Supergraphics

Outdoor advertising is Los Angeles has reached such outrageous proportions the city attorney is going to start prosecuting so-called "supergraphics." He's going to be busy.

Sketchbooks

I have always kept a sketchbook. It's something I keep with me most of the time and I feel a little naked without one. For me, the best sketches come from sitting in a meeting and not really paying attention or doodling while half-listening to someone talk on the phone. I suppose it goes way back to early school days and long boring hours sitting in a classroom. Some people doodled in the margins. I drew in the middle of the page and took class notes in the margins. The point is that some ideas come from a place that's hard to define, the subconscious.
At first I began using yellow legal pads for my daily sketching. When I had a stack two feet off the ground I realized this wasn't the best format if I wanted to hang on to these things. They just didn't hold up to the daily wear and tear. So, I switched to leather, hard bound sketchbooks. I used big ones, sizes 8.5 x 11 in. and horizontal ones in similar sizes. I have an entire bookshelf of these sketchbooks and they take up space quickly. Then, I found Moleskine. Small, portable, durable, they come in all sizes and paper weight. Some are lined notebooks, some even come with storyboard panels on them. Me, I like the simple, blank, 3.5 x 5.5 in. and 5 x 8 in. Life has not been the same since I began using these sketchbooks.
The above drawings are from the pocket size book I'm carrying around right now. I'll be digging through some of these old sketchbooks and posting some drawings from the past very soon.

Tan Tax

That's right. There's talk of taxing tanning beds. Makes me think of the Beatles song "Tax Man." This ran with an accompanying piece in the Los Angeles Times last week. You can read the article here.