NEW CLOTHES
for the new year
Another day, another year. Here we are once more, jumping into the unknown. And here am I, trying to transfer through this keyboard what making art has been like to me, at this moment in my life, hoping some of my sketchy experiences can be relatable and, who knows, even a little inspiring. I feel we are all struggling (some much more than others, of course), and our daily routines have been full of uncertainties. Yet, incredibly magical things keep happening all around us, every day, so more than ever all I want for others is to remember to stay curious, look around and be ready to recognize the special moments, the special feelings, the special people.
I really want 2022 to be a good year, and I’m determined to do my part to make this happens. Here’s one of the first drawings I did this year to kick things off.
Sketches are both drawings and ideas put down on paper. They can start as small, simple ideas, but even so they can have this potential to grow and become something. At times, I sketch to practice a technique. The above sketch was inked with a nib, as I’m trying to find different lines for some of my drawings. Nibs, like brushes, require more practice, and also better paper, one more suited to the ink flow. As I sketch more, I think about which tools to try next, which tools to rescue from all the years when I used to experiment with different materials to try to find one that pleased me more (the brush, as it turned out). When I was watching the Sergio Aragonés interview with the Cartoonist Kayfabe guys, I got curious about trying fountain pens again (Sergio’s tools of choice), which work like a tradicional nib but slides more smoothly across the paper and perhaps allow for more loose drawings. When you want your drawings to be loose and light, you have to find faster tools. If you spend too much time on your line, being too precious about it, something about the spontaneity of gesture is lost. For a certain type of work, gesture is important.
Gesture is personality.
Gesture is style.
Gesture is story.
I have this impression that every January my sketches turn their attention to fashion, one way or another. I’m not currently working on a project which requires this fashion research I’m interested in exploring with these sketches, but it’s always inevitable. Maybe it has something to do with a new year, and beginnings, and me wishing I could begin new projects, starting with this thought on what clothes characters will wear and how that will inform if they belong together to a certain group inside the story.
I was able to go the the beach just before the end of the year, dive into the ocean, open my eyes underwater and experience that magical mix of feelings: the light burning caused my the sea water; the blurred images that you can see when you open your eyes, that half show, half suggest; the effect the light from the sun has when you’re deep into the water looking up, and how rays of light seem to materialize and create columns of light inside the sea; finally, when you’re swimming underwater, looking forward, and you can only see so far, and yet you keep swimming towards the abstract blue unknown in front of you.
We’re all constantly jumping into the unknown.
I really want 2022 to be a good year.
Don’t you?
Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!
Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
January 31st, 2022