Blog

Valentine's Rocks!

2010-02-17T19:32:00.001-08:00

I had originally wanted to do a portrait of someone famous and current. Lady Gaga was a good choice even though I didn't really listen to her music, but after researching for this painting a little, I found out I'm a Gagamaniac!

Derek Smith CD

2009-12-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

I did a job for singer/songwriter Derek Smith, based out of Norfolk, Va. He's an amazing guitarist with his first CD "Lifesize". I was lucky to be able to do his cover- http://dereksmithmusic.net First is the original sketch, then the full CD, then the painting full size.

Fashionista

2009-12-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

As an attempt to broaden my portfolio range, I've gotten into a little fashion illustration, which I'm reeeally enjoying. What I find so great is that it is allowing me to break away from my usual media routine.

And now a bit of the new...

2009-12-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

A couple quick heads...

Ok here we go now

2009-12-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

After a moment of getting it together after my traumatic graduation, I am puttin it out there once again- First, a bit of the old and soon to be retired work and portfolio.

2009-05-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is another for the "Cosmicomics" series. This is of my favorite character for Distance of the Moon, the captain's wife. The main character in the distance loved her, she loved the cousin, but the cousin loved the moon, so she resigned herself to becoming the moon.

2009-04-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here is another piece for "Cosmicomics", and this chapter was called Sign in Space. It was my favorite chapter in that my brain had to work extra hard to understand it. The basic idea revolved around the first mark ever made, how it became the maker of the mark, and how each mark, or life form is getting lost among the infinity of all other marks. It was a lot of fun.

2009-03-26T06:23:00.001-07:00

These two pieces are full page and a spot I did for "Cosmicomics", the chapter called "Distance of the Moon" which I really loved and had a fun time portraying.

2009-03-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a trip to Doha, Qatar. What an experience! I was especially influenced by all the Arabian line work and henna patterns, so I channeled it into one for my crow series.

2009-03-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

This is a theatre poster that I did for Kimberly Akimbo. In the play she is fifteen with a fatal disease which makes her age like an old woman. At the climax she goes on a safari and is stopped in the road by a giant hippo, which becomes a metaphor for her disease and how it is the obstacle keeping her from a normal life.

Society of Illustrators New York 2009!

2009-02-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

I can't say how thrilled I am that I was able to get a piece into the 2009 Society of Illustrators New York with a piece from my "King Grisly Beard" series here. What a friggen amazing honor, I am soo excited, and congrats to all my other friends that made it in. I also had a "Gift of the Magi" piece accepted to Society of Illustrators LA here, and am very excited about that too!

2009-02-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Another one for my crow series. This was done on a new surface for me, yupo paper, very finicky but fun.

2009-02-04T14:55:00.001-08:00

A quick little pastel I did for fun.

2009-01-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

These are a spot and double page illustration I did for a fairy tale I wrote. In the story, the mythical spirit of Aurora Borealis is trapped by Winter inside of a glacier. All of the animals of the Arctic are trying to save her, but none make it except a small snow fox, who makes it to the glacier and through his love, he cracks the ice and sets her free. Awwwww.

2009-01-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

This image is from a series I did for the story Thumbelina, an appropriate one for me:) In this image she has been lost after being kidnapped by the toads and is floating down the river. She comes upon a school of fish who help her find her way. This one was tough for me, I wanted to distort her figure in a certain way, keeping her torso longer than her feet, and still make it look normal, very hard indeed.

2009-01-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

This image was my most successful piece from the series I did for King Grisly Beard, an old Brother's Grimm fairy tale. In the story, the princess is given a number of suitors to choose from, and is urged by her father to pick, however she is spoiled and rejects them all, including a certain grisly king. Later her father forces her to marry the first man to walk through the door, who happens to be a poor farmer, who makes her slave and toil on his farm. After she finally learns the lesson of humility and appreciation, she discovers that her poor farmer is indeed King Grisly Beard, and of course she lives happily ever after.

2009-01-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

So, finally I have managed to recoup from the semester and get together most of my images. This was certainly the hardest semester I have had, and rightly so since my work at VCU is almost over. I was mainly focusing on producing a children's book portfolio, and enjoyed relaxing my brain into the mostly narrative images. This first one I did for the Richmond Times Dispatch holiday image contest and pulled out third place;). I was featured in the paper, along with a nice little pic of myself, but still haven't seen the 25 bucks I'm due, ha.

2008-09-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

This is my next installment of "The Gift of the Magi", and I really enjoyed working on this one.

2008-09-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

This was a fun one I did with the title "Scary ToothFairy".

2008-09-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after a stressful beginning of the semester, here are a few pieces that I managed to put out that I like. This one is the first scene of the children's book project "Thumbelina", of course I would choose a story about a girl the size of a thumb, I can relate! This scene depicts Thumbelina's baren mother recieving the magic seeds to create Thumbelina from the forest fairy.

2008-08-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

This was one of the last assignments at the almighty Academy. It was the second, did you hear me, second assignment for the week that Scott Anderson and Robin Eley were there. They wanted us to do a narrative image from the story "The Gift of the Magi". I had a lot of fun on these, and will probably continue with the rest of the story before the summer's over. If you don't remember the story, the girl sells her hair for her guys Christmas present, but his present to her was a couple of hair combs which he buys from the money he gets selling his watch. Her present to him was a fob for the watch, and of course all they ended up with was the sacrifices they made for each other, awww.

2008-07-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

This was the fifth assignment at the Academy, a fun one for me because it was given by Scott Anderson and Robin Eley, two truly amazing artists. They actually gave two assignments for the week which was just fabulously stressful. One was a celebrity rock and roll portrait geared to Rolling Stone Magazine. We were given a letter which could be the first letter of the band or the musicians first or last name. My letter was R and I chose Trent Reznor. The idea is that he is or at least was pretty much a one man band. I wanted a little characterization on the face but not really in any funny way. Just a little stretch here and there.

2008-07-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

This was our second assignment at the Academy, given by supergenius Jon Foster. He wanted us to do a portrait of a literary figure depicting an emotion. I decided to go modern and did Patrick Bateman from the novel(and movie of course but not Mr. Bale) American Psycho. Gary Kelley actually gave me a good critique although he wanted the blood on his hands. Sterling disagreed.

2008-07-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

And this is my favorite one from the Academy, assignment given by Gary Kelley(don't get me started),we were given colors to illustrate, I depicted the 30's cabaret dancer The Blue Angel.

2008-07-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Illustration Academy in Sarasota, Florida is the greatest place in the world with the greatest people ever. I was stressed almost the entire time and I just loved it. First assignment was given by the illustration god Mark English. He wanted a flat image depicting an everyday scene in Sarasota. I decided to use cut paper, otherwise known as hell on earth, but it turned out to be a fun image. I drove around in the ghetto to get the reference and almost got tore up by this little girl's big butt momma, but it was worth it, even though it's not really in my personal style of work.

2008-04-17T18:04:00.001-07:00

2008-04-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, to get started I'll throw down a few sketches, most I've done this week, but I'll start off with one I did last year that I seem to be stuck on. I feel like this guy is someone I've known in some other life, and maybe hated.