As I mentioned in a previous post I love art that combines realistic portraits and crazy colour schemes, and the work of Mr Frivolous definitely hits the spot there. But the thing that really interests me about his work is the text. It's almost like a personal graffiti he adds to his drawings, in amongst all the quotes he adds to each piece you'll often find personal notes or declarations scribbled down. I love the piece that has a corner ripped off with a note saying "this bit was crap so I ripped it off" in its place.

In a world where so much art looks virtually the same, it's work that has little bits of personality like that bursting from it that really stands out. I check back in at his website regularly to see if he's added any new pieces, and since Santa Claus is richer than I am I've bookmarked a few of his original drawings for my Christmas wishlist.

Rik paints smashed up beer and soda cans with his style of "urban pop art." Drawing quirky characters and embellishing them with type, colors, and magazine cut-outs is what he does best and we love him for it. Click for a glimpse of what I mean or read about his process here.



And now I've just discovered that he's keeping a tumblr blog of sketchbook doodles called Scrib Dibbles and I just had to share. Follow along for improvised, one-color, pen on paper, character-driven awesomeness. Drawn and posted with no editing or erasing. Much respect!

Sometimes I crave the simple things.

Lots of white space. Scribbles that are easy on the eye. Something almost child-like and free, but with the neat hand of adulthood.

These hand-drawn collages by Ariel Aberg-Riger do the trick.

To me they say, "ahhh, relax a little, life is nice and a bit funny sometimes". That's what they say to me, anyhow. Enjoy!

Come with me and take a peek at the wonderful sketchbook of María Inés Gul, aka Marjainez. It's a mix of scribbles, paint blots and mid-sentence thoughts.

I love when drawings interweave, have depth and overlap all over eachother. It's like layers upon layers of scribbles that equal one incredible visual story. My gut tells me that more often than not, this end result is not planned, it just happens as a consequence to sketching in a sketchbook.

This is the work of Jess Worby, a recent member of DA that I just happened upon when browsing through some of the new member profiles. His work is exactly what I describe above, take a look for yourself and definitely welcome him to the site.

One can tell that when Zé Otavio opens up his sketchbook, he holds nothing back. And that is exactly how a sketchbook should be used. His pages are layer upon layer of dirty, rough scratches, scribbles, tearings - you name it. I say we all open up our sketchbooks today and let ourselves go.

Comic-style storylines, fine architectural detail, and precise drafting. I could get lost in the graphic and textual layers. I'm enamoured. Take a gander at Timothy J. Reynolds's Moleskins and you will be too.