Pretty Good Hand Writing–Cursive And Recursive

Sometimes God is leaking through the ceiling… that’s when the crazy shit happens.

I began working on this piece in June 2010, and finished December 2011. At long last, I am finished. To think that I was under the impression that I’d be able to get it done in one summer… It was intended as a gift for my sister’s birthday (July 2010… kinda missed that mark), and the subject matter and coloration were chosen accordingly (to my estimation of her tastes, that is).

The media are archival and water-based inks (line work and background shading) and gauche paints on a 19.5x36” canvas. I started with pencil (and quickly discovered that it can be very difficult to erase pencil on canvas), and completed the line drawing with a Pigma brush pen (several, actually… the tips on those things wear out like crazy). Finally, I colored with gauche because it has a kind of vibrance and maintains the pleasing texture of the matte canvas.

Below are the development shots. The intermediate images are digitally colored versions of the line drawing photo that I used to test out different color schemes before putting anything down permanently.
The colors in the final image are a bit off. At the moment I don’t have access to a computer with a properly configured monitor, so I didn’t spend much time trying to make them accurate. I’ll try to fix that up later.

Inked Drawing:

Basic Colors:

Various Color Schemes

Final Image:

Chameleons Imitating Octopus

Inspired by some of the favorite animals of a good friend of mine.  Still working on it – just need to shade it and go over it with texture brushes.  Think I’m going to darken it up a lot and give it some depth, a little bit of grit… I might add a “real” octopus, off to the side looking confused or something.
Initial Sketch:

Octopus “envelope”, digital sketch:

Chameleon contours, on top of envelope:

Initial colors:

New color scheme & title:  Decided on a simpler but more aesthetic (well, I think so anyway) color scheme.

Animatronic Ass Bot

I haven’t got the faintest memory of where this idea came from, but I found a penned drawing of it (I did it last summer I think) in my collection of photos, so for some reason I decided it would be a good idea to brush it up in photoshop instead of reading chemistry (that was a hard decision, let me tell you).

Inked Drawing:

Digital Trace:

Colored:

Shaded & Textured:

Spacemin

Some concept art for a video game that’s been rolling around in my head for a while.

Applephant

An applephant, grazing alone, in a subsaharan apple orchard. It's unfinished... but whatever – due-dates don’t wait.

Thank Goodness for Holiday Spirit…

…Because if somebody else didn’t have it, then they wouldn’t have put out ornaments, and if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to steel this one, and if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to start painting my ugly mug, and if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to finish painting my ugly mug, and if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to put the ornament back, and if that hadn’t happened, then nobody would’ve missed it and I’d be happier ‘cause I’d feel like a rebel.  Maybe I’ll steal it again some time.

A Theory of Questionable Validity on the Functionally Fractal Nature of Human Psychology

No, he’s not about to swing on a vine.  Can you imagine what that kind of momentum would do to the poor little guys trying to maintenize his insides?

Some initial sketches:

First Draft:

Final Draft

Tall Elephant–Dali Study

This was a study of Dali for watercolor class.  Note that I’m not even attempting to capture the same meaning or ridiculously complex symbolism that appears in Dali’s elephant pieces, just a similar look and theme.

Coke Mine

I suppose it would be beneficial to me socially if I said something like, “to me, this image represents some shit about consumerism and the oil trade and stuff”, given that people seem to like to associate meanings with images that contain popular images.  But I assure you: the occurrence and association of objects in this image exist for the sole reason that I kind of thought it would look cool and I was tired of painting normal coke bottles.

Prov 25:11 – Overdramatic Misinterpretation

A little somthin’ from watercolor class.  I think my professor probably thinks I’m an insane sadist.  Part of that is probably due to me not knowing what to say when she asked what my inspiration (in general) is – I quickly though through the few things I’ve made and responded, “Um… violence…  I guess its sort of related to horrified fascination (and stuff)”.  An attraction to the morbid yes, but now she thinks (and I quote) that I “like death”.

Coca Cola

I got really tired of doing my still-life homework in the studio, so I livened up my coke bottle a bit.  I think coke just might be good enough that I wouldn’t mind being in there myself.

Original Watercolor:

Digital Modification:

Graphic Novel Learning Experience #3: Mr Stitch

This is a character from a crazy short story idea I had about a cosmetics testing facility hidden in the jungles of South America where a crazy doctor under the employment of Millennium Cosmetics Corporation performs unethical test of new cosmetic products on volunteer tests patients who believe they will be paid and given free cosmetic care.  Patient 932, however, escapes and goes around jumping on people and hyper extending their necks.

The story, I realize, is a stupid version of a very common storyline.  Before I lose all creative credibility in the reader’s opinion, please note that this stereotypical nature is indeed what I intended to achieve.

Now that you’ve bored yourself by reading that, here are the drawings.

Pencil Sketch:

Inked:

Flattened & Colored:

Shaded & Textured:

Muscle

Last night I was practicing with my tiny little Wacom tablet & these were the result.  Believe it or not, this started out as me trying to copy some concept art of a giant spherical city from Guild Wars 2.  Evidently about halfway through my inspiration changed directions.  Personally, my favorite is the last iteration.

Graphic Novel Learning Experience: #2

This one is very small and didn’t take much time, but it’s the result of me trying to get the hang of facial design.  I think she looks a bit like agent Sully from the X-Files when she’s wearing glasses.

Pen Drawing:

Scanned & Colored:

Graphic Novel Learning Experience: #1

I’ve been really wanting to know how to draw in a graphic novel style lately, so I’ve been doing some exercises.  The following images are steps from my process as it is in its current undeveloped state.  The idea for the content of the image came from another guy’s graphic novel (http://www.sarafinconcepts.com/graphic-novel.html).

I realize that this isn’t very good, but it’s my first ever try at something like this.  I plan to start trying to figure out textures and other ways of coloring in Photoshop later.  If anybody viewing this has any suggestions I’d be grateful.

Pencil Drawing:

Inked Drawing:

Inked Drawing, pass 2:

Scanned, contrast adjusted:

Colored: