Teaser Sketches

these are some preliminary sketches for some projects that are in the works. Yes, they are all portraits. But I promise they will have interesting things going on in their negative spaces, but you will have to check back for the finishes to find out what!

RECENT DOODLES

hey team

these are some recent projects

the lad with the peace cranes is my amigo Kikko. I did that portrait for my senior studio class. The badass female with a violin on her face is a character I made for my children's book cover. She's called Fiddlehead. Because she has a fiddle for a head.

Mr. Anderson Cooper

this is a painting that I did for my first senior studio project of the year.
this is the process that Im using for my senior thesis body of work. Its an oil painting on top of a carved linocut print, mounted to board.
And it is trying to make a little bit of a statement.
hope you like it

Sketches from the DIA

Hey Team
last week in Editorial Painting, our professor Cathy Gendron had us spend the first day in class sketching classical sculpture at the DIA. It worked out well for me, because the last time I was sketching at the DIA I had spotted a few sculptures just before closing time that I intended to get back to and draw. Here are the results:

Dr. Sketchy's- Grand Rapids

Last weekend I went to Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School at The Meanwhile bar in Grand Rapids. Dr. Sketchy's is a global franchise, with chapters in cities all over the world, including one in Detroit .

Dr. Sketchy's hosts a different live model every week for artists to draw from. They use unconventional models (cabaret performers, burlesque girls, etc) and since it takes place in a bar, drinking and socializing are encouraged.

Heres how it works (in Grand Rapids anyway) you pay 7 dollars at the door (not bad for 3 hrs of live models) and that gets you in the door plus you get one ballot to enter a contest suggestion. The evening was hosted/timekept by my friend, burlesque girl Vivacious Miss Audacious, who calls the times, arranges the poses, and randomly draws the contest suggestion. Suggestions at this Dr Sketchy's included "best Art Nouveau" and "draw the model as your astrological sign." At the end of each pose, the celebrity judge (who in this case was Corey "Happypants" Ruffin from Super Happy Funtime Burlesque) chooses a winner who recieves a prize such as liquor, a groovy t-shirt, tickets to shows, and other good stuff.

The model at this Dr Sketchy's was Jacinya Sanchez, a drag performer with the persona of a 1950's housewife and mother. She was a real pleasure to draw, and a unique opportunity. Our professors at legit art school never gave us husky drag queens to draw.

I had a great time, and not only will I return, I intend to investigate the Detroit chapter.

note: In the one sketch there is a wee calf in the upper right corner. That's because I had sketched part of that page at the County Fair earlier that week.

A Summer of Sketches

Hey team
I know I haven't posted anything in a while (but it's not like anyone reads this thing anyway)
It may have appeared that I hadn't been working, but that simply isn't true. I don't know if I've ever been more disciplined about sketching than I was this summer, I just haven't had access to a good scanner.
In NYC I had access to a lot of good resources. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History are both free (well, suggested donation actually . . . and since I am broke as a joke I donated $0 and walked on on in) and so I visited them both once a week, sometimes more. Also, at Society of Illustrators I went to sketch night every Tuesday and Thursday where I had access to the live models. My book was totally full with still a week to go in the city.
Now I'm back in Detroit . . . more sketches to come soon!

Sketches from the Met and Society

Hey
as the lowly unpaid intern at Society of Illustrators, I get to go to the sketch nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Today I went and warmed up by sketching classical statues at the Met beforehand