New Year, New Website, New Projects, New Semester!

Greetings again,

I have made several promises to myself over the years about this blog. What that has taught me, is to resist making promises. I am sure many of us were touched by the devastating tragedy in Haiti, and it is quite heartwarming to see the outpouring of support of the region in response. I urge and implore you to do whatever little thing you can to help. Whether it is an affordable monetary donation, or some action of a larger scale, it is moments like this that are true tests of our character.

I find myself with a full plate. This is always a double edged sword, but it forces me to think on my feet, and to be more organized than I would be usually. More importantly though, it is in these moments that my creativity is pushed by necessity. This is an exciting period despite the obvious increased stress, mostly because of a refreshed outlook on design, thanks to a Holiday break spent learning, practicing, and researching.

This space may prove to be a cathartic one at times, but I find the step back useful for perspective. Thanks for reading my (late) first post of the year.

Eric Canete Comicon Conan Commission!

Just scanned my Canete commissions! A week or so before Comicon I email Eric Canete's agent - Jason Schacter (sp?) about the possibilities of getting a Canete piece done. The day at Comicon that they're supposed to be ready and Jason says,
'There's good news and bad news...' I flinch. I grimace. 'the good news is.. it's awesome.' I smile because now I know the commission has been done. But now I am starting to wonder what the bad news is.. maybe he gave it to the wrong guy? Jason continues, 'the bad news is... there's three of em.' I smile.
'That's not bad news at all,' I say as I empty the contents of my wallet.

Greg's Iron Man Commission

Well, the use of the word 'commission' is misleading. I offered a bunch of friends free art of their choosing to force myself to keep my art more constant and consistent. This is an early piece and hopefully things improve here on out. I had a little fun drawing Iron Man, and I can't recall ever drawing him before and even though there are things I'd probably do differently a second time around, I'm relatively happy with the results.

Sketches from Drink & Draw @ Hennessey's in San Diego

So, on the 23rd of last month, Dan Panosian and a couple other artists hosted a Drink & Draw at Hennessey's downtown San Diego during Comic-Con. There were girls posing. Great artists. Good food. Better booze. I went. Drank. Drew. Had a blast. Here are a few sketches I did between pints of guinness.

Photo Shoot with Alexis

I have been so bad about updating the blog. Crazy season so far at work - but the summer is here! By the way, this is one of my favourite shots from a recent shoot. Can't say I haven't posted anything this year!

Iron Man

It's been about two weeks since my braces have been put on - I'm trying really hard to not feel like I'm thirteen. I guess the upside is even if I'd had these at thirteen... I'd probably still have them now (bad teeth genes it looks like).

There was a lot of pain initially, especially across my front teeth. This forced me to adapt naturally. Now I chew only on the left side of the mouth...at the back....with my three molars :|

On the other side, we were spared Omar's worst this week as the storm did what amounted to an about turn and passed east of Virgin Gorda. I had taken down my satellite dish just in case, and promptly at 7:30 or so the following morning, climbed back on top of the roof and put it back up.

The consequences of Omar weren't all bad though, I've got a six-day weekend to get some work done on the BusinessBVI magazine, grade some papers and even squeeze some art in!

8 teeth lighter = fatter sketchpad

Had my dental surgery done, got more tattoos, home for a week now. Life is pretty good.

Cut Me Deep

Boom! I'm off to Miami and they're gonna cut me deep. Hopefully getting a new tat this weekend, then I've got dental surgery on Tuesday. Pretty freaked about the dental stuff -

Peace everybody!

Kimbo Slice

Those of you familiar with MMA sensation Kimbo Slice should hopefully recognize him. Did these studies from an ESPN magazine article.

Character sketch

Okay, I've been designing/sketching the characters for a project my friend Greg is working on... here's one. Can't talk much about it tho. Bye!

Sketches from Miami

A couple weeks back I took a week and change off in Miami to recharge the batteries. It was great hanging out with my big sister and meandering about on my own a bit, but on top of all that I got all these sketches done!








I actually got more than these done... but i'll post em up later

Finding MY line

I went through a patch directly after my BA that I hardly drew at all. All my life up to that point, I had been trained rather rigidly in realism, and, I admit had little respect for much else. All the principles of form and line that are still in my head are pretty much exactly as they are taught to all youngsters in traditional curriculum.

The problem with this approach though, is that it doesn't really provide a clear avenue for the young artist to develop THEIR OWN vision. In some respects, everybody's line - the stroke of the pencil they use to represent what they see - is different, individual. However, we all learn to apply the same rules to that line. We don't always learn how to apply those concepts while allowing your line to remain, in essence, yours.

Artists who never stop drawing develop their line I believe somewhere between their mid-twenties to their early-thirties (a completely baseless feeling of mine). Having given up my illustration to intermittent doodling over a period of two to three years, give or take, I feel now that I've cheated myself out of time that I could have been using to find that line.

I now feel that my line must be one of expression, the simpler, the better. I've found myself drifting away from the uber-detailed and the super-realistic artists I idolized in my adolescence, and towards the succinct, expressive artists I maybe didn't appreciate as much back then.

Essentially, over the past year or so, I've been increasing the frequency of my drawing, and with the increased frequency, exposing myself to different ideas and techniques from new influences. I go through months of very derivative, repetitive stuff. Hopefully though, there's going to be a wall that I break through over the next year or so (with some commitment) that gets me to MY line.

Thanks for listening.

some old prismacolor portraits

These are some old prismacolors I did. My sister dragged them out of my portfolio that I've left at her house the past 4 years.
Oh, and for those that were wondering, the Water is Life calendars are available at Ocean Conversion as well as Water and Sewerage.

What I've been up to!

Been a busy couple weeks - furiously grading exam papers and end of semester projects this week. But on the other side, the Water is Life calendar will be available soon showcasing both my design and photography. In the mean time, check out a couple sketches I did last night.

I just joined Technorati!

Hey folks and lurkers alike!
I just joined Technorati and I'd like to exchange favourites with any fellow blogging folk that happen to be surfing by. Come for the fave, stay for the art!

There are link exchanges for blogs on several sites, but the one that I saw was on Beta Blog for Dummies

I'll be back before the week is out with more art.

Here's how it works. You drop a comment or email with your Technorati fave link after faving my blog and I exchange the favour. Be sure to include your Technorati username.