Comics, Caricatures, and Characters

Ok, I've been keeping a sketchbook and have been pretty busy recently. This first one is actually pretty old: from when we just arrived here in Morocco.






Sketch of Emily at the computer.





A few presidents, new and old: Sarkozy (France) and his wife and the departed "W"





My mug. Forehead needs to be bigger.



This is a little guy I created after watching alot of Spumco-based work. I think I'll keep running with him. I feel like putting him in different scenarios is a good way to try to understand his personalities. So far, this is what I know about him: he has an affinity for booze (and possibly smokes), has a New England accent, be it Boston or New York, has a short, and sometimes violent temper (a la Ren Hoek), and is periodically manic.

In completing these I've been putting myself outside of my comfort zone of black and white, and especially with watercolor. I'm not very familiar with painting, but I have a great respect for well chosen colors and I really like the immediacy of mixing them.

Logo Evolution

I'm continuing to work in Illustrator, giving myself little "problems" to solve. The latest was to develop a logo for my digital art.

My first few attempts, unfortunately, won't upload. It may have been the way I saved them.



This, above, is right after I nixed the "egg" like solid grey background that went behind the JL form.



These two are where I am right now. I'm pretty much sold on having the little triangle between the bottom of the "J" and the left side of the "L," but I've included the sans version below just for a visual comparison.



I feel like the design of the JL form is solid, but I'm not 100% sure about the color choices and the corresponding color of the text. I like the font choice but I'm not sure if I want the text to be larger. I still have to play around with that.

Iconotastic

Standard Mac OSX Finder Icon. I felt like it needed a little more personality.



My slightly overworked and disgruntled Finder.

A logical equation for me...

...but those of you unfamiliar with Moroccan culture won't make all of the connections.

I haven't figured out why blogger does this strange un-cropped business; If anyone knows about why this might happen, please let me know!

Wierd Walking, Part 1

TWEAK!: a sort of Albers-esque exercise

Some new Music

Hey, you gotta keep busy while it's monsooning outside...

The first one's a quick little melodic experiment. Nothing complex structurally. It's called "Six by Six."

The second one's a little more involved. It's called "Somethin' New."








Yay for Garageband. Enjoy.

My first hack at illustrator

This started out as simply a way to "see" the notes of my bass guitar. While I don't know how successful that was (the colors of the fretboard are still somewhat visually confusing), I do enjoy the concept that sprung in the background and that completes the image.

Yeah, the lighting is underdeveloped. As is the figure. But...maybe it's not. After all, it is in the background...i didn't want it to "steal the show."

I've realized that illustrator has some limitations, for instance, you can't do a "transparency blend" (but now you can in CS4) the same way that you can do a blend of color within a live paint group. That's my biggest complaint. But, i am a novice, so there's probably tricks that I don't know that I should have employed to make some sweeter transparent lighting! Enjoy!

Ps...the main lighting on the figure (from the left) is coming from behind the figure. It was terribly hard to apply lighting affects in Illustrator.

Walking Jazz Line - similar to "Take The A Train"

Here goes a little tune that I've learned to play on the bass. The bass line and chord progressions were pre-written, so I basically just learned how to play/construct them (I'm actually playing the bass part to this tune). The drums are pretty much a generic jazz drum beat; the alto sax and trumpet parts are my very own creation. I was quite impressed by the quickness that I improvised/tweaked these parts.








I've been entranced by jazz music lately, especially walking bass lines. Teaching myself the structure and mechanics of jazz bass lines has been a hobby for myself as of late. I would like to take this further some day...perhaps making my musicianship something more than just a hobby. As of now, it remains a dream!

5 panels of simple brilliance

One of the many reasons I love the work of R. Crumb...

Hippopotamiss

Here's a happy lil' tune that I whipped up a while ago. Yours truly on vocals (yikes), bass, ukulele, maracas, xylophone, and clappin'. Inspired by a few stuffed hippos Emily created. Somehow, I don't think this endeavor is fully realized without a deranged video to go along with it; I may get to that at some point in the future. In the meantime, enjoy!

Sketch Partyness

Here goes my caricature of Alex Clare...i don't know why, but for some reason, I thought I needed to draw the hands in that position...kinda went with the expression on his face I guess.




Here's a time lapse movie of our last sketch party of the summer. Notice my victory pose after completing my sketch of Alex!

Mr.Beaveaus or "Fun things happen when you Google Image Search"

The lovable beavis we all know



The not-so-cuddly, but more belligerently intriguing REAL LIFE beavis



Quick 5 minute sketch of the real beavis...I made it look more monkey-like than he really is. Wish I had a profile shot..

A ballpoint pen drawing doctored up with some Photoshop. Jamie, Eric, and myself, the KAS CP management staff.

an idle sunday...

Some self anatomy.


Trying to understand volume. The mouth is off, no volume in nose either...


Looks devious...trying to exaggerate more


My last drawing of the day...i'm "presenting" I probably shouldn't have even drawn eyes...

"Systems"

The following suite of 8" x 9" pen and ink drawings, collectively entitled "Systems," were created in anticipation of their showing at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia. They will be on display April 6th.

Click on the images to open high res versions.



"Octonodal Horizon"



"Octonodal Horizon" closeup



"Melancholy Physiognomy"




"Melancholy Physiognomy" closeup 1




"Melancholy Physiognomy" closeup 2




"Bubble Chamber Suite Remaster"




"Bubble Chamber Suite Remaster" closeup




"Injection Site"



"Injection Site" closeup




"Viscous Phase Velocity"



"Viscous Phase Velocity" closeup 1



"Viscous Phase Velocity" closeup 2



"Origin Realities"



"Origin Realities" closeup 1



"Origin Realities" closeup 2



"Cultural Embrace"



"Cultural Embrace" closeup 1



"Cultural Embrace" closeup 2



"Lineage in Dimension 4"



"Lineage in Dimension 4" closeup 1



"Lineage in Dimension 4" closeup 2



"Moment Before Rebirth/Explosion/Infinitum"



"Moment Before Rebirth/Explosion/Infinitum" closeup 1



"Moment Before Rebirth/Explosion/Infinitum" closeup 2