Artivity

they all think he's a righteous dude...

2011-11-27T05:29:00.000-08:00

Every once and awhile you've got to get some cotton and clean the creativity out of your ears...Who knows why it gets stuck there..

Here: we have a few late night sketches, thoughts, and watercolors.

There: we have some studies and caricatures

Enjoy!

hey pizza head!

2011-11-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Good morning blank void to which I blog to once in awhile, I hope your having a great morning!

I ladies and gentleman and especially happy today, for this is my first post on my new computer, and it seems to be working flawlessly.

I was looking to upgrade for the past 3 months but was just waiting for the right deal and the perfect match, and as it turned out I now have a Mac, which I am new to ownership but have played with for years... I do like how it handles adobe programs :D

I got out the old watercolors this week and have be playing with them more and more. I paint a lot with gouache and use it fairly think and opaque, but in the two pieces here I layered and used a lot more water in a more traditional approach.

I like to try and do tiny thumbnails paintings in just a few minutes. there are a few here that I didn't really know what was happening in them till they were half done...the one of the beach was a longer study.

Caricature Trade! one of the best parts about drawing caricatures is pushing exaggeration and trying new mediums on coworkers.. here I was drawn by an awesome artist from Iowa, Kira..later I returned the favor with this watercolor of her.
Also a drawing I did of another coworker.

Figure drawing..wish I did that once a week all the time!! but I did find a group here in Orlando to figure draw with once a week, so getting back to the discipline.. here are my drawing from this week...5min and 20min sketches, was focusing on structure this week.

Falling for fall

2011-10-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Cool air has started to settle here in FL where I am spending some time doing Caricatures. I Really love a little cool air in my life, I spent a long time in the Caribbean last year and missed any chance of cold weather...I wouldn't even start to say FL is Cold compared to my home state Wisconsin, but I do like the 60's :D

Pushing myself to keep exploring styles and mediums.

ventures through art

2011-10-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

I gotta say, my life is pretty awesome.
drawing and traveling are just about as good as it gets in my mind, especially in the company of a lovely lady.
I recently went on a great cruise to the southern Caribbean with my girlfriend, who works for the cruise line and was so wonderful to take me on an awesome trip.
here are some recent drawings, and photos from the last few days of that adventure.
Airbrush head abstraction study, Coworker/friend Casey, and some naked ladies to sooth the soul.
I am trying to get a good Inception caricature of Leo and Joseph, but this one is still off by a bit, and for some reason I seem to love masochistic self sabotage when it comes to finished pieces, in this one trying some unfamiliar technique with the airbrushing.
There is a interesting aspect in be a artist that is hungry for progression. In order progress/evolve in life at any one task there needs to be the chaos of change. Nature shows that any task can be perfected through repetition, but there certainly comes a point where the brain starts to drift in a state of monotony, and completely loses the amazing efficiency at which humans have the ability to adapt/learn. To clarify, I don't mean if you practice one thing for twenty years you won't progress, but there are plenty of people who do...and they don't. Sooner or later it is just going to become (forgive me for basically making up numbers with a theoretical guess) 60% muscle memory 30% memory recall of previously acquired knowledge, and finally 10% of your creative mind is learning something new from something you have done a million times. I feel like this is part of the great divide in contemporary and modern art, and the view of fine Art. I have always liked to see it as the relationship similar to ballet and free form dance, one reveals the beauty of our species, and the other the beauty of the universe. we create with the known, but the only thing fantastical enough to inspire a species thus brilliant is the contradicting Ying to this Yang

To digress and and bring this juxtaposed to my point, in any discipline there is the known and the unknown, an artist should never confuse which one is the blessing.

There are many more things in my life that I feel deserve a push into the "unknown" which I take quite seriously, but art is one thing always know is worth "failure" in order to evolve.

I don't write with my posts often, never been a professor..just a raconteur inspired by nonsense.

playing...

2011-09-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

One was a gift, for a new friend, and the other a warm-up on a co-worker.

If the shoe fits

2011-09-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

A secret port-hole for easy ocean access.
Painted for my lovely lady's room, as she is a diver, and needs that kind of ocean contact.

Times they are a'changin", and these panties are going to need a changin' as well.
Pictures from a role-reversal party.

the people you see..

2011-08-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

And they came from miles around...

2011-08-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

There is nothing quite like a mid-west county fair.The real American, in his habitat.
I consider myself some what well traveled and this is what I think visitors from other countries visiting the U.S are missing....

