Sarah Palin Vol II

It's officially i'm truly finally putting not touching this piece any more. Oddly enough i never discussed why i created it. Roughly around the time of the last presidential election i heard all the buzz about Sarah Palin. How she had a look of a attractive older lady that most men fantasize about. Shortly around the time that she received media attention and the adult industry put out a look alike movie to fuel that fantasy. That idea combined with the always over the top ridiculous ads in the back of most men's magazine. It seems that almost every time i look at a hip hop music or strictly men's only magazine they promote phone sex or adult movies. So as i began creating this image i used that absurd point of view to draw it. I wanted to look silly, sexually and something that is from my world.

above are my progress of my artwork

Sara Palin Vol.1

Truthfully of all the drawings that i've done over the past year, this one has given me the most trouble. i started off with an idea and a sketch a year ago. Draw it up and along the way i put it to the side. Not because it wasn't easy to do but because it changed my thought process. I wasn't even able to come up with a background design until about 6 months ago. I think it took me so long because this piece was actually more imagination than an actually photo referenced art piece. I plan to be completely done by tomorrow so we'll see what comes.

Drawing Revisited Vol 2

I had to tackle this sketch again. I felt something oddly was missing for the original one that i drew. The orange wasn't orange enough in some areas as well as dull and blocky in others. I believed that adding the simplest choice of indigo blue would force the image to carry more weight in the important areas.

Michelle:graffiti works

In an attempt to find myself artistically as well as work with different type of styles I began sketching out this drawing. I not 100% sure which medium i love most or what techniques that i do my best work with. So this is yet another small attempt in exploration. Over the last couple of years, i've grown fond of street art. The way words are encrypt like hidden in designs. Sometimes they are surrounded by basic as well as grand scheme pieces. Hidden somewhere in the hard symbols is the word "chelle" for the photo reference. I wanted to have draw a more solid image with more detail but unfortunately the photo didn't transfer to print well. A figurative stylised sketch was more suiting than a strict figurative drawing. Also with a little bit of yellow marker to show the caution of her shape knife and white color pencils for highlights this drawing came to life.

Free Lil' Wayne (or better yet, free myself to just have fun)

This painting came about in the most randomness of ways. When i typically paint i want everything to be a cookie cutter version. Everything neatly laid out with very little other visions of imagination. However this time i just wanted my painting to occur through a natural process. No spending more time thinking about how i would paint the background or what colors i would use for skin tones. I just wanted to be artistically free. So armed with 4 colors of paint i allowed it to drip and run until i found the feeling that i was looking for.

My friend Cara's son just had a birthday and i wanted to give him something that is more personally. Something priceless that you can't find at your the run of the mill store. My philosophy is that everyone needs at least one cool piece of art in their house. I know one of his favorite rappers is Lil Wayne and just like him about 10 years ago i feel in love with his lyrical skills. Now he's one of the hottest rappers alive with widely respected musical talents in multiple musical genres. So this past Sunday when i was searching for photos references of him i stumbled across other artist who had created artwork of him. Their artwork was stylized and unforgettable. I was also amazed by the opening credits of World Cup games that are being held in South Africa. I thought the organic design shapes that they used were inspiring. Less than 24 hours after printing the image up this is what i came up with.

Drawings Revisited vol.1

When i was told to go back to the drawing board and make some of my past drawing more polished. This is what i came up with on my days off this week. This is actually a better sketch of Valerie with a stronger contract bases with more blending modeling.

Lauren (pic and drawing)

It's an interesting story how all this came about. I worked with Lauren at Old Navy and before she finally put in her 2 weeks notice sadly she told me she was a photographer. As i always do i said that jokingly but she actually is one. Lauren has a functional website that shows all the photos that she's taken of bands, friends and herself. Since we're friends on facebook and she frequently post her pictures up there i borrowed one of her images. Above is one of them, sadly enough i was going to use color pencils last week on this one but i forgot them at home. Armed with only gel pens that i intended on using to write a letter i began drawing.

This is what the image looked like when i stopped after the first day. I posted it as a sketch earlier.

Today was the day that i truly wanted this complete and finished. I finally managed to do so as i sat in Panera today. With a quiet atmosphere around me it was the perfect setting.

