TheLegendsLeague

DAY TWELVE RESULTS:

Face Shape: If there was a word for the accuracy of my face shape in this illustration, it would be - wonky. My left jaw (right) look like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, if it was televised.

Eyes: Surprisingly accurate. I’m starting to get a lot more used to drawing them and what defining features helps me create more of a likeness to myself when working on these self portraits.

Nose: A little small and very crooked. I think that I still managed to make the bottom portion look similar to how it actually does in real life though.

Mouth: Looks a bit too animated, but as I’ve found with the eyes, I’m learning what parts to draw in order to increase the likeness to myself.

Details: There is obviously no real shading in this 5 Minute Me. I wanted to try something different and do a contour drawing, but as I was doing it, I realized that it didn’t jump as much as I wanted it to, so I trailed back over and filled in the eyes, brows, and nostrils. I still didn’t lift my pencil off the page for the duration of the illustration.

Final Thoughts: I am exhausted today. I’ll admit that this one was actually pretty trying. Knowing that you’ve gotta do something everyday for the sake of your own projects and commitment to yourself and others really helps you realize how much you can bring out of yourself even when you’d rather not perform. I know it’s just a drawing, but I think that the 5 Minute Me project has brought me back to the dedication of The Beer Weight Experiment, and although in most cases this is far easier than the BWE was, there are still similar difficulties in commitment to my word to gut through it that I’ve found myself facing. No pun intended.

DAY TWELVE PIECE:
The Others. (written in 4mins 49secs)

I’m tired of being appeased and appealed to
by those who I can see through
and peel right by.

My speed may lie in my will to stand still;
see this cliff for the challenge of it’s hill
and not be too concerned with jumping at the end.

It’s easier to think like this when you
just recovered from the crash down.

The majority of new casualties didn’t know me past now
or before this year.

They seen me ordering 12 beers and asked for a sip.
I watched them act like an ass and never asked them for shit.

I got knife wounds like worms and one I actually stitched.
They got it hard.
What I see is what I get,

Softy.

be.
07.31.08

Tonight, me and my homey JC (TheMeaningOfDope), stayed back in the office for a few extra hours of work time before grabbing some sushi on Queen. When the office cleared out a little bit I started to play some YouTube music videos. And it goes a little something like this, hit it!

This is my ‘on repeat’ shit right now, so I set it off like dat!

I had to take it back to my 1997 NYC trip with this shit. “Up in Canada we rule”.

Then JC started putting in requests..
“Mobb Deep, Nas, Chef creation……”.

“….fo’ yo’ nation”.

JC just hears ‘em like that I guess. This was his immediate follow up request. Shout out to Pete Rock on the production, and shaking my head at Ice Cube for putting out a new album.

Yet another request from JC. I ain’t mad at it a little ATCQ though man.
“Competition they muss come straightway!”

My surprise Onyx joint…

JC’s request Onyx joint.

I had to do it. Bring it back to the good ol’ mixtape days.

Then I hit him with one of my all time favorite ‘Mega tracks. Tragedy Khadafi is the truth.

Here’s where JC played some random Khadafi song I ain’t never heard.

Sidebar: Don’t Aries Spears look just like Tragedy?!

Tragedy Khadafi

Aries Spears

Just sayin yo.

Then JC hit me with this one.

So I had to lace him with the “Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood” Soundtrack shit.

He his me with that “Deep Cover 98″ shit

So I had to lace him with that John Blaze shit!

Needless to say, it was an evening of dope music, getting a lot of work done.

YouTube is the shit for getting on your nostalgic shit with your peoples. I highly recommend desk to desk soundclashes.

BONUS: I’m sure ya’ll have seen this before, but if you haven’t, here’s a video of Aries Spears showing that he may be closer to being deserving of the title of Tragedy Khadafi look-alike.

Here’s my homey, Bobby Redef’s go at A 5 Minute Me. I was happy to see him put some work in. He even did the writing portion which is arguably the more difficult half of the whole thing. If you don’t know who Bobby is, get familiar.

“(It) reminds me of a FBI composite of Baron Davis. I haven’t drawn in years, since an art teacher failed me and told me that I would never pass her class as long as she was teaching it. I used to love drawing and decided to try again after seeing what you were coming up with. In conclusion maybe she was right. I gotta try with a bigger mirror later on and see how I do. Cause its actually pretty fun.”

