November Sketchy comes early!

Like, really soon, like next Wednesday, Nov. 18th! We'll be at the Belmont from 6pm to as close to 10pm as we can (gotta make way for karaoke later that night).

Our model will be Noir Leather's Kat Fegley, with a baton-twirling majorette theme to open the proceedings!

In light of the Thanksgiving holiday I'd like to ask for food donations for a local charity. I'll keep you posted on details regarding that.

So - cool! I'll see you at 6pm at the Belmont next Wednesday!

More art from October

November Sketchy is in the works. In the meantime, here are a few very nice pencil drawings from Azucena from the Halloween session.

Return of the Sketchy Dead

Even more from Thursday's session: photos and drawings this time from Britt.

More spooktacular art

Jennifer Rose Evans sent this collage of sketches from our session with Lisa on Thursday (click it to enlarge and get a better look).Not only was it her first Sketchy, she says it was her first time working from a formal live model! You can see more of her work on her Deviant Art site.


UPDATE: Just got these great studies from DS repeat customer Kevin, too.

DS October: Lisa and the Spiders from Mars

It was a full house at Blick's in Dearborn last night, listening to creepy stories and silly songs on the Halloween satellite radio and sketching Lisa as she lounged on her skull throne, battled giant arachnids and ate treats. Many thanks as always to everyone who came out, and special thanks to Paul and the staff at Blick for having us and supplying the swell raffle prizes! Here's some art, two by me and three more by regular contributer John. Send yours!






Also, as I mentioned last night, Hatch, the art collective based in Hamtramck, is trying to drum up new members. We're in the process of renovating the old police station in town to convert it to an arts center with gallery, studio and retail space. Find out more about Hatch at our website and consider joining up!

DR SKETCHY THIS THURSDAY, OCT. 29

Just a reminder to everyone to come by Blick Art Materials on Michigan Ave. in Dearborn at 6pm Thursday October 29 for Dr. Sketchy's Halloween session! Check the previous blog post for more details and to get a glimpse of drawings of our lovely model Lisa.

Contact Blick Art Materials at 313-581-7063

See you there!
Sean

Next Dr. Sketchy: THURS. OCT. 29 6-9PM!

Hey all! So here it comes, the Halloween '09 Dr. Sketchy session, this time back at Blick Art Materials in Dearborn! Modeling this time will be Lisa, who heroically came to pose at the mini-Sketchy held at the People's Art Festival this past August. (Drawings of her here by friend-of-Sketchy Jim Anderson.) Lisa mentioned a "dead doll" costume she's been working on, so expect some seasonal creepiness! (And plenty of treats, too)

So mark your calendars - Thursday, October 29, from 6-9pm - and I'll give you more details as I nail them down.

More Hayley Jane from Sept. Dr. Sketchy

Just got back from a week's vacation, but here's some more excellent art from last month's session - pen sketches by Ray Stanczak and color collages by Doug Blanchard. Plans are afoot for October, so stay tuned.

Hayley Jane by Kevin & Britt

Some great sketches from a couple of DS regulars. First two by Kevin:


Then a few by Britt:

September Sketchy photos

Not loving ths new camera of mine so much, but I did get a few okay pictures of Hayley Jane last night.

Dr. Sketchy September: Hayley Jane!

We had a really good session tonight with an amazing new model - a real natural - and a few folks who were either new or who I haven't seen in a while. It looked to me like there were a lot of great drawings being made, and I hope they'll get sent my way. Until then, here are a few of my own (yeah, I actually did some drawing this time!). Plus - birthday cake! (It's Hayley Jane's b'day on Saturday.)


Dragged the ol' cow skull again:

One more post from the 3rd anniversary

Before I post anything about tonight's session, I wanted to share these images from the 3rd birthday party at Scarab Club. If you were there, you might remember seeing Harriet Berg, the 84-year-old who borrowed my sketchbook and a Sharpie and joined in the sketching (I waived her $5 fee...). Harriet's a dancer, and her husband, who died earlier this year, was one of my wife's art teachers in high school, a sculptor and a docent at the art institute. Both of them are long-time fixtures in the Detroit area arts community and I was extremely happy she came to the August session. Here are a few of her drawings, two of Demonique in her Cleopatra costume and one of the club's garden gate.

