can I keep it?

"Can I Keep It?", Mixed Media, 2010

The Sketchaholic theme this week is "The Family Dog".

I guess this image can be viewed as how a post-apocalyptic 'nuclear family' may have gotten their family 'dog'.

Your post-apocalypse/dog themed song after the jump.

the girl from south tacoma way

Music is a huge influence on the stuff I make. I post a lot of hip hop on here, and know a lot about it as well but I listen to all genres. Last night while practicing my portraiture drawing I was listening to Neko Case, who I think is one of the best female vocalists of the past while. I was trying to pick my next subject to practice my portrait drawing on "so why not draw Ms. Case" I thought. So here she is....



















The Girl From South Tacoma Way, mixed media, 2010

I referenced a press photo for her. The wispy fox things are inspired by her album title "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood", one of the great albums of the 2000's in my opinion.

Continue reading to hear the new Jay-Z song. Just kidding! Two of my favorite Neko Case songs after the jump.

train ride

Here is another drawing of some C-Train folk. Spent the most time on the younger woman on the left. My drawing of her proportions could use some work, or perhaps be further exaggerated. Getting better at observational life drawing while trying to add my own twist on it is an on going task for me.

It can be tricky when someone is shifting around. Can also make it difficult when they're sitting relatively close to not be obviously starring at them, as was the case with the girl who was sitting in the group of seats diagonal to my own. Although a closer subject can also allow you to see more detail to render on your page, so I suppose it is a trade off.....if only everyone on the C-Train was sleeping or reading. I like the very quick, more gestural drawings I made with the other two, each of those were completed in under a minute.

























Your train related song after the jump

asleep on the train

Just some guy who fell asleep on the c-train this week who consequently fell victim to my sketchbook, his soul is now trapped within these opaque white pages.
























note: the word scratched above his head was actually "bank" but I thought that was sort of a wack name to use, "sank" is much better :)

RAC remix a stand out track from The Shins' album "Wincing the Night Away" after the jump.

nightmare decoy

This was made for a Sketchaholic contest. It was pretty rushed, and doesn't really work for me but I like the idea so I will probably try and revisit it later.
























Your song of the day after the jump

&ersand 2 finished piece

untitled, mixed media on canvas, 14" X 21", 2010
photos taken by my dad
Alright here it is! After teasing you with last weeks post, here's the real deal. Me and Sam Williams collaborated on this piece for &ampersand 2, which was a great success! Over 200 people came out to check out all the collaborative pieces, so big ups to all that came out and supported us. A thanks as well to Vicki who coordinated the show, and Karma Police who was our DJ for the evening. It was a bunch of fun filled with great music, friends, artists, and tequila shots. Lots of great work and talent was on display for sure. Our work was hung right inside the entrance of the Untitled Art Society Gallery, making it a nice introduction to the show I thought.



















When Sam and I first got brainstorming for our submission, I was drawing lots of bugs with pin up girls (more bug posts to come) and Sam was interested in portrait work, so this idea came together fairly easily. Sam created the girl, and I the insects. We tried to make it read as a woman wearing jewelery from further back and as you approached closer it became more apparent that it was a dead girl with bugs crawling on her. We were both happy with the end result, and I look forward to collaborating again in the future. What do you say Sam?

A couple more pics and your song after the jump...

mononoke

There is a Sketchaholic challenge this week set forth by Dice Tsutsumi. His description via Sketchaholic:

Dice was in charge of color scripts and lighting on Pixar's Toy Story 3! He also worked on "Ice Age", "Robots" and many more.

The topic Dice has picked for people to draw is "your favorite childhood anime in your own style". I liked a lot of the artistic style seen in anime growing up, but was never able to find it on TV living in a household with only 5 basic channels. Despite a somewhat sheltered life when it comes to anime I am a really big Hayao Miyazaki fan. One of my favorite films of his is Princess Mononoke, which lead me to create my drawing below.
























Make sure to check out this movie if you haven't already and let me know how you liked it, you don't need to be big on anime to be a fan of Miyazaki.

Your anime themed song after the jump.