It's been awhile...

Mainly because of work, school, and this single event...

A couple weeks ago, we had a pretty nasty wind storm roll through, and when it was all said and done, this tree found a new home on top of my car. My car that I only had for about 3 or 4 months, destroyed...

But after about a week searching for a replacement, I found this Used 2003 Honda Civic, and best of all...

It's a Hybrid! And it's spectacular!

So far, its getting me about 53 MPG, absolutely incredible, just thought I'd share...

Also, if anyone is interested in increasing your fuel efficiency, here is a website with some great tips on how to do just that!

Hypermiling.com

Serial Planes - 3D Design

Here's something that I completed a couple weeks ago, it's a hand...made out of paper and core board...for my 3D Design class

Drawing II

Here are a couple of pieces that I've been working on in my Drawing II class.

(Charcoal and Conte; 18"x24")

This first one is an in-class still life that was completed over the span of a couple class periods.

As in all drawing classes, the main objective here was to duplicate reality, which is something that I struggle with because of my high reliance on line. Also, in my observational drawing, I have a tendency (as do most others) to "idealize" what I see, or to use the values that I "think" are present, and not the true values present in the still life. A lot of effort in this drawing was placed on determining the true values present. It took all of me not to include the black blacks and the white whites I thought existed, but this is a more accurate depiction of reality because of their absence. Most importantly, I really learned something with this drawing...

(Charcoal and Conte; 22"x33")

This one was a homework project, the assignment, a catapulting object. Obviously I choose my shoes, The main objective in this assignment was to draw an object transcending space showing several different views of the object. The goal was to show that we understand volume. The image is a little odd, I know, but I like how this piece came out.

...enjoy

My crazy cousin and my hand.

Being two weeks into the new semester, I don't have a whole lot to show that is very interesting, I've just been doing a whole lot of small sketching, and brainstorming for my 3D Design class. Our first to assignment is create a sculpture, using sheets of paper to define a volume. Here is a hand study that I did to help with that project.

And my crazy cousin, on kraft paper

I'm still working on a logo design that showed a small preview for at the beginning of the month, as soon as thats finished, I'll have that up here. It should be interesting to share...

One more...

But probably won't be the last...

Trip to the art store

This morning I ventured to a brand new art store (to me at least) in search of a good pencil sharpener, and hoping the had a pad of "butcher paper." There was no butcher paper to be had, but a $5 pad of "kraft paper" wouldn't let me leave the store without it. These are the results, for the first of 50 pages at least.

Both are quick, the first around 20 minutes, the second around 30 minutes or so, using Prismacolor pencils.

Enjoy!

Quick Sketch

My brother asked me to do a drawing for him, and this is what I did... quick Copic marker sketch

Enjoy...

Happy New Year...

First project of the new year, heres just a taste of whats to come. More information in a blog post to come soon!


Until Then...

Whoopie!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and is preparing to have a Happy New Year. I haven't posted in about two weeks because I have been enjoying this time of year with friends and family, but here is something that I did back when the park was open, just to get something up here so I didn't go too long without a post.


Graphite and Airbrush

Roswell Hornets Football 2007

This was probably my most time consuming project to date, drawing the local high school football team. I Also did this project last year, but on a much smaller scale, I only drew the about 30 or so seniors graduating that year. This year, I drew the 30 or something seniors, the 20 coaches, the trainers, the physical therapist, the cheer coaches...on and on and on...

In all, I drew 60 people for this project, here are 10 of them. I thought I'd spare you from all the monotony.

As a side note, the 2006 Hornets won the State Championship,
and the 2007 Hornets made it into the third round of the playoffs.

Congratulations Hornets!

Final 2D Design Project

Here is what kept me busy for about the last two weeks of the fall semester, our final 2d Design project. The assignment was a two part project centered around a social issue, I chose Childhood Obesity.

Part 1.) The Poster - Well, this image really doesn't describe what I did, because there was so much going on in this project. Everything was attached to a foam core board, and was "sticking out" somewhat. The fries can actually be removed from the fry carton, and some of the fries have information written on them. The McDonald's street sign move back and forth, in somewhat of a pendulum motion, and the Red Circle with the McDonald's logo on it rotates.