Dr. Sketchy September: THURSDAY, SEPT. 17, 6-9pm

Hi all,

Back to Sketchy HQ at the Belmont this month, with a new model: singer, actress, dancer costume designer (she did the outfits for the recent burlesque version of "Alice in Wonderland") and all-around amazing gal Hayley Jane Nickerson!

Check her out on MySpace, YouTube, and in the Metro Times (photo above by MT's Doug Coombe)...

...and of course at the Belmont next Thursday, where she promises to bring a case full of costumes for your sketching pleasure!

PLEASE NOTE the slightly earlier-than-usual time - 6-9pm - to accommodate the bands playing later in the night.

See you there!
Sean

Dr Sketchy @ People's Art Festival SUNDAY AUG. 30 4-6PM!

Hey all,

Right on the heels of the birthday bash last week comes an invite to join the folks at Motorcityblog at the People's Art Festival in Detroit for some more burlesque sketching fun THIS SUNDAY!

Now, you shouldn't need Dr Sketchy to entice you to go to the Festival, located at the Russell Industrial complex off of I-75, just south of Hamtramck. It's a sprawling, amazing gathering of artists, musicians and vendors from all over town that you do not want to miss. Check out the web site for more info:

peoplesartsfestival.com

We'll be meeting around 4pm at one of the Motorcityblog booths to do some drawing and spread the word about Dr. Sketchy. The festival ends at 6pm Sunday, so be sure to get there before then! In fact, come early and tour the grounds, you;ll be sure to find something you'll enjoy (and be sure to stop by the Hatch Hamtramck Art Collective table to pick up Dr Sketchy t-shirts and lots of other artsy goodness!).

Hope to see you there!
Sean

Dr. Sketchy goes behind the Velvet Rope

Lots of great photos of last Thursday's event are up in the Metro Times' Velvet Rope section (thanks to Hellcat Kelly for coming out to shoot!)

More from the birthday bash

Sketches from Britt Martin:





John Nagridge:

and Jim Anderson. (more at the link!)

Motorcityblog views Sketchy

There's a fantastic Dr. Sketchy slide show of photos by Brett Lawrence over on the Motorcityblog, be sure to check it out! MCB has been good about posting info on Sketchy in the past, so a belated thanks to them as well.

The shocking pink Dr. Sketchy cocktail makes a few appearances in that slide show (mainly in my hand), so this is a good time to drop the recipe for the thing, concocted for us by Scarab Club bartender Steven Ellis:

1/2 part Absente
1/2 part Tequila Sauza
orange juice
splash of grenadine
...all shaken over ice

And if you liked the vegan cupcakes the recipe for them (minus the pastry pasties!) is here.

Happy Birthday to us!

Wow! If the 3rd Birthday Bash at the Scarab Club wasn't the best Sketchy session ever 'round these parts it was certainly up there. Someone counted about 50 people sketching or at least hanging out as Demonique posed in her Cleopatra costume, and Lily LaRue had everyone riveted when she took to the gallery floor to do her fan dance. Everything from the club to the cupcakes to the cocktails looked like a huge hit from where I was standing. See for yourself (thanks to Agnes for the photos!)






Oh, and check out this video from sketcher Chip, that'll give an idea of how blustery it was in the garden.

Many thanks again to everyone who came, to everyone at the Scarab Club for accommodating us and of course as always to our wonderful models. If you were there and did sketches please send them my way for the blog!

Dr. Sketchy August: Scarab Club and People's Art Festival

First: Just a reminder that we'll be gathering at the Scarab Club next Thursday - cocktail social starts at 6pm, sketching at 7pm. I think this'll be an extra-amazing one, so I hope you can come by and help celebrate Sketchy's 3rd birthday!

Second: I've just received an invitation from Kirk at the Motorcityblog (a great resource for what's happenin' around town, and who've been very good about promoting Sketchy in the past) to hold a session at their booth at the People's Art Festival on Sunday, August 30. If you've never been, People's is a sprawling, raucous art fair staged at the Russell industrial complex (just south of Hamtramck off I-75) and featuring tons of talent from around the area, plus music, food, beer and more. Hosting Sketchy there sounds fun as hell, so I'm in the process of making the arrangements. When I have details I'll let you know, but for now keep that Sunday open!

