merry times

Enjoy this amazing compilation of creepy Santa Clauses-Sketchy Santas.

Above is a quick drawing of my sketchy santa.  I hope everyone has a great Holiday.  I will be going to Florida to see family and friends.  See you on the flip side in 2010.  

wintery updates

So I.C.E. went really well this year selling the prints with Melissa for Kilroy and Maw. We still have them on sale online so if you are interested in the prints from the previous post or others please visit the Etsy site! AND, most of the prints are around $10-we are big on offering affordable art right now so go check them out.

In other recent history I finally finished a book cover and chapter header illustrations for a young adult story for Tricycle Press. I am so excited about this book, it will be available in Summer of 2010! I will update with more info when it becomes available.

I hope everyone is digging their winter. I am finding myself missing friends and making new ones at the same time. Winter time always makes me a bit nostalgic. I am also really loving pumpkin pie and scarves, and sometimes miss the warm weather. I recently went with Scott and my brother to visit family in Michigan and it was super cold! We had an awesome time and I am glad we got to see family. Here are some pictures I took from the Henry Ford Museum that Scott's mom took us to...

Love this ad.

Vintage airplane used for air tricks.

Cool ads.

An old hearse.

This car was made for a dwarf couple! I need one.

Cool label.

Trains are so creepy!

Gyspy Wagon.

That museum was pretty insane. They also had the car the Kennedy was assassinated in as well as Lincoln's chair and the Rosa Parks bus.  I learned a lot and got really inspired from the imagery.

Till the next random jumble post. Keep warm with some nice tart apple cider (or whiskey)

poster dump

I've been excited to share some poster work I've been making for K&M for the craft show this Saturday. There is also a poster for Califone's show here in Atlanta that was cancelled (bummer) but the prints are still for sale and they will reschedule. Melissa came up with the idea behind the pig piece as well as the Califone frame idea. She also knew all of the cheeses off the top of her head which I thought was rad. Anyhoo, this was a true exercise in lettering and it gave me a good chance to sharpen up on it. These will be on my site soon. K&M will be selling these at ICE, so if you want some for Chistmas presents be there Saturday!

Above: An Atlanta lover print and cheese lover print.

Above: A print for pork lovers (this one was fun to draw) and one that celebrates singing in the shower!

Above: This poster is inspired by Califone's recent soundtrack for the film "All My Friends are Funeral Singers." I really enjoyed drawing this one.

Above: A music-related print for the house. Hope you digg.

yay!

Today marks 7 years that Scott and I have been together. We are still goin stong! Even after 4 years of long distance through college, I don't know how we did it. woot!

This is us circa 1883.

wow

This is so inspiring! Just wanted to share.

drawings from KC

About two or three weeks ago I took a trip to see my friends Jane and Trey in Kansas City, MO. Andrew, Robyn and Edward were visiting at the same time. We went to a brewery, got to visit with some of my old Academy instructors, saw Mark Englishes studio, museums, toured Hallmark and so on. It was nuts! It took some time to get readjusted when I returned to Atlanta. Like most trips, when you return reality slaps you back in the face. So I am just now scanning some of the drawings I did while I was there.
Here is some sketchbook work. Something I loved about Kansas City was the old typefaces. A lot of the buildings were preserved so there was a lot of vintage charm there. And trains and creeking wood floors.

The above one might be an illustration one day. I can feel it brewing.


The above are of the model Rosa, she was awesome.



And here are some figure drawing from life. I actually haven't drawn from life in such a long time. I honestly didn't enjoy it that much in school. I think the reason is that I had a difficult time making a connection with it relating to my work. So it was really neat this time around because I still learned while drawing from life, but I drew them in a way that felt like my own. Like some of the faces, haha. My no-neck hallow-eyed people, haha.....Anyway.




The cats weren't really there, hehe.

Now I am in one of those strange points in my personal work where I feel almost lost, not sure what direction to go in next. Maybe that's normal. Haha, I am just going to enjoy life and see what happens.

happy halloween

Here is a drawing I did for a gallery show we had at work. I won some really cool spider shaped salt and pepper shakers for it, haha. They let us out early today too, it's like a serious holiday there.