I used Copic Markers and Prismacolor colored pencils to draw and what not.



Part 2.) The Take Away - Fat Kid key chains, made out of Sculpy, painted with acrylics, and clothed in blue fabric. The box was made out of black foam core and matte board.

I wanted to make them out of the same stuff the make prosthetics out of, but I tried and failed. I thought it would be cool if when you flick their little fat kid stomachs that it would jiggle

Attached to the key ring was this tag. We had to provide information, and a URL for an opportunity to find out more on the social issue.


If interested, click here for more information on this growing problem

We were supposed to be somewhat concerned about the issue we chose, and I am!

...but it was mostly chosen because of the humor of the subject matter!

Enjoy!

Self Portrait

For our final project in Drawing I, we had to do a self portrait, you know those "serious ones" I started three, and only finished one. The first two are drawings that I put about an hour into, size 24" x 36" and the last one is the one I came closer to finishing, but I would still make changes on it if I could.

The assignment was "you in your environment" So I figured I would just set up a couple mirrors on my drawing table, and draw what I saw, but I didn't like that once I got started...

I then decided I just wanted to draw myself, and my environment would be my background, but then decided that my proportions wouldn't be correct on this particular drawing, even though I think I came pretty close...
Then after two attempts in charcoal, I got bored kinda, and moved onto ink. If we chose to do it in ink, we had to use cross contour. You can see it if you look for them, and thats how I wanted it. Not perfect, but it will do... I hope.

Working with the Figure

Well, some might be wondering what I've been up to for the past few weeks without a post, and here it is, for the most part. These figure drawings were completed in class (Drawing I), and all were done with a purpose to demonstrate some aspect of drawing. Hopefully I've successfully demonstrated whatever it was I was being asked to demonstrate...??

Contour (Charcoal)

Proportion and Scale (Charcoal)

Representing the Figure in relation to its Environment (Charcoal)

This assignment was simply the figure on buff paper, but I assigned myself to think of it as how the light is affecting the figure, so I paid a lot of (general) attention to lighting (Charcoal)

Contour and Cross Contour (Pen and Ink)

Contour and Cross Contour (Pen and Ink)

This is all in class stuff, outside of class has also been crazy. I've been working on two final projects, one being a self portrait (as soon as that's finished you will see it up here) and the other a poster to illustrate a social problem. I had fun with the latter, and will also post that in the coming week or so. Both are in the final stages, and have consumed most of my free time for the past two weeks or so.

So please, I know I have a long way to go, but let me know what you think of these figure drawings. They are quite boring, but we're working on the fundamentals. This post if very much a part of the learning process. Thanks!

Pastor Appreciation Month

Along with Mole Day (October 23rd), October also brought us Pastor Appreciation Month. I was approached about doing a piece for the pastor of our church, Crosspoint Community Church, and here are the results. He is the father of six children, and his wife is a flight attendant on Delta Airlines. He is a huge Auburn Fan and used to judge cows at county fairs. With all that information, I came up with the grand idea of doing a knock off of the famous Grant Wood painting, American Gothic...my apologies to Mr. Wood.

Once again, Copic Markers...

Mr. Cosmo!

Back in May, I wrote a post about getting a Chameleon. Well, He's here and has been for a couple months now. His name is Cosmo, he is a 10 month old, 17 inch male Veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus). He pretty much hates me, or anything else that moves or makes sounds (unless he can eat it) so I don't take him out a whole bunch (if at all). When he does come out, it is only for cage cleanings and a general look over, he's pretty aggressive. Don't let his looks fool you, he'll tear you apart! In all seriousness, Chameleons are not pets that enjoy being handled, they are best treated like fish and not handled unless necessary. Here are a couple of pictures of him in his "natural" habitat, and one of me holding him.

Keeping true to the nature of my blog, here is a study of him done in my sketchbook with micron pens, and copic markers for coloring.



...enjoy