Check the piece he wrote:

“It might be the brink of greatness,
But what’s greatness in an ocean of fakeness?
Authenticity in a sea of deficiency?
Cue the return to simplicity,
Where bullshit is overthrown by creativity.
And dreams cross into reality.

A vision of running on a nimbus,
But the rain seems endless.
And life often seems friendless.

Ummm 5 minutes is tough. I wrote some random shit and the second stanza seems like a whole nother thing. I need work.”

Certified.

Send your attempts at A 5 Minute Me. to thelegendsleague@gmail.com

The following is an excerpt from “Superstition” - a piece that I did in collaboration with Zachary Gray and Tom Dobrzanski of the band Lotus Child. It was performed at ’song room,’ an experimental music night in Vancouver in 2005.

The text was recently published in The Capilano Review (available in bookstores everywhere) and comes with a CD of the live recording from song room.

from Superstition

My way out
See me,
I’m singing;
if I don’t die standing I’ll die thinking

close my blind eyes. see not seeing.
undo sense and being
I’m smoked out the last of my presence
I broke out at last I’m imprisoned

I’ve played the game too. And when the moment presents itself, I wont make any choices. I’ll sit drinking from my cup of god, narrating something. Revolution has never been so far away.

improvise and die, write a poem about it
A dirty limerick
there’s a perfect sinister
merchant vender
lurking everywhere

just read the fine print

*in my script, there is a silver threaded spine spent spinning time and value and tying things and finding kings in palaces, housed in battles in and around their own shallowness, living around their own cowardice, avoiding their hopeful power, hopeful, sleeping soundly, deeply grounded over my way out and this is enough right now.

“…We take our tears, and we put ‘em in the icebox, in the goddam ice tray until they’re frozen and then…we put them…in our… drinks”.

-from Edward Albee’s play ‘Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?’

DAY ELEVEN RESULTS:

Face Shape: Very good from what was actually penciled in.

Eyes: Very accurate, but not the best drawn eyes. I felt that I was running out of time while drawing the left eye (right).

Nose: I actually like this nose a lot. This is the first time I’ve shaded the ball of the nose, which adds nice depth to the illustration.

Mouth: Um. Yeah.

Details: I really feel like this could be a really good self portrait if I had 5 more minutes. I was drawing with a different level of calm for this one, and I was trying to be as precise as possible while still drawing quickly.

Final Thoughts: I approached this illustration with a little more patience than the others. I was wanting to get a little more detail into the illustration, even if it meant losing time to do other things like pencil in a mouth, or shade in the hair. I really enjoyed this one, and as I said in the “Details”, I really feel like this could have been a really strong self portrait if I hadn’t run out of time.

DAY ELEVEN PIECE:
Picking Fruit. (written in 5mins 00secs)

I pick my friends like I pick my fruit.
And pick out pits.
I spit by shoes.

I like my bites,
I save my chews,
like, I’m fly by night on the days I choose.

I peel back fakes,
I see these grapes.

They can’t cook these stacks,
They’d trade bread for steaks.

But I’m not about beef,
I’ve left those days.
I’ll still steal away hearts,
I got clepto ways.

I pick my friends like I pick my fruit.

Funny.

I haven’t picked you.

be.
07.30.08

DAY TEN RESULTS:

Face Shape: From what had been started on the left jaw (right), it looks pretty accurate. The hair and hairline on this look pretty bang on.

Eyes: Using a bit of reflection on the eye has made for a better looking drawing as a whole. The left eye (right) was terribly drawn a I started the eye too low and noticed that I’d need to change it later in the drawing.

Nose: The bottom of the nose is very accurate and the shading gives it good shape. Still not the best I’ve done.

Mouth: I ran out of time, but used the same technique as Day 9 to draw the mouth, which was very effective, but not the most elaborate.

Details: Not much detail in this drawing outside of the nose. The right eye (left) is drawn pretty well, but it’s still a bit shaky. I didn’t feel comfortable while drawing this one. I felt very rushed.

Final Thoughts: I want to apologize for not posting this up on it’s actual drawing date. Yesterday (07.29.08) was my last day at The Remix Project and I didn’t get home until pretty late. A great evening was had though, so this illustration is from the morning, which may be why it has not much heart to it.