"Don't Step on the Grave"

Halloween is my favorite. It's the day that everyone feels the most comfortable being themselves. I hope everyone have fun tomorrow night! I'll be back soon with sketches from my recent trip to Kansas City.

memory#4

The 4th Memory of Ella's commission. Her funny recollection of the first time she had to pee in the woods. I decided to go a more subtle route.

AND, my Etsy shop will be closed for a week or two. I am moving this weekend finally! Also going to visit some close friends in Kansas City for a week on Wednesday, weee!

fisherman and hairdresser

I did a little drawing of two people making a living in different ways. I may explore the theme more.


Also, here is a really pretty song.

I am currently packing for a move closer in the city. It's nice to be diggin through all my old junk. Most of it is junk, but I call it treasures. Nothing like going into a thrift store and finding that one little knick knack that calls to you. You walk over, and shriek. "This is so awesome" you say to yourself. Your friend questions your taste out loud. You buy it anyway. For years it sits on the shelf. When you walk by it, you know its your little treasure.

Till next time home skillets.

sketches n stuff

Hello everyone! So for you guys on Twitter, you must follow Shitymydadsays, it has made my life 5% better overall.

And some cool news- I recently found out The Seamonsters piece got into the Creative Quarterly Issue#17, due out in stores this winter. Also, the Pisces piece got onto their web portfolio.

And here are some drawings...





Keep on keepin' on!

gushiness

I was asked to contribute a piece to this year's Illest of Ill Artist Book over at Ringling. The theme was "Conversations: as told by Cornwell." Here is my contribution "Goodnight Kiss." Inspired by his night palettes and conversational work with an old romance film feel. Thanks Kelly, you guys are all really great.


And below is a piece I did for a friend's birthday who is a "Team Jacob" chick, she's awesome. I am sure that there are some other guilty Twilight readers, I am one, and I loved it. Haha. I still have not read Potter though, yep it's true.



I guess I am a sucker for romantic stuff.

pixies

This piece is called Pixie. Watercolor, ink, and 7 digital dots, haha. Will be in shop hizzle soon.

Some cool things going on lately. I am part of a group show at Uppercase Gallery in Calgary,AB Canada in the show And, the Typeface. A while back I was asked to contribute to the project by Margot Harrington. A bunch of artists including myself were asked to draw an ampersand for a website and other goodies-the end product being an illustrated "&" alphabet. I'd show the piece I did, but it may be a surprise. I'll post it when I can though! Anyway, if you happen to be there, go check it out. It runs through the month of September.


Also Scott brought home six awards from his student award show at the Creative Circus, so awesome!! He got a gold, two silvers and three bronze. I'm so proud, rock on Scott!

ANd here's a cool story: Last week we were out at a bar for Scott's birthday and we met the guy that sings the Free Credit Report.com commercials. Haha! SO crazy. My friend Mike got his autograph for me, he drew a flower on it. That's all for now.

I won't be so far from my blog again. It has been very busy here in Atown.

yip yip yup

My Etsy shop is back open! Yay! I was busy and crazy headed, but now things are settled.

This is one of my fav drawings I've done in a while, not anything to brag about but hey. I imagine there is an entire army of these little guys, and this one happens to drive a yupyup truck.....inspired by this-I'm sure you guys remember these dudes. They have been stuck in my head for weeks! I can't answer anything with out saying yip yip yip, or yup yup yup. What great shows we grew up with. My brain still pretty much operates the same.

sleepless

This is a little watercolor I did on crappy paper called "Nightmares." I have a lot of them. It's kinda neat that artists can create an interpretation of their worst fears. It gives a sense of control over those emotions-then other people can relate as well.

exciting stuffs

*this pic updated

So this is a cool project that I have been working on in my free time-collaborating with a local screen printer making gig posters. The first poster is for Neko Case. The image is based on her new cd, "Middle Cyclone." Her show was Sunday and totally rocked. The band got their copies and the rest of the posters are being sold at K&M's Etsy and on Gigposters.com The other poster is for M. Ward based on his new cd "Hold Time." If you aren't familiar with him, he does a collaborative band with Zooey Deschanel called "She and Him." He is incredibly talented, I went and saw that concert last night. His voice is out of this world. I couldn't believe that the posters sold out before he even went on stage! These will also be sold on Etsy and Gigposters. If you aren't suffering from the recession go buy some! I will be collabing with the printer here and there. I hope to sharpen my poster skills-the fusion of type and illustration is so rad. There is also a tiny excitement to have a band approve of an image that you sweat over, lol. A huge thanks to Melissa!

