WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN?

I went looking for dark or evil or scary, for a Halloween post. What happened? My drawings from childhood far topped anything I have to show for now. I always went through the red crayon first. I projected my own night terrors. Anyway, gore and evil and dark was much more prevalent when I was a child. Guess this means I'm healthy now, but the trade is tame, foo-foo art.

 

FEEL THE LINE, AND ENYA.

Been diggin' through the vaults, finding old Art Institute work and comparing it (curca '94) to the stuff I had to do for my current degree. Back then, "digital design" was a concept, not an actuality. We were all hands-on, even with type faces. I miss that, and am lucky I got to get both worlds.

This was a great class. Wish I remember who the teach was. He was a weird, pony-tailed body-builder who played Enya and Fresh Air during drawing sessions. It could have been creepy, but the guy understood the core to drawing from sight. I would be drawing in pieces, composing figures how I knew how -comic book style that I had learned from books I had when I was a little kid. (e.g., HOW TO DRAW A SKULL: START WITH A CIRCLE, THEN AN OVAL, TWO MORE CIRCLES FOR EYE HOLES, AN UP-SIDE-DOWN HEART FOR THE NOSE HOLE...."), then applying that to comic book art which was obviously done in the same way. He would catch me doing this and immediately make me stop. "Draw what you see....not in isolated bits...feel the line that your eyes trace, and let it happen on its own. Let the hand follow the mind, not the other way around." Whether you end up with the right proportions or not, the technique felt more fluid, natural, even intimate. You felt the composition render itself, rather than building it robotically, block-by-block.

Steve Brodner once told me, after asking him if used reference material for his sketches, "Drawing is seeing." (Not name dropping, just cool to interact with a hero....and it was a good quote.)


"I think you can define drawing, or the drawing impulse, in a variety of ways: It is concerned with the line, as opposed to color or form; there is typically a concern with movement -- what is a drawing if not the record of the movement of the hand over a piece of paper; and finally there is an interest in the process of thought, by which I mean that drawing, even it its most expanded form, has a relation to language in that it structures the creation of meaning."

-The Institute of Contemporary Arts/Boston's chief curator Helen Molesworth

I had a dream

If only caricature were an employable career. Brodner and those guys got in while the gettin' was good, and only a few have lasted and still get payed.

Two dudes on the Bremerton Ferry.

WAITING FOR GAUGUIN

I don't know why, but I never took any photos of the sets I painted for the theatre. At first you're excited with all the space/walls/props you have to work with, with total creative freedom. Then when you realize you're doing it mostly if not totally on your own, you freak out over all the space/walls/props you have to work with, with total creative freedom.

O

 Hearing her talk is always so surreal.

Ink vs. Vector

Looking back at old (circa '94-'95) work done at the Art Institute (Round 1) and comparing to the New stuff done over the past half year before finally graduating. In this case, I finished my homework 16 years later, modifying it with Illustrator, which didn't exist in '95. Better late than never, I'll take an "F".

MAN vs. SHARK revisited

Infographic made to comply with 70 - 30 (%) aspect ratio of info to space. Mega-info. But I guess it works when you're trying to bring a point home. Save the sharks, people. Thus save yourselves.

And make the message pretty.

WAYZGOOSE

First time for me and mine visiting Letter Press event at SVC, called "Wayzgoose" this weekend. Definitely need more time, to peruse and get a poster printed next year. Several groups print all day via large poster plates, hand-rolled ink, and a steam roller. They hang them from the balcony railings of the buildings successive floors. Very cool. Print shop, movable type bins and machines are inside. Highly recommended event.

MIND FIELD

Pen tool practice, in class. One of my all-time favorites...Albert, not the Pen Tool...

"The key to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

DISPOSITION

School has consumed my life. It's all I have to show for anything lately.

Photo illustration self portraits. We choose our own battles...

Sun Over Marin

Another fun school assignment. Full re-creation, before and after. Reminds me of South Bay.

Perched Aloft

Photoshop assignment for school. Supposed to be a self portrait, using only our own photos. Smoke and ashes in city still sort of pending.....need to take smoke/cloud tutorial from my 2,343,576 page textbook. My gaiters look like leg warmers. 

The 4th Dimension is Mind

This is Elliot Ave from 2 perspectives, North-bound, then South-bound. I bent space and time. Seattle can never get its fill of colorful corners.

Flash Blizzard W/ Flash

Lastnights flash snowstorm was a fun surprise. I enjoy "harsh" weather, just as long as it changes with the seasons. Using a flash in falling snow added a stipple effect to the graffiti shots. Wish it had all stuck around longer than morning.

 Learned this move from Danny Torrance.

 

"And just like that -poof, it was gone..."

Eyes Wide Shut Me Down

First project in class at AIS. I put some solid effort into it, 12 layers/7 channels, and the teacher said, "eh, it was just to get you working, I don't even want to see it."

How could you deny that face??

RECORD TIME

 

Another clock. 12'' with mock label sticker. I've got a lot of unused crappy records laying around. I'm thinking they could be of use. Anyone want to commission one?

PATRON SAINT OF PATIENCE

 

Finally finished what was supposed to be a mother's day gift in 2008. (see older post about pending work here) Needless to say it swallowed many hours. Pen and ink, scanned in sections, realigned the scans, used channels to isolate sections and color in certain layers. Also made some major structural changes, such as the flames in the background, by mirroring one side and cloning it....I even made her taller by warping a lower section of her in Photoshop. 17 layers, 25 channels. Guh. But it turned out nice, Kinko's (Fed Ex, ahem) did a decent job printing, however late.

Poor angel remained crushed underfoot. I can't even remember why I was mad at him to begin with. 

Like I wrote on the back, "Happy every day Ma!"

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE.....