Tommy Kane

I got a call from the great French illustrator, Marielle Durand. She was in town for a few days and wanted to draw with me. We met in Central Park with the NYC Urban Sketchers at the boat house in Harlem.

I draw what I see and I see some really weird things. Thankfully I’m not what you would call, normal. This sketch is a combo of museum of natural history, botanical gardens, and a few photographs I searched out.

A little something I did at Natural History museum. #urbansketchers

Me drawing on a train ride through the Swiss Alps.

These two leaves on the ground demanded to be painted. I usually draw but these guys were insistent that I break out the old paint tubes to see if I still have any skill left.

People love to eat shrimp even though they don’t know what they’re really consuming. Crustaceans can be a wolf in shrimp’s clothing. Farm-raised shrimp from Asia and South America have flooded the US market.

Watch a squirrel in a fancy fedora drawing a Brooklyn bodega. #urbansketchers

The kind of thing I see in Manhattan everyday.

A drawing of a vegan’s best friends. #urbansketch

I did a drawing in my own neighborhood. It’s something I rarely do because I’m too dumb to think of it.

I wonder what the artists who made these phenomenal masks would have thought of my wacky drawing. I’d assume we’d be copacetic.

Two art dudes drawing tulips.

My friend Stephen and I were in the Botanical Gardens drawing the last vestiges of tulips before they perished. I knew the flowers alone on the page would not be enough to make an interesting drawing. At least that’s how I saw it. A few felines seemed to do the trick.

Self portrait. When I don’t shave for a few days, I get a bit scruffy. At least I got the likeness perfect.

I’m out on the street again drawing after a winter hiatus sketching indoors. I used to draw on the street no matter the weather but I’m not that dude anymore. Here is a glimpse of me in the wild sketching in my dandy outfit.

I went to East Chinatown with my friend, Steve to draw a bit of architecture. It’s not so easy to find a psychic storefront above a print shop with a liquor store and bong shop on either side but we did it. Both of us sat in the dirt divider between two bike paths so we didn’t get plowed by e-bikes.

Me drawing at Citifield.

I went to my first baseball game of the season. Watched the Mets beat the Phillies. I spent most of the game intently sketching the stadium. The people around me were very amused. They all wanted to know if I traveled to all the other stadiums to draw them too. I said that was too ambitious.

The kind of thing I see wandering around Brooklyn.

These great girls were a sister duo modeling at the Annual Draw-A-Thon in Manhattan. Of course, I drew them. Then this other model caught my eye. My black Pental and Uniball pens were put through the ringer that day.

My YouTube channel has surpassed 2 million views.

I went to the High School of Art & Design 21st Annual Draw-A-Thon which is held in the school. The gym and cafeteria were filled with little stages where 15 models were posing. It started at 10 in the morning and went until 7PM. I put in about 6 hours. This model seemed to be 7 feet tall.

Dancin in the park.

I drew this in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Two girls approached me and wanted to chat. One of them addressed me for the first time in my life as, “sir.” That seemed to open the floodgates. Then they both barraged me with “sirs.” I’m at that age now. It felt good if you want to know the truth.

WTF.

My drawing cohorts figured out that if they buy their ticket online for the Natural History Museum, they can pay whatever they want. So they enter for twenty five cents. I’m a member, so no problemo. They chose a rhino to sketch. I gave it my best shot.

I made it to the Botanical Gardens to draw my first flowers of the season. As I was drawing, I heard my name being called. It turned out to be some of the ladies of the Urban Sketchers. We got to hang a bit. Then I went home and added the animals to my sketch.

I went to see Robert Crumb interviewed at the 92nd street Y the other night. It was for his new book release. A biography by Dan Nadel.

Smoking skeletons, yellow-eyed monkeys, green skulls, and floating goldfish, are all a part of drawing at the Museum of Natural History. On the other hand, it could just be that my failing eyesight creates things for me to draw that are not really there.

I spent a few days in Florida at my cousin, Eileen’s house. In between swims, I managed to make a drawing.