Easter Sunday on Washington Square Park

Hey guys! Join us in Washington Square Park this Easter Sunday March 27. Elhoim Leafar and me will be there from 9am to 6pm to show you our work and enjoy the arrival of spring and the joy of this holiday. Elhoim will be showcasing and signing  his new book "Flowers from The River" which is full of artwork made by me, and I will be showing the originals of all the drawings you have seen in this blog and some you haven't seen yet. I will also be selling copies of my drawings.

Go to the event page on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/499977873520852

Harlem, Spirituality and Academy

Greetings! For the March issue I recalled a piece I made back in October about Harlem. The drawing sows the St James Presbyterian Church, the 145th Street subway stop and The City College of New York in a compacted version of this neighborhood.

I chose this piece for this month because of the predominance of the church in the front, which is just one of the many different and peculiar houses of worship on this city. The difference in architecture and art is remarkable among these holy buildings and having a drawing that not only represents the holy but also the academic is perfect for the Holidays of March, including the Holy week, Easter and also the Midterm season for so many students of CCNY, who also has one of the most remarkable architectures of the City and is undoubtedly the "Hogwarts of Harlem" due to being a castle in the top of a hill ,easily visible from many parts of the city..

Midtown Manhattan

With this piece I wanted to illustrate the "Concrete Jungle" feel of midtown Manhattan when huge towers are next to more regular-size brick buildings and glass-wall offices.

December 2015 T-Shirt

Hey guys! This is the new T-shirt for December. It has the Manhattan Bridge design, one of my favorites. Go to Patreon.com/DaveDrawsNYC to get more info in how to get this sent to you!

Thanks to +Elhoim Leafar  for publishing his amazing photos on last month's design!

Belvedere Castle

Greetings!

We are preparing for winter already. Some just can't wait for the first snow. Others already miss summertime. For these last ones, I have a new drawing in colored pencil,  it is the Belvedere Castle in central Park during summertime.

Do you know this place? Is deep in the center of Central Park, and has the highest view in the park. If you visit New York I totally recommend you to visit it. You won't be disappointed.

Please support me on Patreon.com/DaveDrawsNYC and with only $1 you will have access to all my art in high quality and without annoying text in them.

Dave Draws the #RockCenterXmas Christmas Tree + Photos & Video

Christmas is the merriest season of all and in New York City everything is scaled to superlative heights

The Rockefeller Center Tree in the heart of Manhattan is a solid proof of that. A beautiful Norway Spruce spanning 76 ft tall is the crown jewel in the middle of the city. The decorations are also superb, but the most beautiful of all is the people gathered there in a joyful cheer, whether it is for the huge Christmas Tree or for the light show across the street. That block is definitely the busiest of Manhattan during this month, but one feels pure joy being there.

Here is the artwork I made for Christmas:

And here is a "making Of" video timelapse:

If you want the high-res picture, just go to Patreon and donate $1 to get access to all my 973x1200 pixel files without watermarks. https://www.patreon.com/davedrawsnyc

Now, a few photos from my inspirational visit:

Thanksgiving 2015: Explaining The Drawing Process

Happy Thanksgiving! Due to this important holiday, we are releasing the 2nd issue a bit earlier. And together with this comes a bit of information of the creative process behind every piece.

Manhattan Bridge

So how are these images done?

1. The first step is research and inspiration. I usually go on walks on the city armed with my cell phone. Take a lot of photos from different angles. Once I like a place, I revisit it at least once to try to find the best angle to draw it and take some photos. There is not such thing as too much. Research and get inspired by something as much as you can. Take note of details and things yu can add to your drawing.
2. Then comes a sketch. Draw with pencil the bridge. Don't fear to get it wrong. erase as many times as you want until the full picture start taking shape. To do this I recomend you to start painting the main feature. In this case is the bridge tower, and after you have it totally figured out, start drawing the background. It is very important to take the perspective into account. You can twitch the perspective to draw impossible angles, but the thing is that once you find a perspective, try to stick to it. As this is a drawing, you can move things around, nobody will judge you if you put the empire state a few blocks closer to the Manhattan bridge than it really is, as this is a composition, not a photo. The important thing is to do it consciously. As a final note, don't worry if our sketch is getting damaged for the constant erasing and the pencil.
3. Clean up. This step is to clean the sketch to the final form. To do this, I basically redraw the thing in a brand new piece of paper. This way all the errors and stains from the original sketch won't affect the final product and now we have a final opportunity to twitch it.
4. Line work. Some artists, like me, draw the main lines with a liner marker. This way the solid lines pop up from the page. This is delicate as there is no turning back, so do this carefully and take the time you need.
5. Start coloring. I used colored pencils, but you can use whatever media you want. 
6. Add details. The final product made with colored pencil usually looks flat, so to pop it out of the screen I usually use white ink and black pencil with the highlights and the shadows. This is a very good way to really pull attention to the points you want to. Include also other details, for example in this drawing, the falling leaves of the trees. Also, it is much easier to draw the original backgrounds and then the small details. Artists usually try to reduce this to a minimum because they feel they are just covering up their hard work, but this is totally worth it.

That's it! I hope you all find this useful on your drawings. remember, imagination is the key.

Now  bit video of the evolution of the featured piece using these steps..

and here is a gif for you...

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