alf

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

"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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Colored pencil on toned tan 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

THE MARTIAN from Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory. "The three of them sit down to dinner. Halfway through the soup course, a Martian enters the room. It takes the astronaut’s napkin and lays it across his lap. Then it turns around and walks out. I thought you said you didn’t see any Martians, says the woman. Not on the moon, says the astronaut, no." https://www.instagram.com/p/CgwTsoXOVln/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I am half way through my sixth decade, and I still like cute animals. This guy is the quintessential cute pet from so many of our childhoods.

Imagined happenings inspired by neighborhoods in Queens. Black Brush Sign Pen with white wash on halftone paper. ©2021KG

Graphite pencil on paper (size A5).

I started a project of hunt illustrations, where things in the image need to be found. In this, the objects were: Lost iPhone, murder weapon, portal to another world, glass half empty and banana. (This is the pre-digital illustration which I don’t usually share but felt like a change!)

Another dress up exercise. This time is @finalfrantasy (on twitter)'s OC, Annette.

Malfurion from World of Warcraft fanart

#20 Cartoon Doodles - I have been in the mood to draw simple cartoons characters lately. Of course I don’t like to copy the original artist’s style. I prefer to change it up a little. Half of this was drawn on magma(dot)com, the other half was drawn in ibis paint (iPad pro). No Ai garbage used!

Meet Dr. Lorna Breen. She was in the trenches of the front line inside the New York hot zone during the first wave of the pandemic. She saw the massive influx of patients she knew she could not save (29,000 deaths reported in April, 2020). She contracted the virus and after recuperating, went straight back to work. A week and a half later, the hospital sent her home. Her family intervened to bring her back home to Charlottesville, Virginia. During her visit with her family, she seemed “detached.” She passed away April 26, 2020 at the UVA University Hospital in Charlottesville from self-inflicted wounds. "She tried to do her job, and it killed her… Make sure she’s praised as a hero. Because she was, she’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died." —Dr. Philip C. Breen, Father

Nornwan. Once there were Nature dwelling elves. They only ever lived, frolicked and played in the deep woods. Their bodies were quite accustomed to the trees. They could speak with the elements of nature, they could make the trees move and cause great mushrooms to grow from the earth. Theirs was the power to ask the spirits that watched over the wood fro guidance and peace. The Knights Factions implored these wild folk for aid on one fateful day. Few elves agreed to give trees and other supplies to the army, those that did not were attacked and destroyed and given no help by the army of Knights.

The lord of winter has had many wives throughout his life and many half god children. Wren and Wilder are two of them. Twins who do mischief in an attempt to get some attention from their distant father.

I started this with the Doodle Addicts Pre/post quarantine diptych drawing challenge in mind, but I didn't make the deadline (I started it on the day of the deadline, so it was a little ambitious!). The first half of the drawing represents before the corona virus and the second half is after the virus and kind of living with it. No pencil, just straight into the drawing with ink. It's rough, but I like how it turned out and there are some fun characters.

Maine Coon Kitten, drawn with fineliners and alcohol markers. Took 3 and a half hours to complete. Super happy with how this came out, it was my first time using alcohol markers for an artwork.