculptures, paintings, potteries... all of these can be seen and appreciated if you look close enough.
Thank you all so much for your comments on the ice sculptures. A lot of you asked how it's done, basically it'd done from sketching on paper, and then transfer onto computer, and let a machine with computerized drills to do the lines. A lot has to be taken into consideration while doing so, drill bit size, depth, speed, and all. And most of the time final detailing is done with a good old fashioned chainsaw. ^^

Click to Enlarge (5x8" Moleskine Sketchbook)