Nina's University Sketchbook, Vol 1

2005 was the year that I graduated high school, and made the move to a university in a whole new city and country - Toronto, Canada! But before we travel up there to see my newfound obsession in drawing celebrities doing silly things, I have one more drawing from high school which I'd like to share which will clarify all my comments about how my senior year of high school was so complicated. Actually I've put that drawing second, because I want to have a different thumbnail (sorry it's out of order).

Byrne Brain

Photoshop
In university I drew CONSTANTLY! My last two years of high school was a helluva lot of drawing, too, but it was focussed on animation and movies rather than singular pieces of art. But when I got to university I only brought my laptop and my tablet, my prismacolour pencil set and a sketchbook. Once I settled in, I got a large format vellum paper book and a whole whack of pens and pencils to add to my art supplies.

My subjects? Well, mostly celebrities that I liked. David Byrne was one of the "regulars" in my artwork for a while, so here's one portrait of him that I did and I really like.

Nowhere To Go

Ink, Watercolour
Quick travel back to high school for this one. Earlier in the school year, one of my best friends, who was LGBTQ and made it obvious from the way she presented herself, started getting some particularly vitriolic hate vandalism on her locker. Our circle of friends did our best to be supportive - we were all so confused as to where it came from because it was pretty out of character for our school, not to mention the SF Bay area in general which was one of the most progressive areas in North America (if not the planet!) - the mayor of San Francisco had just briefly made same-sex marriage legal in the city in 2004, thwarting the federal government and even California's backwards laws, even.

Anyway, the hate vandalization escalated. It would show up scratched into her car, on her lockers - her house got egged, and it just got worse and worse. The police were heavily involved. Eventually the events got onto news- we organized an anti-hate vigil and got the whole school involved, and there was a lot of love, support, time, and attention thrown at her for months. Our lives, mine in particular as she frequently needed a place to stay because she was afraid to go home sometimes, revolved around her for our entire senior year.

One day, near the end of the school year, I got a voicemail from her: "so.. I guess you saw the paper. And I want to say I'm sorry. If you want to talk, give me a call." Freaked out, I ran to get a copy of the local paper - which reported in a front page story that the victim of a long series of hate crimes at the high school turned herself over to police, admitting it was all self-inflicted.

Naturally our friend circle was in complete shock. We felt so betrayed. We hated what she did to us, to the school and other LGBTQ people around the school, and we really hated how far back it pushed the cause for all her selfishness.

So this drawing tries to convey how I felt during that period. I couldn't wait for high school to end, which was shitty (pardon my french) because I loved every minute of my high school experience. She nearly ruined all of it for me. We were such close friends and it's still hard to think back to the good times because she was always there.

Before The Show

Ink
Fast forward back to a mostly happier time, my new life in Toronto. I was listening to a lot of the Cure, among other things... really I listen to so much music I could probably say that about a lot of bands than seems realistic, lol! Anyway, here's Robert Smith getting ready for a show in a unique bathroom.

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Graphite pencil
This is a large piece - and it's hard to see on this not-so-great photo, but Hugh Laurie God here is deciding where to place one of the universe's strangest creations: a platypus. Hmm.. He thinks it appropriate to put one more weird animal to add to the weird animal collection down in Australia.

There's an odd collection there for you! I sincerely hope you enjoy them and check back next Sunday for more archival drawings from Nina's collection!