New release: This Is How I Draw Cats Now is a 32 page paper zine booklet. Each copy is individually packaged within a series of informational barriers.

These books are written and illustrated and designed and laid out by me and printed right down the road at Green Copy, which is a 22 minute walk from my home.

Available for purchase at the Pillowgoat Book Shop. Follow This Is How I Draw Cats Now on Instagram.

Welcome to the Brian Brooks Art Institute

In early 2009 fresh on the excitement of a new president talking about the power of community, Emily Wick and I rented an empty storefront along Telegraph Avenue and we didn’t know why, exactly, yet. We called it Smokey’s Tangle.

In 2018 it came time to give up the space and allow our time and attention to focus elsewhere. It meant we lost our studio spaces and had to get used to working from home again. I was used as having an open window and door onto Telegraph Avenue. I missed the chaos.

I soon found myself stir crazy in the house, and needed to find some projects that I could work on nightly, that would remove me from the house.

I began using the properties around the house, that afforded me some space. being outdoors meant great lighting for video projects, so that is what drove my first projects.

I began to prefer places that were a little more secluded, as I am not a fan of public displays of art, and soon found myself returning to the same sposts, to create nightly improv videos. They sets would stay the same, I would wear a uniform, so that the different clip could be edited together.

My first spot was the seldom used strip of sidewalk on the north and west sides of the Brignole building, and later on the vacant Hooper’s Chocolates, a vacant cholcolate factory and former thrift store across the street as my studio. The late afternoon lighting was superb. I began roaming into the surrounding areas.

My studio went from a rented narrow store front, to a campus spanning Telegraph Avenue, from 51st to 45th Streets.

The paramaters of theses projects would be: finish a film in one evening. Head outside with an iPhone and a tripod, about 40-45 minutes before sunset. Film until it is too dark, then head home and edit it and add sound effects and soundtrack.

Start a project that has a stated goal. Work on it every evening at same time. Finish project, put it away for later, find it later, work on it some more and put it away. My projects began to take on different mediums. Drawing, Painting, Graphic Design, Desktop Publishing, Bookmaking, and Filmmaking.

Brand marks of the current  tools you will be needing. use  in my art making. This graphic using Adobe Illustrator, an illustration app on the computer.

Drawing

Plein Air Drawing Tools

Plein Air Painting

Painting Tools including acrylic professional grade paints, packed of cheapest brushes available, a pallet knife or anything that can scooper paint like a plastic knife, a water squirter to keep the paper and paints moist, and an old jar for water.

 

One of my San Francisco Art Institute painting professors instructed us to purchase the cheapest brushes available, It has always worked for me. From this 25 Value Brush Set by Dick Blick, I am able to use 10 brushes. That works out to about $1.20 a brush.

 

My painting tools for plein air painting are compact and lightweight. Paint pallets are coated cardboard from Modelo 18 Packs. I don’t know how one could beat the Richeson Italian Steel Tripod Easel as they are as simple and sturdy, though the easel does tip in the wind with the large painting surface I use. Wire basket is an old bicycle basket. Only thing purchased was easel, everything else is found around the house.

 

To save money on paper, purchase the largest pad available and cut your own paper to size. I quarter my 24 in x 18 in. Strathmore® brand pads into 12 in. x 9 in. sheets with three simple cuts.

Desktop Publishing

Computer Arts

 

Vector Art Description

 

Raster Art Description

Book Making

Zine Making Tools. Booklets include: Temescal Now 2022, Temescal Now 2023, Brochures include: McDonald’s Parks & Gardens, various construction projects.

Plein Air Filmmaking

Plein Air Filmmaking Tools: SLIK® AMT tripod (70.1″ Working Height), tripod mount, Anycase® Tripod Adapter, Apple iPhone SE, iPhone camera app (using the time-lapse setting).

 

Filmmaking Post Production Tools: Editing software, online synthesizer for soundtracks and a video hosting site. Series include: Shine Hunters, Hooper’s Loopers, Middle Of The Road Drawings, Bus Stop Build Out Construction Drawings.

Pen & Ink Drawing

Drawing with a dip pen is a pleasurable activity. It is like driving a car with manual transmission. It can take two hands – one to hold the pen, and one to hold the ink. Drawing is an activity I like to do while standing.

 

Instagram Reels, 2021 Animated GIFs created through Instagram App on iPhone.
From a series of short poems with titles.Hold On Tight, Pass It On, Not That Funny, Forget Everything You Know