"But that's your DRAWING hand!"

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Yikes! I haven't updated this in ages and it makes me feel like some sort of blog-flake. I had been doing a lot of web design back then and I got burned out. I spent the summer doing a lot of outside activities, like hiking and swimming, and I ended up falling out of a tree and breaking my right wrist.

It was a tree I hadn't climbed before, a branch curved out of the side of it and looked to be the perfect spot. When I was sitting in it, I remember the exact moment I felt myself starting to slip forward. The drop wasn't that far, but I ended up acting reflexively and trying to catch myself when I landed. I recall hearing a snapping sound, but I thought it was a branch I had landed on.

Oops.

Either way, it wasn't so bad. I didn't feel a thing except for a few aches as it was healing, and after a few weeks my wrist healed up perfectly. I've been drawing and writing again, I have an internship, I'm selling my designs, and I've been stumbling on a lot of other artsy opportunities that I'll be talking about as I update.

Until then, enjoi!
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Secret Agent Man!

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I really need to get back in the swing of things. I don't know why, I hit a slump for a while there and only recently "rediscovered my balls" so to speak. It took a while to tease the creativity out again, it started with helping other people with character development. Then I started taking a new look at my own characters, and next thing I know I'm writing short stories and participating in online groups. Go figure.

To the right we see Mr. Maness, the man of many talents, as one of his characters. The original image is from the pilot episode album for "Keeping the Faith." He's been in productions such as "The Reindeer Monologues," "The Cleveland Cemetery Tour," and "You Can't Take It With You." He has a habit of using fancy descriptors for otherwise boring colours, but I don't hold it against him. I also like to tease him.
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Frontpage Action!

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Following my last post where I unexpectedly won entry into the October Design Gallery on ArtBistro, I received an email today where I was informed that I am currently being displayed on the front page with the other winners. I took a screen capture so I could treasure the moment forever. It has my name up there and everything, just like a real artist. Vincent is glowering at the links on the left, greeting people on the main page.

Above we see the magical rainbow unicorn, a revamp of an older t-shirt design from college, back when rainbow farting unicorns were both witty and rare.
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ArtBistro October Winner!

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I've been on hiatus for the past week so I could get my creative juices flowing again. It came as a big surprise to me when I checked my inbox and discovered that I was chosen as a winner for the October Design Gallery on ArtBistro.

"This album represents excellent level of professionalism that ArtBistro members exhibit in their art work. Congratulations to all the winners!"

I didn't know that anyone actually looked at my work on that website, but I'm pleased nonetheless. Interestingly enough, it was the illustration of Miss Kinash's character, Vincent. His dashing good looks and upbeat attitude save the day again.

The picture to the right is completely unrelated, an art trade with Mr. Kyle Bishop. He requested that I do a portrait of him, and he would do one of me. Still waiting on that, but I had been planning on doing a portrait of him anyway.
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Art Show

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Tonight I am going with friends to Andrew Noel's art show at a winery on Bainbridge Island. Last time I saw his work, it was impressionistic and full of colour. We still talk about the "fourth dimensional bubble" incident. I can only wonder what he has been doing for the past year, and how much he has improved on his style.

Lately I have been swamped with the amount of work I have to do, but I'm not complaining! I have almost finished up adding the text and information to the album cover for Grape Juice. I knocked out most of the hard work on a private illustration for another friend, and after that I'll begin work on the single-strand text for Ben Masters' business card. I think I hear my ride, so I'm cutting this short.
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Coming Soon!

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With all the the digital portraits, or iDents as I grudgingly call them, being proudly displayed on my friend's social networking pages, I have started the grueling process of coding a website from scratch. I have also started researching possible advertising methods other than word-of-mouth to get my artwork seen, sought, and bought.

Already I have had three requests for commissions that have popped up since the weekend, two being portrait commissions, the other is typography work for a business card. That's not counting the requests for trades and giftart that have started trickling into my inbox. With my low-low prices and meticulous attention to detail, I'm sure that this enterprise will start reaching new heights.
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Temporary Hibernation

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I haven't updated in a couple of days due to a combination of losing track of my schedule, and going to a party hosted by Mr. Draper. It was fairly interesting, getting to see people that I had not seen in years, as well as a handful from the NCA crowd. Funny how often the KSS and NCA lines cross like that. Either way, we discovered that Mr. Draper does an excellent Dr. Girlfriend impression.

To the right is a poster I've been playing around with for a while. Note that there are a lot of anatomical exaggerations going on, but that's what makes it fun. I did not include the second "wing" because it made the image a lot more visually confusing. I think the clouds are a pretty nice touch. I'm thinking about going back and touching some things up, but we'll see how it looks in its skateboard incarnation.
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Veni, Vidi, Vincent

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The title does not make any sense, but neither does this day. I made friends with Dr. Malison, got the last of my fillings done, was featured in a journal by a 14-year-old, and also had a tooth pulled. All in all, a fairly productive day despite only completing one drawing. I thought the journal feature was really sweet, and any free advertisement is good advertisement.

At the right is Vincent, and he's not a very nice man. Each of the characters has an individual characteristic which is exaggerated. With Olivia it is her eyelashes and curlicue hair. With Vincent it is his very distinctive upper lip, which is sometimes mistaken for a mustache, especially when I draw it. He is also missing his left hand, but we all know that already.

I do not draw him often enough.
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Artistic Vision

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A lot of people have crawled out of the woodwork lately and have offered kind praise about my work. This pleases me, as I have felt that digital work is often overshadowed by the fine art community. Digital work is still work, and requires just as much skill as rendering in charcoal or paint. A traditional artist can point out the thousands of badly rendered digital pieces, but a digital artist can do the same just as easily. It's not about the artistic medium, or what tools are used, it's about technical skill, good composition, and artistic vision.

I do two kinds of work in relation to art. The first would be art that is intended for other people, such as commissions, requests, and gifts. The second would be art that I do for myself, my illustrations, sketches, and practice pieces. The digital portraits that I have been doing lately seem to fall between the two categories I have created for myself. While I create them for my own artistic betterment and enjoyment, they are at their core, portraits of other people, and are intended to be enjoyed by everyone.

Anyways, to the right we see Friendlings Redux. I thought the picture was too adorable to pass up, so after I asked the photographer's permission, I did a digital recreation of it. This marks the first occasion in which I have worked on a portrait for someone I have never met in person.
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Explosm

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Now that I have been diligently updating my Facebook whenever I create a new digital portrait or illustration, I am dedicating this blog to sharing my art without being perforated by random videos and comments. Updates should occur every other day, or whenever I complete a new piece.

In the meantime, here's a portrait illustration I did for an old friend's birthday yesterday.
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