Portfolio Progress 2

Another snippet from a larger image I'm working on. This one's done in pencil. I really like the concept here, but you'll have to wait for it!

Portfolio Progress 1

The portfolio sprucing has commenced! I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm not going to show entire images until I'm done with everything, but here's an inset from a much larger acrylic illustration I'm working on.

I'm kind of big on texture, so I try to add as much to my work as possible. I scratch, sand, and otherwise maul the painting surface as I go. Lots of fun!

Of Lizards and Fraggles (From the Moleskine)

Drew this last night while watching Prince Caspian. I don't know what's up with this guy's hair, but I'm thinking it's a direct, subconscious result of my childhood infatuation with Fraggle Rock.

Oh, and I just found out that Disney's backing out of the next installment of The Chronicles of Narnia (LA Times article here). Lame! I really hope they reconsider. It would be a shame for the quality of the films to change just because Caspian didn't do as well in theaters. (Plus, I really hate it when the DVD cases for movies in a series don't match each other.) Disney has a good franchise going with Narnia! What are they thinking?!? Grrr.

My Real Dream in Life

People sometimes ask me, "What made you want to become an illustrator?" My answer: the gingerbread architect gig fell through.

My wife and I made this tonight. I think it's pretty good, but all the critics out there are telling me it's not really professional enough and that I should work on refining my style. What do they know?

Yay!

I drew this last night while watching The Santa Clause (a Christmas favorite -- don't diss it). Inspiration: a nativity I saw at my church a few weeks back.

The semester is officially over, and boy am I relieved! I'm also really excited, because I'm going to take the "break" to work on my illustration portfolio. I'll keep you posted with sketches and updates of that process. I'll be posting some new stuff on my website in the coming weeks, too (I hope), so keep reading!

Housekeeping business: For those of you who follow the blog via RSS, sorry about the backposts (I think I may have invented that word). I'll try not to do that again -- just had to finish the posts for a class.

Random question: Why do they make kitchen cabinet shelves so tall you can't get anything out of them without a chair? I'm guessing it's a question of aesthetics. Like high heels.

And you thought Faulkner knew stream of consciousness.

Fine Art

Sometimes, I do fine art, too. (Although I've never made money from it.) I like these two experiments.

My Sketchbooks!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to help stimulate the flailing economy and buy some sketchbooks. Stock traders of America, you should now feel confident that the average consumer is, indeed, consuming.

I've never purchased a Moleskine book before, so I thought I'd give them a try. Buying a Moleskine book seems to be this rite of passage into a whole new group of "cool" people. It's like buying a Mac or something. So, now I'm officially even cooler than before. Any of you who want to be my friend now based on my taste in sketchbooks, feel free :) I bought two -- a storyboarding book and a regular sketchbook -- and I think I'm in love.

My books are really small and fit in my pants pocket, so I can take them anywhere. The creamy paper is really nice to draw on, and it's pretty thick, so my pen lines don't leak through (although marker does). The little elastic strap that keeps the book closed is nice, too.

I guess my only problem is that whenever I get a nice sketchbook, I always feel a little scared to mess it up. Like my own markings in the thing will desecrate it and make it so much less cool than it was when it was blank. Do you ever feel like that?

More sketches to come from the Moleskines.

Show and Tell, Week 11 - My Collection

Any collection I really have is either packed away in our "don't-touch-until-we-have-a-house-again" closet, or is a collection of artist's materials that I actually use. But, I love collecting books and happened to find this one just in time to show it off in Words and Images class (thanks, Aunt Carol, if you're reading this).

This one's got a copyright from Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910. I sort of geek out about this stuff, so forgive me, but I love looking at the impressions the press made on this book's paper, seeing how the inks on the cover mis-register and slightly bleed into each other, and I think the pencil illustrations are fabulous!

I think Mr. Stubbs's Brother is a monkey. Some day, maybe I'll crack the cover looking for something other than design inspiration, and I'll let you know.

Show and Tell, Week 11 - Little Ant Design

My wife's aunt, Denise, throws really cool parties. Check out some of her ideas here: Little Ant Design.

334: A Love Story

There are a few things I still want to fix with this, and the reduced frame rate messes up a couple of parts, but I'll fix that when the semester's over. Enjoy!

Kids and Shaving Cream

For everyone in Words and Images -- this is playing with shaving cream! :) My kids volunteered for the photoshoot.

By the way, what do you all think of the whole sideways smiley face thing? :) Is this becoming acceptable writing protocol? I get the feeling like it's becoming a part of speech.

Sketch Crawl 2009

Keep your schedules open for Jan. 10th! Enrico Casarosa started an event called SketchCrawl in 2004, and I'll be participating in it for the first time next year. The idea behind SketchCrawl is basically to take a day-long walk around whatever city you live in, sketch what you see, and then post your stuff to the SketchCrawl forum. So, while Enrico sketches all day in the SF Bay area, I'll be wearing my Eskimo parka and double layers of thermal underwear (okay, really, I don't have either of those things, but I'll probably be wishing I did!) to take a sketching tour around Baltimore! I'm still not that familiar with Baltimore, so this should be a good chance to get some exercise, familiarize myself with some of the cool areas in the city, and get frostbitten/mugged.

I'm interested in organizing it into an event with a bigger group of people, 1) so I don't die after accidentally walking into a bad part of town and 2) so other people can freeze along with me. No drawing skills required. Anyone interested?

Oh, and I think I'm going to buy the shirt for it, too. It's organic.

Show and Tell, Week 10 - Unnecessary Process

WikiHow. An enlightening worldwide web destination. A find: How to Stop Hesitating.

Identity Assignment: Formati

These are some images that show the process I went through for a recent typography assignment. The logotype (created for a furniture company) had to be designed from scratch using only shapes we created ourselves. In retrospect, I think I like the green logo best. I don't like the calligraphy one at all, but I do like the blue one. I think the little ornament on the "m" makes it look too much like a face, but I'll fix that some other time.






(Oh, and just in case, the image in the brochure was provided to us in class, so I have no idea where it comes from.)