Not good, nor bad, but very interesting

Hear are some fun caricatures from a fair I did this last week hadn't drawn in awhile before this, so not super exaggerated, but I liked them, and loved playing with the airbrush again.

Enjoy!

there that is..

2011-06-26T10:16:00.001-07:00

all dolled up

2011-01-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

Been sketching a lot just not posting much...gotta fix that.

Ramdom drawings from the week.

2010-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

Ship yard painting.

To those who don't know, I am currently working on a cruise ship in the Bermuda triangle.We hit three ports along the four day cruise, and the nice part about my position is my freedom to get off the ship and explore the ports.
this was in Nassau, BA. As long as you get really far away from the cruise port, you can find some real, genuine character of the culture. My favorite photo-op is an old ship yard, slowly falling into the crystal clear Bohemian waters. Although I would have liked to capture a bit more of the natural bio-degrading port, this is the angle I went for, and I like what came out.
I will try to do some more in the near future.
6x8" and of course on the worst paper ever

The other is just a little sketch inspired by Hogwarts.

what a lovely morning in the mountains

2010-12-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Life stories.
collecting adventure is like collecting baseball cards for me.
I love the story telling side of humanity, the ability to take a life changing experience, and put it together in words and mental pictures so that others can experience it nearly as close, and sometimes better than, the original.

Anyway, this is the climactic end to a wild night I spent surviving the night in Big Sur, CA

putting stories to to visuals is a fun challenge, and allows you to exaggerate the feeling in the moment.
Thanks Mr. Anderson, for the challenge, your story next.

Sorry about the picture quality, no scanner...

to die before you die

2010-10-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

your face says it all

2010-10-01T14:02:00.001-07:00

A few live caricatures I found on my camera from the summer.

sketcharoonie!

2010-09-23T08:53:00.001-07:00

"We can Dance If we want to"

2010-08-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have found a passion for DJing, and the aesthetics of beat.
Coming up here in September a few colleagues and I are putting on a really interesting and fun dance event here in rural Wisconsin. Any one interested is more then welcome to come, it's going to be a really great night of dance and a sense of surreal consciousness.

(Click the poster for more info)

new stuffff

2010-08-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

momma

2010-07-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

In all the years I have been drawing, my mom has been a really big supporter (as most moms are), And I have repaid her with unflattering caricatures and cartoons....So here's a portrait with a little pa-zazz to show her in her true light.

rainy day quick draw

2010-07-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

I drew this from imagination a couple weeks ago...thought I would throw a little color on it.

2010-07-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

TIME sketches

2010-06-19T06:28:00.001-07:00

Had some fun with some old magazine photos.

Todays word is Complacency

2010-06-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend Marc Anderson and I occasionally challenge each other to some ridiculous drawing..this was "illustrating complacency"
And then there's this homo-erotic dragon...its all the chemicals in the water

Celebs

2010-06-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

sample for fair coming up.
Out of the swing, but after the fair I hope to remember how to draw caricatures!

Passion and Power

2010-05-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Spring GLEE!

2010-05-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

Other than the past week, it's been a beautiful spring in the Mid-West, and I am really enjoying it.

Travel

2010-04-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

I would say I have about as many passions as life has to offer, but one of my biggest excitements is traveling...or just simply put, "adventure!!" Like a small boy, my adventures don't need to be all the way around the world, just a long bike ride, or a new place in my home town, and sometimes I even dream travel.
But as for this last month, I was on a tangible journey of epic proportion. Not to mention the emotional and psychological evolution. I started in beautiful San Diego (where I visit often) and headed north in my mobile(New York size) apartment.
I hit the spots along the way, stopping in LA where a parked and biked for two days seeing the city by the streets. Next came the beautiful trek up highway 1 through Big Sur where I hiked and camped for a few days. needing some rest, I visited Monterey Which is a great town, beautiful place and cool people. Rested i drove into SF for a extended stay of about a week. What a great city for inspiration observation of life. After picking up two old friends unexpectedly, the three of us then took off toward Yellowstone NP where I was planning on some rugged backpacking. When we arrived in Montana I parked for the night, and upon waking I was shocked to see the van was covered in three inches of snow and it was coming down hard...I thought and questioned it for a moment and then I said "It's a good day to die" (except in a nerdy Wis accent and with no conviction). So I did, and I don't mean die. I Was fortunate enough to be one of the first to hike YellowStone a few days before it's spring opening, which was beautiful to say the least. all and all I did 16 miles, and it wasn't so bad as far as snow. after reconnecting with my roadmates we had a celebratory soak in the "boiling river" hot spring and headed east....upon smelling cheap beer and incredibly fatty cookouts I new we were doming into Minnesota, so we stopped to get some!! Anyway, 6 hours later we were back in the land of cheese, and let me say, it's a beautiful time in my ol' WisCO! Even without all the details it was Epic, I hope to always incorporate adventures in my life, it helps me keep growing as a human.

she'll getcha!

