Tensai Tokyo Sketch Thread - Sept 28 Exhibition + Commissioned Work Tests!

**Ham-e** · June 13th, 2006, 07:05 PM

woa! shit tensai that city scape is awesome

pld: the china marker looks cool to I've never heard of that before. Nice update!

**TheDirtSyndicate** · June 13th, 2006, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Ham-e

the china marker looks cool to I've never heard of that before.

china marker is great, check out the ones i did in chinamarker on page 3 of my sketchbook. they're in blue

tensai, great stuff mang, and happy birthday.

**VirgL** · June 13th, 2006, 07:24 PM

great stuff tensai

**Artguy** · June 13th, 2006, 08:05 PM

That china marker peice has great character. Very nice.

The city is cool too, not sure how you can stay sane while doing that sort of stuff.

Look forward to seeing more!

**Ham-e** · June 15th, 2006, 12:46 AM

Yo tensai I noticed your asking questions about the workshop...just ask me in my SB and I'll be happy to answer as best I can

**pennington** · June 15th, 2006, 02:59 PM

solid line work as aways man :], such consistency. thanks for the visit. congratz on the book cover. amazing thumb bots too. that drillhead is really interesting, nice pics.

**maxetormer** · June 18th, 2006, 03:36 PM

I love the line weight of this one!
http://www.lokjansen.com/sketchbook/lok426.jpg

**tensai** · June 26th, 2006, 04:13 AM

its been a while, but ive been busy - which is good of course.
replies:

stine - thanks for the comments, keep up the practice! i like your photos by the way.

3nasty - thanks man. you know i love your sketchy lines.

Ham-e - those chopped up airplanes were more examples for the studio im giving. glad you like m man. about that china marker. its just a pencil that writes on anything. well perhaps not on beer or something. but you know what i mean.

Some Guy - i was wondering if you have the official longest sketchbook on CA. well perhaps not but its still incredible. keep it up man.

complete2 - yeah, those sketches you did were really nice man. hook us up with some more... and thanks for the b-day shoutout but that was like 3 weeks ago. still feeling the love though.

glad you like the stuff here.

WhiteC - thanks man. got some nice things going on in your book too.

Artguy - huge compliment from you. the cityscapes are a bit of a love/hate thing. i have to do them (to stay sane) but they can also be real torture. when all is good and you get into a flow you just keep on going though.

pennington - thanks man. glad you like it.

maxetormer - thanks, i think i have that mostly when i get something i dont know or havent used for a long time in my hand. more loose i guess.

some quick sketches -
china marker

too stiff for my liking

DPRK soldier

pussy

watercolours with pencil

most of these were done drunk, standing in the late night packed train.

the cover. it looks alright. but i always feel like i could do a better job on the graphic design myself (perhaps im just an arrogant prick). but im really happy that we got it done though. it will also help with getting more assignments of course.

comments and crits greatly appreciated

**Dile_** · June 26th, 2006, 04:24 AM

Awsome cover Tensai!

The portraits looking good as well, you have a very nice sketchbook so far!
keep it up Tensai! !

**Recursive_End** · June 26th, 2006, 04:27 AM

hehe! cool update.
the colors are really nice, but how do you add another marker on top of the other one like the grey and blue one of this page: http://www.lokjansen.com/sketchbook/lok440.jpg
I mean, i tryed mixing different colors but the second layer keeps on fading and catching the first color :/
anyway, the faces look cool, really nice expression.

**VirgL** · June 26th, 2006, 11:07 AM

wow ! lot of new stuff !there some much variation of style and techniques in your stuff, always fun to see

That shoe deseign is stylish , im sure my girlfriend would wear them haha

And like many that orange ship design is a favorite, remind me of moebius . See ya around !

**Ham-e** · June 26th, 2006, 11:23 AM

Hi tensai nice work! congrats on finishing the cover! Your face drawings seem to get better every post! I love the drunk drawings! It's funny when I was studying Architecture one of my instructors saw a drawing I had done drunk while sitting in a bar and for some reason he just loved it, I though it was just a quick doodle and didn't really care for it. Funny but I think people can really see things in drawings if you know what I mean.

**AmishCommy** · June 26th, 2006, 11:39 AM

man i haven't checked this in a while.

