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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
back to figure drawing for the first time in much too long (i blame you, phillies).



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eben | 12:24 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, November 04, 2008
voting: i voted
ao was a bit miffed that we new yorkers (brooklynites) didn't get 'i voted' stickers, so i made one. no, it's not sticky, so if anyone happens to have a buttonmaker or sticker paper, give a yell.



here's a little one without state designation:

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eben | 4:42 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, October 09, 2008
happy autumn
the presidential election is going full tilt, the economy is in the tank, and the phillies start a seven game series against the dodgers this evening. obviously, there's a lot going on. so in the midst of all the freaking out, worry, craziness and zaniness, i thought that i would take a deep breath and wish everyone a happy autumn.

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eben | 6:01 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
doodle
octopus-deepsea diver thing...oh who knows.

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eben | 6:08 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, August 09, 2008
mccarren park
i love drawing me some nature, so i found the base of a light post to draw.

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eben | 6:58 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, August 07, 2008
urban rustic
a condiment still life strikes me as some pretty lazy observational drawing. did you know that there are 57 varieties of heinz ketchup!?

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eben | 6:41 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, August 06, 2008
union square
when the weather is nice, union square is far and away one of my favorite places to draw people in new york. my apologies to the guy in the middle, in real life he didn't look this much like nixon (it's the nose and jowels i gave him).

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eben | 6:33 PM | 0 comments

Friday, August 01, 2008
pencil factory
happy hour friday, sitting outside of the pencil factory, drawing the bar that's diagonally across the street. i've been drawing a lot of street signs and street lights of late, just lazy i guess.

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eben | 5:21 PM | 0 comments

Monday, July 28, 2008
newtown creek nature walk
newtown creek is one of the lovliest little spots you can find in greenpoint brooklyn. located in the greenpoint riviera, it is the home to the largest oil spill in u.s. history. yes, bigger than that of the exxon valdez:
Government officials detected the Newtown Creek/Greenpoint oil spill in 1978 and estimated that the some 17 million gallons of petroleum covered more than 50 acres of underground area. Free product exists in large amounts on the water table between Monitor Street and Kingsland Avenue, and extends southeast near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Residual petroleum contamination exists in local groundwater, native soil and fill materials. About half of the spilled oil has been recovered by several oil companies.

(via epa.gov)

on view from this nature walk is the greenpoint sewage treatment plant which actually is kind of cool, however, the views aren't this good. all in all, the walkway isn't terribly impressive, i believe odd would be a better word. nature? there are some plants that look ill-tended. lots of areas to sit, however, not much shade on a hot sunny day, so you get a generic waste treatment building. in the end, probably a better place to photograph than to draw.

- recent newtown creek coversage: new york times
- newtown creek alliance






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eben | 5:36 PM | 0 comments

Friday, June 20, 2008
pencil factory
not exactly coffee shop drawing, more like beer shop drawing. all the same, sitting outside on a lovely day alongside some buildings.





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eben | 6:00 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, June 05, 2008
speech bubbles (part 2)
the speech bubble doodling continued. there's a crappy drawing of a car under there, but i was having a good time with speech bubbles, so they just covered up everything.





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eben | 4:14 PM | 2 comments

speech bubbles (part 1)
working on ideas for an article about instant messaging, i really wanted to use speech bubbles, which led to just drawing a bunch of speech bubbles. in the end this just turned into a nice spread of speech bubble ideas.





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eben | 4:06 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, June 03, 2008
doodles and server 'splosion
some of you may have noticed (uncle wally?), that eben.com was down this weekend and struggling at the beginning of the week. an explosion at my hosting place took down many a server this week. honest, an explosion!
On Saturday, May 31st at 4:55pm CDT in our H1 data center, electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls surrounding our electrical equipment room. Thankfully, no one was injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.

things are currently back up and running, but keep your fingers crossed. so to honor the fragility of technology, here are some messy sketchbook pages.



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eben | 1:08 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, May 24, 2008
happy birthday, brooklyn bridge!
today is the brooklyn bridge's 125th birthday. brooklyn bridge, you don't look a day over 90.
events / history

art note: my friend silver asked me to make him a graphic he could put on a t-shirt, so i dusted off an old illustration, cleaned it up a bit, dropped some type (before seeing the official logo). if you see silver today in boston walking around wearing a shirt with this graphic on it, please complement him on his nice shirt, he put a LOT more work into it than i did.

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eben | 2:06 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, March 27, 2008
times sketching
some rough sketches for a what's online illustration. these are not the cleaned up sketches that i send to art directors, but sometimes i like the mess that comes from the early thought process. one of the early ones even turned nicely into the final.