2010-04-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

I think she looks like a good home maker..

Paper bag writer......drawer

2010-03-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

Sketches on the brown side of things

Kitchen drama!!

2010-03-01T12:07:00.001-08:00

gouache paints

2010-03-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with water color and gouache for the last few months, really enjoying the portability and simplicity of it.

"Basic forms"

2010-02-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how many times I've heard that lesson (basic forms), But never really HEARD it(if your an artist you know exactly what I mean).

I feel as if I finally understand what it means, and its starting to pay off.

The gentlemen in profile is a good example of a rendering without much form(shame, shame).

2010-01-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

2010-01-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

Illustrator is quite frustrating at first, but with doing this project i have been really learning to have fun with it and enjoy its tools and capabilities.
This is a Character I am developing with my uncle, Mr. Chee-Z.

also here are some Storyboards I worked on this week.
Storyboarding is a process I admire, it may be rough, quick drawings, but depending on the complexity/budget of the film, your mind is really working hard on coming up with interesting, new and cohesive compositions.

This storyboard is about as simple as they come, non the less it was fun yet draining.

commissions

2009-12-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Some character designs i have been doing for a couple different projects.

And a happy trukey to you!

2009-11-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

I still love going to the dog park and watching the characters of the K9s, really fun time. Just playing with some water color in this Caricature of my girlfriend Anna.
oil painting i did last week in a open workshop...getting a little more comfortable with oils. and more mice..were infested!

portrait and random mice

2009-11-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

"I got one here, and here"

2009-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

This was an old drawing lost from my summer, found it and thought it was a funny one. It's of my good friend Tim, in one of many odd summer stories.

Eye push-ups

2009-10-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Just trying to get my eyes in shape.
Three hour figure study from a photo.

Friend

2009-09-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

You know Marc it seems as if your praying for me, My own guardian insect...

stay sharp

2009-09-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

haven't posted much lately, so here a little warm-up of my Gardner

studies

2009-07-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

sketchy sketch

dude

2009-07-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Live caricature from the other day.
looking at is now, I am thinking what the heck kind of underdeveloped hand is that!?!

I diddis!

2009-07-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

I did a ton of drawings for the production of this short film..
Only a few of my drawings were used in the final piece, I did all the ones depicting the larger Caucasian fella as the "fool"

Where my dogs at?!

2009-06-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

some dog Character designs I am working on for a cool bike shop.

Anna painting half way point

2009-05-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Still working through it...lots to go

tiz the season

2009-05-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Getting back into live caricatures...here are the first ones of the season.

sorry there's no reference to compare likeness.

illustration project

2009-05-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Anna, the banana of my eye..or is it apple

2009-05-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

this is a rendered lay-in for a painting of my friend Anna. I will post the painting when its finished.

G-baby

2009-05-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma got herself a "mini-me".

had a little fun with the Sculpy and my gramzy's cheek bags.

Hello old friend

2009-04-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

I have been drawing, but not posting due to my computer still being down...but heres some random pages including dog parks, taylor and matt (roommates),

Dog park quicksketches, and some random stuff.

2009-02-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

The dogs were drawn at my local dog park.
I usually just watch them for awhile, then I have about a second to get their gesture, then I add another five minutes at home to each drawing.

The Caricature is my southbound buddy Magdiel.

I don't wanna brag...but I will

2009-01-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I can flip

workin' it through

2009-01-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

these are some drawing I am working through on a job...thought I would share.
The top one is a caricature of the writer.

My computer is in a coma

2009-01-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry about the lack of posts, my computer died about 3 weeks ago, and I just found that I needed a brake from the web anyway.So, I will work on getting some new stuff on here, thanks for stopping by.

Ballpoint self portrait

2008-12-01T23:54:00.000-08:00

These are the same ballpoint pen sketch, I just threw some colored pencil in the after I scaned. wearing my favorite red sweater

Oil pantings

2008-11-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

Here are my first three Oil pantings.

