Green + Red

I've been going through a very uninspired blah phase... and suddenly last night instead of putting my tired self to bed, I pulled out my tablet and started blitzdoodling... 

A day in Seattle...

 Yesterday was the annual drawing jam at the Gage Academy of Art. Melanie, Jesse and I spent the better part of a day there drawing various models... and enjoying the free food.










Details of portraits of costumed models.

So sad... it wrinkled.

Later, I put my iPod on shuffle.... and Mr. Tambourine Man started playing. So I drew this. He is Mr. Tambourine Man, although probably not the one Bob Dylan was thinking of.

And Lucky by Jason Mraz.

And then we sat down to sip coffee and wait for our ride... Melanie and I carried on the tradition of drawing each other at the end of the day.

100th. Portable Sunshine

Variations on a theme. This is very rough... I might do something with it later. Maybe.

My tablet is working again.

Next to my left speaker and 100 year-old copy of Ben-Hur is my Iron Man Mask. (Confession: I don't look good in it.)

Could have done a more careful drawing, but I have to get up at 3:30 tomorrow. I just needed to doodle. Ballpoint pen.

El Final

So happy... no more fish!!! Off to camp, later folks.

Paso 4... almost done!

Just about done, yeah? Wooot no more fish!!

Paso 3

Very slight differences, I know... this was my day... fish fish fish fish fish fesh fash fush fosh....

Paso 2

Mom: *looking from photo to painting back to photo* "You need more fish."

Me: "But I don't want more fish"

Mom: "But there are more fish in the picture."

Me: "Yeah, but more fish will clutter it."

Mom: "But I thought he liked it because of all the fish."

Me: ".... I'll put more fish in the top half..."

Artistic differences, oh joy. 

Fishies... Paso 1

"In my own little corner, in my own little chair..." I can paint and sing and listen to music all at once. Notice my professional Saran-wrapped laptop.

2010 Movie Night Promo

I just realized I can post videos... sweet.

Short stop-motion film, made for fun.

I have a date with some fishies

Finally started work on a commission, but since I forgot my camera on an island, updates will be postponed. Here's the reference photo, however... now how would you paint that? 

Photograph © Isaac Carter

Ariana

Right. So I've not been keeping up with 30 Days of Faces, for shame... but here's a concept sketch for Worlds that I did today.

30 Days of Faces - Day 4

30 Days of Faces - Day 3

Is it really possible to get worse? The answer was yes. Shading fail, I just look dirty. I should try a classical meticulously shaded one as I was taught.... but tooooo laaaazzzyyyyy......

30 Days of Faces - Day 2

Well... I certainly could do better. Doesn't look much like me besides how round the face is. But it was late, I had homework, and the point is that I drew something.

30 Days of Faces - Day 1

On a whim, I've decided to try drawing a different expression every day for 30 days. We'll see how it goes.

... My face hurts now after holding that pose. 

Everyone's favorite goblin king

In the wanted ads this morning: "Will paint mornings of gold and valentine evenings in exchange for the undying love of a fifteen year-old and/or guardianship of an infant."

I was supposed to be doing something else... and As The World Falls Down started playing on shuffle, followed by several Moulin Rouge songs. The result was a bunch of quick pen sketches inspired by goblins, poison peaches, and love until the end of time.

Drawing Jam 09

I spent a couple of hours at the Gage Academy's annual drawing jam on my way up to Whidbey.
Got a few gestures and a couple of portrait studies done.

Poetry is moving...

To http://mirror-profile.blogspot.com/

I've been revisiting some stuff I wrote a while back... and who knows, I may start writing again. Not like I ever stopped, but you know...

(Reposting this since some bugger left spam comments and regular comment deleting wasn't working on the college computer.)

Time for a second look, perhaps.

This is my "I Am From" poem from my sophomore English class in high school. So very true, yet rather impersonal. The words echo off the walls of a mind that prevented it from revealing any more.

If I were to rewrite this now, it would be much different... more thought/emotion oriented, bolder, softer... more of the person instead of the history.
But this is from when we first moved here, and a time when a lot of changes were taking place. No friends, no stability, no confidence. Not even sure of who I was, with only bloodlines and wistful memories to keep me on my feet. This was before it all began.

