Deer

Flower Power 2

"Ruby's Flowers" Pastel,  8.5x11

These are the same flowers from my mom's garden that I did a watercolor of back in May.  This time they are in pastels and for a sick friend.  Hope she likes it!

Farragut West Twisted Tree

"Twisted Tree"  Watercolor, 10x6

I painted this after a sketch I did in the park I cross on my way from my office to the metro.  The funny thing was that a couple weeks later after I sketched it it was cut down.  Just like that.  I have to admit that I was a little shocked.  I always enjoyed passing this tree.  The way it twisted over reminded me of a bent over dancer with her arms over her head. It was just a unique and beautiful tree  I'm glad that I got the courage to stop for a minute and capture this tree in my sketchbook.  Now that it is gone it makes this painting a little more special.  

Pencil Sketch of Twisted  Tree in Farragut West Park.

Finding a Purpose

"Waiting"  Pastel, 18x24

Have you ever felt that somewhere in you life you found yourself on a routine and it's no where near the goals/dreams that you once had? You start wondering when and where did it take a turn? You felt like you were waiting for something but didn't know what?   Well lately I've been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about the things I used to dream about. This got me thinking about the current state of my life and how I got here. I admit I have it pretty good. I have found and married my soul mate. I have a beautiful two year old daughter (who loves to paint!). We're working on building our dream house. I'm surrounded by loving family and friends.  I have a steady good paying job and yet I felt that something was lacking but didn't know what. 

Snake Study

Snake Study for an up coming painting.

DC ZOO GREVY'S ZEBRA

These are Grevy's Zebra from the National Zoo in DC.  The intricate design of the two zebra's stripes interacting with each other caught my eye.  It was a very good exercise in patience and concentration when drawing them.   Learn more about the zebras here.

Mashup-WhiteNinja

I do these every now and then in my sketchbook to help loosen up my mind.  I start with one image ( in this case the guy with his fingers to his mouth ) and then I use the contour of that image to create a new one.  It's pretty fun to see what your mind can come up with.  After I was done I felt like there could be some type of story to this and, I decided to put the focus on the white ninja.

The main story I thought of was that the white ninja has to destroy the creature in the tank before it gets out of hibernation.  And there's lots of weird a crazy characters he has to face before he gets there.

Metro Portrait No.1 - Velma

MetroPortrait  No.1 -Velma
Watercolor 12x16

 I don't really know her name but she reminds me of Velma from Scooby Doo for some reason. 

Tried out my new watercolor brush that I bought today.  A 3/4 flat and I also got a rigger but didn't use it for this painting.  I tried to use more bigger strokes and work my way down to a smaller round brush only when I needed to.  

Below is the image with a threshold adjustment layer added in Photoshop.  It reduces the image down to just black and white.  It's very good to see how readable your image is in just two values.  I found the results interesting (and readable) so I decided to throw it up here.  

Here is the sketch that I drew on the bus on my way to work.  I later added watercolor when I got home.  Her coat wasn't originally pink and her hair wasn't orange but I thought they looked cooler.  So there you go.

Beach Week

Went to the Outer Banks last week for some beach fun.  Here's a quick sketch of a dad and his daughter mesmerized by the waves.

And here below is an attempt at a cloud study while at the beach.

I've always have been fascinated with clouds and wanted to paint them. This has been the first time that I had really made an effort to capture what I see.

The colors they take on and the way they show form are very intriguing to me and they are definitely harder to paint than I realized. 

 I don't get much time to sit around and paint clouds all day like I want to. So I'll have to come up with a way to take good pictures and quickly make value/color notes with pencil/pen. I hope to do more in the future.

RedDie No.1

At long last here's my latest piece. And it's all digital.

June Sketch Dump

Here's a big ole sketch dump from my current sketchbook.  Getting back into the habit.  Word.

Flower Power

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Here's a little watercolor I just finished up for my mom.  Took a reference photo from her little flower garden outside of her kitchen.  Hopes she likes it!

Practice Practice Practice!

Still consider my self a beginner at watercolor.  But Practice makes perfect.  I painted this from a photo I took of my wife.  On to the next one.

REVENGE OF THE NERD!

Here's the latest.  Inspired by Lupe Fiasco's Mixtapes. Pencil, Watercolor, Digital.
He's going to teach this town a lesson that they won't forget.  Never make a nerd ANGRY.

Contrast Study

After reading James Gurney post about how to eliminate the middle value I decided to try it out for myself.  I very much enjoyed just breaking down everything to just black and white.  It really helped me see the bigger shapes and get a better sense of light direction.  And I love applying it to watercolor it just makes everything easier.  I'll put this tool in my bag of tricks when I'm out drawing from now on.  Rock on.

Life Drawing 4-09-2011

More drawings from my sketchbook.  Don't worry I'm doing more stuff than my life drawings and I'll be posting them up soon!

