Monday, September 24, 2012

Cruisin'

So I was looking through my portfolio the other day and had a little "Oh" moment.  I obviously have a, shall we say, plethora of animal characters.  I needed to start drawing humans, but what?

Well thank you downtown traffic!  I was attempting to get across town through our newly renovated downtown, listening to music, completely zoning out when I realized the truck in front of me.  Well, being the strange artist that I am I didn't necessarily notice the truck, more the shape of the young man's head driving the truck.  Sounds strange I know, but he had the classic Norman Rockwell shaped head in my opinion . . . so I attempted to sneak a picture

Attempt is the perfect word cause I completely failed.  It was blurry and he turned his head.  BUT I still had his adorable shaped head imprinted in my brain . . . So today I decided to get to work and draw some characters.

So low and behold . . . Levi.  I figured to go for a more classic 50's look, possibly because I have Rockwell on the mind, and just because I feel the 50's was visual epitome of juvenile innocence on the cusp of rebellion.  But what young 50's generation teenager is complete for his evening downtown cruise without a date.

So hello Lola!  Honestly if I was behind a couple and their silhouettes looked like theirs I would definitely take a successful photo cause I think this is adorable.  But that could just be me


Friday, September 14, 2012

The Joys of Jury Duty

It's my civil duty...
It's times like these that I'm so happy that I can entertain myself for hours drawing. As I sat there in my small uncomfortable little chair of doom, with a crowd of 100 smashed into our waiting cell (cleverly named Juror Room) I couldn't help but watch my fellow cell mates. Poor individuals left to their own devices; re-reading the sports section for the third time, endlessly fiddling with their coats, jewelry, even indulging in the supplied stash of ages puzzles. I know this feeling, a restlessness to find something to preoccupy my sense to avoid awkward sleep. It's called "damn I forgot my sketch book", or "shoot how did I forget a pen!" Thankfully I have this ability to fall into a little story with just a stroke of a pencil. An ability that occupied my childhood brain for hours on end.
So I want to thank you Jury Duty for the two characters you are responsible for producing for my Rabbit Season story.
Meet Beau. A "well fed" ex house pet floppy eared bunny. Being new to this whole "freedom" thing he's a lil disheveled and has yet to get the hang of things, but he means well.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Oakland Art Murmur

I'm writing this post on my phone so i have no Idea how this is going To look ...but
Finally attended First Fridays in Oakland! I've heard about these art walks for years but always missed the bus by a week or two, NOT THIS YEAR!


There's something so energetic and inspiring about being amongst so many people with so much artistic energy. Seeing everyone from different religions, races, classes, etc come together to explore and appreciate the work of others made me so proud of what I do. Hopefully I'll be able to participate next time around.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Character Makin Machine

    Well I've been busy!  I can actually say that I finally wrapped my head around what a blog is for . . . 2 years later.  I still don't understand why it was so hard for me to comprehend, but hopefully it sticks this time.

   So I've been focusing mainly on photoshop these past few months and the past couple weeks I've been a character making machine, and I love it!




   This was just a little idea I built off of my typical childhood fantasies.  I always saw hollowed out trees and knotted roots as potential homes for little animals, equipped with miniature doors, windows, door knobs, the works.  It would have definitely made my backyard more colorful at night with all of their little candle lit windows.


   While trying to come up with some story concepts I raided my animation collection.  I started to play with the Looney Tunes idea of rabbit season and how Bugs would always out smart his hunter.  So I started building off of this and came up with a Hillbilly bunny Everette who after years of hiding and maneuvering escape every season decides to fight back this year . . . more poetically said then done.
  I am actually kind of falling in love with this little story and hope I can find enough time to flesh it out before things get to crazy!