Working and Playing

Here's a couple of drawings of my fiance, Chris. He holds pretty still while he's playing video games and working so I thought I'd take advantage of that. 

Chris Working; Colored Pencil 2013

Chris Playing; Colored Pencil 2013

That's all for now. Have a good weekend.

Going Places

Carolina, Graphite with Digital Color, 2012

Here's another little fashion drawing! This one is based on a really cute peplum top from Prabal Gurung's Resort 2013 collection.

Pretty Dresses

Swann, Graphite with Digital Color 2012

This illustration was inspired by Chanel's Resort 2013 collection. I've been getting interested in fashion illustration this year beginning with my zodiac series, so I thought I'd try some illustrations of recent collections to experiment with different techniques and to get more familiar with what's going on in the fashion industry.

I have always loved fashion, but my expertise in the field pretty much begins and ends with "ooooh pretty dresses!" I don't really follow the names of designers, let alone buy designer clothes...or clothes of any kind really. My wardrobe is made up of things I bought back when I had money and clothes I accidentally bought during a trip to Target for toothpaste. So I had to google the meaning of "Resort Collection", and I don't know why this collection is from the future if the runway show took place last month. But I really liked the color palette and the styling of the models for Chanel's show, especially the pastel bob wigs. Also, when I saw it I thought ooooh pretty dresses!

a still life

Requisites, Graphite 2012

This is another one for Lawrence Yun's drawing class. It's about gender conventions and it's also about how much I love to render hair.

Lawrence did a demo for us on applying graphite powder, which is what I used for the table. I cut a stencil and applied layers of powder with a brush until I got it as dark as I needed it. I think it was pretty successful, it was fairly quick and probably the best way to get an even tone.

That's about all I have to say about this one. In my last post I wondered why I don't draw like this (photo-realistically) more often. Now I remember why. I takes ten thousand years, it's fucking boring and I will probably never do it again once this class is over.

a preview

 These are two pieces I did for a collaborative project I recently started with a few friends and friends of friends. We are working on a title and a few other logistics, but we should have the blog for that project up within a few weeks, at which point I will link to it here. The basic premise of the project is a conversation through artwork. So each person created a piece, dealing with the theme "identity" and then we randomly swapped pieces and created response pieces to each other's work. 

We plan to repeat the process indefinitely and just kind of see what happens, sharing the results on a blog as we go. I'm really excited about it because I love working collaboratively, it reminds me of my high school Literary Magazine (which is where I met two of the artists from this project) and it's awesome because there's a lot of variety in terms of work. There are other visual artists as well as writers so I can't wait to see where it goes.

 Literally, I can't wait. Which I guess is why I am sharing these pieces here, now. This first piece is about trying to understand how many people there are living right now. I can read the number, but it's difficult to really grasp what it represents. This is about trying to relate to that number and the what it means to be one of seven billion unique individuals.

Everyone; No One, Watercolor, Ink, 2012

This piece is a response to a poem called Counting Steps, Counting Breaths by my friends Annie Le. The poem will be on our project site and I will link to it here once it is. I know she is inspired by Buddhist teachings and Thich Naht Hahn, who is totally amazing. You should all read his book, The Miracle of Mindfulness. 

Only Peeling; Watercolor, Colored Pencil, 2012

That's all for now! Thanks for reading/looking!

perfume

Perfume; Graphite, 2012

This is a piece I just finished for Lawrence Yun's descriptive drawing class. The class is all photo-realist style rendering, which I actually really enjoy, but I don't do it unless forced to for some reason. It's kind of brainless and fun to do while watching/listening to television shows I've already seen. So this piece is brought to you buy seasons one through three of Weeds. 

The spray pattern was an experiment which wasn't terribly successful, but I spent a stupid amount of time cutting out this intricate stencil and I felt obligated to use it. Why is she spraying perfume in her face? Because it was the style at the time. Because her face stinks. Because I wanted to render her face, okay?

