Neal Battaglia

I have known Felipe for a few years now since we’re both salseros who go to some of the same events. Including Salsa by the Sea in Santa Cruz where people dance by the beach. He got some video for Salsón the other night at the SF Salsa Festival.

This drawing is based on a photo I found on Instagram. Here’s the repost, http://www.instagram.com/p/BD3oH8BvaRR/ With the note, Весьма занятный рисунок мне прислали сейчас))) Approximately, Very amusing picture was sent to me now)))

Gato Barbieri was a great sax player from Argentina. I think I first heard about him from the movie ‘Calle 54’ about Latin Jazz. Have gotten a few of his CDs and even vinyl records. Based this drawing off of the cover of ‘Caliente’.

I have known Tony for a few years, he plays bass in my salsa band Salsón. It was his birthday today, so I tried drawing him with the bass. Used a couple of photos for reference. Spent a little time on the hair which was different than hair I had drawn before.

I have been dancing salsa for about 10 years now. Since I live in California, quite a few people dance here and I tried it one time. At first I didn’t get it immediately. Then not too long after that, I was studying German in Heidelberg and they had different activities you could do outside ….  Read More

In January of this year, I went to a practice with the reggae band La Yerba Ruda at the dome. Two of the musicians in the band, I somewhat knew since their brother sang with my salsa band for a little while. Played a couple of shows with them and then two more in San ….  Read More

On my Grandmother’s birthday I drew her a chicken. Around my house there are chickens in various forms, made of wood, ceramics, in paintings. When my grandmother grew up, she had chickens that they raised, which she didn’t particularly enjoy. But she liked having seeing these figures of chickens around the house. So I drew ….  Read More

Bear for my grandma, like the bear I made out of clay in elementary school. This bear stands in a window of my house to this day. When I made the bear, I thought it looked a little funny, but my grandma liked it and thought that it had personality.

I had watched the Star Wars movies a number of times with my brother growing up. And sometimes he’ll impersonate the voice of Yoda, so I decided to draw Yoda for him. Was playing around with shadows, but didn’t really have a good technique for drawing them yet!

On of my friends draws a bit. She can draw in a pretty realistic way. I tend to draw a bit more abstract. This drawing was based on her drawing but came out fairly different.