William of Zeno
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zenosarrow.net
William of Zeno
@zenosarrow.net
120 followers 88 following 300 posts
Metaphysical and speculative fiction comics, on-location/plein air drawing & painting, artist/writer. Based in Seattle.
Bringing dance moves to the gun fight.
🔗: zenosarrow.net
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zenosarrow.net
First @urbansketchers.bsky.social Seattle outing of 2026 for me, and I’m glad I braved the cold to paint outside!
I really like how this painting of @mohaiseattle.bsky.social came out.

#watercolor #pleinair #onlocation #art #painting
A watercolor painting of the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, held up in front of the museum.
January 16, 2026 at 11:25 PM
zenosarrow.net
More 🎾 life gesture sketching

#lifedrawing #gesturesketching #sketch #tennis
A page of ink gesture sketches done from life at a tennis clinic.
January 11, 2026 at 12:56 AM
zenosarrow.net
The Maurice Sendak Nutcracker ballet props! This house in Seattle exhibits them every year, hosted by one of the Pacific Northwest Ballet orchestra members.

Sketched with mittens on to try to save my fingers, which are getting a little frost bitten.

#nutcracker #sendak #sketch #urbansketchers
An ink drawing of the nutcracker and rat king props from Maurice Sendak’s Nutcracker ballet, held up in front of the house exhibiting the props.
December 31, 2025 at 11:28 PM
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Happy New Year, everyone! May 2026 bring you enlightenment. 🧘‍♀️

Made this comic at the monthly DUNE comics jam in Seattle.
A one-page comic titled “Eating Greens”. A young woman takes a bite of a salad and begins to chew and chew and chew, gradually getting frustrated and then bored out of her mind before suddenly something comes to her and light explodes out of her head and eyes as she achieves enlightenment.
December 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
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Last Urban Sketchers Seattle meetup of 2025!

#watercolor #onlocation #pleinair #urbansketchers
A watercolor and ink painting of buildings in downtown Seattle, particularly the Westin towers and Times Square Building
December 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
zenosarrow.net
Gonna have to get to tennis clinics early more often!

#people #tennis #art #sketch #lifedrawing
A page with many small sketches of people playing tennis
December 21, 2025 at 2:44 AM
zenosarrow.net
Painted another view over Lake Washington from Magnuson Park, this time on a very grey, foggy, cloudy morning, but with great atmospheric light in the distance and the sun breaking through the clouds occasionally.

#pleinair #onlocation #urbansketchers #watercolor #art #artsky
A watercolor painting of the floating bridge over Lake Washington in the distance over an expanse of water with heavy clouds overhead and the sun breaking through. The forested shores on the opposite side of the lake fade into the foggy distance.
December 16, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
Holy cow it was freaking windy on this day! At one point my paint brush case, water jar lid, and a plastic bag took to the air and made a run for it. But on the plus side I got this great painting out of it!

#pleinair #onlocation #watercolor #artsky #urbansketchers #art #sketch
A watercolor painting of trees by a lake in the winter under cloudy skies. Wind surfers can be seen in the distance.
December 11, 2025 at 12:02 AM
zenosarrow.net
Watercolor is fun!

#pleinair #onlocation #watercolor #art #urbansketchers #tradart #sketch #artsky
A watercolor painting of an open landscape with dense brush plantlife and trees in the distance.
December 9, 2025 at 12:30 AM
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A little sketch of Pike Place Market while waiting for friends to arrive. A great thing about sketching is you can do it anywhere!

#sketch #urbansketchers #pikeplacemarket #onlocation #pleinaire #art #tradart
An ink sketch of Pike Place Market, with the "PUBLIC MARKET" neon sign lit over the market, and many people milling about.
December 6, 2025 at 1:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
Watercolor is starting to click!

The exuberant yellow foliage of these tall, thin trees in Magnuson Park in Seattle struck me as I was looking for what to paint.

#watercolor #sketch #onlocation #pleinaire #urbansketchers #landscape #art
A watercolor painting of a path winding through a wood with bright yellow foliage.
December 2, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
Happy Thanksgiving!
And thanks to this barred owl for hanging out and letting me sketch it! Feel lucky to have stumbled on it and noticed it camouflaged in plain site.
#owl #sketch #lifedrawing
A sketch of a barred owl sitting on a tree branch
November 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
zenosarrow.net
Just a fountain pen on this grey Thanksgiving Eve. It’s nice to focus on one tool. Also good b/c it started misting, so I was glad to be able to move faster!