DS:MCD's Birthday Bash at the Scarab Club!

Got the flyer done...

So here's more info on what is gonna be a helluva Sketchy session, folks. First of all, it's our birthday - I nearly forgot! So all the better that this session will be something special.

If you've never been to the Scarab Club, located just behind the Detroit Institute of Arts, you're going to be pleasantly surprised. The club's been around for just over 100 years and the 1928 building it's now in is a charming combo of warm dark wood, creaking floorboards and Pewabic accents and bright modern gallery space. Upstairs in the lounge area, the rafters have been autographed by the artists who've visited the place, including Norman Rockwell, Diego Rivera, Marcel Duchamp and many others. The outdoor courtyard where we'll be set up, weather permitting, is walled in in brick and full of flowers.

The 20th is also the club's Third Thursday Cocktail Social, starting at 6pm, with drinks and snacks served upstairs (cash bar, so bring extra $$). There's a rumor that the bartender will be inventing a cocktail especially in Dr. Sketchy's honor, so come early! The cost of the social has been waived for Sketchy participants, so you'll pay only the usual $5 to get in. We'll start sketching at our usual 7pm time. Oh, and there's plenty of street parking, as well as a guarded, fenced-in lot next door if you don't mind paying the fee.

Our models for the evening are two DS faves: Lily LaRue and Demonique Damzelle! Plus, at half-time, Lily will honor us with a burlesque performance. All this, and a prize raffle, an art exhibit in the club's gallery, and probably some other craziness thrown in, too.

So for reals, if you make it to only one Dr. Sketchy this year, THIS is the one to hit. Tell your friends! Hope to see you all there,
Sean

Dr. Sketchy in August: Cocktails at the Scarab Club!

Here's the heads-up about the next Dr. Sketchy session:

We'll be meeting on THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 6-10PM at the historic Scarab Club, just behind the Institute of Arts in Detroit, to be part of their Third Thursday cocktail social. Expect the usual fantastic Dr. Sketchy models, but this time we'll be drawing in the Scarab Club's beautiful garden courtyard.

I'll keep you posted on details as they're finalized. Meanwhile, go to the Scarab Club website to find out all about this amazing corner of Detroit history.

See yo then!
Sean

Celluloid Sundays at the Belmont!

Hey all: Two great friends of Dr. Sketchy - fave model Muana and our regular haunt the Belmont - are getting together to present strange and rare films, starting Sunday, July 19 at 7pm!

It's a double feature of Jodorowsky's surreal "Santa Sangre" ("the '80s indulgence only known to those who have experienced it as a Video Nasty!") and slasher classic "Pieces" ("a man with many mommy issues and not enough love. His wing man is a rusty old chainsaw with a hunger for virgin blood.") In between there's a DJ, baked goods and, natch, popcorn for everyone. See you there!

More post-4th Sketchy goodness

More art, this time from Courtney (above), myself...


...and Jim Anderson.



And you really, really must go over to Jim's blog and see all the Dr. Sketchy art he has up, including new drawings on Post-It notes done from photos of past Sketchies found on this blog. Wonderful stuff!

A perfect union: Dr. Sketchy and the 4th of July!

(So perfect, we moved ours up to July 2nd so we wouldn't steal Uncle Sam's thunder...)

Okay, so we started kinda late - but it was a pretty fully-packed two-hours-and-change! Free apple pie, sparklers for everyone, hanging out on the patio, strange and cool prizes, and three (!) models in red-white-'n'-blue for a downright patriotic evening of sketching and shooting. Thanks of course to Sheila, Stephanie and Angela for modeling indoors and out, to Agnes for shooting photos and artwork (why didn't I think of that before?) and to all who turned out for the evening. Here are some samples, more to come.






(Oh, and just so I don't forget the moment, I'll write it here: Sitting on the patio in the fading daylight, sketching three women in skimpy patriotic costumes as rockabilly drifts out of the bar door and the call to prayer from the nearby mosque wafts in from the other direction... Wow.)

