think outside the box, jack

This is a sketch I drew in my History of Illustration class this past Friday. I colored it in Photoshop. The popsicle background pattern is from a pair of underwear I scanned in.

This mostly served as a way for me to practice creating a light source in Photoshop using color. I wasn't striving for realism or anything. I think I can do better. I plan on drawing a new jack-in-the-box sometime and making it totally bad ass.

you've got rounded corners, baby

Apparently it's snowing in West Virginia (Mom is driving through there right now).

I passed 3 fallen trees/giant limbs on my way home from Romanticism today. It's windy as hell out there...

Listening to:
Sufjan Stevens - A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Hubert

I guess I drew a rat.

I forgot to include his other legs.



I've been into watching movies while I do homework lately. I watched these in this order:

Jurassic Park (twice), Edward Scissor Hands, October Sky, Anchor Man, Elf (twice), High Fidelity.

purple under the eyes

These are some desserts I made for class.
I don't really want to talk about them.

Listening to:
April 8th - Neutral Milk Hotel
Fox In The Snow - Belle & Sebastian

pink poopcake

In my Brands and Branding class we are designing individual businesses. I chose to design a bakery. This is just the logo/name. I created the one in the smaller thumbnail first, but then went back and simplified it a bunch. Which version do you guys think works better?

There will also be magnets and stickers with desserts in the same style. The employees will have aprons with the logo on them. And there will be a menu as well.

There might also be a cannoli, cookie, muffin, cake, piece of pie, or wedge of cheesecake. They would just be the magnets and stickers though to serve as adverts and kitchen decor.



Listening to:
Jean Ritchie - Twa Sisters
Jean Ritchie - Pretty Saro

i wish i could open my mouth this wide

Still feelin' shitty, but I went to my lit class today and did a good bit of doodling (albeit horrifying doodling)....

This is a siren type thing I drew for fun. She sings like an angel and tears up flesh like a starving wolf.

I'm trying out some weird stuff lately digital coloring-wise.

beasts galore! EXCITING!

P.S. apparently they're making The Reader into a movie? crazy! I sort of have a crush on Kate Winslet, but can you blame me? seriously...

Listening to:
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy Done Wrong Again

doggg

This is a work in progress. I'm creating a package design for some dog treats.

Here's a German Shepherd I drew tonight. I colored it in realistic browns and creams originally, but then ended up reverting back to the simpler image because I just liked it better.

I still don't know how I feel about the brown fur lines. What do you guys think? Should I change the color of them so they match a little more? Or maybe I could go crazy and color 'em magenta and cobalt or something!

I'll keep y'all updated on it.






I found these gentlemen in a notebook from last year. They express my mood well tonight.










Today has been a difficult day. It was about 4pm before I could get anything to stay inside my stomach (including water). Most unpleasant.

nothin' new

I've been pretty sick for about 8 days now. It seems to be the standard cold, but it's not really improving much, which doesn't bode well. I'll give it another 2 or 3 days before I'll have to drag myself to the clinic and find out what's really ailing me.

I don't really have much new art to post for this week, so I thought I'd go ahead and put up some older work that I don't yet hate.


This is a lighter made out of paper. It was pretty big (about 9 inches tall).

I like the idea of creating a flame out of paper.







This picture was taken at the same time as those from the series I posted in my previous entry.

The original image has been lost due to a seriously unfortunate file transferring accident, which resulted in the loss of about 3 years worth of photos. So... this one's a smaller size and.... it's greenish.

I like the longer dimensions of the photos in that series. They were all taken on Tanner's digital rebel, a machine far superior to my 'ole Nikon coolpix 5700.

photos

I like photography. These are some pictures I took in the past and still like. The black and white photos are just a few from a series called "out of context". I had a thing for horizontal lines.
My mother was the wonderful model in several of these.

The color photograph of the eye is from freshman year. It was a bit of a happy accident considering I do not have a macro lens. I just sat the camera on my cheek with the lens about an inch away from my eye.

Russell and Nancy

This is Russell. Russell is an embittered government worker. He works in the police annex in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. He issues permits, driver's licenses, and administers vision tests. Russell is an extremely unpleasant fellow, and one can easily tell this within the first 4 seconds of meeting him.

