15 October 2012

The Watcher Watches


Does the watcher watch? Or is she pondering the fall? Hmmm... 
(digital collage) 

14 October 2012

Diving for Dollars (IF - Water)


A recent morning collage incorporating hand-drawn, found and digital elements. Fitting for this week's Illustration Friday theme - Water.

16 August 2012

Leap


Leap is a piece I did a while back,  maybe 6 months now. But it's appropos for where I find myself, and perhaps this was a bit of foretelling. Oh, and in case you're scratching your heads, yes, I find myself in the precarious position of leaping into a canyon and onto a passing hovering fish. And a less than ammenable one at that. ...It's all very surrealist. But then maybe that's giving myself too much credit. At the very least, it's all very absurd...

15 August 2012

Pope Hugorwar

Another collage from the archives. Playing with composition and subject. You can see my forte is subtlety. If memory serves, when I put this together, I was playing with fast collages and reading the NY Times fairly regularly. I suppose  this could have been more heavy-handed...

PongMonster



PongMonster is a quick collage character sketch I did a while back, highlighting a pimpin' old pong-master in reclusion. I've been revisiting some old(ish) sketchbooks recently and came across some collage I'd almost forgotten about. There'll be more to follow.

03 June 2012

Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts

I feel very fortunate to have found my way to this video. Though I was never a fan, per se, of Neil when Sandman was at its height, I find that I'm becoming increasingly more enamored of his work and this certainly boosts him in my esteem. 

His commencement address, if that's what they call it on the other side, is a must-see for anyone pursuing a career of life in the arts or any manner of creative endeavor. Enjoy: 

IF _ Faded


I started work on this piece last week for the "Faded" topic over at Illustration Friday though I obviously missed the deadline. That's OK. I wanted to finish this up before moving on to another illustration. 

This started off as little more than a scribble as I'm spending more time getting used to the tablet interface. The abstract in the background evolved from a couple of preliminary scribbles (I suppose I should call them "sketches" in the interest of conveying the character of a serious drawer, but really, let's be true to the truth...) and the figure in the foreground is a composite of several elements, heavily filtered/effected. The overall result being a semi-surreal depiction of a sun-faded and watchful loiter.

01 May 2012

Skully Hat


So I found this great little app on iTunes called Procreate and have to say I love it! I've been looking for a great sketch/paint app that does it all and I have to say, right now, I'm deeply enamored. Layers, great brush customization, full range (well, fullish, anyway) of colors, patterns, plus blending tools...the list goes on. 

I suppose it's too bad that my skill doesn't quite match its range....

Anyhow, this is a sketch I was fooling around with the other night, a take on a figure from a game called Smallworld. I can't say I know, well, really anything about the game, but the cover illustration of it on the issue of Game Trade Magazine I picked up had a version of this guy in it. Looked like some great characters and the gesture and action was great practice, both for my skill, and for my use of the app.

Tryit





We've all heard "try it, you'll like it" before, generally as kids, usually in some relation to vegetables. So parents and babysitters everywhere should be ecstatic when they see Tryit coming. Tryit is a character devised for the packaging of Try It, You'll Like It, a new spice rub from Peter Dockendorf, mixed specifically for the vegetable-stubborn child in mind. For anyone unfamiliar with Pete, he's a retired chef and up and coming blogger who also happens to make the best general purpose hot sauce on the planet, Nogginflogger. I'm not sure what the long-term plans are for Try It, but you'll want to look for this character on the shelves. 

Incidentally, this piece also happens to fit with this week's Illustration Friday theme, "Jump". (Those wings don't give Tryit real flight, but more of an extended hop. Think of a chicken rather than a dove.) 

17 April 2012

Diogi - a dragon-headed boy; plus Many Happy Returns

Good evening all. I'm back. Again. I realize how long it's been since last posting, as well as how often I've written these words, or eerily similar words, in any case. So, in realizing this, I'm going to choose to not justify my absence or make false promises about more regular posting (wow. that almost sounded like bowel humor, didn't it?). Instead, I think this would be a perfect time to embrace the title of an episode from one of my all time favorite television shows. Though The Prisoner epsiode, Many Happy Returns, is a darkly sarcastic turn on the phrase, I'll choose to evoke it here as a new mantra in the upkeep of this channel of media. In other words, I intend to fall off and pick up as the whim takes me. Perhaps some of you who are left will return with me.

And I will say, if you're unfamiliar with The Prisoner, specifically the good version from the late 60s starring Patrick McGoohan as opposed to the god-awful remake AMC tried to do last year, I suggest you run, don't walk to your nearest video rental worth its salt (for me, that would be the unequalled Videoport down in the Old Port) and pick up a couple episodes and strap in. 

Moving right along, this evening's post is a quick concept piece I did up the other night to get a character out of head. His name's Diogi, and yes, that's a dragon's head he's sporting. Diogi and his pal Eekay (keep an eye out for him soon-ish) are an idea for a story that's been mulling about for a few months and neither one of them have let up. 

So here's Diogi: 



If you've been hanging around, waiting for me to say something, I thank you and appreciate your patience. 


I hope you'll hang out a little longer, and perhaps even find something worth looking at enough that you'll be moved to share with your friends, family, colleagues, whoever. 


Signing off, 
rocketfuelsushi