Great output dude. Congrats on the cover.
I'm really digging the last few portrait sketches. they have more character to them becasue of the looseness. keep them coming

**tensai** · June 26th, 2006, 08:55 PM

Dile - thanks for checking out the book man, glad you like the cover.

Recursive End - the blue one you're talking about is done with (copic) marker and posca paint markers. those are opaque so they go over the marker. the orange one above that is done with only markers though. i just keep the grey marker out of the areas that will be orange...

WhiteC - thanks man. i loved doing that shoe. hope to do some more soon...

Ham-e - haha, yeah. its all about the looseness i guess. and seeing things slightly different because of your altered state of mind.

AmishCommy - hey man. about the faces, i mostly draw seeing how things are on a screen; angles and relative positions, 2d. ive been checking some loomis though and have been trying to shift between seeing things 3d and 2d when drawing. what im going for is to get more solid and at the same time more loose if you know what i mean. i find that doesnt work too well when im trying to be precise.
about the book cover. i still dont know. i like the original illustration better to be honest. so in that sense the graphic design doesnt add to it. it does look more like your coming in to this scene while coming out of your time travel. in general though, i personally find a lot of graphic design, industrial design and architecture doing too much. because the designer wants to show more design; while often i find it best to lay back, or play up some really simple thing that is already there and make that stronger while leaving the rest alone. but like i said, im still really happy we got this done.

ok small update but im looking for some feedback.
after a lot of testing and post-poning, im ready to start making the bag.
i changed the design, but im still thinking which one i will go with -

i like the compositions on both of these, but what i like about the second one is the emptiness. these are only sketches of course, when making the actual bag i will not be able to place everything so precise. im gonna do transfer copies of the drawings onto the (really rough) fabric with acrylic gel medium. ill have to work pretty fast and the bag isnt perfectly flat and so it will be very rough. when i peel off the paper i might go over with acryl paint, posca marker, sharpie or china marker - whatever works best.

any feedback on these?

cheers

**Ham-e** · June 26th, 2006, 10:15 PM

Hi tensai, Damn man! I love your stuff! I wish I was there in Tokyo so we could talk about this stuff.

Ok for me the second one works!! It says CITY

with that great roof line...the empty space really adds to that great drawing. I love the way that sign leans in from the left, and I can imagine that the pole pointing up will guide your eye up to the person carrying the bag

The only thing I'm not sure about is the word WHO on the sign; because it kind of takes center stage...maybe it is your intended message or maybe not...I'm just not sure.

To me the first bag reads more as a pattern than an image...maybe for fashion that's a good thing...I'm not sure.

See ya

**stine** · June 27th, 2006, 02:56 AM

hey there, thanks for stopping by in my book.
love your portraits here (and the "drunken ones" are my favourites...

). the bag designs both look great (i would probably buy both...

) but as ham-e already mentioned, the second one reads better. the empty space kind of gives your eye a rest and a orientation. plus, it leads you to the unusual rounded side, so i would go with that. it's a shame the zipper is completely horizontal and doesn't fit any perspective, because i would actually love it being kind of "integrated" into the drawing. speaking of the zipper: is that a triangular one? looks really interesting....

great work, lovely design! cheers,
stine

**Groover McNab** · June 27th, 2006, 04:36 AM

Those bags are awesome. Second one for sure. The first might work with some color (if that's even an option). The second one reads well while still being somewhat abstract. Really nice.

**tensai** · June 27th, 2006, 10:18 AM

thanks a lot for the feedback on this. i have to finally start making this thing and your comments helped to make up my mind. when i posted these we already liked the second one better but its good to see how fresh eyes responded to it.

Ham-e - its funny cause you picked exactly what i didnt like about the 2nd design. that 'who' sign was there in real but ireplaced it today in PS.

stine - i like how you and ham-e see the lines helping to point at the person carrying it and to the rounded corner. i didnt think about it like that but i totally agree...

Groover McNab - thanks for dropping in man. funny cause i wanted the lines to be a bit abstract. the original older design (in a previous post) was more abstract than these though. but i wanted to add a bit more chaos. im gonna do some trials with colour but i think its going to be black and white.
love your work by the way...

again, thanks for the fresh eyes. helped a lot.

**Ryan DeMita** · June 27th, 2006, 11:13 AM

Those graphic designs are SICK. I remeber the digital painting from before, its all super tight. I also like your character designs alot. Do you do graphic design as a profession? keep posting this awesome work.

