drawings

Just a couple drawings from today.

Self Portrait

I dont remember the last time I did one... but I'm really digging this direction.

getting closer

yesterday morning over coffee.

Ink and watercolor in a new sketchbook made by M! Thanks M!

+ worry not mortals, the current banner is merely a placeholder for a better more effective one+

+update+ banner replaced. rejoice. +

The Young Sinclairs/ The Diamond Center- poster

I had almost a day to do this poster, but I had a lot of fun with it. I would like to revisit the type. But nevertheless I got it off in time, and turned out pretty ok. I left a little bleed at the bottom, because i liked it for some reason. Of course I still find the sketch more interesting than the final

I'm really excited to play at this show. I've been with The Diamond Center for almost a year now and been all over the place touring and playing shows and meeting alot of great musicians and people and things are going really well. Some projects and deals are possibly in the works with us.

I'm working on another poster for a show that got canned, but I'm still going to finish it and post it soon.

Some sketchbook stuff coming soon also!

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!!

The Listening Room Vol VII: poster

I was honored to be asked to do the sixth installment of The Listening Room poster. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted to as long as there was a bird and a gramophone in the poster and all the info of course. Since then some friends of mine have also done a poster for the event.

Free music, food and coffee. It's a great thing and if you're in the Richmond area, you definitely need to come out.

Beastie Boys Type Poster

This is an expressive type poster with the complete discography of the Beastie Boys. After a ton of Reasearch, I think I got everyhting they did, but I probably didn't, because they do, and have done so stinking much. For the "Beastie Boys" treatment, I wrote out their name well over 20 times, scrapped the bad ones cut up the good ones and collaged what was remaining. Then I wrote out all the content straight with ink. Somehow, all the content fit perfectly and their was just enough room in the bottom corner for my initials. As one the longest lives hip hop groups with a tenacious DIY attitude, I hoped to bring some depth to the poster, and do it by hand. I was happy to be the only one to turn in a poster that wasn't printed. I left some edges unglued/ hanging off to further the rawness and attitude of the BBoys, but some people didn't really get it. too bad. 18x24" Sumi ink on paper. and glue.

Frankensein book cover

Book Cover for a story I, and maybe we all, know and love, Frankenstein.

Initial type treatment is being revised, I kinda rushed it... I still want that feel to it though.

Sumi ink and FW white on Rives BFK. I almost tore a few holes in it, not as durable as I thought, but I loved feeling the impressions and the dig that the dip pen left in the paper.

Recent sketchbook pages

Thought I would share some pages. School is in full swing and going well. I've got a couple personal paintings going on and a gallery show with a whole new body of work to prepare for. More on that later, I'm stoked on it though. There's a lot going on at once, but I'm excited and glad to be busy.

Good 'ol Grandma, always taking me out to lunch.


End of the summer grill out. So good.


yesterday
hair. today during a critique of a website mapping project...
I found this flyer printed on brown paper. Fun for pushing and pulling values around. 4x5"

Hope you enjoy,

Sufjan Stevens: process drawing

I thought I should post some of the process drawing from the piece I posted yesterday (thanks dadu!) This was a small part of the process in coming to a solution, but by far the most enjoyable of any piece I have done.

Overall, I love this page in my sketchbook much more than the piece itself. You may too, maybe.  As always, it's just fresher and without any reserve. I guess they both serve there own purpose, but I remember how fun it was just to draw this with my trusty 'ol dip pen and ink. Hope you enjoy!

Chewie!

Hey everyone, I'm finally getting settled in my new place in Richmond, VA, and had some time to finish this portrait of everyones favorite wookie, Chewbacca; It was an exercise in combining ink and watercolor. I was just working on the head, but thought I should take it as far as I could as a finished piece.

More coming soon as far as some new studio shots, pieces from the Academy, sketches, etc.

Thanks for stopping by!

yesterdays sketch

Feels good to be back in the sketchbook. Started a new one, made by Kunst and Papier, found at New York Central Art Supply. 6"x 8.25". Gettin back in the flow...

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.

Watercolor+ink/ Passing of one of the Greats..

Man, it's cold in RVA today ...Finished this a few days ago. It's from one of my favorite photos in a book I bought called Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents. (Its an awesome book) It was to give me something to do over the parts of winter break while I was home and explore and experiment with watercolor some more. the line work was done fast and loose and the watercolor slow and tight(er). Done on 2 ply Bristol Vellum. I was looking forward to working on the paper as it bent and warped a little bit. the dried final isn't warped to bad though, just has a little bit of extra character. 

Also earlier this morning Andrew Wyeth passed away. I've had books of his from my grandpa since highschool. And I finally got to see an original in person in December at the MoMA. 

This is a picture I took of the piece, and though it's a bad photo, I just thought I would upload my own because it was the most memorable piece for me to see and left one of the greatest impression on me of any work of art I've seen in person. 

In Progress...

These are some progress shots of two pieces I'm working on and excited about. This first one is a portrait of my Grandpa, my Moms dad. It's watercolor on yupo paper. Really difficult for me to achieve the right edge control. Those eyes took hours and hours; but they probably shouldn't have, haha.

Dip pen and watercolor on bristol vellum paper on this one here..
Just got back from another awesome visit to New Jersey and New York. Can't wait to go back.

Jack and the Beanstalk

This was an in-class assignment. We had to take a fairy tale and tweak the story a bit. So I said that the giant made it down the beanstalk and chased Jack, instead of falling down the beanstalk. So, this was what was down at the end of the class period.

       I played around in the pencil stage and tried to have like, 3 or 4 giants in the background all looking for Jack, and I wanted to make then kind of rock-like, but I knew time wouldn't allow for that.

      I also tried to give the composition kind of a "quiet" area in the corner where Jack is, in the midst of chaos. I couldn't decide between line or tone while working on it.

  11"x14" on 140 lb. hotpress, Cartiera Magnani watercolor paper.

a short comic

This is a 2 page story from last years winter for a sequential class. It had to be about getting lost. For not planning out the story or layout, I was pretty happy with it. It took about 2.5 hours or so.

I'm back in Fairfax, VA with the family for Christmas, but I have no scanner and No way to get images off my camera. (NOOO!) so...Im just going to upload some stuff thats sittin on the hard drive. Hope everyone has a safe and merry Christmas and New Years!

YEAH YEAH YEAH's!

This is a piece of the YEAH YEAH YEAHS done at the academy. Each member was xerox transfered straight from a drawing in my sketchbook, which was very rewarding to totally incorporate my sketchbook in my piece. It was a conceptual assignment , but I was able to let the medium and energy in the drawing speak for teh concept special thanks to two instructors, Doug Chayka and Sterling Hundley. size: 15"x7"

INK

Each of these are 6x6 inches, the top one is a portrait of Clint Weaver, the second is Martha Washington  and the third is Memphis Slim

Quick 30 min drawing/painting

I did this last night for fun; some acrylic ink, I kept it loose and went at it as fast as possible, the reason being, during my first try, I spill almost an entire bottle of ink over it and realized it was lost... Soo, I sucked it gave a nice little roar of frustration and reminded myself that nothing is sacred, up and started over. This is a portrait of one of the dudes from the Metal Mulisha, one of the most notorious and most talented groups in the Motocross industry. theres a good article in the new ESPN on them, which is where the photo is from. PEACE!