21201 – Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore

November 30, 2013

“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”

We’re a little behind. Obviously.

If you didn’t know, Alexis and I got married in September and, well, the six months leading up to the wedding got pretty damn hectic. It may not look like it, but these blogs can take a little bit of time to put together, what with the photos to edit, videos to assemble, and, you know, fancy schmancy word poems to, I dunno, glue together. We were able to keep the actual sessions on track, and the videos (we had to—our computers only have so much memory), but sadly, the blogs took the hit.

But as I write this, it’s Thanksgiving, and I’ve got a belly full of turkey and some time on my hands, so let’s see if we can catch up.

Sucre à la Crème.

Her session back in March was one of the best Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore has ever had. I’m going to take a risk and say it honestly might be the best. I won’t say it outright, I don’t want to get knifed by a model when I step off a train back into Baltimore in a few days, but, well, it might just be. Her Legend of Zelda routine is also one of my all time favorites.

If you haven’t watched the video sometime in the last few months, take a look.

One thing I can say for sure: that is the best video we have of a session. A bazillion different things contributed to that, some of which was luck, but when someone asks what a session is like, this is one of the videos we show them.

Paco Fish was originally supposed to model for this session, but at the last minute, he offered to give his session up for Sucre, who was visiting Baltimore from Montreal (which has its own amazing branch, by the way). I don’t think you can quite spot him in the video, but Paco was there at the bar shooting the breeze with us while folks were drawing. A week after that, he set off across the country on tour, which, unless he’s been arrested in the last twenty-four hours or so, he’s still on.

Anyway, we’re pretty damn jealous of Montreal. If they hadn’t taken us out for beers when we were up there a year or two ago, we’d probably be plotting to kill them right now.

We had some drawing contests for weird shots from Russell and a book from our generous sponsor, Baby Tattoo Books out in LA, who runs their own Sketchy’s out there as well.

Since a bit of time has rolled past, our memories are a little hazy, but we’ll do our best to thank everyone involved. Special thanks to Sucre à la Crème who, I’m sure you can see, did an absolutely stunning job; thanks to Paco Fish for recommending her and for keeping us company that night; thanks to Russell of the Windup Space for slinging drinks and tunes; thanks to old door hand Styger who happened to be in town and helped us do set up and breakdown; thanks to Maeve for helping with door and all that set up and breakdown stuff too; thanks to our generous sponsor Baby Tattoo Books; and of course thanks to Alexis for the beautiful photos you see below and for helming the ship on stage that night.

By the way, you can see the sketches folks sent in from that night in the video above.

April 8, 2012April 8, 2012

Mab Just Mab nails it!

We’ve been wanting to do this particular session with Mab Just Mab—“DC’s Own Sideshow Girl—FOREVER. I mean, honestly, when will you get a chance again to draw someone hammering a nail up their nose? Sitting in the emergency room with your first born child after a particularly ill-advised game of kindergarden Truth or Dare? I don’t know. Take a look.

There was tasty beer from Flying Dog Brewery; some lucky souls won Molly Crabapple’s Week in Hell in our “best incorporation of Houdini” contest, and Freaks, Geeks, And Strange Girls: Sideshow Banners Of The Great American Midway in our “best incorporation of William Shatner” contest. Both prizes were from Atomic Books, which, if you didn’t know is the best damn bookstore/comic book shop in Baltimore.

Thanks to Mab Just Mab, for putting on what might have to be one of my favorite sessions of all time; thanks to this session’s sponsors, Atomic Books and Flying Dog Brewery; thanks to Jeff for the amazing gallery of photos you see below (and one above); thanks to Russell for slinging booze and tunes; and thanks to Alexis for emceeing the whole thing.

And special thanks to all the artists who contributed artwork for this recap: Cecilia Strakna, David Wright, Jeff Lance, Mike Hasson, and Stewart White.

Our next session is Monday, April 9th with Eyrie Twilight of Black Tassel Boolesque. Doors at 6, start at 7 – get there early to get a good seat. It’s going be a neo-Victorian/steampunk-esque extravaganza.

November 25, 2011

La Bella Muerte

Holy Mictecacihuatl. Well, Nona Narcisse of Slow Burn Burlesque out of New Orleans was [ 5 pages of expletives removed due to space considerations and Aaron’s repetitiveness – Alexis ], fucking amazing. If you were there for our Day of the Dead session, you know. If you weren’t—well, remember that Christmas where you really, really, really wanted He-Man’s Attak Trak and when you got up that morning, not only was the Attak Trak under the tree, but your dad robbed a Toys R Us after you went to bed and left everything under the tree, THEN, stormed Mattel headquarters and left the senior executives tied up under the tree so you could personally place an order for shit they hadn’t even thought of yet?