**bwkeough** · June 27th, 2006, 07:20 PM

i really like those new drawings done with blue pencil, very confident and immediate mark-making.

I hope they go with the 1/2 white cover where you can see your illustration better.

I also prefer the 2nd bag composition, it's less all-over busy, more patient.

**tensai** · July 3rd, 2006, 02:26 AM

Ryan - i work as a designer (mostly architecture) and illustrator. ill keep on posting, thanks for the enthusiasm.

bee-dubya - the second cover with the white is actually a band that goes over the real cover and that you can take off. its already done, i mean, these are scans from the actual book as i have it here in my house.

at the starbucks in the sweltering heat

i wake up almost every day at 04:00 because its so light outside (i need to make some proper curtains). so i often read or draw a bit in the morning - resulting in these rather unflattering half blind contour drawings of my wife sleeping. i used to do a lot of blind and half-blind contour, its been a while and i think its a great combination to do with tighter practice sketches like loomis stuff or something.

really quick thumbs of environments as i was thinking about an animation workshop i was going to participate in, will post more about that later today. markers, china marker and posca.

comments and crits as always appreciated.

**DerMidlet** · July 3rd, 2006, 03:03 AM

Those heads have an interesting style to em, and the enviros are cool as usual

good stuff man

**Ham-e** · July 3rd, 2006, 11:33 AM

Nice update man! I like that may you are exploring forms with line, there is a special quality when you can describe the mass and volume with contour line, it is what I have been tring to achieve for many years

You are ahead of me but I think we are on the same path.

I really like these:http://www.lokjansen.com/sketchbook/lok588.jpg
http://www.lokjansen.com/sketchbook/lok589.jpg

See ya

**Arne S.** · July 3rd, 2006, 12:19 PM

great drawing skills, i like your lines! -and a f...cking cool avatar!!

**cato** · July 3rd, 2006, 04:53 PM

very good style , you 've really nice lines ...

greets from the other side of the sphere

**tensai** · July 4th, 2006, 01:52 AM

i'll answer more in a bit.
now i just want to quickly put up this thing i did during an animation workshop a friend of mine held this weekend.
it was great great fun. too bad i only had my phone camera.
there where huge roles of paper, and kids and grown-ups and grown-up kids sitting down and drawing a sequence.
the kids were drawing amazing things. mad mad expressive shit.
afterwards there was a performance with the roles put together and roled through a slit with a video cam mounted above it.
my friend, who is a sort of genius/giant kid was improvising a story and making sound effects while three musicians freestyled a soundtrack.
it was really really an unforgetable experience. (also because my wife got soo drunk i had to drag her ass out of the cab and up the stairs into our apartment).

one hour of marker and prismacolours and a whole lot of kids inspiration.

**Magic Man** · July 4th, 2006, 08:46 AM

what I love most about your stuff - well alot of it anyway, is its wonderful complexity, and yet visually, its still easy to read.

keep up the mad doodling.

m

**Ham-e** · July 4th, 2006, 01:50 PM

cool tensai sounds like you had a blast! what a great experience

**bwkeough** · July 4th, 2006, 04:53 PM

it does sound like a lot of fun.

cool super-panoramic pic of your work, too.

**tensai** · July 5th, 2006, 07:59 AM

quick replies - i'm getting ready to post the bag. shits is drying now and might need another pass of paint or medium, but it should be done really.

DerMidlet - thanks!

Ham-e - in architectural and industrial design drawing you learn some good ways to help you describe form by using combinations of cut lines, paint lines and shadow lines over your form. i dont know what im doing recently but i like some of the outcome.

Arne S. - thanks man. im not sure but i think right now you cant use any animated avatars any more. i guess ill keep mine for a while.

cato - cheers man, appreciate the love.

Magic - thanks for dropping i man. your book is very very inspiring. im often balancing on that edge between going too far and making things like a pattern, or keeping it readable. the idea is to use the chaos to describe the forms and to watch the bigger picture but it of course doesnt always turn out that way. cheers man.

Ham-e, BW - it was a blast! really i felt so good being there and it was great to work together and enjoy the final outcome. im going to this guys house next month or something and he's giving me a DVD with his work. i wish the guy would get a website up so you could see some of it.

aight, once the bag is dry, and im finished dodging north korean rockets, ill post some photos.