The resemblance is not sufficient due to the difficulty of sighting the original photograph which has low resolution and washed-out color.
It is time for me to practice drawing from what I remember, the second step behind drawing from what I see (not what I think I see).
June 16, 2019
Quick draw of a child’s face
June 14, 2019
MAGA hatter
A guy sat at the cafe table next to mine, wearing a red MAGA (make America great again) hat.
I was thinking if he was looking for a fight or something. After taking off his hat and put it on the table, I saw a lonely old face. He was completely left alone before slowly walking off.
Taking care of ourselves
This is something I learned a while back but reminded by the NBA finals: never sacrifice our personal well-being for anything else, not least others’ goals or ambitions.
What we sacrificed for short term gains might come back to haunt us in the long term.
And if we get hurt, we might just get run over.
A smart leader understands the correlation between individual happiness and collective productivity.
Altruism is the ultimate form of selfishness.
June 12, 2019
Quick sketch of a train passenger
I was not sure how to properly shade volumes, especially with vector draw (large regions instead of small hatches as in raster sketch).
June 11, 2019
Ex-NVIDIAN dinner
The dinner conversation with a bunch of former NVIDIA employees reminded me of many top folks I have closely worked with there, such as Erik Lindholm, Walt Donovan, Henry Moreton, Alex Minkin, and John Danskin.
Only one of them was a manager at that time, and they wielded power through their knowledge in GPU architecture instead of corporate hierarchy.
I aspire to have their style in mentoring future generations of graphics researchers.
June 10, 2019
Moon and tree
I was locked outside home during a power outage in the evening. While waiting for the power to come back, I quickly drew the moon over the top of the tree from the garden.
I am glad that I brought my drawing pad, even though I didn’t anticipate having a chance to draw anything during the day.
Gemini dogfooding: I tried oil paint, watercolor, and soft pastel for the moon lighting, and eventually settled for simple vector graphics, which works well for a flat scene like this.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByjpLC_nIRQ/
June 8, 2019
Quick sketch of a cafe corner
The cafe has colorful walls on the left side (mustard and wine) with soft lighting, in contrast to the bland dividing wall directly hit by the natural sunlight.
The drawing kept on looking wrong when I was doing it, but eventually I just accepted what it was. I liked it more afterwards, albeit still feeling weird about it.
Meet me half way
Excerpt from How to Look: Art Comics by Ad Reinhardt
Viewer: ha-ha what does this represent?
Painting: what do you represent?
An abstract painting will react to you if you react to it.
You get from it what you bring to it.
It will meet you halfway but no further.
It is alive if you are.
It represents something and so do you.
You, sir, are a space, too.
Realistic paintings tell you exactly what they are, while abstract paintings invite you to think.
This applies to not only paintings but also other things, such as books and people.
June 7, 2019
Quick sketch of a young girl in a vintage dress
who was drawing with a fountain pen after playing some jazz piano.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BybyyrpH98y/
I could shorten her nose a bit, but I am OK with what I could do during a live sketch in a crowded cafe.
June 4, 2019
Quick sketch of a train passenger
The original file was lost in a Gemini crash.