Special thanks to my model for this piece, my little sister Sam (who's amazing BTW, 23 years old and she's already lapped me for a bachelors degree and is kicking ass in law school. Sorry, I can't resist bragging about Sam whenever I mention her, it's like OCD or something.) As beautiful as she is, Sam could never have a career as a model, because after the first 20 frames or so, this started happening:

See you next Friday!

Oh, did I not tell you? I'll be updating my blog every Friday from now on. There. Now that I have promised the internet, I can't disappoint.

Thank You?

from my sketchbook: last week of january

Self Portrait; Ballpoint Pen

So pretend this is a riveting explanation of my reasons for neglecting to update my blog over the last few million years and a promise to myself and the internet that I will henceforth post something new every week from now until eternity.

reconstructive memory

“Subjectively, memory feels like a camera that faithfully records and replays details of our past. In fact, memory is a reconstructive process prone to systematic biases and errors—reliable at times, and unreliable at others. Memories are a combination of new and old knowledge, personal beliefs, and one's own and others' expectations. We blend these ingredients in forming a past that conforms to one's haphazardly accurate view of oneself and the world.” 
       -Elizabeth F. Loftus


I've become very interested in memory, specifically gaps and errors in memory and the way a person's mind compensates for missing information by interjecting information that is sometimes distorted or inaccurate. I am also fascinated with discrepancies in the way two people remember the same event and the way a person’s identity is ostensibly comprised of an accumulation of memories, while the perception of those memories is in turn determined largely by identity.

The following drawings are the results of a brainstorming session around the exploration of these concepts. Some of these have led to paintings and some are a finished thoughts as they are.

Untitled, Charcoal on Newsprint

Untitled, Oil Bars on Paper

Memory Cards, Ballpoint Pen on Cardstock

Eventually I want to expand this idea and produce a full set of playing cards that someone could actually use to play Memory.

Untitled,  Marker on Newsprint

Untitled, Marker on Newsprint

Untitled, Ballpoint Pen on Paper

 During my research I found out that the hippocampus, one of the main structures of the brain involved in memory, shares it's name with the Latin genus name for seahorses. Apperently the scientist who discovered it thought it looked like one.

Untitled, Micron Pen on Paper

Untitled, Prismacolor Pencils on Toned Paper

Untitled, Graphite on Paper

Untitled, Micron Pen and Charcoal on Paper

The next few are studies for a double portrait of me and my little sister, Sam. It's loosely based on the idea that two people will remember the same event differently. I'm currently finishing up a painting around the same concept.

Untitled, Marker on Newsprint

Untitled, Marker on Newsprint

Untitled, Prismacolor Pencil on Newsprint

Untitled, Prismacolor Pencil on Newsprint

It also seemed natural to include my own memories, especially from when I was very young. I was thinking a lot about whether what I remember is the actual event, or just the story as I've told it or as it's been told to me. 

Grandpa (Study), Graphite on Paper

Grandpa, India Ink on Paper

Untitled, Prismacolor on Paper

Untitled, Prismacolor Pencils on Paper

Untitled, Prismacolor Pencil on Paper

Hall Light On, Oil Bars on Paper

The Milk (Sketch), Charcoal on Newsprint

The Milk (Hand Study), Oil Bars on Paper

This last set is called Samantha. It's about what I have been saying my whole life is my earliest memory: the day my sister came home from the hospital. Mostly it's about how the more I think about it, the less certain I am that I actually remember it. I was only two and half, so it's a lot more likely that I just remember the story being told to me. That's kind of sad to me, because it seems like such a vivid memory and such an important one, I really wish I could believe that I really remember it as well as I think I do. I'm eventually planning on translating these into more finished pieces.

Samantha(1 of 3), NuPastel on Paper

Samantha (2 of 3), Charcoal on Newsprint

Samantha (3 of 3), Oil Bars and Charcoal on Paper

 

figure drawing

These are some of the drawings I did in Brian Kennon's figure drawing class last Spring. Not much to say about them. They're figure drawings, ranging from one to sixty minutes each, most of them are charcoal but a few are Prismacolor Nupastel.