Life Drawing 3-24-2011

Had a little fun making up the colors here.  Its Christmas Time in Washington!  Not really, but this week it feels cold enough to be.  Hurry up warm weather!  

Life Drawing 3-23-2011

Ignore the robo sale sign it was a concept for another idea that I just drew around.  I really wanted to let the water play here but keeping in mind the values and lighting .  It was raining when I sketched this and letting the water have more freedom seemed fitting.

SHARKS!

Every year my wife's family goes down to outer banks NC for a week of beach fun. Last year my wife, me and baby Yvette went to the NC aquarium while down there .

Life Drawing 03-18-2011

Another painted page from my sketchbook.

Life Drawing 3-16-2011

My daughter Yvette Has about 4 phases before she finally goes to sleep. 

This is phase 3 in the back of the car (my lovely and beautiful wife was driving). This phase includes thumb sucking ear grabbing and various moaning noise. 

She was out 10 min later and deep into phase 4. (usually mouth open drooling and rag doll like physics).

Life Drawing 3-15-2011

Did this one on the bus yesterday.   

Life Drawing 03-14-2011

Hey folks!  Its been a while since my last post (over a month yikes!) well never fear I'm still here.

Piano Man

Pen

Sketched this while waiting for my wife to finish looking around the store in the mall.  One of the few reasons that I agree to go to the mall with her is that I can bring my sketchbook and sketch while she's busy in the store. The mall is an excellent source for some life drawing.

Weather Sacrifices

Pencil, Digital

Noticed some  DC Gals on my commute have this mentality.

Oh Dandelion.

Pencil and Digital

Came up with this idea after brain storming on the Illustration Friday topic REVERSE.  Going to try to paint this up in watercolor.  But for now just some pencil and simple Photoshop coloring.  Thoughts and Critiques most welcomed!

A Wolf At The Door

Pencil, Digital

I love listening to Radiohead when drawing, or really doing anything.  Sketched this one on the metro took it home redrew it and added some color and text in Photoshop. Pi Yow!

Facebook Poking Gone Too Far

INK

Here is my submission for Illustration Friday topic Surrender.  Its a whole world where people use their hands as real guns.  My wife thinks I'm very silly.

Lil Riders - Rachel And Dusty

Watercolor

So here is the second pair in my Lil Riders series.  Rachel and Dusty.  I approached this thinking I was going to do all kinds of crazy detail but ended up making everything pretty loose. I like the way it looks and feels. I'm definitely getting more confidence in mixing the colors I want to produce.  I think in my next painting I'll try inking out stuff first and then coloring it.  We'll see how that looks.  On to the next one.

Metro Sketching Part 2.

So from Metro Sketching Part One we learned why we should sketch on the metro now we will explore a little more of the process and some tips.

SHE'S SO HEAVY!

ShesSoHeavy
Watercolor, Pen

This is based off an older sketch I had in my sketchbook.  I thought the idea was still cool so I decided to redraw it, add the eagle, and paint it up.  This idea was sparked after seeing Across The Universe.  I love the Beatles.

Lil Riders - Jesse And Jake

LilRiders - Jesse And Jake
Watercolor, Pen And Some Digital Enhancement

I've been playing with a short story idea I call Lil Riders. It's basically about people riding on ordinary animals that are giant size and they race each other.  These are the main characters (Jesse) and her pig friend (Jake).  This idea was inspired  by seeing my 15 month old daughter riding a rocking pig (like a little rocking horse but with a pig instead).

Lessons Learned #1 - Watercolor

Christmas Unicorn - Watercolor
Arches cold press 140lb 12x16

So here is my attempt at watercolor of the Christmas Unicorn I did earlier.  Some things I did like and  a lot of things I didn't like.

Metro Sketching Part 1.

Apparently when I sat down to write this post I had a lot to say on the subject so I'm going to break it down into  two parts.

Christmas Unicorn

So here was my Christmas card that I sent out this year. I drew it with my trusty pencil and colored it in Photoshop.  My wife liked it so much that she asked me to paint a bigger version of it to hang up.

 For this I decided to step out of my digital comfort zone and try to do this in ye Ole watercolor. I'll explain why in another post but just something attracts me to that medium and I would love to master it. I'm slowly getting into a groove with it but its a tough cookie so here's to my fingers crossed that it comes out decent.  As I always say when starting something that looks impossible, you gotta start somewhere.

I'm Back Baby!

Hi All, and welcome to my blog! It's been a very very long time since I've posted anything, and it feels good to be back.

I've made updates, got a new art attitude, made a new kickass header, and is starting fresh and so clean (hence my illustration above). I have turned my art will power up to the max, to provide the best art that I can possibly make and strive to get better. I plan on making a post once or twice a week so be sure to subscribe, tell your friends, coworkers, and family members. Hope You  Enjoy!