Oof

I captured three terrifically attractive men in my sketchbook. The first was a real stunner. More salt than pepper American with his lady friend. The second, a Latin hiker who I forced my assistance on as he struggled to get the selfie he was aiming for. The third, much later, at our hotel in Quito. Like many very tall men, someone felt at liberty to ask in astonishment how tall he was, which I overheard. That's how I know.

Airport people

 

I love people watching (and drawing at airports). They pass through your life so quickly.

People watching en route to and around Leeds

 It wasn't that long ago, I guess. But everything is relative.

Lots of amazing people watching between the airports, the local, and the comic con!

And Xavier got his dig in about my hair, too.

Familiar

Every March, I am required to attend 3 conferences for my day job at MIT. I actually enjoy them, and they always get the wheels spinning in my head for next fiscal year. And, much like having developed good friendships among comics people, I've developed some good friendships among my professional peers. It's nice to see them repeatedly each March.

This year, I was kicking off the trip with a weekend in DC to see my friends Ryan and Mark. But we start, of course, at Logan International Airport. I'm no fan of airports, the noise, the awful and expensive food...but I always enjoy the humanity passing by.

This family consisted of butch mom, frumpy dad, and complaining little girl.

EDI>DUB>BOS

Oh, how I envied Xavier for having a direct flight to Lyon.

We had flown RyanAir from Bruxelles to Edinburgh, but I was flying Aer Lingus home via Dublin. Even though my flight was leaving before Xavier's, I think he arrived home before I left Dublin. No matter, I was able to get some inking in.

You always see something at an airport. This time, we saw a professional football club boarding at the gate next to mine.

And then, a little mystery solved: We each noticed a fellow delayed by security; he was annoyed, and the security officer was oddly reassuring saying something to the effect of, "it's just not usually done this way." As we saw the same fellow boarding for Belfast, he was carrying as his carry-on, a stack of loose binders and papers, and other things. Altogether within the limits of a carry-on bag, except no bag. I think that's why he was delayed, because one couldn't run all this stuff through the x-ray machine, loose.

He was definitely having difficulty managing his stack o' crap, and Xavier said, "oh, come on—he might as well be carrying on a lamp, too!" So I had to draw that, even though he actually didn't have a lamp...

Parting, I tried to French good-bye Xavier (kiss on each cheek), and he tried to American good-bye me (hug) which ended up in an awkward collision of kiss on the lips.

DFW

You know…I didn’t see a single cowboy hat, even at the airport. But DFW did supply some other treats.

PC cleaning #2: the couple

OR, what should we wear today? En route to Toronto for TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Frestival) this spring, I spotted a most intriguing duo getting on my flight at Boston's Logan International Airport. Matching dye jobs framed their faces; one slightly man-ish, the other slightly girlish. Their body shapes were concealed by matching outfits: tie dye shirts, leather jackets, jeans, freedom ring necklaces and rainbow accessories. I had convinced myself they were women until they spoke, and I was confused afresh. I concluded whether they were men, women, FTMs, MTFs, Is, or any combination, they were unmistakably a couple. Again, I had intended to color this nicely. Instead, you get a simple color job to illustrate their well-planned look.

My pretentious Euro-tour

I recently took a 3-week jaunt to Europe! About 2/3 of the trip was for my day job, and 1/3 was Tim-time. I sketched every day, but I will only share the most fun sketches with you. Oh—before you ask, I did not forget my camera as I did on my last trip (see prior sketch blog entries)! My office travel office screwed up and never bought my ticket. They had to scramble at the last minute to find an affordable ticket. The resulting itinerary sent me to Berlin via Rome. That turned out alright, as I got frisked by a very hot security guard!