Universal Child

I am from thick, warm rain in the afternoon sunlight
I am from raging blizzards that slice you through
From sea captains and samurai, artisans and spies,
Sumo wrestlers and vikings

I am from constables and exiles,
Schoolteachers and fishermen
From Scottish poets and Richard’s butler
From stolen pigs, leprechauns, highlands and lochs

East is East and West is West,
And in me the twain has met
I am from stir-fries and pot roasts, sake and mashed potatoes
From mad rushing throngs and frogs singing to the moon

I am from idol makers and do unto others
From the divine wisdom of God and his prophets
And the human wisdom of Confucion sages,
Stand up straight and bow to your teacher

From buffalo herds and the trail of tears
From uncontrolled laughter and heart-wrenching pain
From wooden clogs and straw sandals
And soldiers’ boots you could see your face in

I am from barbarians and aristocrats
From dry old spinsters and love at first sight
From palace guards and Midwest farmers
From Au contraire and C'est la vie

I am from Henry Huggins and Jupiter Jones,
From Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette
From Fox in Socks and Hamlet of Denmark,
James Herriot and Elizabeth George Speare

I am from Pachelbel, Bach, and Simon and Garfunkel
From make-up and wigs and velveteen curtains
From Da Vinci and Rembrandt and Calvin and Hobbes
From charcoal sketches and Canon in D

Of multiple strands, so fragile, so strong

I am of the seven seas and the four winds of the earth

The Dance

This is probably my favorite piece I did throughout the course. It was our final project, and the assignment was to create a still-life sculpture out of paper, wire, and string, with no objects we could name, so that we would focus solely on shape, color and light.
It was the first time I actually put meaning into an abstract piece beforehand instead of putting together whatever I felt like and then making up an interpretation later.

So we have The Dance...

My display at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. It'll be there for a few weeks after which selected works from our class will be moved to the Seattle Art Museum.

value and temperature study

Oil on canvas sheet.

value study

Oil on canvas sheet.

study of light and figure

This was actually a four-day pose, but I was only there for three (which I'm very glad of. That was a fun weekend.)We painted from a live model in natural light, which means we had to paint fast and keep moving around the painting because of the light changing. I'm pretty happy with it, although my mother's first response was "oh that's interesting..."Oil on canvas board.

completed figure study

The completed figure study that our class did three weeks ago. Charcoal, pastel and chalk on toned paper.

self-portrait

My finished self-portrait. Another student was so kind as to let me use her camera, and she edited and e-mailed the pictures to me. It's a little fuzzy and saturated, but I'll get a better photo up here soon. Oil on canvas sheet.

figure studies - value and temperature

These were all done last week. Oil on canvas sheets.

still life value & temperature study

 Did this earlier in the course. Oil on canvas sheet.

self-portrait in progress

This was a study in complementary sets of color. I used mostly the orange-blue set, adding a little red here and there. Oil on canvas sheet.

figure in progress- 3 and 6 hours

The first and second days of a three-day pose. Charcoal and pastel on pre-toned paper.

cast drawing in progress

I finished the block-in and began rendering today. Done in graphite.

apple still life

Charcoal, pastel, and chalk on pre-toned paper.

figure study 2

Charcoal and graphite on toned paper.

figure study 1

Charcoal and graphite on toned paper.

pear still life

My first project at the Gage Academy course in Seattle.

Done in graphite.By the time I was done, the pear had ripened very nicely.

The Old Man of The Sea

Costumed model at last year's drawing jam at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle.
Definitely doing that again this year.

Logos

Logo designs from my graphic design class. They were selected along with my Superman III poster to be displayed at an upcoming student exhibition.

III

Movie poster design for graphic design class.Superman III never really took off (pun!! haha) because a) Richard Pryor was in it as a sad attempt to turn it into an action/comedy, b) the poster was executed with fantastic technique but ridiculous composition, and c) did I mention Richard Pryor?

Due to synthetic Kryptonite, Superman is split into two beings representing his good side and bad side. Along the way, he pulls pranks such as blowing out the Olympic torch and straightening the Leaning Tower. (Much like Spiderman III but with fewer villains... that movie was so confusing the first time.)

So here is my version. Admittedly last-minute, but I think the concept is ok.

Black

Concept sketch for a graphic design project.

Corel Painter X, Wacom tablet.