2012: A Return

It has been nearly a year and a half since posting to this blog. I won't make excuses, but I can say, that the pens and pencils were still busy in that time. Maybe I will share some of that, maybe I won't. What's important is that I'm back. I won't be making any unrealistic promises of posting something every day, but I expect the content to flow more frequently than not.

2011 saw a few big changes (License! House!) and so far 2012 is proving to be another eventful year (Dog! Banjo!). My personal challenge continues to be the effort of fitting everything that I am interested in and care about into my days, nights and weekends and still remain coherent and sane - but perhaps a little incoherence and insanity is good for us all.

Sooner or later, the structure of my blogs will be updated to meet the needs of the content that I am planning, but for the moment, I want to just get right back into the thick of it. First up is a formal drawing extrapolated from a gestural scribble. This style of sketch continues to evolve through my personal sketchbooks and is a refinement of graphic expressions that I have been toying with for a long time.

Drink N' Draw

A week ago, Jess and I went to a "Drink & Draw" event in San Diego, in which a giant group of people gets together at a bar and just sketches whatever catches their fancy. I whipped up a few doodles whilst sipping back a freshly tapped Blue Moon. The following were the fruit of my efforts that evening. Ahhhh, drawlicious!

Abstract Composite 001

6"x6" Ink on Paper

Studies, Revisited

Feels like it has been ages since a new post, so I'm putting something out there! About a week back I was back in "Study Mode" (the thumbnails, not the cram session), revisiting these styles of collage, or what might eventually become collages. Form, texture, shope, composition. Did a whole sheet of them in pencil on the train ride home and I just spent a little time this afternoon refining some of them in ink, making them pop a little more. Time to get back into collage mode!

"Confined" - IF

First collage of the year! It's certainly felt like a while since I have posted one, but I have not been without ideas! This is also the first time I am trying a piece out of a new "medium", paint samples. I must say there was a few tricks in using this material and it will take more experimenting to really get a sharp look out of it, but I am satisfied by my first go at it and it is certainly something to continue working with. This also marks a triumphant return to "Illustration Friday", which feeds artists a topic once a week to be wrestled into art.

Following Through

Following through on one of my quick collage ideas from a few days ago...

Another Round of...

Been a busy and distracting sort of week. Here's some stuff from a few days ago that I did on the train.

Occasionally someone will stand over me, watching me sketch. A guy this particular day gave me the usual ,"What the heck are you drawing?"

"Some layouts of abstract shapes and..."

He interrupts, "So you just draw whatever you feel like. OK." and put his headphones on.

Sketch for Layered Painting?

Another sketched out idea for a painting... or perhaps a collage...

Retro Week 2009 - Day 5

This drawing was done in 1999 back when I was attending my first design courses at College of DuPage, or as we called it, "COD State". It was a composite drawing of multiple other drawings which was then color coded and acted as a map to derive extrusions of many little shapes and pieces which were then assembled into a model, or "construct". All in all I went through about 8 Prismacolor pencils to render this drawing.

Studies Again?

It has been a while since I have posted any collage studies. It was only after I drew an entire page of them that I remembered I wasn't going to do any more studies of collages, but just go straight into the actual collages themselves. Oh well, when it has been so long you forget these things...

Abstract Geometries

Bit of a quick sketch here. Now that I scanned it in and sat back and actually took a look at the composition, it kind of looks like the building I have been working on... although quite disheveled and possibly crushed in some way. Only if you squint, though. Maybe I'll save a more literal dismantling for another day.

Regardless, this sketch is getting back to a more abstract architectural free-form.

Circles In Acrylic 2

Another in the continued series. This one is 8x10. I had done a wash on the canvas in a light orange color, and had started working on the background, fully intending to work in blues for the circles, but the orange tones grew on me and ended up working little bit better for this one.

Coming outward, each circle is twice the diameter of the previous and was placed on the tangent sides of the first and third previous circles. Following that rule, I found that the centers of any adjacent pair of circles aligns with the center of the second consecutive circle following the larger circle of the pair.

I think.

Caught Up!

Finally! I have caught up with all of the posting that I have been meaning to do over the last week but couldn't due to computer problems, giant post-birthday hangover and good old-fashioned lack of time. At least I haven't been idle!

Here are a few more collage studies that I whipped up over the last couple days. I know I said that I was going to stop doing these, but I just can't seem to help myself.

Small Strip Collages

I knocked out a couple more small strip collages over the weekend. They turned out alright. I was more excited about the technique I worked out on the second one. These were made in the series of small collages that I have been making lately, and were both 3.5" x 2.5". The intent is to just make a ton of these things. They are averaging a day or two a piece at this size.

IF - "Clique"

This collage was done in response to the Illustration Friday topic of 'Clique'. I didn't think I was going to come up with anything for this week, but the next thing I knew I was whipping up another collage. I'll let this one speak for itself...

PS: This was also made in the 3.5"x2.5" format. Its a little smaller so instead of a weel of cutting tiny pieces, its only taking two nights.

Studies Before Studying

Out of town for the last couple days, so the posting streak came to an abrupt halt. I have been sketching in the meantime, and will be doling out some stuff over the next week while I am studying for my architecture exams.

These are a couple pages of studies for more of my collages. Started doing some prep work for small pieces the other day. I realise that drawing the collages out quickly and actually hashing them out in collage form are two completely different looks, styles and results. It made me think that its time to stop doing hand-drawn studies for the pieced together strip-collages that I make. Perhaps the hand drawn studies will evolve into full-blown pieces in their own right.

Sketchbook Clutter

Keeping in the theme of the week... I wanted to post some studies and preliminary sketches from last night's I.F. post... Since the sketchbook is so cluttered anyway, I just took a quick scan of it and that will be my post for today.

CD Label Leftovers

Made this arrangement with a mess of those center stickers that are leftover from printed CD labels. Sometimes I just can't bear to throw away something mostly useless that I find while cleaning...

Retro Week '08 Last Day

For the final day of "Too Lazy To Post Anything New" Week, I went under the bed to find an acrylic painting from a few years ago. Pretty sure I was still in school when I made this one... or at least coming to the end of those formative years... I picked this one because it was probably one of the precursors to all the collages I have been making lately. Also, i haven't shown a painting in a while.

I like the idea behind it and color, but of course- this painting (acrylic done on illustration board!) could be improved upon in so many ways if done today. Perhaps that's why its been stored under the bed!


And that wraps up Retro Week 2008. I will have to remember to do this again next year. Tune in tomorrow when I'll start posting some backlogged new material. The recently reorganized (and merged) art supplies and office may also yield some interesting explorations in the weeks to come.

Freebie Blues

While Comic Con was a couple weeks ago already, I still find that i have a sizable pile of crap, swag and miscellaneous handouts to last me until next year. Rather than just pitching all of it, per usual, I decided this year to do something more with it. And so I have! In what is the first of what I expect to be a few pieces, I present this collage. It's mostly formal and acted as sort of a bridge outside of my usual pure abstractions and strip collages. My preliminary sketch is also shown below, and it really turned out quite different. The background initially was going to be entirely covered with strips, but it just seemed a waste to cover ol' Wolverine completely...