Pre Toast

I sat at the corner of the Croccodile Lounge on 14th, sipping a vodka cranberry, staring at the gaping canvases on the wall. I saw him redrawing one of the paintings in his notebook. He was sitting alone. His head was bent over a few centimeters away from the page with both his legs wrapped around his stool in front of him. His clothes were unkempt; a blue rimmed sweater with holes in the armpits and a chocolate brown tie swung over his shoulder. I asked him about his work. I talked to him about perspective. He told me about storyboard and comic book scenes; upward shots, wide angles, close ups. He said its all about the scene lighting, or shading in his case, mood, and tone setting. White lighting makes it look innocent and dark colors give it something less welcoming. The scene could be hopeful or it could be incriminating. The characters are either flawed or emergent. The situations you put them in and the scenes you create give them a story. The scenes could be beautiful and hopeful, gruesome or nightmarish, but it’s all how you see it. Give them meaning.

Everyone has a story and sometimes not all of them are pretty, he told me.