Wild Thing 1 and Wild Thing 2

I'm really sorry to do this. I general hate topical pieces but I can't deny that I've had a hint of Where the Wild Things Are on my mind ever since I saw the feature film. The book had a big influence on me as a child and I've always been inspired by Maurice Sendak's illustrations ("In the Night Kitchen" is another childhood favorite). So here are two images of the same drawing in different stages. The first one is done with just an HB grade pencil and the second has layers of B2 and B3 on it. It's pretty amazing to see the difference in the level of texture and 3-dimensionality you get from using a darker pencil. One of my faults as an artist has always been working too light and too small. Working on it.

Admiral Lion

Yes I'm a grown man and this is how I spend my time.



To be honest this is merely a sketch of a greater idea. I'd love to do a series of portraits like this but as realistic oil paintings. Does a monocle make a lion look more evil or just smarter? A little bit of both in my opinion. I definitely see this guy wringing his hands at the thought of his most recent capture. Any animal/career archetypes you'd like to see happen?

People

Just some stuff that I've done recently. More explorations in minimal sketching and cartooning.

Simplifying

I've kind of been experimenting with semi cartoonish interpretations of what I see. This allows me to capture the features and shadows of the figure before they move and ruin everything. Also sometimes realism can be boring. I wish I knew a little bit about animation because I think it would be a neat thing to play around with.

Currently listening to the new Animal Collective EP.

Ruminating on the future...

Filed under D for Deer

Here's a piece that I finished up last night. I really like using non traditional paper for drawings as opposed to boring ole' white. Can someone please tell me why colored pencil isn't an accepted medium of high art? Some of us just don't like to paint. You can't really tell because of the image but "deer" is listed on this page.

I've got nothing.

I've been crazy busy lately with work, entertaining out of town guests, and getting various things sorted out and unfortunately my daily sketching has suffered. I think at the end of the year I'm going to finish this daily sketch business and use this blog specifically to promote the work that I'm proud of instead of posting every single thing I draw on here. Speaking of every single thing I draw, here's a halloweeny girl that I plagiarized from a vintage Halloween card. Sometimes the best way to get out of a drawing rut is to draw someone else's drawing. I wish more things these days were thoughtfully hand made instead of cold and mass produced. In the bubble of Portland along with the advent of Etsy there seems to be a backlash of people wanting locally produced and hand made items over mass production, but I've yet to see this trend hit nationally. Oh well, one of these days I suppose.

Neon Indian Giver

Flier for Seattle show at Nectar lounge.

Big Spider's Back Baby

Here's my latest piece for music blog Chickens Don't Clap. Check out his latest post on Seattle "Chillwave" project Big Spider's Back. This was definitely one of my most frustrating pieces to date, but also perhaps my most successful. I wanted to steer away from the more literal approach I took with the last Chickens Don't Clap piece, and try and represent the music in a more abstract way, as well as do just to my friend Yair, the man behind the band. The music of Big Spider's Back is so rich with textures and layers of sound that it's hard to keep in mind that this is all coming from the fingertips of one person. This piece started as a simple pencil sketch, which I used as a template for the inked version. Both are displayed below.





I made the nearly regrettable mistake of using a ridiculously time consuming rendering style that I've never actually done before for the entire piece, and I might be really upset about it if I wasn't so pleased with the result. It was one of those (all too familiar) situations where you have an idea in your head of the final result, but are not exactly sure how you're going to get there, or what it's actually going to look like in the end. I think the line shading came out really cool, but I also think the piece would have been just as successful if the shading was done in solid black. I really like the way the background came out and though it was intended to be abstract I can't help but see the shapes over Yairs head as a sort of animal totem pole. Do you see the bear head and the bird skull?

DIY Halloween

Amidst a fever dream a few months ago I had a vision. It was of myself this past weekend, dressed as a lego pirate. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I made this sketch to point me in the right direction. I'm happy to say that I saw this dream to fruition and managed to pull off a great Halloween costume.



I wanted to be able to move, so I decided to forgo the boxy body and stick to the parts that matter. The mask is made with papier mache' over a bike helmet so it would stay over my head. The face is drawn on with sharpie and I bought the sword at walgreens, gave it a curved blade, and wrapped it with duct tape. The tank top was originally white until I masked off the stripes with duct tape and spray painted several layers of blue on it. This all came together kind of last minute so the hands, that I were planning on making, had to be cut out, but I don't think many people noticed. I think next year I'm going to choose a costume that doesn't hinder my ability to see/speak/and party down. Please note the yellow turtle neck which does NOT appear in the original sketch. Not included is a video of me in costume doing an interpretive dance to "Human Nature" by MJ.