55 mins
“I Never Noticed The House Was On Fire” This is a painting for an upcoming group exhibition about memories. When I was a kid I grew up in a household where my parents were functioning alcoholics. They gave me toys, put me in front of the tv, and sent me outside to play to keep me distracted from what was going on. When I look back almost all of my childhood memories revolve around these things. I became obsessed with these imaginary worlds and I learned to draw by copying my favorite cartoons and characters from children’s books. It was not until I was much older, that the truth could no longer be hidden from me. The imaginary world of cartoons and books kept me shielded from the harsh realities of home. As I grew into an adult that form of coping grew with me as I created my own imaginary places inspired by the ones I loved as a child. A healthy place to escape.
Another doodle, this time using mostly shapes and lines instead of characters and faces. Also, this was done traditionally with ink instead of digitally, which I hadn't done in a while and was a lot of fun!
I'm going to try to remember Throw Back Thursday. It's fun for me to go back and try to remember what was going on in my mind that made me doodle what I doodled on that day.
Part of a series of drawings following characters on a journey through strange and chaotic zones of a gigantic metropolis. I really enjoyed using the Sakura brush pen for this one.
The kids jump, and call, and send koo wees up to the koo wee sky! When I draw happy characters like this I find myself smiling and I don't even realize it. I hope that happiness comes through in the art. - From "Graham's Up the Tree"
It's cool how the internet can bring people together from far away places to make things. "Graham's Up the Tree" is based on a true story from the life of author mbpardy ... He's in Australia - I'm in Seattle area. When he posts these images at his page I see comments from people who grew up with real life versions of these characters I drew -- People that actually looked out the window and saw this little guy high up at the top of a tree... where no one else could go.
"At 6 o'clock the window squeaks and mum calls time" from Graham's Up the Tree. It must have been strange for mbpardy to see his his story interpreted through my illustrations... but page by page these characters came to life, with both of our contributions somehow adding up to something bigger.
"The Explorers" 14ft tall by 48ft long mural painting in Vienna, Austria alongside my friend Dead Beat Hero this past weekend. His comic book style robot characters emerging from the river into my crazy cartoon world.
This one is made up of leftover sketches from the Inktober sessions last year. I liked some of the characters, so I thought it was a shame not to give them their own scene.
I used a Sakura fine brush pen which was great fun to draw with and adds a new depth to the line work.
This follows on from an earlier drawing. The guy with the parachute has now landed in this crazy manic restaurant.
From Sketch to Final Water Coloring Stages, this is a spread from Tide Day! A lot goes into making a good composition, taking into account the center of the image where the binding is, and how to play with size and negative space. One of my favorite things to do is explore contrasting expressions between characters and highlight their emotions through physical stances and expressions. This was a tough challenge with the lack of limbs and the watery context, but Pearl's stubbornness and attitude shines through!
This is part of a broader idea for a big busy city teeming with different characters. Some of those characters will travel deeper through this city and through different lands. Eventually they get back to where they started from.
This is part of an ongoing series. This time we pass through The Great Exhibition and meet the different characters there to view art or just to socialise and hang out.
Manga panel preview of a story I have in mind. In the process of creating more characters, super fun to do ^ ^
I'm on @agentrosehq on Instagram, and I'm on deviantart as well! agentrosehq.deviantart.com