DAY TEN PIECE:
Shrink (written in 4mins 46secs)

Calmed by karma’s washing waters.
Part my words with commas, shores, and walk like egyptians,
tutting lines.

I sift through whisping things to think
but stand firm that most can’t fuck with mines.

My brink is far from your edge’s, kids.
I’ve lead you all to drink.

But little do most you numbers know
to watch me grow I’ve had to see a shrink.

be.
07.29.08

I stopped by Imperial last Saturday to get my dove piece worked on a little more by my homey Chris Macdonald. We actually had to stop because my body was over stressed and started to bleed a little much for us to continue. My dude is crazy talented and I’m real pleased with what we’ve got so far. Another session coming up soon.

On another note, here’s some of the gold we listened to while at the shop. Big up to the rest of the Imperial Tattoo staff.

Enjoy.

You don’t have to worry, there ain’t no strings attached.

BBB

2 and 1.

DAY NINE RESULTS:

Face Shape: n/a. I decided to start this drawing from the hair down and drew as I met each feature looking into the mirror. I didn’t draw any defining lines to indicate my face shape until the very last second where I drew the left (right) side of my jaw line and the time ran out.

Eyes: The execution of my right eye (left) is exactly how my eyes should be drawn in all of the coming 5 Minute Me’s. The accuracy is bang on with the exception of the size of the left eye (right).

Nose: The nose is a little disproportionate, but it is still very accurate.

Mouth: I sensed myself running out of time by the time I got to the mouth. Interestingly enough I got a decent drawing out of just shading the upper lip and contouring the lower lip. This is the technique I’ll use to draw the mouth from here on out.

Details: The detail in this 5 Minute Me is what I paid the most attention to. The line above the right eye (left) was drawn somewhat carefully to assure that the eyes were accurate. The shading was very precise in regards to the areas of light and dark and I was very particular about accuracy in this piece.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed the technique used to draw this 5 Minute Me, and looking back on the first week of the project, this is a great way to set off week 2.

DAY NINE PIECE:
Separating Ships (written in 5mins 00secs)

I still don’t know me anymore,
but I’m sure if I did
we’d never say, “Hi”.

We would glance
by awkward chance
and stroll by,

then say, “Peace”
but mean,
“..hope to never see you in the streets… again”.

I may as well be my
own very worst friend
with all the trust I’ve earned,
and the guts I’ve spent just trying
to let an end meet an end.

I haven’t a halo.
I’ve managed to mangle every steed in this stable
so while the sunset calls,
I am without my trusty.

This ship was never built for two of us.

(wait. It must be.)

My life makes it only seem as such.

be.
07.28.08

DAY EIGHT RESULTS:

Face Shape: Accurate. The left jaw (right) is a little bit low, but overall the shape is on point.

Eyes: The left eye (right) is more accurate than the right eye (left). The right eye (left) is also a little big and the execution of the drawing of the eyes isn’t that great.

Nose: This nose is very accurate. I feel that the angle that I drew this self portrait added to my ability to show the proper sizing and depth of the nose.

Mouth: I tried to use the shadows and my mustache as a means to show the mouth in this illustration. I feel like the shape and size are very accurate and while it’s become a trend for me to claim every new 5 Minute Me as my favorite, I really think that this mouth is one of the best I’ve drawn thus far.

Details: I took more time earlier into the drawing to make use of the shading as a means to liven up the drawing. I think this helps the life of the drawing to a great extent.

Final Thoughts: I had a terrible dream last night and was writing about it just before I did today’s 5 Minute Me. This might explain the look on my face. I also thought it might be interesting to change my facial position to give the project a spontaneous alt look. I was terrified while drawing this.

DAY EIGHT PIECE:
Dreaming “Darked” (written in 2mins 49 secs)

I
HAD
THE
SCARIEST
DREAM
TODAY.

I
WOKE UP
AND
TOLD
STACEY.

I’M
AFRAID
IT
WILL BE
TRUE.

THE
MOST
AFRAID
I
HAVE
EVER
BEEN.

When we ask what we’ve done to deserve this,
we need to ask what we have done to deserve anything better.

be.
07.27.08