Observations from an expedition to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which features an incredible paleontology hall. I brought with me a pad of sticky notes, a couple Micron plastic nib pens, a set of Copic Markers, my fanny pack, and some headphones. Prehistoric life has been an infatuation of mine since childhood, and there is something very humbling about drawing in the shadows of these fallen giants.
Romping through the woods, I happened upon a faerie ring of Slenderman and his acolyte children. I stepped back slowly. I didn't want crunching branches to give me away.
Another charcoal on cartridge portrait. The fabulous Evan Peters acting as Tate Langdon in the first season of the hit television series, American Horror Story.
Have you ever felt like you were scratching at the surface of a breakthrough? I'm in the middle of what might be something major or might be nothing at all.
PSA to not be a dick to retail workers this holiday season (and all seasons!). Working retail during the holidays was some of my shittiest experiences. People become coupon-waving, red-faced monsters that deserve nothing but a trip into Krampus’ sack.
Here are a few things to remember:
1: They have literally no authority. Honestly, the cashier would love nothing more than to accept a stack of expired coupons to get some cranky-ass customer indignantly insisting that “at this point YOU owe ME money!” through the line. But they can’t. And no amount of screaming will change that. Oh, and the manager is bunkered safely in the back refusing to come out and will only troubleshoot through walkie.
2: If you’re nice (like basic human decency) they are more inclined to help you as much as they are able. Being kind and patient costs nothing and might actually pay off. You might even be able to coax out a skiddish manager that *sometimes* has the magic touch to get things accomplished.
3: Corporate overlords. Managers can do a lot but in the end, the retail world is run from corporate overlords through the machine sentries AKA registers. Welcome to Black Mirror, people. If the machine rejects your request then back to the matrix with you.
Not a terribly good piece, but I had fun drawing it. It is a take on the Spirit of '76, originally painted by Archibald Willard. I did it upon request, but I did not charge anything. I think it would have been better in color.
I'm having trouble with the web site lately.. I try to upload things and it just stuck in the uploading page instead of posting the pic. Anyway this is one of ma favorite drawing from inktober. Let me know witch one of my inktober drawings is your favotire in the comments!
A drawing made in Adobe Draw on the iPad. One of my first attempts on a strict color palette. Normally Im in to More is better, instead of that boring Less is more.. But it is fun to control the colors for a change. As a matter of fact, change is just good, even when its not.
I painted HP Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe in order to spook up Halloween. I'll probably do Stephen King, too, at some point, and maybe Shirley Jackson. Anyone have any other favorite horror novelists?
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!
Watercolor with pink pen. One of my favorite things to do when I draw is just to pile on. It does take longer to complete but I always end up happy that I did it.
Patternbank is a large company who sell seamless patterns, mine too. They have nice mock ups, like this dress. The motif is a flower bouquet in a pot with geometric patterns.
Colorful Goldfish - Another watercolor sketch from my newest sketchbook. I'm using Strathmore Mixed Media 300 Series (5.5 in x 8.5 in). It has 40 sheets of 90 lb. vellum surface paper. They cost under $10 and can be used for most anything including wet media (light washes) without the paper falling apart or warping badly. One of the best all purpose sketchbooks I've found and the size makes it easy to toss in a backpack and carry daily. Anyway, just wanted to share my good experience with the group. What's your favorite sketchbook brand/format?
