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CURRENT - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002
12.18.2006 Excerpt from Egon Schiele: Drawings & Watercolors by Jane Kallir The early months of 1911, punctuated by few concrete biographical markers, nonetheless brought significant chcanges to Schiele's creative and psychological orientation. During this period, the artist developed his first serious relationships with women, and it is therefore understandable that sex was among the topics that were uppermost on his mind. Nont only had hsi father succumbed to a sexually transmited disease, but the artist knew from his family's experiences that motherhood could also be extremely risky., both for the woman and for their babies, who often died. Even if a mother survived childbirth, she was nonetheless bound (in Schiele's opinion) to be drained of her youthful vitality. Whereas many people see a path to immortality in the bearing of children, Schiele sought a parallel route in art. Only art, in his view could truely conquer death. In his work, a trio of interrelated themes began to emerge: mortality, procreation, and artistic transcendance.
11.01.2006 This body holding me
reminds me of my own mortality. Tool - Parabola
10.07.2006 More important than anything I have to say right now...
9.16.2006 Hard to imagine burning out on something you love... but I'm starting to feel pretty haggard. I'm thinking, when I hit page 70 on the graphic novel, I may take a week off from drawing. Do nothing but read, watch movies and play video games. Although my instinct says... spend a week doing a large painting, instead.
8.22.2006 Some days, there's not much to say... still staring down a long dark tunnel of a project that seems to have no end. A few new pieces here and there. All I can do is keep moving forward.
7.18.2006 So I finished the second chapter of my graphic novel this past weekend. I figured I'd celebrate by doing a few stand alone art pieces... something I haven't had time to do for a while. 40 pages down... 100 to go... Yay!!! Yeah... I'm a glutton for punishment.
7.01.2006
A peek inside my head... So I was working on something else and an image popped into my head. An angel, a little girl angel... sitting on the chest of a demon, feasting on it's heart. Generally, I have 3 modes when I come up w/ ideas. Sexy stuff, meant to arouse, Fun playful stuff, meant to stroke my ego by showing how clever I think I am (and hopefully entertain others in the process). And Stuff to make people feel uncomfortable. A lot of this type of work could be classified as horror, but I rarely go for outright revulsion... More like something that draws you in, but leaves you w/ a slight chill as you absorb it. So when I start drawing,
at first, it's really just to clarify the picture in my head. Some artists
see a complete finished image in their heads and simply trace it onto
paper. For me, most of what's in my head is vague and dreamy, forms
and masses that give off an impression, but the details slightly obscured.
That's probably the reason much of my art is loose and a little sloppy. Usually, before I apply color to an image, I'll take the final sketch or drawing and scan it into photoshop. Instead of using markers, I'll do a quick color comp in the computer. I can make revisions quicker or even place multiple versions side-by-side so I can evaluate them. Knowing what want to do w/ the light source is really important in this phase... although the drawing needs to lead the way for the color. The body of the demon still
needs some work. Finding the right spot for his legs and shoulders,
adjusting the volumes of the torso. I'm pretty happy w/ the pose of
the girl. I wanted something bird-like. A delicate creature perched
on the monster's chest, just so... clutching its prize. As I was drawing
the main sketch, I started thinking about the girl's expression, the
vibe I wanted her to have. It became clearer to me, so I knocked out
this extra little sketch of her face. The little details like the smears of blood around her mouth and dripping from her chin... that's where I push into the discomfort zone. It's not outright nasty, but it's not pleasant to think about on a face which borders on exuding innocence. Her eyes are such that you can't tell if she's a frightened animal about to scurry and flutter away, or a fierce predator and it's your misfortune to have stumbled upon her (you may be next). Come to think of it, I should push the innocence a little more. She's already almost too predatory looking. I'll have to break out an anatomy book to reference some of the tendrils of organs and viscera being pulled out of the demon's chest cavity... put a few small bite marks in the heart. I see this as an image I
want to do several versions of... If it seems like it takes me longer to do finished pieces these days, it's because I'm putting more work into each one. Ok, enough of this... back to working on the graphic novel.
6.16.2006 Thanks to everyone who stopped by my table at the ENVY show at the Ivar last week... and to the friends who hung out to show some love. Good times! Back to business as usual. BTW, a lot of the sketches I've been posting on the sketch page are roughs from the graphic novel I'm working on. A chance for you to get a lil' sneak peek.
