On July 8th, Fugu Press will release “Scarlett Takes Manhattan,” the first graphic novel by Dr. Sketchy’s creator Molly Crabapple and her longtime collaborator John Leavitt. Set in the demimonde of Gilded Age New York, “Scarlett Takes Manhattan” tells the story of poor Bowery girl Shifra Helfgott, who rises to become the premier fire-eater of her age. Chock full of rigged boxing matches, dirty politics, and turn of the century lesbian culture, “Scarlett” has been described as “disgustingly wonderful” by Warren Ellis and led Margaret Cho to call Molly “THE artist of our time.” We have to say - the novel looks like it's going to be a blast! Dr. Sketchy's director, Nicola Black, had the honor of helping with the cover designs as well as some inside pages. She had a peek and can tell us that this is something not to miss! Pre-order yours today!

So, all of a sudden April comes along and takes the rug out from under our feet! Yes, it's been a crazy month, Art-Monkeys, but we have not forgotten about you. We will make up for our lack of April posts with more fun stuff to come. SketchyCon '09 was this past weekend in NYC and holy hell, Art-Monkeys, did we have a ball! Molly Crabapple and the New York branch staff put on one hell of a show. We will not forget it. We arrived for day one's festivities at the Slipper Room - home of Dr. Sketchy's NYC. It was a session just for directors since most of us are running around with our heads cut off at our own events. It was a nice change of pace - we got to draw! Our models were NYC faves, Gal Friday and Amber Ray! Photo courtesy Katie Laird Photo courtesy Georgiana Elias Nicola Black, Dr. Sketchy's Philly director, was called up on stage to participate in a human sketchpad competition that was a hoot. She and San Diego director, Miss Lily, drew on Dallas' director, Johnny Hardy. Philly represented on his back while San Diego took the front. The audience voted ...

Art work ©2009 Amanda Chronister Due to the excess of wonderful work submitted, it has taken us quite a while to post the Art-Monkey of the Month for last session. We discussed the work in detail and we are proud to finally present our winner for this month! Amanda Chronister is a very talented woman and we love her interpretation of Key — one of our Peek-A-Boo Revue models from the March session. Please have a look at her work on her website www.amandachronister.com. She has won free admission to our next session, April 17th: "Like, Totally 80s!" featuring The Philly Roller Girls The rest of you Art-Monkeys can reserve a spot at this event today by purchasing your tickets online - CLICK HERE! See you on the 17th!

Art-Monkey, Nan Kruzik, was so inspired by drawing our burlesque babes at Dr. Sketchy's Philly that she decided to do a series of her own. After contacting a few ladies to pose, she was on her way to creating a body of work that recently showed at The Abbaye in the Northern Liberties! Although the show came down a few days back, we'd like to share some of her work here as well as some insight on Nan herself. Enjoy! Lulu Lounging/Smiling, Oil on canvas, 60” x 40” Tell us about your work. What inspires you? I love people. I think people hold so much since we are full of facets... the facets can be seen/read by the eyes, small features, a laugh, a touch etc. When i look at someone that peaks my interest, sometimes I don't even know why, but it comes out on my paper, canvas, etc.. my work is simple. If i can render someone but so that they truly reveal themselves through the picture - their personality, their essence, the way they may be feeling, etc. — that's what i hope to accomplish. Lots of people can recreate a scene or a likeness. My goal is to ...

We have a winner, folks! The Art-Monkey of the month from our January session is Gretchen Diehl! Congratulations, Gretchen! The work you submitted is wonderful! Please check out more about Gretchen and her work here. Art work ©2009 Gretchen Diehl Gretchen has won free admission to the February session of Dr. Sketchy's Philly. The theme for the evening is Bloody Valentine's featuring Lascivious Jane and Miss Yvette of The Liberty City Kings! February 20, 2009 • 7-10PM Fleisher Art Memorial 719 Catharine Street Phila, PA 19147 Purchase tickets here! (They go quickly - get yours today!) Wondering how you can compete for Art-Monkey of the month? Just scan your drawings at the session with our DJ during our scanning breaks! It's as simple as that. If you win, you will be featured on drsketchyphilly.com with a link back to your site. We love to showcase our Art-Monkeys! We have some talented folks at our sessions. It's so hard to choose a winner each month! We have lots of news that will be posted in the next couple of weeks, so make sure to check back and check back often! We have so much to share with you!

We welcomed our new bartender, Cocktail Onion, last session (December 2008) and she likes us enough to stay! We didn't scare her off... well, not yet anyway! We thought we'd write a little article about her so you could get to know her a little better. Well, in all actuality, we asked her some questions and here are her answers. Make sure to say hello to her at our next session and don't forget to treat her well (tips, folks... I'm hinting at tips)! By the way... would you say she's a fan of skiing? I'm not sure. What do you think? Onto the interview! [caption id="attachment_150" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Photo © 2009 Jimmy Lee Photography"][/caption] BIO: I could start way back in the beginning when I was but a wee onion in the big martini of life. But, honestly, I wasn't all that interesting until after high school. No one was... that is why high school reunions really are not a good idea. Unless you were a super-geek and want to show off your hot wife/husband and your million dollar e-business to all the sad sacks who are now ravaged by time and several bad marriages. Then, by all means go, and have a ...

Art work © 2009 Maryanne Buschini Our Art-Monkey of the Month is Maryanne Buschini! The drawing above is a sample of her work. She has won free admission to the January 16th session! Congratulations, Maryanne! Check out more of her work on her blog here.