Dictionary of Written Words

I recently did some album art for a friend of mine from elementary school, Jason Harris who goes by the name JaNetix. The work for his new album, Dictionary of Written Words. Check it out!

The Bust of Skull Face

Here is a doodle I did while I was watching Dexter (that show is amazing I can't wait until season 4 premiers in September).
Laura really liked the sketch of skeleton guy on the left and asked if I would finish it as well as do a piece of a woman who has the same kind of face paint (coming soon). I got the idea for the face paint from Dia De Los Muertos and Mardi Gras costumes. I have seen some witch doctors with the same face paint and who could forget the bad guys from Karate Kid, come on. I always thought it was an interesting aesthetic.
















Here is the first version that I created where I outlined it, colored it and added some texture.

















After drawing this I asked Laura what she thought of it. She said it felt incomplete and that it needed something, she suggested that I should maybe make it look like a sculpted bust. I liked the idea so I ran with it and came up with this. I added some details to the face, redid the shading and changed the background textures. This is the end result.

The Truth About Atlas

I did this sketch for my daily sketch blog as part of my Moustache Monday series (all two of them). Being a big fan of moustaches and knowing their mighty power I decided that they could in fact hold up the world at the point of a handlebar moustache much in the way Atlas holds up the world in Greek mythology. So I drew what I knew to be the truth that Atlas did not hold the world up with his arms but instead at the point of his giant handle bar moustache.

















I wanted to create this piece in Illustrator and make it look like a cut out.
I tried my hand at a technique illustrated in Steph Laberis’ blog, and am pleased with the outcome.


















Here is the final version; I changed his eyes to make his face look stronger and I changed his nose to be read because I though it ,might be an interesting contrast and add some more color to his face.

Smoking Lady

I was recently sitting around with some free time on my hands, and decided to finish an old drawing or two. I looked through all the sketches on my computer and came across this. I'd always liked it, and it seemed to get a good response from others as well.

Here is a sketch that I did two years ago.


















Here is the finished version after I outlined it, colored it, and added textures.

Mathieu Martin the Zombie

When I worked for AbsolutelyNew as a storyboard artist me and my co-workers would play a game called Fluxx at lunch. Fluxx is a card game where the rules and goals are always changing and shifting. There are different types of Fluxx games including Monty Python Fluxx as well as Zombie Fluxx, my friend and co-worker at the time Mathieu, who owned the Zombie Fluxx game, Wanted to add some custom cards one being a zombie version of him. He asked me to create the image and here is what I made. I tried to copy the style of the zombies on the cards in the game, I'm very happy with the end product.

Styrofoam Block Print

During Spring term, Laura was a teacher's assistant for the Museum Studies class where she helped curate a show of a series of Ukiyo-e prints that were commissioned after the 1923 Kanto Earthquake now on exhibit at the Mills College Art Museum. The show ends on the 2nd of August every one should check it out before it's gone.

Laura lead a seminar teaching the techniques used to create Japanese wood block prints for families. She did a great job teaching the class, if I do say so myself. After the seminar the families were invited to create their own Wood Block Prints out of a type of foam called Prestofoam. This is the print that I made. It was a great art project and it made me want to create some actual wood block prints.

Lady Skull Face

I was sitting around one day watching too much Dexter, and I got to thinking of morbid stuff to paint. This was one of the ideas that came to mind. I originally wanted to do it as an acrylic painting and I still might, but at the time I felt like creating the image in Photoshop and trying to make the image look more like a painting (similar to concept art that I've seen other artists do).
Here is a sketch I came up with.

I went about this differently then I have with other drawings. Usually I out line drawings, then color and shade them then add texture if that is what I think will compliment the work. This one I wanted to look a little more painterly so I blocked out big groups of color and worked with very few layers. Final product below :

Wandering Monk Ale

My friend James Berkheimer said that he was into making home made beer and needed a label and asked me if I would be interested in creating a label for him. I said of course, and I'll do it in exchange for free beer (a very nice way to get paid, also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the government can tax you on bartered trades) he said the name of his beer was "Wandering Monk", and this was the sketch I initially came up with.


















I also sent him these sketches that I did a year ago for a animated short I was working on for a while about my friends and me as vikings traveling the world raiding monasteries and having mythical adventures etc.
These are sketches of monks that the viking crew were going to attack. I liked the round one on the mid right, he was going to be a drunken monk who stows away on the viking boat and follows them around trying to get drunk the whole time. None of the vikings can understand him but he can hold his liquor so they respect him.


















James liked the first sketch I did so I went with that one. I brought the sketch into Photoshop and started to outline and then color the monk, then sketch out the background elements



















I brought this image into Illustrator to create all the background and text elements.























Here is the final logo with all the background elements, the text elements, shading and some texturing.
But I still need to collect on my free beer!

Laura Graduates College

Laura graduated from Mills college Suma Cum Laude with BA in Art History this year. This was the illustration I did for her graduation party cards.

Below is the initial outline of the illustration.

This is the version that was printed by Laura's grandma Gale for the invitations :

Floating above her is her diploma, while her faithful Mac Book rests near her feet. In her left hand an Art History tome, her right a little hairless rat. Her second pair of hands holds a sacred cupcake in the position of enlightenment, while her third pair of hands are in a pose of supreme completion of a task.

Below is the final version - after it was printed I went back into the file and changed a few things and added some more elements to make it look more glorious. Tada!

Laura Turns 21

Laura Turned 21 last weekend (April 11th to be precise) and to commemorate the occasion as well as create art for a birthday party invite I created this piece.















The Sketch






















Final Version



Happy Birthday Baby.