Cara and Amerie (revisited)

This drawing came about because Andi [a friend of a friend] wanted a picture of her daughter with her god mother. Normally i would do a very dull and boring monochromatic drawing simply labeling it as a sketch. I normally do simple drawings like that for my sketch pad and pride it off as a good example of what artistic range i have. But the more i was looking at some of my older drawings and sketches they actually for the most part turned out well. I liked the way my drawings looked. So i pulled out some color paper and began drawing.

I was originally going to use this picture but somewhere between the printer and image the pictures lost the tons and colors.

even looking at the finished sketch i still want to go back and touch it up so more. sigh!

Norfolk Drawing Group: 73: Enlightenment

Vacations = 95% change i will be at the drawing group. I didn't get the memo that tonight was male model night which is ok. I know others who refuse to draw nothing but females but overall this model wasn't to bad. I typically use color pencils but today was different. I had an earlier encounter that prompted me to use pen instead. My technique wasn't to bad this evening and for the most part the image registers in my 20 minute sketches.

We always tend to do is go out to eat afterwards and i had an interesting conversation with a fellow artist/teacher. He admitted to viewing my work online but said i wasn't fully applying myself. I listened as he told me that i was surrounded by great artist and that i was on the edge of doing something special but needed to get over the hump. He ran down a list of things that i should do: steer away from staged or posed photos were the photo reference isn't natural, round my drawings more to where they don't seem so flat, and make the artwork my own In a nutshell get serious about my artwork and focus on getting better. The odd thing is that i look at some of my drawings and i think the same thing. So he wasn't to far off base and if he things the same thing as i am then it must be correct. I guess i need to go back to the drawing board again.

Cara with Child (the madonna version)

Normally i'm not bad with it comes to drawing a likeness. As i sat and looking at my sketch Sunday i knew i wasn't close to being were i wanted. I flipped my attention from the drawing to watching the Incredible Hulk boxset.

The one of the areas of opportunity that i know i struggled with this time was skin tones. But as you can see my drawing is still lose.

I really feel that this is still as a sketch and not a complete drawing. I've been playing around with colors, erasing and laying down more colors. I'm not satisfied with it but so i guess i will update it soon.

Mistaken 2 toned

I'm a wrestling fan but this imagine stared off as just a full body sketch. Randy Orton, the wrestlers body is well defined. I enjoy drawing the muscle structure of a model that doesn't feel like a rollie pollie. The question for myself became not if i can draw him, but can i add the detail to his muscles.
The sad part is that i was using prisma color pencils and as what tends to happen often my pencils wear down to a nub. I thought i was using the same exact color due to the lighting of the place i was drawing in. Once i got home i saw that it was a shade off, but by that time the drawing was done and over with. The two tone drawing would've been nice if done properly.

Norfolk Drawing Group #72

The sum of 2 back to back days off is Tues night drawing group. Regardless of the gray clouds that blocked out any hope of sunshine i managed to be productive on my days off. i ran errands, got art supplies even wrote a letter or 2 to my friends. But as the evening approached i knew that the drawing group was lingering. Honestly i had an unbelievable time. We had a male model, which in the drawing group is a no no because most people find the male body boring. Most men have hard edges , discipline muscle structure and the absence of subtle lines. However this evening we had a full figured man, which large stomach and all. As i stared at other artist around us i became amazed by the collection of great artist. The body of work was well above normal.

If i had to give myself a grade i would say C+. I somewhat captured the model but left out the details that i know existed.

Norfolk Drawing Group #71: i actually had $10 this week

It's sad how easy it is to create and come up with excuses week after week. I haven't been out to drawing with my fellow artist for some time. But things week after week coming up. Either i had to close and got out of work to late, my friends had friends in town, my friend was going out of town, my head hurts or the most important I'M BROKE were all reasons for me to miss the group for over 2 months. As the prodigal son they welcomed me back with open arms. I never truly realized how much i was a part of the group until i wasn't going. Whether it was a good sketch or bad sketch, or a good one but looked nothing at all like the model, i still have a good time laying all out there.

Valerie (pic & sketch)

Valerie is a friend of one of my co-workers Jen. I never thought i would utter the words that Jersey girls are crazy but these 2 live up to the image of that. These girls are longs of fun together. They deserve there own tv show.
I wanted to do a faint sketch like drawing, nothing major with this photo. Being aware that she has plenty of curly hair if it wasn't done close to perfect as possible it the image may not have registered well. So instead i focused on her face and bring that part of the drawing to life.

