[Sketch #11 - Clarity Color Test In Progress]

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up an art book featuring the works of Alphonse Mucha. I've always really liked his style of illustration, the intricately detailed backgrounds, the flowing fabric, the voluptuous female figures with their heavy black outlines, etc. So I decided to do an experiment of sorts with Clarity and draw a picture inspired by that style, but still keeping it my own. This is the result... in progress.

There are issues, like her left hand being way too effing big, and she looks very young in my opinion (granted she's only 21), but still I'm having a good time working on this. I'm dubbing it a color test because I wanted to do a more definite version of Clair's color scheme and this is my vehicle for that idea. While I've been working on this, I've also been working on a pastel drawing of the circulatory system. It's a close up of the heart and major arteries in particular. I think I'm going to lay the ribcage over top, but I'm going to photograph the first stage, because something about the way veins branch out reminds me of tree limbs and roots. It's been very calming to work on. It's also a bigger piece than I've done for a while, 24"x18".

A lot of things have come up lately and I find I stay the most positive when I continue working. Art is really starting to see me through again. And although I never made any new years resolutions this year, I think I've decided that the only resolution I need is this.

"See it through."

More to come.

"I'm working on drawing a straight line
And I'll draw until I get one right
It's bold and dark, girl, can't you see?
I done drawn a line between you and me."
-Frightened Rabbit (My Backwards Walk)

[Sketch #10 - The Woman with the Skull]

Okay, I lied about the next post being Devour Them related. This is a sketch I'm working on for my deviant ID (Also Dangerous-Roots for those curious, although there's nothing posted there... yet). It's still a work in progress but I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far. I'm contemplating doing this one in watercolor. I hesitate calling this a self-portrait as it doesn't really look anything like me, other than the fact my hair is getting ridiculously long, and is now about halfway back to my natural auburn instead of black. For those not aware, I'm in love with the TV series, Bones, and recently when I'm not working on comic stuff I draw a lot of skeletal things. The bird skull two posts ago was a great blue heron. A friend of mine renovating a house downtown also found two large mammal skeletons (probably raccoon or opossum) in her attic I should be receiving soon. It's healthy to be excited about that, right?

More to come.

"I've crossed the last line
From where I can't return
Where ever step I took in faith,
Betrayed me."
-Sarah McLachlan (Sweet Surrender)

[Sketch #9 - Ink]

I quite literally just did this sketch about fifteen minutes ago, but I felt I had to put it up. Earlier tonight, I watched an independent film released last year called "Ink". I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I came across the movie while randomly browsing through netflix and decided to give it a shot. The story was creative and interesting and the characters were all very unique. Jacob (the sketch above doesn't do his coolness justice) is a Pathfinder who helps a group of dream-giving Storytellers find a way to save a little girl's soul from an eternity of nightmares. He's loud, he doesn't make sense half the time, and yet, he's a freakin' genius. I also really want to sketch Allel, who was equally bad ass. The bad guys (Incubi) were efficiently creepy, the fights were fun to watch, and the cinematography of the film was just pretty in general. So if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now.

I've decided to try a few new things with the blog including changing layout colors and whatnot.
Next post should again be devoted to Devour Them, which I still slave over on a daily basis. However, I'm going to try to completely randomize my postings as I really want to get my Portfolio revamped. I started applying for jobs down Savannah way and I want to have all my ducks in a row... as it were. ;x

More to come.


"There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell me what's wrong and what's right
And it comes in black and it comes in white
And I'm frightened by those who don't see it..."
-The Avett Brothers (Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise)

[Sketch #8 - Devour Them]

"So this is the new year and I don't feel any different." This is a quote Death Cab's Ben Gibbard uses in a song that I traditionally listen to every 1st of January. Although I will undoubtedly repeat said tradition when I get into my car today, I can't say that quote is true for me this year. There are a lot of things I'm very hopeful for and as I said back in a fall post, I welcome the changes 2010 will bring into my life. There's a lot to do, but I'm really excited about doing it. Excited for meeting new people, going new places, and in many respects reinventing myself. This I especially hope to accomplish through my art. Last week, I posted a preview for one of the characters in my new comic, Devour Them. This week, I give you a preview of page zero for issue one:

"Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That in a spleen unfolds both Heaven and Earth,
And ere a man hath power to say, "Behold!"
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion."
-William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream act i scene 1)

Lately, I have become enthralled with William Shakespeare. We all recognize him as a playwright and poet that we are all but forced to read in Middle School and High School, but very few people delve deeper into the man or the stories. Currently I'm enjoying reading through Twelfth Night, and just picked up a box set of twelve more of his plays through Amazon.com. I'm most excited about reading The Tempest, his final play. I'm using the above quote to open up Devour Them not only because I am a fan of Shakespeare, but because I find it has a deep resonating tone to my story.

This page was fun to work on despite it's simplicity. I haven't had a lot of opportunity yet to play around with screen toning in Photoshop, so this was mostly experimentation. I'm really looking forward to working rest of the comic which will be much more complex. I'm sure I'll be posting more as I go along, including more character sketches, environments, and whatnot.

For now, I'm off to watch Land of the Lost and District 9... and sketch more :)

More to come in 2010!