Ignore the white paint—I used this sheet as a test sheet earlier. 😅

#sketch #drawing #landscape #urbansketchers #nature #art
A brown ink sketch of the grassy and wooded landscape at Discovery Park in Seattle, with the radar dome in the distance.
November 27, 2025 at 1:06 AM
zenosarrow.net
Took my new gloves for a test drive, and I'm happy to say that they work! Kept my hands a workable temperature on a day where I had to pull up my puffy jacket's hood.

Really like how this sketch turned out. Playing with approaches continues.

#watercolor #onlocation #pleinaire #urbansketchers #art
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
I've come a long way with my on location sketching techniques and materials since the end of 2023! It's great to look back and see healthy progress.

Enjoyed a great #urbansketchers Seattle chapter outing this weekend at KEXP.

#art #sketch #onlocation #watercolor #tradart
An ink and watercolor sketch of the Cafe Vita colocated with KEXP radio station, held up in front of the scene depicted. A split image comparison a sketch of the Cafe Vita/KEXP location done by the artist at the end of 2023 compared with one done in November 2025.
November 19, 2025 at 12:02 AM
zenosarrow.net
Learning lots, learning lots. Watercolor is hard!

#watercolor #sketch #pleinaire #onlocation #urbansketchers #art #tradart
A watercolor sketch of a yellow house surrounded by trees in late fall, backed by a blue mountain range with snowy peaks
November 18, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
I'm making an effort to spend more time in nature and away from screens. This means I'm gonna get gud at on-location watercolor.

#sketch #watercolor #pleinaire #onlocation #artsky #art
a watercolor sketch of trees in fall along a path leading by a yellow house.
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
zenosarrow.net
More watercolor trees! Now with humans!

Tried hard to keep it in a narrow warm register.

#sketch #watercolor #pleinaire #onlocation #artsky #art
A watercolor sketch page with two trees and some figures done from life.
November 11, 2025 at 12:30 AM
zenosarrow.net
If you're in Seattle THIS SATURDAY NOV 1st, see me and 150 other indie comic artists at Short Run Comix Festival 2025!

Admission is FREE!
A festival map of Short Run Comix Festival 2025 with table F79 highlighted, where cartoonist William Chen will be, and his three comic books, "Phased", "The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics", and "Blood of My Blood". An event poster for Short Run Comix Festival, November 1st, 11am-6pm, at the Seattle Design Center in Georgetown, Seattle.
October 28, 2025 at 11:30 PM
zenosarrow.net
Hey there! I'm an artist, cartoonist, and writer based in Seattle. I write and illustrate metaphysical comics and draw and paint landscapes en plein aire focusing on water-based media.

My latest comic project was The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics, pictured with my other two!

More at zenosarrow.net.
Three comic books against a wooden background, with the titles "Phased", "The BOOK of DEATH Haiku Comics", and "Blood of My Blood".
October 26, 2025 at 4:04 PM
zenosarrow.net
Sometimes it’s good to just do studies to focus on something more particular. I love how the trees came out by the end.

#sketch #trees #pleinaire #tradart #inkdrawing
October 19, 2025 at 11:53 PM
zenosarrow.net
Didn't start out trying to take this approach, but really like a lot of what happened and learned a lot!

This sketch is from Discovery Park in Seattle.

#pleinaire #watercolor #sketch #art #naturalmedia #urbansketchers
A watercolor painting of a tree and plants on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains in the distance.
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
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Playing with new approaches. This is at Carkeek Park's demonstration garden in Seattle.

#pleinaire #sketch #watercolor #naturalmedia #urbansketchers #art
A brown ink and watercolor sketch of a lush garden, with fountain pens and a travel watercolor palette nearby. A brown ink and watercolor sketch of a lush garden, held up in front of the scene depicted.
October 15, 2025 at 11:01 PM
zenosarrow.net
Definitely top secret science stuff going on at a structure like this in the middle of a big field. (The radar antenna dome at Discovery Park in Seattle.)

#pleinaire #watercolor #art #sketch #urbansketchers
A watercolor and ink sketch of the radar antenna dome with trees in Discovery Park, Seattle A watercolor and ink sketch of the radar antenna dome with trees in Discovery Park, Seattle, held up in front of the view that is the subject of the sketch.
October 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
zenosarrow.net
It's funny looking at the past's vision of the future. One day, people will look back at our movies of today and chuckle.

This was fun to draw/paint. The Space Needle and Monorail are somehow still iconic in their retro futuristic glory.

#artsky #art #illustration #pleinaire #urbansketchers
A blue and brown ink artwork depicting the Space Needle and Monorail car speeding overhead above cars on the street below. A blue and brown ink artwork depicting the Space Needle and Monorail car speeding overhead above cars on the street below.
October 8, 2025 at 2:49 AM