illustration friday - "help #2"

this is my second installation for this week's IF topic. i thought it fit better than the other one, but i had to get julia to take a picture of it the other day, as it is hanging on the ceiling of her classroom. the drawing is pretty much life-sized; the main figure is about five feet tall.

the bonus picture here is of me and julia, after the evil dead musical, which we attended a few weeks ago. thanks to a friend, we received front-row-center seats entirely free. we were right in the "splatter zone"! i only ended up with a single drop of fake blood on my lapel, which somehow got through my plastic poncho. well, also, my white chucks are sort of pink now. you can't see it here, but julia was fairly well-soaked, as one of the characters in the play jumped out and ripped her poncho open just before the blood started flying. it was a riot, and i recommend that if you are thinking of going to the show, make sure to sit in the splatter zone!

****also, please look at my previous post, if you haven't already. i just finished a big watercolor that i'm particularly proud of, and i've shown some of the steps it took to make it.

what i learned in watercolor class

this was my final project for my watercolor class--use a photo that has some cultural significance (to me) and make a watercolor of it. i chose an old photograph of my grandfather bill and my uncle jerry:

here is a bit of the in-progress watercolor, with some of the exposed drawing:

and here's how it turned out:

overall, i'm very happy with the results. i made quite a few freehand sketches beforehand, some in pencil, some in very basic color. in the process of sketching, i decided to omit my cousin (lori or jennifer?) in the bottom right corner, as it just made more sense compositionally. i also wanted to emphasize the "dialogue" between the two men, and the omission seemed to help with that.

by the way, i really enjoyed doing this piece, and i would love to continue to work in this fashion. if you would like to send me a picture--of you, your family, or your pets--i would be glad to do a watercolor of said picture for you. it would make an excellent, original, unexpected gift, or you could simply get one for yourself to enjoy. i would, of course, require a fee for services rendered, but such things are certainly negotiable, depending on the size and elaborateness of the piece.

illustration friday - "help"

okay, i can't write much today. no time for funny stuff. i've got to get ready for a party we're hosting tonight and finish my final assignment for watercolor class. bye!

phronesisaical

this is tom, who is one of julia's former professors from her graduate studies at NYU. he writes a blog called phronesisaical, which i recommend wholeheartedly. tom is an expert in ethics, social and political philosophy, environmental policy, international development, and international affairs; and he has about a million records (on vinyl) and makes the best mix cds of anyone i know. he's probably written more than any of us have read in our lifetimes, and his blog is both highly political and highly entertaining. from today forward, there will be a link to tom's blog under my "hey lookie" section. check it often!

illustration friday - "mask"

i'm almost done with school - when i'm done i'm going to sleep for 17 days. screw presents, just give me the bed and keep the noise down!

by the way, for those who are returning visitors, how do you like the new design of the site, eh? i like it much better than the one i had made previously. i designed this one to resemble my layout for my myspace (oh my, that's a lot of 'my's). so what are you thinking - good, bad, or ugly?

illustration friday - "thanksgiving"

here's my thanksgiving illustration. and just because you guys are so cute, here's a nice little zombie, too.

illustration friday - "clear"

this is a portrait of scout niblett. she makes good music. i wish that she would hire me to do artwork for her next album so i wouldn't be so poor.

illustration friday - "smoke"

click on the image for a clearer picture. this is a one-page comic that i made, which can also be found (among others) at my comics-group site, here. it's been a while since i've made any comics, and that makes me sad. too many stupid papers to write. anyway, here's another smoke related image, this time in collage:

illustration friday - "wind" - plus some watercolors

there's nothing more peaceful than flowers blowing in the wind, or possibly growing super-huge and attacking the earth.

don't forget to look down further on the page! i've posted some of the work i've been doing in my watercolor class (it gets better as you scroll down to the latest ones). by the way, the pictures are grainy because i had to use my phone's camera. they were too big for the scanner.

illustration friday - "ghost"

sorry it's been so long since i've posted anything, but i have a really good excuse. getting married takes up a lot of your time. i'm still behind in my school work, but i'm hoping to get caught up by the end of this week. keep your fingers crossed!

this picture is a study for a polyptych illustrating the poe story "the man who was used up".

illustration friday - "phobia" number two

nosocomephobia: fear of hospitals

this one was done with oil pastels on black construction paper, made by drawing everything but the lines, leaving the paper uncolored to indicate the outlines. i'm really enjoying this "art in elementary education" class. i'm using materials that i normally wouldn't, and seeing how far you can push children's art supplies.

illustration friday - "phobia"

pyrophobia: fear of fire

this is also from my art in elementary education class. julia has been teasing me because i've been doing much of my homework with crayons lately. this particular image was made by placing crayon shavings in between two pieces of wax paper, then putting a newspaper over it and heating it with a warm iron. note: you cannot do this project if you have thermophobia--fear of heat.

illustration friday - "change"

i just started an "art in elementary education" class this week, and our first assignment was to make an abstract work with crayons. this is what happened with mine. i kind of stumbled into the warm-changing-to-cool-colors thing by accident and decided to keep going with it. i don't know, it's kind of nice i think.