DR. SKETCHY TONIGHT AT 6PM!

Hey all, just a final reminder that Dr. Sketchy will be hitting the Belmont in Hamtramck again

TONIGHT, THURSDAY JULY 2 at 6PM-9PM
(not 7pm-10pm, as previously stated, due to a last-minute scheduling snag)

with brand new models from Spag Burlesque gracing the stage, maybe some sketching outdoors on the patio (light permitting) and a few 4th of July treats thrown in. See you there!

Sean

Dr. Sketchy is back with a bang! (Plus: Molly Crabapple comics!)

In the red? Nothing but white paper in your sketchbook? Just plain feeling blue? We got your stimulus package right here! Dr. Sketchy is back with another night of sexy sketchin' on

THURSDAY, JULY 2ND, 7-10pm at the BELMONT IN HAMTRAMCK

Expect a whiz-bang "Salute to America"-themed show with not one, not two, but three models on the schedule - Angie Baby, Chris D'Lish and Tera Bites, all from Detroit's beloved Spag Burlesque troupe! And it's still only $5 to draw all night!

IN OTHER NEWS:

DS founder Molly Crabapple has released her first graphic novel, Scarlett Takes Manhattan, and it's available for pre-order on Amazon now!


"On July 8th, Fugu Press will release “Scarlett Takes Manhattan,” the first graphic novel by Dr. Sketchy’s creator Molly Crabapple and her longtime collaborator John Leavitt. Set in the demimonde of Gilded Age New York, “Scarlett Takes Manhattan” tells the story of poor Bowery girl Shifra Helfgott, who rises to become the premier fire-eater of her age.

Chock full of rigged boxing matches, dirty politics, and turn of the century lesbian culture, “Scarlett” has been described as “disgustingly wonderful” by Warren Ellis and led Margaret Cho to call Molly “THE artist of our time.”

Consider yourselves urged to purchase a copy. See you on the 2nd!

DS May: More of Antha...

... from sketchers Britt:





... Mike...






... and John. Thanks guys!

DS May: Yippie-kye-ay, motherf#@%er...!

Quick post: Great night last night, y'all - new folks and regulars both came out to sketch lovely newcomer Antha (someone punch me and correct me if I got the name wrong yet again!), both in and out of her cowgirl duds! What a night for my digital camera to go critical on me... Anyway, send your art!

Dr. Sketchy Rides Again, Thursday, May 14!

Howdy, y'all! Just letting you know that Dr. Sketchy's a-comin' to the Belmont in Hamtramck tomorrow, Thursday, May 14! It's gonna be country-western night at DS this month (or it better be, else all this Hee-Haw talk I'm a-spoutin' is gonna sound mighty strange), with two lovely models done up in cowboys-n-indians garb and a playlist of appropriately twangy music goin' in the background.

Please note: due to bands playing later in the evening, we'll need to vacate the stage around 9:30pm. We're going to try to get started around 6:30 so we get our 3 hours in. So come early! Yee haw! Wh-KSHH!! (Uh, that was a whip cracking at the end there. Yeah.)

DS April: Lushness & Sprockethole!

And finally, I get their names right (sorry for the confusion, ladies!).

In any case, many thanks to our lovely and fun models from this last Thursday. After a springtime weather-inspired late start, we had a good turnout and a lively session, with Lushness and Sprockethole sharing the spotlight both separately and together. Take a look: First, photos by Agnes (more of her work on her Flickr page)...





Next a few by DS regular customer Kevin:





A couple from Yers Trooly:




And finally, some colorful samples from James Anderson (more of his work here):






Always room for more, so send me something!

Also: Quick shout of "thanks" to Real Detroit for plugging the event this week!

Also also: I just wanna say that, as much as I nag about it, you Detroit Art Monkeys are always very generous about feeding the tip jar at our events, and it's always greatly appreciated - by the models of course, but also by me. Besides being a boon for the folks on stage, it's just one more little thing that helps build Dr. Sketchy Detroit's rep as a fun and positive force in town, and I thank you kindly.

Next session is Thursday May 14 back at the Belmont, watch for details!