alf

Don’t cry over spilled milk unless you are Mr. Milk of course.

Having way too much fun with textures and halftones in Procreate.

I’m back! The game company I work for hit some turbulence and laid off half the studio. I’m still there but it took a while to adjust. Getting back to my own work now. This was drawn with my Sailor King of Pen (M). What a pen! My Royal Tangerine 1911s is to the left for size comparison.

This shriveling half onion has been in my dirty fridge for a week.

Colored pencil on toned tan paper

I am an art teacher with a master’s degree—trained by brilliant professors who believed that art could do more than decorate walls. I offer safe spaces for teenagers to grow—nourishing soil where their imaginations can take root. And yet… I am assigned to hallway duty. This is compulsory education, after all. So I sit—posted like a sentinel—watching young lives stream past. “Get to class,” I say with a smile and a nudge. The system wants attendance; I’m hungry for presence. Armed not with a whistle or clipboard, but with a pen— my scribble’s soft insurgency. The hallway stretches out like a geometric hymn. Columns and corners chant structure. Teenagers swirl past—half-formed galaxies of limbs and laughter— their orbits chaotic, their gravity pulling time forward. I begin to draw. Not their tardiness, but their motion. A shoulder. A blur of sneakers. A tilted head chasing freedom. Feet flickering like seconds. Each mark a pulse. Each smudge a breath. My paper becomes a seismograph of seeing— trembling gently through the mundane. This isn’t about making art for a frame or a feed. It’s about refusing to leak away in the fluorescent hum of obligation. It’s a quiet mutiny against the clock. I do this on long car rides, too (passenger side, mind you). Letting the lines grow wild, jagged, and unapologetic. Not for polish— but for presence. This is how I remember I’m still alive. Still growing. Still watching. Still choosing to see. Because sometimes mental health looks like a piece of scrap paper, a moving pen, and the simple, sacred act of marking time with wonder.

It's casual Friday with scientists in jeans, With half of them relaxing and the others breaking things. Sweeping robots with a broom is taxing (work's not any fun!) But they're leaving for the weekend soon and all work must be done!

Perched between silence and song, the blue jay waits—half mischief, half mystery.

Into darker(ish) territories we go… or not! Still, a bit of The Cure may have inspired this one :-)

Steadfast and slow I'll get this done eventually

The moment of death of a Christian as they leave this earthly world and travel to the afterlife. The figure is halfway between the earthly and heavenly realms. The earthly realm I painted in flat paints. The heavenly realm is bright and glorious. God is depicted in trinity, you see Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one.

Only my second time tackling the lusca as a drawing subject… hopefully it checks out! “The Lusca is a legendary sea monster from Caribbean folklore, primarily said to inhabit the underwater caves and blue holes near Andros Island in the Bahamas. Described as a massive hybrid—often half-shark, half-octopus—or a giant squid/octopus, it is rumored to reach lengths up to 75–200 feet.”

I get to marry by best friend, Lindsey tomorrow. I spent a year and a half writing and drawing my very first comic book. It was about our life together and how I proposed to her. This strip is an excerpt from that comic.

Lindsey's prompt: Gandalf

I woke up at 5am(ish) last Sunday and not settling back to rest, I switched my radio on and hoped for the best. Next thing I know I’m half awake listening to one of Yo La Tengo’s more drone oriented songs. The track itself was 8 minutes long but felt longer… of course, this gave me ideas. What do you expect?

This is about the stigma associated with mental health problems.A highly experimental sketch on my behalf.I think that these masks repersent the different labels that can be put on these people.

Another half-assed attempt at doing SOMETHING "underground- like". Meh. Magic marker on sketchbook paper. (I still like the name, though.) Late 70's...

"There's a North in us all, but my North can't hold me anymore." Oh man, what a day/week/month it's been. Today was the end of first semester, a bit hard to believe half the year is gone, a bit hard to believe we still have half of a year left. The past 24 hours have been nothing less than mental chaos (maybe my coach was foreshadowing all of this when he asked if I was ok last night...) Anyway, here I am, here we are. Llemette on the left (name credit to Josefina), February journal on the right.

I like to sketch things from memory, impressions I have during the day and often contrived scenarios. Black Brush Sign Pen with white wash on halftone paper. ©2021KG

Commision doolde artwork for eid al-fitr money envelope. Eid al-Fitr is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm)

WIP, illustration of Norse goddess of the underworld, Hel. For fun and for spooooky Halloween.

The god of Hindus lordshiva with halfface and half Trishula mandala design. Lord shiva also known as bolenath, eshawara, Parvathi pathi and other names.

Where do I begin with this one? This is a drawing of my dad and I; the picture was taken back in 2006, a happier time, I suppose. I don't commonly think about my dad, I don't necessarily think about how much I miss him or how I wish I could see him again, so it was odd for me to sit and look through old photos. I don't really know my dad; I do, but I don't. My dad was physically part of my life for 10 years, the second half of those were not the best. Mental illness, self medicating for years, debt, heroin, arguments, threats, uncertainty. I feel like I remember the negative more because I was older, my parents couldn't hide it from me like they used to. At the same time, when he was sober and stable, life was good. Life was great, things felt complete. So here I am, 6 years since he died. I don't want to say his image is fading, but I know less of who he was than I did before. I see the good from some (the ones who praise him, who act like he was a saint), and I see the bad from others (the one who felt the pain). I suppose I no longer see my view, my memories aren't there anymore. I don't necessarily feel sad, the anger has faded, and I can't say I'm happy. Maybe I'll figure it out one day, but, for now, it is what it is.

I love working with black, white and all sorts of grey tones. This is a digital drawing created using standard brushes on procreate. Gandalf is a favourite character of mine. One of those characters that whenever they are around you know its all going to be okay.

I suppose this was just a tester/practice piece? My first actual still life from observation and my first time actually using charcoal (yes, I've never truly used charcoal before. Charcoal and pastels are two things I avoid. Their looseness and freeness scare me, considering how rigid I can be). Not sure how to feel about this one. I'm my worst critic, and I've known that for a long time now. There's a lot of practice and progress to be made, but it turned out half-way decent.

Ink and coffee on paper

Graphite and not exactly a doodle. Took the better part of Sunday

For Inktober 2019 I made individual drawings for half the month, then the other half was dedicated to a larger drawing.

#25 Christmas Art Contest - I'm pretty sure I drew this in 2023 if I'm not mistaken. It was for a Christmas art contest at magma.com and drawn directly on their website using an iPad pro. And well, although I met all the requirements I didn't place in the top four. The rules stated that we had to pair up with another member from the website art community to draw a Christmas themed picture relating to anything from our childhood. What you see is only half the picture. My project-partner Andy added his portion to the collaboration, but I removed his pen strokes just for my website. That's why on the right side of the picture the Christmas tree and edge appear unfinished. This image is huge, like 5000 pixels. This website will resize the image losing details, but if you would like to zoom-in to a higher resolution, try this link to get a closer look. Safe link to mega-upload file storage: https://mega.nz/file/vqoXGIgD#bx6hdvKVKX8__hfBAYEVtp49NESS26w4iudrlM-oI_4