"subway glances", another missed connection

i decided to do a whole comic of this one. now that i've done two of them, i may go ahead and do a longer series of missed connection comics. we'll see. i just started a watercolor class, so i may start incorporating some color in my comics pretty soon as well.

illustration friday - "farm"

sorry i've been so absent lately. i've been busy the past couple of weeks, since i decided to transfer schools so late in the summer. so i had to really scramble to get everything done. now everything is in order, so i should be posting fairly regularly again. well, except i'm taking 20.5 credits this semester, and i'm getting married in a month. so maybe not that regularly.

illustration friday - "match"

this one seemed to fit this week's IF theme. it's based on a craigslist.com "missed connection". i'm actually working on a two-page comic based on another missed connection listing right now. check back in a week or so, and it should be up!

illustration friday - "play"

this one is from a photo of my friends and i, when we lived in little rock. we got together one night at the old mill and played guitar for hours. ah, simpler times.

collaging implants

this is the fourth collage for takebakethenews.org's art auction. i hope they sell.

inspire me thursday - "child's play"

the first one is for inspiremethursday.com, and the second one is a bonus. i'm doing a series of collages to donate to an art auction that's fast approaching. it's for takebackthenews.org, which is a non-profit, anti-rape organization. check out their website, and if you're in the new york city/long island area, come to the benefit on august 7th, at the tiger lily cafe in port jefferson!

illustration friday - "opposites"

this is a comic that i had published in sva's "inkstains 3" earlier this year. it's silly, i know, but it's actually one of my favorite comics that i've done, as far as the overall look of the page goes. if you'd like to see more of my comic work, as well as great stuff by my comix-making pals, just click on the banner below:

illustration friday - "sacrifice"

things are getting back to normal. now, if i can just get my comix pages done for next week, i'll be in good shape.

i love moleskine sketchbooks. they're so neat! i think it's the yellowish paper, which seems to prevent artist's block somehow. one of my instructors always said "when faced with a blank white page, always start by tinting it with a wash of light color. then at least you've gotten the painting underway."

illustration friday - "skyline"

sorry i'm so late with this one. i've been out of town, out of commission, etc. this is a small oil sketch for a larger oil painting that i like to tell myself that i completed, though it could use a few more hours' work. maybe someday.

digital camera! yay!

i can finally post my larger pieces! i'm so psyched. here's a couple, just for a taste:

illustration friday - "rain"

(click for a larger, clearer view)
this was one of my more successful animal illustrations from stan martucci's class this year.

illustration friday - "dance"

funny that this week's illo friday topic was "dance", because this is what i was already working on the last few days:
you can click on the comic for a larger version. here are some detail images:
look here for more neat-o comic stuff from me and my friends:

illustration friday: "jungle"

since this week's topic is "jungle", i picked two different interpretations of the word. the first, more traditional:
and the second is the urban jungle:

new old stuff

i found some stuff from last year that i thought would be good for gettin' scanned. so i scanned 'em. and here is one:
this picture was made from cut paper, one black sheet and one white.

why am i not sleeping?

okay, one last thing and i'm off to bed. this is a collage that was inspired totally by the tiny little old lady with the green hat. i cut her out and saved her years ago, knowing that one day i would use her in something. i could never find something that she really fit in, so i decided one day to build a picture around her. this was also for a collage assignment in which i had to use shredded money. the picture of the "baby" is actually that of a fully-grown adult who stood approximately 20" tall.

illustration friday - portrait

this is a new print of a linocut i did late last year. gotta love the boss.

field recording artists

jason estrin, sarah glidden, and i are starting a comics-making group. we will be meeting on thursday nights usually, making assignments and working toward a publication, so if you're interested, let me know via email, or telephone if you know me already. we will usually be meeting either in brooklyn, queens or manhattan, though we may plan other field trips as well. it should be a lot of fun, so please join if you think you can handle it! our brand-new blog is here. by the way, this week's assignment is to make a forward facing self-portrait in black and white (in 3x4 proportion), and if you can, try to make a one or two page comic based on an old photo of yourself. it can be a real story or fictional, as long as it includes one panel that is a drawing of the photograph you have chosen. please bring the self-portrait, the comic and the original photograph to share with the group. however, please do not feel that you have to do the assignment this time. we would rather see more people at the meeting, so please come anyway, whether you can do the assignment or not.

something old, something new

i found some old line drawings on my computer and decided to post them. they are from a couple of years ago, when my "drawing with ink" instructor had us make 50 drawings in an hour. hence, they are full of drawing mistakes, or "happy accidents" as bob ross would say.