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eben | 6:35 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
for some reason, this week's figure drawing turned into some kind of strange foot fetish drawing session. for the record, i am not a foot fetishist, however, i do not mind drawing feet. i mention this as some people are really anti-feet. i recall a session when teaching a class of highschool students to draw feet, at which point half the class freaked out. so maybe upon viewing these drawings, you dear reader are cringing. if so, my apologies.

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

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eben | 4:01 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
chairs
more chairs, good comfy reading chairs.

chairs

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eben | 2:39 PM | 0 comments

Monday, March 24, 2008
chair
i haven't been drawing or posting many random doodles from my sketchbook recently, so without further ado, here are some chairs.

chairs

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eben | 2:54 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop

eben | 10:39 PM | 3 comments

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
i like when the warmup sketches just turn into a mess. hello mess.

sva figure drawing workshop

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eben | 10:57 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop

eben | 11:33 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
a warmup drawing that i liked, particularly that the model's leg crosses the page gutter.

sva figure drawing workshop

once again, the model straddles sketchbook pages, throwing a toe across the binding.

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

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eben | 11:20 PM | 0 comments

Sunday, February 17, 2008
callicoon, ny: part iv
more geese, some marmalade, and a big ol' tree.

callicoon, ny
(full size)

callicoon, ny
(full size)

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eben | 12:37 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, February 16, 2008
callicoon, ny: part iii
chickens, chickens, and more chickens.

chicken01

chicken02

chicken03

chicken04

chicken05

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eben | 12:32 PM | 0 comments

callicoon, ny: part ii
i love a kitchen with hanging utensils. the house is a converted barn with constructed of wood. lovely, lovely wood.

callicoon, ny: part ii
(full size)

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eben | 12:21 PM | 0 comments

Friday, February 15, 2008
callicoon, ny: part i
this weekend, ao and i ventured outside of brooklyn for some duck, geese, chicken, guinea hen, dog and house sitting. we donned our straw hats, buckled up our overalls and pretended to be farmers. apart from feeding and opening/closing a chicken coop, we didn't have very many chores to perform, so reading, drawing and photographing was the plan for the weekend.

geese
(full size)

callicoon, ny
(full size)

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eben | 4:58 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, February 14, 2008
valentine
happy valentine's day, everyone!

valentine

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eben | 12:00 AM | 2 comments

Monday, February 11, 2008
peter pan bakery
i've always loved multilevel diner style coffeemakers. not sure why, just do.

peter pan bakery

peter pan bakery

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eben | 3:56 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, February 06, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
it's been a while since i actually liked any of my two minute warm up sketches enough to post. i've been using a pilot bravo (for all you pen nerds out there) for the quick ones of late, and while i enjoy this speedy pen/marker for warmup, i have been less impressed with the results. this one however, i like.

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

sva figure drawing workshop

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eben | 4:15 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, February 05, 2008
super tuesday
it's super tuesday, and it's probably the most exciting presidential primary that i've been a part of, and i like making 'vote' illustrations, it's my civic duty.

vote

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eben | 5:30 PM | 0 comments

oak cafe
nose full of snot, hot lemon and ginger tea, and cafe doodling.

oak cafe

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eben | 3:17 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
sva figure drawing workshop
sva figure drawing workshop

this drawing wasn't going so well so i ended drawing some of the figure drawing regulars.

sva figure drawing workshop

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eben | 7:34 PM | 2 comments

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
potato people
these aren't really potato people, but i hadn't posted anything in a while, and i kind of like these odd sketches. plus, i am trying out this new plan to post bigger images, less squinting for the user, less composing for me.

potato people

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eben | 1:18 PM | 0 comments

Friday, December 28, 2007
repair work at lbb
it was a busy day at lubbock preston smith international airport (lbb). one of the gangways was broken and it looked like the grounds crew (one tall, one short) had their work cut out for them. ao and i were discussing if they were actually doing anything, or just looking up at that piece of machinery for the first time. for those of you unfamiliar with lbb, it's not a particularly busy airport and is actually much larger than necessary. no one who works there ever looks particularly busy, that isn't to say the employees don't do their jobs, but it's not exactly laguardia during thanksgiving weekend.

repair work at lbb

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eben | 2:26 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, December 26, 2007
windmills
while in west texas, i got to visit one of my favorite museums, the american wind power center and museum. ao happily left me to draw, and ran some errands that didn't involve windmills.

the official eben windmill flickr set.

windmills

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eben | 1:38 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 20, 2007
urban rustic
food eateries open and close all over the place, and i greatly enjoy checking out their drawing potential. a new player is urban rustic where i met up with friend/cartoonist/illustrator gb. the people running the place were nice, the coffee was tasty, the food was okay (but i am optimistic that it will improve or that i will try better things). from a drawing sense, they do have lovely wooden shelving lined lined with do-gooder groceries, but the angles to draw are not terrific as the seating is all the way in the back of long space.

