Wrapping Up my Schooling

Lately I've been trying to gather jobs and commissions. I was contacted by a man who liked some of my work at the Holiday Bazaar, but he wasn't able to snatch them up in time. Instead, he asked me to recreate Couch Dogger. Following are the original and the duplicate, in that order. Proportions on screen are not true to reality, as the second painting's cradle was slightly smaller.



I mailed my promotional pieces on Thursday, the 17th. In the upper left is the inside of the envelope; in the upper right is the outside back of the envelope; below those are my art cards and response card. The critique was good, and there were only a few minor problems with the packet.


The cover for my Christmas cards, colored in Photoshop.


Second finished mural at Poplar Point.


After classes ended, I made some more panels in the shop, so look forward to some paintings. Joel suggested that I start on another comic while my chops are up. I also need to clean up the photos of my colored pages, get some good text for them, and send it to Lulu or Blurb for its very first printing ever.

I suppose it still hasn't fully dawned on me that I am done with school. I feel confident that whatever I choose will work out, but at the same time, I am nervous. Everything works out though, and God watches over people. And on a side note, I hope people really think about the true reason for the season, rather than running each other over, looking for the last Gator Golf. Sorry, you'll have to forgive my cynicism.

Have a safe and merry Christmas, everyone!

MCA Portfolio 2006-2009

My best work, excluding my In the Red Forest work.

Make-up post

These are my babies, Thor and Fonti. They have absolutely nothing to do with this post.


I've always had good success selling my mini-paintings and -drawings, once at the Memphis Minis exhibition, and at both Holiday Bazaars that I've participated in. I do a little picture, fix it to foam core, and make a mat for it.


Unfinished mural at Poplar Point. I've been working with my classmate and friend Chihiro on these. We've been receiving offers to do them in private homes, but currently all those are delayed for the moment.


A bad photo of my completed BFA piece. I will be getting a better one SOON. Mine and my classmates' exhibition opening is this Friday, from 5pm-7pm.


This is a commission I did for a client. From the photos provided, I drew two smaller sketches, drew them again at 6 feet all together, and colored it with acrylic.


At this point, I went over the pencil lines with a China marker aka. litho crayon.


And color!!! Minus the decorative top and bottom segments. Sorry, forgot to get a pic of those.


In conclusion—
WATCHING YOU!

Promo piece beginnings

This weekend I began my promotional mailer assignment for Illustration 5. Our requirements were to make something that could be mailed (duh!), that included a stamped response card, and that contained at least 5 examples of our art. I came up with a rounded sort of envelope, printed on both sides and a response card insert. The first picture below is the outside of the envelope.

Yes, I'm aware that the red tabs are much larger, but they are designed with a bleed. I'll have to cut tabs on the outside, then flip the piece over to know where to cut the other pair.


This is the inside.


And this is the response card (not proportionate to other pieces!), my favorite part of the piece.


Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. With my BFA piece and the holidays, things have been rather busy, but I will have another post soon.

Finally, back

Finally found a computer I can post from freely. My home computer had a costly demise, anywhere from 120-400 to fix. It's not that much in the grand scheme, but I'm debating whether or not to fix it. Would be nice, though...

Anyway, this is more of my "suspect your food" series.


Both done in black and white acrylic only.


Drawing for the final piece in the series. Because it took me so long to make this post, I've already finished this painting. It'll be in my next post.


These guys are color studies for my comic, which I have renamed once again as "In the Red Forest." "Fallout" is a videogame name.


This is my formed Chupacabra. Upon the advice of several people, I've decided to make a few to sell in the Holiday Bazaar. He's (or she's) a huge hit!


An acrylic painting done for the Bazaar. My love of chickens knows no bounds.


A better picture of my design project. This, too, has undergone revisions, and the newest will be posted next time. Can't wait to see it on stage and packaging!

Food and figures

So this is what my desk looks like right now. I spend about 70% of my time working on my Nine story hotel story. I was thinking about calling it "Fallout," but now I'm leaning toward "In the Red Forest." Sounds less like a video game that way.


These next few are from my "suspect your food" series, looking at the integrity of labels such as organic, free-range, and hormone-free. They're being made using acrylic on multimedia paper. I start with a wash, which ends up mostly covered by the end by black and white. Then I plan to use a few, thin color washes over the featured animals. This is a pig in the back of a police car.


I plan to add more specific characteristics to the breeds of chicken in this one, not to mention a more dynamic angle than straight on.


This one is almost ready for paint. Just got to adjust the woman's arm and the height of the desk surface.



Here's an in-depth look at the technique. These guys are salmon, and all they need is the thin color layer now.


This little fella is going to be a goat-sucker, more commonly known as a "chupacabra." We're creating sock creatures for sculpture. Leave it to me to pick the weirdest option. Anyway, he's got pleather legs, felt arms, corduroy belly, and a knee-high body. He will be stuffed later, of course. And he will have two white fangs. Stuffed animals are a love of mine, and I'm really a sucker for this project. Ha. Now I'm going back to my day job of making art, not jokes.

Still dreaming

Well, if I had to spend the rest of my life illustrating one book, it would have to be the Bible. Kind of a cop-out because it's such a large and varied book, but I'm a Christian. And I would never get bored.

As for my dream mentors:

I would love to be an apprentice to Bill Watterson. The man is brilliant, yet private and quiet. And he looks a little like my dad. Watterson is a master of drawing and philosophy; how great would it be to study under him?


I think my other choice would be Mary Cassat, who was one of the first famous women artists. Her skill is undeniable, and her paintings beautiful.

Squeaky
But, if I were ostracized from the art world forever, I would start an organic chicken farm for eggs. My chickens would roam freely, be very happy, and lay delicious eggs, much like my pets back home. And if the egg farm weren't pulling in enough, I could always find a day job to help out, like maybe cashier at a book store, or something. I'm not picky.

If I had one month and a thousand dollars for art supplies, I would make a giant, paneled painting, probably of chickens, or something else that I really enjoy. Of course, the money would go to buying canvases or making cradles. Working in phases, I'd start with penciling the general layout over all the pieces, then the painting process. Finally, the panels would be hung in a gallery or on the side of a really big building.

However, if I had six months and ten grand, I'd make a frikkin' sweet comic book. The money would be spent on supplies to create the pages, and the rest spent on publishing the sucker. The schedule would be very similar to the one I'm using now for my independent study: do all thumbnails, then pencil and color as I go. The finished piece would be a mass-produced copy with that wonderful new book smell. Mmm-mm!
Stella: a character from my upcoming comic

With an entire year and a hundred thou, I would probably go crazy. In all actuality, I'd continue from the comic I made with the ten grand, and just keep making more comics until I ran out of dough. It's what I enjoy. With lots of chickens!

Busy, busy!

This is the beginnings of our current project: using paper craft to illustrate an article. My chosen article is a piece about the airline industry making obese people buy two tickets if he or she can't fit into the single seat. The long piece is the rotund torso of the overweight person, and the gray thing is the airplane seat row. The one that looks like a division sign is the person's head.



This is just a sketch for a painting I'm doing during my Internship hours. It's for a show where people pay a lot to get in, but they can pick one painting off the wall and take it home for free. I'm not getting any money out of it, but I'm getting press.



Here's a version of my business card. I haven't got any printed yet, since I'm still deciding on my permanent logo. I'm going to try a version with my "vamp" logo.



This was a t-shirt contest entry for a Memphis in May BBQ team. It didn't win, but I still made a sweet picture!