apparitions

I got some schtuff to share! First, these top two pieces are done in Illustrator with a texture added. I may add them to my Etsy shop as prints. It's always fun to see my work translate into vectorland-only because it's such a damn struggle in the beginning. Thinking in all shapes while trying to convey a certain emotion can be a challenge.


Also, this past weekend some close friend/family members came to visit and 4 of them were ghost hunters. I got to hang out with them all weekend, prying their brains and asking all sorts of questions. It was a blast, and I loved seeing all of them again. We went to the Coke Museum, Varsity, and then to the Oakland Cemetary, lol. I also met a psychic/median, who was incredibly friendly and shared some future things with me-it was crazy on point.

Ghost stories were a big part of my childhood and where a lot of my imagery derives from. Usually my brothers and I would scoot into a cozy palette on the floor. My dad would light a candle and a cigar and sit in his big old chair to tell us scary tales. That was something that happened as often as morning cartoons, and we loved it. With it came nightmares and a lot of nightlights, but hey.

And here are some more sketchbook pages.




I have some exciting projects in the works, but this is all I can share for now. Also listening to the Sookie Stackhouse series at work, it's pretty entertaining. Ok, done with splats of useless information.

dude man bro

Sketches coming soon!

Finally posted on Jooperwits, which is now the "Occasion Thoughts of Grim and Wit." This is easier for me to manage, trying to be funny daily is hard considering that I tend to have multi-faceted moods, haha.

Also, this is the coolest thing I have found on the internet inn a long time-The Uniform Project. In a nutshell, she wears the same designed dress for an entire year, making it look like a different outfit everyday. Proceeds fund better education in India for kids living in the slums. In an over-saturated world of ideas this is pretty cool. The outfits are also very inspiring for drawin' purposes.

Lastly, if you can identify this animal, kudos to you. Someone at animal-crackers-r-us must have used another planet's animal reference guide. Unless the Stump-neck giraffe-sloth found it's way out of extinction. Hmm, sounds like a drawing waiting to happen.

dumptruck

Here is a bunch of sketchbook pages and fashion drawings I have been wanting to scan in. I haven't kept a real sketchbook for what seems to be a year. I've had sketchbooks in that time, but not so much a journalistic personal one. So it's been nice to get back into it.
Also, if you've never heard of the band Murder by Death, go check them out. It has been great drawing/driving music for me lately.

Scott was in Michigan this week, I get to go pick him up today, yay!

commission-Memory #3

Here is the third memory Ella has commissioned me to illustrate. If I'm not mistaken there are twelve total, so I will likely share all of them as they go. I'm excited to see them progress over time.
So this one was challenging. It is about how Ella and her husband, Robbie, first met. She was visiting Robbie's roommate while in the army. While fiddling around the room waiting for her friend to get ready, she went over to Robbie's bed, sat at the edge and said, "So do you think I'm pretty or not?" He just smiled. They were later married and have been happy ever since. So, this one was tough because I wanted to show the scene but also incorporate the strong emotions they both had. I went with a tattoo-esque look. I felt like this lent itself to a sort of romantic eternal love feeling-a permanently ingrained love that followed the moment they met. This was one of those "do it and hope for the best" pieces. Too much planning and I would have bombed it, haha. Hope you dig.

a drawing

"The Gold Digger" She has been widowed many times. Her rich husbands have unexpected deaths, but we know what really happens.

I'm on an "update my blog more often" kick, we'll see how long this lasts. haha.

Also, I've been getting out and meeting a lot of cool people in Atlanta. This city just keeps getting cooler. Relating to that-I am working on an exciting project, I can't wait to share it. Till next time! Thanks for reading:)

P.S. Atlanta has amazing grits at multiple locations, if you ever visit, I'll tell ya where to get em' ;)