IT WAS LIKE THAT.

But, umm, in a way that was kind of scary in a “You don’t think she’s really Mictecacihuatl, do you? I’m kind of scared to look her in the eye” way. (Which, to be fair, is somewhat similar to that “Oh shit, one of these execs has a GPS bracelet on!” moment about 30-minutes into that Christmas morning oh so many years ago.)

So, best Dr. Sketchy’s ever? I don’t know—maybe Nona Narcisse and Reverend Valentine can have a face-off session and settle the matter with knives or something. I’d draw that.

By the way, we’ve NEVER gotten this many drawings sent in for a session. It took FIVE HOURS to download them all and insert them in this post, so let’s get rolling, cause, folks, this is a LONG post. Go make a cup of coffee, I’ll wait.

Ready?

We started off with the 1- and 2-minute poses.

Adam J. Tolman

Fred Zeleny

Adam J. Tolman

Fred Zeleny

Our photographer Jeff is seriously knocking it out of the park with the photos too. Probably the best he’s ever done—Lord knows it would have been hard to take a bad photo with all this, but still.

We took a short break so folks could flex their drawing hands, get a drink, a smoke, pee-pee, whatever floated their boat, and then it was time for the 5-minute poses. The first was the traditional opposite-hand drawing contest, where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, if you’re left-handed you draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous, you spend most of the pose crying quietly in a bathroom stall because you’re different and we can only support so much “being different” at Dr. Sketchy’s before we turn into a middle-school cafeteria and give you a swirly.

The two winners received a mystery concoction from Russell at the bar.

Tim Kelly

John Schloman

Fred Zeleny

Daniel Govar

Fred Zeleny

Cecilia Strakna

John Schloman

Fred Zeleny

Clarice Jones

Cecilia Strakna

Tim Kelly

After that, it was time for a second break, and then, once everyone was safely squirreled away in their seats, the lights dimmed, Nona performed one of the best burlesque routines I’ve ever seen in my life.

Watch. If you skip this video, I don’t even understand why you’re reading all this anyway.

Here are two photos Jeff snapped during the performance as well :

After Nona’s well-earned break, it was time for the 10-minute poses, the first of which was the random noun contest where the audience calls out drunken gibberish. This time around it turned out to be “David Bowie.” The winner received Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Doll Bonanza by Miss Mindy from Baby Tattoo Books. Baby Tattoo runs the LA branch of Dr. Sketchy’s; if you’re ever out there, check ’em out.

Tim Kelly

John Schloman

Clarice Jones

John Schloman

Next up were the 20-minute poses—and whoa nelly, did these produce some amazing sketches. The contest for the first one had the appropriate theme of “Voodoo” with the winner receiving a Flying Dog Limited Edition barrel-aged Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog Brewery, who not only provided THAT, but had Flying Dog beers for sale all night at insanely cheap prices.

Fred Zeleny

Last pose of the night . . . the contest for this one had the theme “Occupy Dr. Sketchy’s” with the winner receiving Day of the Dead : El Dia De Los Muertos by Antoni Cadafalch from Atomic Books, our longest-running sponsor and the best damn indie bookstore you’ll find in Baltimore (right up there in Hampden on the corner of the Avenue and Falls).

Fred Zeleny

(This next photo was of Nona watching the finalists get picked.)

Last, but not least, there were a few drawings that for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out where they belonged in the night. They were pretty cool, so I didn’t want to leave them out.

Tim Kelly

David Wright

Adam J. Tolman

More thanks than I could possibly express to Nona Narcisse for posing for us while she was up from New Orleans; thanks to our amazing sponsors: Atomic Books, Baby Tattoo Books, and Flying Dog Brewery; thanks to Russell for slinging drinks and booze and hosting us at the Windup Space; thanks to Jeff for turning out the best photos he’s done yet; thanks to all of you for making it a great night and sending in the best selection of drawings we’ve ever seen; and thanks to Alexis manning the mic regardless of the quite real peril of being devoured by an ancient Aztec goddess.

So what next? What could have a chance of towering over what’s come before?

What about Paco Fish ON STILTS???

Have you ever drawn anyone on stilts? I sure as hell haven’t. Not only that, but he’s got a slew of costumes you’ve never drawn before and a performance that will rattle you in your shoes. I could go on further (and I *did* on the event page—if you’re coming, you should go let us know). In any case, next session is Monday, November 28th at the Windup Space. Doors at 6, start at 7, show up early if you want a good seat. 18+ to draw, 21+ to drink, 55+ for fisticuffs. Only two sessions left this year, folks! Get it while the gettin’s good.