men

'Oh how wonderful life would be, if I had my own little house in a tree!' This one was created for the Urban Explorer Challenge and I loved every minute of it! As a lover of the natural environment I had to draw on where my heart lies so a treehouse seemed a fitting response!

Moment just before sun rise

Here is my submission to the 10th anniversary Plushform show at Rotofugi Gallery. I was invited by Shawn @shawnimals to participate in this fun show. He is the creator of the Plushform DIY plush figure being customized by 40 artists at Rotofugi, a designer toy store gallery in Chicago. The original Plushform show was in 2008. I was waiting for their official announcement before posting my final so I could link people to the site for more info. I was told they are working on it and will announce soon. This will be for sale at the show.

Skip James is the man. I’ve been wanting to do something music related. I sketched this a year or two ago. It was fun to bring it into Procreate and add doodles, lettering, color and more elements like the guitar neck. I’m always looking for a way to combine my pencil with color and have it look like it really goes together. This one felt right.

I believe the future is about connection. Sometimes it seems that technology is making us more alone, but I like to believe that with every post, like, comment, follow, share, email and tweet, we are making ourselves more visible to one another. And together, we can make ourselves heard... Keep it positive, keep it loud, and keep it going forever.

A foggy morning opens up to a burnt landscape. I wanted to paint a couple of different environments in one painting but still aim to be refined. I used fall colors and smaller lines.

I came across these Sepia Fine Liners! Had so much fun experimenting with them. Looking forward to creating some more images with these.

Thought I would have a go at a competition! It has encouraged me to diversify within one image and think outside the box. I'll see how it goes!

a little piece of my final project for the February mats bootcamp assignment

Rebelle 6 by Escape Motions is out. It's a blast! Pigmented blending, watercolor granulation, nanopixel dimensions, new transformation options. Really enjoying it. (Drew this in it.)

Just about there with this one. Not sure if it works as I wanted it to!

New one shadowed & ready for color. Drawn with a Pilot Custom 823 FA (favorite pen at the moment) with Noodlers 41 Brown on Strathmore Mixed Media paper.

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.

I painted one of my cats, Banana, in a cat tunnel. The coloring in the photo was muted, so I worked on color and fabric texture. I am thrilled with her facial expression, and the overall composition feels good. This is not AI nor is any element made from AI.

Progress? The finished Illustration!

Experiment of Pilot Pintor pens

I drew these guys with a Pilot Custom 823 FA and Platinum Carbon Black ink. The FA nib has a good drawing width on watercolor paper - one of my favorites. It's a soft nib but I don't use the line variation, just some nice shock absorption with each downstroke. The Carbon Black ink is out-of-this-world good, though being pigmented I fear keeping it in too many pens.

Anxiety-Ridden Gnome with his trusted service log.

In July of 2022, Brianna Grier died falling out of a moving police car while having a mental health breakdown. Since Brianna passed, I have been heartbroken for her twins and family but also reflecting on my struggle with mental health. Mental health needs compassion and empathy, not police and punishment. The brunch strokes are purposeful, but I completed them with empathy in mind. I want to keep the composition simple but filled with meaning. The color theme represents vastness and loneliness, but also kinetic energy found in warm orange tones.

"Robot Manflower." 8x8 ink and watercolor. New discovery: Noodlers 54th Massachusetts Ink (watered down) works incredibly well for painting shadows/value before the watercolor. Watercolor does not disturb that ink! Drawn with a Pilot Custom 743 EF with De Atramentis Document Ink Black.

I don't just draw animal portraits! Although it seems tat way at the moment! I did one and it kind of snowballed!!! This one is part of a series of illustrations that tell the story of Hansel & Gretel.

An Illustration born out of my love for rabbits! Drawn with pen & ink the bunnies are at home in their woodland environment!

Here's the sketch for my Draw Your Fear submission. Drawn with a Pilot Custom Urushi fountain pen using deAtramentis Document Ink Black. Check out https://www.doodleaddicts.com/drawing-challenges/draw-your-fear/ tomorrow to see it in full color!

If it wasn't enough that Ernest Shacletons ship Endurance was crushed by the ice in Antarctika’s, some kind of weird Space Weather phenomenon appeared into the sky(drawing tip:if your drawing looks flat and dull , try to transforming it something different ).

Let me Skull your thoughts

Did you ever have a page in your sketchbook that was so bad and so embarrassing that you tore it out and chucked it? This was one of those pages that made me cringed every time I came to it. So today I said to myself, "ENOUGH!" and ripped it out of my moleskine. But something wouldn't let me throw it in the can. Now, I'm not one of those artists that can't bring himself to throw away any of his stuff because each and every piece, good or bad holds some kind of sentimentality or sense of importance. This particular page was a result of a crappy angst filled day and stuff poured out of me. For some reason, it felt like I was throwing away some piece of my soul. There were parts that were overworked and others that were painfully too personal. So I decided to cut it up and put it back together in no particular order, however it seemed best. As I was pasting the pieces down it occurred to me that this had a comic book feel so I scanned the final and added the black borders in photoshop which I really dug. I like that it is cryptic and jumbled up like my brain can so often be. This reminded me of the awesome @johnhendrix who said something in his book, Drawing Is Magic that stuck with me. He said, "Don't worry about doing anything wrong. If you're hoping your sketchbook turns into a glossy display of only your best drawings, you are not carrying a sketchbook, you are carrying a portfolio." In other words, explore, take chances, loosen up and have fun. Try your best to go at it like an uninhibited child. In so doing, you will stretch as an artist by avoiding repetition and predictability. We all know how to do what we already know. To sum up, I created a bad page, and whether or not I was able to fix it, it expanded me. So, follow your pencil, pen, or whatever and let them take you to places you never imagined when you started. Then, maybe you will end up staring happily at the final and with childlike wonder, say, "man, where did that come from?"

I told my boys, "That's you, you and you." They paused for a moment, pointed at the hot dog, and asked, "Well... Who's that?" ... "That's your baby sister." -- Ink and watercolor on 5x5 Arches cold press.

When I was planning this pattern I really wanted it to have a dark background. I built it in photoshop using hand drawn marker flowers but when I try to place them on a dark background it looks ridiculous!

Home Is Where The Hurt Is. Gouache on Arches watercolor paper. A painting for all those who came up with crappy home lives.