Silly archived art

I do a lot of topical art. If I see or hear of a friend doing something silly or odd, I've occasionally taken to making fun of them with a cartoon sketch. We all have a cheap laugh. And rather than just tossing the art into the garbage, I toss them into a folder on my hard drive. Every now and then I'll go through that folder and find some of the oddest things that I look back at and have no idea what the joke was about. I'd like to think it was funny at the time, but now? I'm not even sure what we were talking about or what the context was.

Prime example is this owl illustration for a colleague. I know I was making fun of her daughter but why the giant owl??

Digital sketching

A few weeks back I did a lecture as to what I do for a living. I had one of the students in the audience ask if I did traditional or digital art. I did straddle both of those eras but to me, it's still drawing. Whether I use paper & pen or stylus and tablet- it really doesn't matter. My clients don't care. Is there something more genuine about one over the other? I'm not sure. I'd also like to think as things progress and evolve, digital will become folded into the traditional realm. I've often wondered what the old masters back in the day what they thought of this new medium "acrylic paint" when that medium made its debut. I'm sure back then it was looked down upon or scoffed at but a few generations later, it too has joined the traditional realm.

The lesser view

The other day I had to crawl underneath my desk to reset the modem. I literally had to sit underneath my desk while fending off dust bunnies, untangling various cords, finding loose crumbs of food, and all manner of things most of us have totally forgotten about. This is a view I probably hadn't consciously thought about since I was probably a toddler and that view was my entire world.

Harkening back to dishwashing

This was a sketch that recalled my teenage days when I washed dishes for a living. It wasn't the tidiest of jobs. It surely wasn't the most noble of professions but for a fifteen year old kid, it wasn't a bad way to make a few bucks. I never wore the paper hat because it was always a sweaty, sticky mess. I look back fondly to this job as it was the last time when I left work- work stayed there. When that apron was taken off at the end of the night and deposited in the dirty linen basket, work ceased. Now being employed as an artist I'm constantly aware of the visuals around me; I don't turn it off, nor can I turn it off. It was a much simpler, albeit greasier time.

Wrangler sketch

Nothing more than just a sketch of a wrangler/ cowboy for the sake of crosshatching.

Tight storyboard work

Doing much tighter storyboard frames is just another thing that I get asked to do from time to time. It's nothing I shy away from as it is a bit of a departure from the looser, quicker style, and it's also a nice challenge from time-to-time. The clients are usually pretty understanding that it takes a little more time and aren't afraid to pay for it.

Michigan's Mackinac conference

Every year in the state of Michigan, the power brokers and influential people gather up in Mackinac Island to rub elbows and share ideas. Friend, Rachel Lutz wrote an article for WDET about the people that attended this year's conference and had an "illustration emergency" when she needed art to help this article along. Needless to say, she called me and I had to crank out this piece over night for her and the kind folks at WDET.

Late night breaks.

Every now and then for my jobs I have to pull a late nighter or the dreaded all-nighter. Not that I espouse them at all, but it happens. Clients have needs and I'm the lucky guy that gets called upon to hopefully save the day a little bit. But as a tad of mental and stress relief I make sure that I take a drive to the neighborhood 7-11 at 4:00AM. It helps clear the cobwebs, makes sure that I get up from the drawing board and keeps me fresh. Sometimes I'll buy a munchie or a drink but it's not a pre-requisite to going. But it's always an interesting crowd that I'll see at that time of the day. Beyond the usual array of the local cops on a donut run, one can meet all sorts- and they always make for fun drawings at a later time.

Linework studies

No particular motivation for any of these sketches other than just wanting to have fun. Maybe the one with the bird had to do with a neighbor who once had obnoxious little barking dogs- and it was my way of having revenge. Again, maybe.

Fashion + cold

While driving to school the other day I happen to have glanced over and saw this individual. Perfectly coiffed, he stood out there on a street corner with briefcase in hand- while that was no cause for concern, the thing that stood out to me was that it was about 12º. He was hardly dressed for the weather in his thin sweater and skinny jeans. I know some people "suffer for fashion" but frostbite never seemed chic to me.

Weasel sketch

Just having some late night fun working on a weasel dude. No particular rationale, reason or purpose other than having fun and scribbling away.

The prisoner blues.

Just a quickie sketch and minimal digital color.

It's cold out there!

Rather than complain about the cold, I've always been one to embrace it. It's nature happening around us. It lets me know I'm still alive and kicking. So as the cold weather slowly descends upon us here in the midwest I celebrate it.

A few scant seconds sketching it in a Sharpie marker and about 10 minutes of digital color- all done while wearing a cozy warm hat and stylish sweater.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Growing up I always had a fondness for the Thanksgiving holiday. In elementary school I still remember being chosen as one of the artistic kids to do a huge three foot wide by what seemed like an infinite roll of paper celebrating Thanksgiving. I was so proud that I could draw the Mayflower accurately and the celebrants en masse. It was than that I think it dawned on me that I could draw faster than most other talented kids.

As a teen, it was always a family day for us to get together. In a family where so many people owned or worked in Chinese restaurants, it was the one day of the year where they would shut down (seriously who goes out and orders Chinese food on Thanksgiving?) and we could get together to share a meal.

My mom made a bigger deal of it when her kids were adults as it was precious to her to get people together. People were growing up, getting married, going their separate ways but it was always Thanksgiving that we would get together. And it was the traditional American Thanksgiving complete with all the Norman Rockwell-esque family fixings.

Besides a turkey was cheap and could feed a small army of people. Our family liked to eat but were always budget conscious. And my dad had all the voodoo for making a great tasting juicy bird too. He never relied on thermometers, timers or pop-up gauges. Watching him cook was like watching improvisational jazz happening.

I miss my folks at this time of the year but I will always be thankful for the memories they gave me around this holiday. I will forever be thankful for all that I have. Best wishes to all.

Mental break

After a few long nights (and early mornings) of doing tons and tons of advertising art, it's nice to be able to dive into the sketchbook and doodle something that's fun, fantastical and will probably never generate any sort of buzz for future work. It's not that there aren't clients out there that might want something this abstract- but they're far and few in between. Regardless though, when it comes right down to it, I still have a ton of fun being able to take the mental break and explore silly sketches like this- it's sort of Terry Gilliam meets Miyazaki meets the Merrimack and Monitor.