Fresh back from a month traveling around India. Two weeks in the north and two in the south. Sunrise on the Ganges in the middle of a langur migration (sketches above; we inspected each other from a respectful distance), a Royal Enfield motorbike trip through the mountains (check that off the bucket list), endless meals of the best vegetarian food I’ve ever eaten, penance in the bathroom, swimming in the Arabian sea and all sorts of wonderful clichés involving Yoga and spirituality that mean a lot to me but I wouldn’t dare foist on anyone else.

I have a book full of sketches and notes which I’ll post soon in one form or another.

In the meantime, my new comic book, Jinchalo, has been printed. I haven’t held it yet, but Drawn and Quarterly – and especially Tracy Hurren (who did production on this book and put up with my persistent and ignorant inquiries and requests) – have posted some preview photos.

The book will be released in February 2012 but you can pre-order it now on Amazon.

Here’s a quick drawing I did last night and posted to Instagram (I’m @mattforsythe).

I used this online gesture drawing tool for the first time. It’s great. I totally recommend it.

Snatched a few sketches while I was out today. Just trying to grab scenes really quickly and loosely with a ballpoint pen and not be too precious about what was coming out. Added some shading in photoshop when I got home.

More life drawing tonight; I found a great class in Montreal at Studio Technique on St-Catherine. Mostly animators, I think. Trying to loosen up. Draw with my shoulder. Not clench the pencil so much…

Have a bit more control over perspective, etc… These are all 5 or 10 minute poses.

Also, I’m putting together a proper portfolio page at MatthewForsythe.com. People were (rightly) complaining the images were too small on my old gallery.

Doing anatomy sketches from photo reference (Flickr) and started doing these value maps with a sharpie. Good practice for painting – without wasting any paint. More sketches below….

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the first warm days in Montreal. Morning watercolour sketch at Jean Talon market.

A couple sketches from around Montreal.