The inspiration for this collection came from a conversation I had with the Founder and Executive Director of the Underprivileged And Underserved Foundation (UAUF), George Goodwine. While discussing race and whether or not every opportunity was fair based upon someone’s familial structure or “starting line,” I was asked the following questions. How does someone overcome these hurdles? How can the playing field be leveled to make things fairer, when others may only have 50 hurdles to overcome in the same competition?
My response was simple. “The person in front of 150 hurdles has two choices. They can either get discouraged before they begin, or start jumping. In the midst of the race they might get tired, unsure, or discouraged, but if they press on to the finish line they may become more physically fit than the person who jumps over 50.”
I used to dance ballet and at the time, there were a lot of hurdles I had to overcome solely based upon inconveniences that came with being raised in low-income, single parent home. Above are pencil sketches and sharpie drawings that I have drawn from actual photos. I plan on making these images my own by adding more abstraction and vibrant color to them.
Over the course of the project, stay tuned to see how these pictures will transform into a work of ART!!! Check out my artwork at theservingartist.com
WHIP IT GOOD. This ode to Devo was drawn with fountain pen ink run through brush markers. The watercolor effect was me running a wet brush through parts to make the fountain pen ink lift and pool. If you want more Leah Fun™, be sure to check out instagram Super_Starling!
There was a royal lineage in Europe that was so inbred that their jaws started getting really distended and weird. Like Jay Leno, but inbred. (I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.) Feel free to look up the Hapsburgs. I'll wait. The second picture is a Fiji mermaid and a merman. I think I want a merman tattoo. SMOLDER.
This drawing looks a bit like one of those "how are you feeling?" hospital charts. It starts out okay ("smiling cat", "drunk pirate"), and descends into full Lovecraftian Horror. I was driving toward a local town known for its unpleasant yokels, which probably explains the progression. Today, for the record, I'm 75% Apathetic Lumberjack, 5% glassy-eyed cat, and 20% Vampire Waluigi.
This 11" x 14" bold, dynamic, geometric abstract makes a unique statement. Lines and curves, angles and shapes in stark black and white convey the arbitrary, yet methodical . . . random, yet systematic nature of the universe . . . and our lives.
I spotted a huge line drawing on YouTube. I was curious about how it feels to draw just lines over and over again. The one on the web was four times as big as this one (on A3 paper). Half way through I started to nod off. Next morning I thought the green
New class, Sketching for Animators and illustrators, started last Saturday. I do a lot of trace overlays on students existing work. This was just adding more believable shapes and changing the pose slightly. I really like this class since we get to cover