I just started a new session of classes, and this time I am trying to do things I have never tried.

These were about 2 1/2 hour paintings, never got to render these to a finish, but I am learning a lot.

another caricatured court room sketch

2008-11-17T18:19:00.000-08:00

working on a project for a company here is one of the drawings I think is pretty fun.

Zoo and sketch night drawing

2008-11-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

renderings...

2008-11-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

the reason men subscribe to Victoria's Secret.

SIM Atm

2008-11-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

A friend came over last night and let my roommates (Matt and Taylor) create ourselves in her SIMS computer game....how cool is that!!
Me on the left.

caricatured court room sketch

2008-10-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

these are a just practice for a illustration job I'm working on...I was not in a courtroom while drawing these.

courtroom caricature sketches

2008-10-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

boyz will be boys

2008-10-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Something inspired by Lord of the flies. Not really finished with it but I thought I would share...

amazon dude

2008-10-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

he must be in a hurry to meet the girl....or it could be the deadly saucers..

amazon chick

2008-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

more sketchbook drawings

2008-09-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

sketchbook fun

2008-09-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

just some fun sketchbook drawings I thought I would post.
I also did some arm anatomy sketches.

old life drawing

2008-09-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

A life drawing I did, but never finished.
this one was still in the measurement stages...I really enjoy long poses, I find it to be a meditation of sorts.

The tracing is from my teacher Ron just showing me some sweet stuff,

little ninja nostalgia

2008-09-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

I loved ninja turtles as a kid, I would play with the toys for hours, pull the turtle bus behind my bike, good times!

My Book

2008-09-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

I have been working on Illustrating a book that I co wrote a while back, here are some of the illustrations that are further along.
The name of the book is "Madame's journey home"

celebrity samples

2008-07-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

some celebrity samples for a festival i did recently.

2008-06-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Few from the week in the park.

Still life

2008-06-18T22:22:00.001-07:00

Still life from my "Drawing in color" class, About 2 1/2 hours of work, it was a mask and a skull.
Colored paper, B&W charcoal, and conte crayon.
I was pretty pleased with it, enjoy.

Madame butterfly

2008-06-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the movie Kung Fu Panda, and let me tell you, SWEET!
Before I even saw the movie I had been blown away by an artist named Damon Bard, he does sculpture maquettes that are just amazing.
Damon did character turn-arounds for "Panda" and as I was researching his work it inspired me to make my own maquettes for a book I am currently illustrating. So here's a little piece I did using a couple mediums like sculpey, colored paper, and foam pads...she's going to be the butterfly in the book.
"Madame's journey home"

2008-06-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a little "sculpiture" I did on Indy.
Not really much of a Harrison Ford likeness, but it's not to bad for 1 hour 5 inches and no paint.
I like to do this every once and awhile, I think it's one of the most beneficial excercises there is for drawing Caricatures, or anythong else.

Sorry the pictures are pretty bad....

supa' baby

2008-05-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

,
Here is a live drawing I did the other day, I have been drawing live caricatures here and there, on and off for about 2 1/2 years.
I started out working with an airbrush when I worked in MN for "MAD" man Tom Richmond.
I now use art stixx (a slightly larger, woodless colored pencil) at my current employer.
It's really tough to say what I like more...I think both can teach you somthing, and both give you the ability to accomplish unique look.
I'm really excited to go back to airbrush and see if I can apply any of the sweet techniques I've learned with the stixx.
I'm am really lucky to work with a very talented artist here in Cali, who is one of the best I've seen with the art stixx, so with my friend Marco's help, I feel I'm getting the concept.

Sorry about the picture, the one of the drawing was with camara, but I took the one of the little girl on a friends cell phone. I didn't really get the same expression in the picture as much as when I was drawing her....darn.

2008-05-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

little warm up sketch here, on colored paper, and colored pencil.
This is a drawing of one of the coolest crazy goofs I've ever met, my man Elgin, from the big York.

Fine art

2008-05-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

A portrait from class.
Slowly but surely I starting to grasp the world of fine art, and let me tell you it's a really helpful platform to have under yourself when starting into the art world.
I learning so much about composition and mood, pretty neat stuff.

on this one, I think likeness was a bit off, and it still seems unfinished (which it is).
I'll post some more of these later.

silent night

2008-05-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

he just wants to cuddle

I here claim this blog in the name of Antwan!!!

2008-05-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's gunna be SWEET once i post "it"