I tried Tokyo on for size and instantly fell in love
(made with black ink)

Well, well, well... Here we are at the same predicament once again. It's been weeks since my last blog post and I am way too unmotivated to write anything substantial. Do I at least get some points for honesty here? No? ...oh...That's cool...
I know that these doodle posts don't really help you get a sense of what I've been up to in Japan, but a lot of my drawings are inspired by things that I've seen in Japan so I guess that has to count for something. I guess I'm weirdly telling you to live my Tokyo adventure vicariously through my pictures instead of my words. 

(made with black ink)

 This little "Tokyo Train Kids" sketch was inspired by two kids I saw on the train on my way to Shibuya station. People watching in trains is honestly one of my favourite activities here. You will always see someone or something interesting! Take these two kids for example. They were probably no older than fifteen and they looked as though they had jumped straight out of a manga. The boy was so tiny but he was wearing such poofy pants that he looked like he was swimming in fabric. The best part? The pants were littered with images of fruit. Who sells poofy fruit covered pants? Better yet, who buys poofy fruit covered pants?! I'll tell ya, this kid does, and I'm glad. His girl friend beside him made the perfect sidekick. She was so tall and impossibly lanky. I remember she kept pulling out a mini comb and brushing her already impossibly perfect hair. She was rocking awesome Neko headphones plus a gigantic New Balance sweater. I wish I could have talked with these guys because they seemed like pretty cool cats.

(made with black in and grey charcoal)

 I worked on this charcoal sketch near Halloween. I started out just wanting to sketch a sugar skull, but the more I walked around Tokyo, the more I wanted to incorporate its insane skyline with a skull. I really love the zone you get into when drawing really fine lines as you work around negative space. It gets you into such a trance!
A quick, funny story about this picture! Normally, I stick all of my completed drawings up on my closet door in front of my bed just to jazz up my room a bit. However, I woke up one night to have this picture staring me down from the foot of my bed. In the daylight, it doesn't look even a little bit spooky... but in the dead of night the skull is VERY skull-like. Needless to say, it has been moved to a position where I can't see it at night.

Sorry, this is not the droid you are looking for
(made with charcoal)

 On my way home from work I was scrolling though my phone and I saw this T-shirt for sale (I believe it was Look Human... and if you are thinking how that is by far the coolest clothing line name, I agree 100%). I really don't know why I am so obsessed with drawing skeletons but c'est la vie... or la not vie... cause skeletons aren't.. y'know... alive... (That was a lame joke, but I'm just going to leave it there because I'm a few glasses of wine in and there's no going back)
Anyhow! I'm really trying to get better at working out textures in clothing so it was good practice for me.  

(made with black ink)

 I had a lovely day weekend just enjoying the sunshine on the Tama River and I thought I would make use of my relaxation time by having a little fun drawing. This is a tribute to one of my favourite video game characters of all time, Holly Summers from No More Heroes.

(made with black ink)

This last piece is a bit more special to me. Here is what I wrote to go alone with this drawing:

Lately, the world has been haunted by nightmares. Families are homeless, bombs continue to drop, and war rages on. When we are confronted by this darkness, it's easy to point fingers and fall into a place of hatred, fear, and vengeance. But these nightmares aren't the wrongdoings of one race, one religion, or one country, and that's what's really terrifying. Nightmares are beyond rational thinking; unpredictable and sublime. So how can you shape what is shapeless and destroy what is indestructible? I couldn't say... But maybe with love, with unity, and with compassion we can overcome these nightmares and dream a better reality together.

TAH DAH! I'm quite happy that I've been able to churn out six new pieces in the last little while. Hopefully I can keep up the pace and maybe that motivation will inspire me to keep up with this blog a bit more! Sorry again! I've actually just returned from an amazing long weekend in Hakone which I would love to do a little blog review about! I'll start berating myself to write about it now!