Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

This was a screenprinted tee shirt design commissioned by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. They are one of my favorite bands to see live. Just before leaving on tour with the Avett Brothers and Mira, Willis Thompson, their drummer and also 1 of 2 drummers in my band The Diamond Center, saw The Listening Room poster i did and asked for a poster and tee shirt for Thao's summer tour. (sorry long story) Both had supersuper tight deadlines and just as I was putting the finishing touches on this one, because of pre-tour unforseen difficulties, it got canned.... I was bummed. but. here it is. Thanks so much to Willis and Thao for the opportunity!!

Muddy Waters-Sumi Ink

Took a break from homework last night. Yeah. I did a jazz musician, like everyone does, except that it's Muddy Waters and out of this amazing book of photography of William Claxton , Jazz Seen. It was my Grandpa's and I asked if I could have it and said "SURE!" He's cool.

Being a musician, I get really anal about drawing instruments and seeing how others draw instruments, especially if the strings are drawn all over the place. Well, mine where all over the place, so I scraped them out. Of course it depends, sometimes the looseness works with the piece, Sometimes it harms it, and that balance is a delicate one, and one I try and keep in mind to improve on.

This was allot more than I planned to write. Crits more than welcome, Im all ears.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia!

The Devil Went down to Georgia, 20"x16", dip pen and wash (sumi ink) on 300lb WC paper

I completed most of this piece at the Illustration Academy this summer. The assignment was given by Chris Payne, and the assignment was 'a conversation'. So, through much processing and ideation song, 'The Devil goes Down to Georgia' by Charlie Daniels came to mind. I was inspired by boss battles I wanted to give it a David and Goliath feel.

The piece is 20"x16" which felt a little daunting, tackling pretty much the entire thing with a dip pen. The washes were added in the end. I wasn't planning on adding ink washes; I wanted to get tone with line, but I felt it appropriate and I think that it helped add a sense of atmosphere in the image.

A goal I had was to pencil in as little as possible. Mostly just to keep the almost endless hatching and drawing fun for me. Because there was no way I was penciling in that beard and tracing it in ink. I got away with only marking in the face, most of the violin and part of the hand. The rest was exploration. It was a blast and Im pretty happy with the result.

Another goal was that I wasn't going to white out my mistakes, and there were ALOT of mistakes. Instead I planned on just scratched them out with a razor. You can see in the detail shot below, I scratched out little Johnny twice. That was scary. He needs to be redone, but he'll do for now.
beeeaaaarrrd. I have one too.
I just realized I forgot the strings on the Devil's violin... I'll be working on that! In the mean time let me know what you think! Thanks!

OOOOPS.

I was working on this to submit to the Kitty Pride benefit show. I was pretty stoked on it when

suddenly....

BAM! Attack of an entire bottle of Sumi ink! Haha, oh well.

Figure Drawings!! (from the Sketch Books)

The first set is from Richmond's first Dr. Sketchy's, hosted by Gallery 5. I had no idea it was Dr. Sketchy's, just thought it was another gallery hosting a figure drawing session. (except that Gallery 5 is tiiiiigghht!) It was alot of fun. Music, drinks and new friends. Not sure if I will continue to go to Dr. Sketchy's though. At Dr. Sketchy's the models are not completely nude, but I feel that sometimes almost nude is worse than totally nude (which there are many variables in deciding that) in the figure drawing context. Not that the nude in the art historical and informative context is offensive, but I feel that Dr. Sketchy's overall, walks the line between class and no class at all. And thats a totally personal opinion. This session was totally classy, Maybe it'll stay that way in Richmond, if so, sweet, because it was a blast!

Model: Attila

Graphite

B.P. pen, Foray Presision Point .05

I won some beast dragon tattoos for this drawing. She was dressed as an "ice queen" and we had to incorporate fire in our sketches. Maybe I'll post myself rocking the dragon tattoos....or..maybe not....These were done tonight at the Society of Communication Artists. I started drawing with a mechanical pencil(mistake) and then thought I would try dip pen, and that was a blast. I used my favorite, the Speedball Hunt School 56. I also used a tad of watercolor and a dried out brush pen, always have one of those handy.
I got "Dont Go Chasing Waterfalls" by TLC stuck in my head while on the last 20 minute drawing. I haven't heard that song since 3rd grade at the roller skating rinks (I'd skate so fast when that song came on...You dont even know...)
EDIT* my last post, Feb 12th, was updated with my reference photos.