6.11.2006 I'm participating in an art
exhibition this Wed Night, 6/14 @ the Ivar in Hollywood.
6.03.2006 I'm spinning headlong into another late night. I've been having trouble sleeping a lot the past few months. I finally got "tired" of fighting it and have begun to embrace it by getting more artwork done. I used to avoid that option like a plague simply because what would normally be me going to bed at midnight and tossing and turning until 2AM usually becomes me staying up drawing or painting until 3-4 AM. I finally said screw it. Let the chips fall where they may. If I can, I'll try and catch a catnap during the day. Either way, I've been getting less and less sleep. I can feel it taking it's toll on my moods and my energy level, but I can't see myself getting on medication for it. The last thing I need it get addicted to sleep meds... I just don't like the idea of monkeying w/ my system like that. I'll keep my drug consumption to something nice and safe... ... Like Jack Daniels.
...On the upside, I've been getting more drawing done. Maybe I'll post a new page or 2 from the graphic novel in the coming weeks.
5.01.06 Since I'm spending so much time on a graphic novel that won't be done for a year, I'm not doing as many paintings. I'll still try to kick one out once a month. I did one plus a polished drawing for an erotic exhibition I'm submitting work to. Keep your fingers crossed for me. In the meantime, I had the clever idea to add a sketch page. Yeah, I know the gallery is full of sketches, but they usually relate directly to a painting. This is gonna be a little different. A lot of the stuff will be the raw drawings that will make up finished panels in the graphic novel (nothing that will spoil the story, though). Other than that, I'll toss up whatever stream of consciousness falls out of my head.
4.9.06 So I've been avoiding talking on the site about my graphic novel EYE OF THE GODS for almost a year. The main reason is because I had no idea when I'd have time to finish it. Now I've got the entire book scripted, laid out, lettered and I'm about 20 pages into the pencils. It's nothing but crunch time, now. 6 - 8 months of penciling and inking. I'll be putting up a stray page now and then, and keeping people updated. Thanks to the urgings of my buddy Karl, I took the bold step of selling an ashcan of the lettered roughs of chapter one (which you can download if you'd like) at this year's Wizard World LA comic convention. It was chance to test the waters and see what people think of it. Got a lot of positive feedback and met some cool people. So if you're wondering why there's been fewer painting and drawings being added to the site, it's 'cause I'm coming home from work every night and busting ass on a graphic novel. And let me tell you, it's a lot more work than I ever anticipated. Still, I'll try to keep some new painting/sketches coming.
3.02.06 Thanks to anyone who went the Dirty Detroit show in Feburary. I had a few people contact me from the show interested in buying prints (hint hint) , so it was definitely a great opportunity for me. The only thing I regret is being unable to attend the opening. If I'm fortunate enough to get accepted next year, I definitely plan to attend. Continuing to produce work whenever time permits. The dayjob is fulfilling and keeps me very occupied (sometimes TOO MUCH), but the desire to create art that is personal to me burns brightly as ever. I'll try to add some new work to the site over the next couple of weeks. I've got more ideas than hours in the day. Peace
2.10.06 DIRTY DETROIT!!! I was fortunate enough to be accepted into this year's Dirty Detroit exhibition going on from Feb 10 - 14 (right now). It's a great show w/ a ton of cool artists, so if you or someone you know would be interested in checking it out, pass the link on to them. Even better,
2.05.06 Graphite in the bloodstream I'm shifting gears for a little while and trying something different. I've been actively focusing on improving my drawing skills, but it occurred to me, that I rarely do drawings as finished pieces. I always use ink or paint to dress up the artwork and give it some pop and sizzle. What I really want is for the under-structure of my drawings to be so solid that it won't matter what style I draw or paint over it in. To that end, I'm going to start doing more drawings not as studies for paintings, but as finished works in themselves. That's not to say I won't do a painting based on any of them later on if I really like the image (or render some digital color in Photoshop). I probably won't be able to resist doing a color piece here and there, but I'm focusing on the drawings for a while.
1.04.06 Well, the move is "Mission: Accomplished", however, I've still got a hell of a lot of unpacking to do and haven't had a time to draw a damn thing. Hope everyone made it to the New Year healthy, happily, and realtively intact. Cheers.
CURRENT - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 |
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