eben rating: it'll make it into the rotation.

urban rustic

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eben | 4:26 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 13, 2007
various sketches
i decided to upload some sketches i had done for some projects. nothing special here, just some ideas, doodled upon, coffee stained, etc.

various sketches 01

various sketches 02

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eben | 5:29 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
sva figure drawing workshop

eben | 8:28 PM | 0 comments

Monday, November 12, 2007
ashbox
late 70's chevrolet suburban.
ashbox: chevrolet suburban

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eben | 4:28 PM | 1 comments

Tuesday, October 09, 2007
phillies: sigh
it was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last long (grumble). the phillies laid a big egg against colorado, and all the excitement that filled the eben sails is now gone. back to drawing NON-phanatic drawings.

phillies: sigh

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eben | 11:10 AM | 3 comments

Wednesday, October 03, 2007
phillies: phanatic
my baseball giddiness is now becoming just plain sad. i actually made a vector drawing of the phillie phanatic.

phanatic t-shirt: phightin' like it's 1980

philly phanatic


go phillies

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eben | 1:05 PM | 6 comments

Friday, September 21, 2007
vector animals
i was looking at some icons and felt like doing some vector noodling and also motivated/inspired by the lovely work of sanna annuka.

(via swissmiss)
vector character01


trying out a pattern with this alligator type character.
vector character02

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eben | 3:24 PM | 0 comments

Monday, September 10, 2007
kings county supreme court, room 2.60
jury duty. 1 day or 1 trial. always a good chance to draw people. i am willing, and even look forward to serving jury duty (especially with the fancy new brooklyn courthouse), however, the sorting out and selection process couldn't be more painful. while the court officers have always impressed me (jury wranglers, clerks and judges) the same cannot be said about the sheer number of jurors who don't want to be there, believe they can get out of it, or just can't be bothered to pay attention (note: i do believe that there is a large quantity of people with legitimate cause for exemption). also, do they ever teach these ada's about dealing with a jury? my experience suggests that they do not.

here are some drawings of fellow jurors, unfortunately drawing/reading wasn't allowed inside the courtroom, so there aren't more pages. and on a dorky drawing note, i have ditched the moleskin as i got sick of the waxy drawing paper. moleskin, i find you guilty of annoying paper!

kings county supreme court, room 2.60 - 1
kings county supreme court, room 2.60 - 2

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eben | 5:23 PM | 1 comments

Wednesday, September 05, 2007
watercolor monster
watercolor monster

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eben | 3:34 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, August 28, 2007
ashbox
starting off a new sketchbook with lots of cars.

ashbox cars

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eben | 5:17 PM | 0 comments

Monday, August 27, 2007
fin (sketchbook endpage)
finishing off a sketchbook. not the most impressive of end pages, my apologies, friendly visitors.

fin (sketchbook endpage)

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eben | 5:11 PM | 0 comments

Friday, August 24, 2007
riverside park
various people and parks department in their little egg-golfcarts.

riverside park
- - - - -

sailboat at the west 79th street boat basin. there are some seriously ratty boats over there, cheaper to park a boat than get an apartment, i guess. if you are curious, here are the docking fees, etc.

riverside park
- - - - -

old decrepit metal dock. great to look at, tough to draw.

riverside park
- - - - -

westside highway drainage pipes.

riverside park

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eben | 4:54 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, August 21, 2007
ashbox thursday
it's thursday.

ashbox thursday

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eben | 4:52 PM | 0 comments

Monday, August 20, 2007
postcard mush
my brain in turning into postcard mush. labeling, stamping, sending...mush.

postcard mush

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eben | 4:51 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, August 14, 2007
east river park
some half-forgotten construction vehicle over by the water.

east river park

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eben | 3:30 PM | 0 comments

fdr drive
the brooklyn bridge seems like a great thing to draw, it is not.

fdr: brooklyn bridge

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eben | 3:28 PM | 0 comments

Monday, August 13, 2007
ashbox
tree doodles.

ashbox: tree doodle

this man wasn't actually a dinosaur. perhaps i have been spending too much time at the natural history museum.

ashbox: dinosaur

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eben | 3:25 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, August 09, 2007
new york times sketching
new york times sketching

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eben | 5:36 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, August 08, 2007
owls
damnit, i can't stop drawing owls.

sketchbook: owls

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eben | 5:34 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, August 07, 2007
american museum of natural history
one big, fat, dead snowy owl. they are some big birds.

american museum of natural history: snowy owl

burrowing owls aren't terribly big, but their pompadours are enormous! okay, this hairstyle might have gotten a wee bit out of control.

american museum of natural history: pompadour

various prehistoric buffaloes or something.

american museum of natural history

prehistoric buffalo bones.

american museum of natural history

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