Yesterday (chops chops)

So, this is kinda what I looked like yesterday. I always like to shave my beard off in stages before taking the whole thing off and starting from scratch. I'm growing tired of this though and will probably be entering mustache town soon. I forgot how much I like working just in pen.

I've also been feeling a little negligent with the blog. Only 38 posts this year and it's already April? Pretty pathetic for something called "Sketch a Day." I'll try harder folks. Bear with me. Until I have a bare face that is. Then do whatever you want.

Capybara Birthday

I love when birthdays roll around because it gives me a chance to make a nonsensical card, usually involving an animal. Tomorrow is my brother's birthday and last night we went out to celebrate with some raucous and rambunctious karaoke, where I presented him with this:



One of my favorite animals, the capybara (world's largest rodent), wearing a fez. Nothing says 31 like a capybara donning a fez, am I right people?

Mental Health

I recently got to do another illustration for the Portland Mercury for an article about the mental health system here in Portland. I'm also very excited that they've switched me over from design intern to illustration intern, which means I'll be doing these somewhat regularly. I'm still working way too long on them, but I'm working on ways to cut down the time. Can you blame me for wanting them to be perfect? Here's the black and white version that appeared in the printed issue yesterday:



I'm more partial to the color one that appeared in the online version which can be seen below or by clicking the link above:



I felt way more confident about this one than the last, and had a great time doing it. I wonder what the next one will be?

Arty Party

Here's a little doodle I did at the Wednesday night "Arty Party" at Project Grow, on N. Williams. People getting together and working on creative projects, sharing resources, and listening to music. Not too shabby.

As you can see I'm not too great at drawing from my mind.

00Grizzly

You may remember this little gem that I posted in December. I guess I got so swept up in 2011 fever that I forgot to post the finished version. I'm sure glad I didn't cross paths with this guy while camping in the redwoods last week. I would have felt so under-dressed.

Visiting Artist

Back in February I got to be the visiting artist at the Campfire USA after school program for Kindergardeners and 1st graders. You may have seen the awesome art installation they did for the Emerson Space Case earlier this year. Of course all of this was coordinated by their lovely teacher, Stephanie.

We began the presentation by showing them examples of my art and talking about my process. We then had a quick Q and A session (very funny with 5 year olds) and moved on to the best part. An activity that Stephanie and I prepared for them.





As you can see we each drew a framed headless torso and made tons of copies of them, leaving it to the kids to fill in the head of their favorite animal. I was really excited to see what they would come up with, and the kids did not disappoint. Here are some examples.




















































And of course Stephanie and I wanted to get in on the fun too. If you want to make your own just open up the headless templates in a new window and print or save to your computer. I'll post up any that get sent to me on the blog.

The Evolution of an Illustration

Well I'm back from my vacation to the Redwoods of Northern California, and ready to get back to blogging. Here's a few early versions of my illustration for the Portland Mercury, as well as the final product.



As you can see I originally drew the sign breaking, but this added element skewed the message of the piece and the Art Director asked me to redraw it with the sign intact.



I got a little overzealous in this second version and in an effort to create a whole scene threw in a lot of extra elements that ultimately distracted from the point of the illustration. Plus the printed size of the drawing would make it very difficult to see any of these details clearly. I decided to go for something a little simpler.



And here we have the final version. All of the extraneous details have been eliminated and some birds were added to the left corner to balance out the composition. This took me way longer than I would have liked it to, but now that I have the hang of it I think the next one will probably take half the time. Let's just hope there IS a next time!

Portland Mercury in Retrograde

If you live in Portland, make sure to pick up a copy of The Portland Mercury tomorrow, where you'll see an illustration by your truly. It's my first printed illustration by them and I'm hoping the first of many.



This is a concept sketch that I did for the piece right after I got the assignment, so the art director, Scrappers, could see what I had in mind. Stay tuned for the finished version.

Ezra Masliah

I know I promised more of a complete bio for my grandfather, but that's just going to have to wait for right now (sorry Adam). Here's the finished version which I actually did before the sketch I posted earlier. Reading through his autobiography (as far as he got at least) it makes me sorry I wasn't more interested in hearing these stories straight from him while he was alive.

From living in a haunted house in Burma (he saw a chest of drawers levitate over his younger sister), to selling clothes to the prince in a haberdashery, to sailing from Japan to San Francisco on the eve of World War II, losing his house at a trip to the race tracks, and moving to San Diego with my grandmother, mom, and aunt , you can't say he didn't lead an interesting life.

When he first met my grandmother he said "I think you're the girl I'm going to marry ."

Her answer?

"You're crazy."

Just Imagine the Glasses He Would Wear

I 'm really excited about this drawing because it marks a new kind of augmented reality portrait for me (not to be confused with the scary high-tech augmented reality). I'm still working on animal portraits, but I'd love to be able to do some more of these in the future.