MoCCA Arts Festival is this weekend (April 7-8 at Metropolitan West) and I will be trying out something new this year: “PENNY-PER-SECOND” SKETCHES for which customers can commission timed sketches via either (Option A) STOPWATCH Sketching in which payment is based on exactly how long it takes me to complete a given drawing -or- (Option B) COUNTDOWN Sketching to be completed within an agreed-upon maximum time… all at the bargain rate of just one-cent-per-second!

To provide a few examples for the math-averse, that works out to just $3.00 for a quick five-minute pencil or brushpen sketch (300 seconds), $6.00 for a ten-minute pencil or inked drawing (600 seconds) or $18.00 for a half-hour piece (possibly inkwash, watercolor, or  color marker).

Over the past few years of regular Sketch Night (e.g., Drink-n-Draw) life drawing sessions, I’ve gotten a lot of practice at speed sketching 2-minute, 5-minute, and 10-minute poses so – even thought this way works out to less than what I’d normally charge for similar commissions – I’m looking at it as a fun gimmick to challenge myself and, hopefully, get more commissions by turning it into a bit of a spectator event. To that end, I’ve already downloaded a nice game timer app to my iPhone which shows (up/down) running time in a big red digital display down to the tenths-of-seconds and even has optional air-horn buzzer at end of countdown.

If you’re interested in pre-ordering a timed commission to be picked up at MoCCA Fest, please contact me before midnight Friday to arrange details (e.g., character/theme and timing option). Incentive: since I’ll probably use pre-orders as my morning warmups, you may even wind up being able to choose from multiple iterations of your chosen theme by the time you come to retrieve your piece.

Come see me at table G242 this weekend