World Wide SketchCrawl17, San Francisco

I spent last Saturday in San Francisco attending the 17 th World Wide Sketchcrawl held at Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. The weather was very hospitable, the sketchers came out in droves and the square bustled with activity and great characters to observe.
I usually don't draw very diligently at Sketchcrawls; content to sit on a bench with a coffee, taking in the sun and relaxing after a long week of drawing storyboards. This time however, I sat and drew with a specific purpose, for hours, and while my resultant drawings aren't exactly setting the world on fire, I had fun doing them, learned from them, and loosened up a bit.
I also met a bunch of great people, saw some great drawings, and ended the day with a meal at Delfina Pizzeria, and Bi-rite Creamery with Enrico and his wonderful wife Marit.
A great way spend a Saturday. Many thanks to Enrico for organizing it, and to all those that attended.
Here's some excerpts from the day...
Enjoy,
James

I had trouble keeping up with these ladies. So much character, great interactions. Interest Everywhere!

Portsmouth Square.

2008- 1 Year

Tomorrow, January 8th, I will quietly celebrate my first full year here at Pixar, and in San Francisco. It's been a great experience thus far, and having just been given two weeks off, one that I've been doing some reflecting on over the last 18 or so days. I think I'm still adjusting, very subtly at this point, to a new place, new life, and new expectations. I'd like to say thanks to Dani, Nick and Matt. I'd still be in TO if it weren't for you guys.

I also got a chance to do some of my own work over the break. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but it turned out I needed more rest than I thought I did. Here are some of the results of that, which I'm trying to wrestle into a shape that resembles a story. I've also been experimenting with some new photoshop painting techniques I've picked up at work, some of which are on display here.
Happy new year!

Enjoy,
James