Here I have drawn Russell using his government issued powers to smite an eager youth that crossed his path. His skin has grown sallow and thin due to internal decay and lack of sunlight.

This is the full-page drawing that illustrates the way it felt to procure my driver's license. It could also be used in a teen magazine perhaps. The piece was done for my Imaging from Culture class to illustrate a "coming of age ritual or right of passage".





This is a spot illustration of Russell.

He says words like "Terrible" and "Fail". He doesn't know how to express normal human emotions.

He enjoys smoothing down his comb-over incessantly and wiping his eye gunk under his desk while students take their permit tests.








This is another spot illustration, but of Nancy this time. Nancy fails people on whims, making bogus accusations of rolling stops.

Nancy and I waited as an entire family with a dog and toddler crossed the street at the crosswalk in front of my car. She then stated that I had made a rolling stop at that same stop sign and that I should just "head on back to the garage" because I'd failed.

I stared at her in total disbelief.
She was mad with power.

Perhaps her high pants were cutting off circulation to her better judgment.

Listening to:
Blur - Good Song
Blur - On The Way To The Club

the things i draw next to my notes in class

So. These are some doodles I scanned today. The first two are recent.

This guy happened in Romanticism today while Bob was talking about whiny guys. I was thinking about Ethan Frome and coffee shop dudes.

By the way... I hate you, Edith Wharton.














This Lady and her little dog were drawn while I was at the Peabody Library for my History of Illustration class last Friday. I was thinking about old, stubborn things. Also literal images like...
face + book = Facebook.

The little dog might be the best thing i've ever drawn.
















This is Godzilla. He is laying Baltimore to waste. I drew this while in Abnormal Psychology last semester. It was on the 4th floor, so there was a good view of the city out of the windows.

Godzilla looks pretty pissed.
I guess I would be too if i couldn't find a lady-zilla for which to give my lovins.








This is pretty old (from sophomore year). I just stumbled on it while I was looking for some other files. I still like it and it still fully creeps me out.

I figured I'd censor it because it's even more disturbing sans censorship.

I promise I know how to spell consideration. I don't know what was wrong with me at the time.











So I went to Office Depot and I got this sweet mint green bag for $2.00. And I had that little ugly doll key chain already and it seemed to match perfectly. It's great. I feel like a dork for posting this, but good deals make me really excited. So do mint green things!


Listening to:
Magnolia Electric Co. - Hard to Love a Man
Jason Molina - It Costs You Nothing

rotten nectarine

It seems that I am ill once again. I am sore, puffy, and drippy. It's really no good.

I tried finishing that DMV fail drawing tonight and writing that short paper for History of Illustration, but I ended up just staring at the computer screen for 3 hours.

There is a mouse in my room. I saw it run into the closet. Then, as i was moving in to inspect the situation, it ran from a shoe, over my foot, then into one of the other rooms in the basement. I have set up a trap using a long ramp leading up to a trashcan. at the top of the trashcan, there is bait. you can see this brilliant set up here.

I've taken nyquil and done everything in my power to make myself feel better.

cork pants and triangle teeth

This is the in-progress, retouched version of this sketch. I brought it in to class today and got some feedback, but most of it was pretty bogus, honestly. That might be in part because they were viewing it on the computer screen and couldn't see what was what, or it might also be because they are silly and don't realize there is going to be an accompanying article and spot illustrations. Or maybe it sucks?

Either way, I'm please with how it's shakin' out. I'm also super excited about using textures in my digital coloring. I've been thinking about doing it for years now, but just havent gotten around to scanning or photographing good textures to use. UNTIL NOW.


His pants are cork, but since it looks so much like asphalt, I might end using it as the background.

In other news, it seems that I won't be receiving my order from Zazzle in time. So that's frustrating and troublesome. I guess my grade will just have to take one for the team this time. Thanks a lot, Zazzle.

EDIT (10/7/08): Turns out my Zazzle order showed up at my back door 10 minutes before i needed to leave for class! it worked out perfectly. everything looked great. I havent tried to wash them yet because my teacher collected them (for some reason). Zazzle gets my approval.