Rainy Sidewalks

I have countless unfinished draws and this is one of Shawn, i found while i was getting ready to do my art show at Western Branch. I realized that i didn't finish it because there were some elements that i thought i should add but i didn't. This past Saturday while i was off from work i began to work on it. I felt the timing was right for it to be complete. I idea of borrowing this image first popped into my head after my February trip Texas. I wanted to show the gritty emotion and raw feelings that i was feeling was bottled upside. Without giving away to much of the story i had put myself in an interesting position.

The creation of this piece is a combination of what i watched another artist do and a little bit of my own work. My friend, Devon had sent me a link of a girl who had slung paint on a piece of paper and then began to create her image around it. I liked it so why not try it as well. I slung paint then begin to allow the colors to find the image. Around the time i was creating it, i was talk to Cara and she was talking about the weather and walking on rainy sidewalks. I thought about how perfectly things shine when the weather is raining, especially sidewalks. I was going to take a picture of one as it rained but the image was more important to me.

I found a interesting quote to sum up my thoughts about Shawn. "Punished is not the man himself, but the evil that resides in him." - Samurai Executioner

Cultural Art Day '10

It's no mystery that i like exhibiting my talents but still i have not been in any major type of shows in some time. I've say that for another blog. But this past Friday i was able to do something that i enjoy doing and that's getting others motivated about art. I brought a modest amount of artwork because i have countless other pieces that i could've shown but didn't. Also normally i would've brought more cartoon related pieced but i didn't do that as well. That can be chalked up to spreading myself to thin over the past could of days after my vacation. My art time was limited but i always have plenty to show.
I spent a better part of today talking to kids about art and getting them to draw there fellow classmates. Every once in a while i saw some light bulbs go off which made this well worth the effort. It's something positive about giving back to that shows me that i still have a greater purpose. It gives me hope that the path that i'm on isn't the end all, be all. I still have my dream!

Guarders (pic & sketch)

A fellow artist pasted along a blog site of sensual imagines that from time to time i look at. Not because the sensual imagine stir up sexual thoughts because the photography is amazing. Of course there's sprinkled bit of porn that are a complete turn off to me. The sensual imagines like the one above stand out and make me search for my own level of creativity.

My friend Cara, who i've been supplying artwork for had asked me for another piece to complete the array of sketches that she has in her collection. Something to balance out the other 2 imagines. This is the one photo that popped out. I didn't spend as much time as i would have like to tuned all the small details but conte and white chalk seemed to be a good choice for this expressive drawing.

You're Shirt is Where Again.. (pic & sketch)

I'm not even sure where i found this image at, but i didn't like the idea that it teased the illusion of nudity. I would have loved to do it another color than orange. Still unsure why that's the color of choice??

Destiny Awaits Cover Vol. 2

An early version of what the characters would look like

This piece of illustration board was originally suppose to be used for a satire piece of Chris Brown. The more i began to think about it and the less progress i was taking in completing it i decided against it.



the final version of the painting that i started around March 15 of this year and didn't complete until April 23rd. I do believe if it wasn't for work and other factors i would have comleted it earlier. I still would like a little more time to touch it up but overall i'm somewhat pleased.

Destiny Awaits Cover Art vol.1

This was my truest challenge. I say it was a challenge because of all the imagines i had to create out of a imaginary world this was would actually fight me back to be created. The cover is a very important imagine. It sales the book nor it doesn't. It makes it a believable choice or just something that other's turn their nose up at. I have done realistic painting before from good references and i knew either it was going to be a win or a loss when i was done. On a bright side i created it in oil paints which is very easy to reverse if something goes wrong.

I sat down with the author's Craig and Michelle over dinner at PF Changs one evening and went over what their thoughts were as far as a cover. Did you want to go traditional with just showing the female lead in peril? Do we show the warm embrace of a romantic story? Well they chose the best idea which i still like to this moment. Since the name of the book is Destiny Awaits, why not show all the major characters in one setting when they're all together at club Destiny. As if they're in an imaginary photo opportunity in the club's VIP section.


Craig since his trip to Miami was a huge fan of their club set up. Honestly for a really good working idea that style and spice of their life could work up in a Virginian setting. These are some of the photo references from VIP sections of Miami and Las Vegas clubs.