weapon hand

     A little futuristic, sci-fi action type stuff from my late teens.  Thanks for taking a look.

talons and audioslave

     This post was inspired by fellow artist and blogger Aquilus Domini.  After seeing his exasperated dragon I was reminded of a couple of things: (1) talons and horns rule and (2) so does Audioslave.

     While the above drawing pales in comparison to Aquilus' latest, it is nonetheless one of my favorites from high school.  After taking a closer look at it while uploading it, I also just realized it was one of the drawings I digitally fiddled with in my 30's.  Also, no thumb.  Eh, whatcha gonna do?

disco in the desert

     This was before I got all hairy/fuzzy with the bone joints.  I think I was using nougat for the joint adhesive in this one.  Kinda looks like the bizarre mutated skeleton of John Travolta found in some desert somewhere, stuck in the Saturday Night Fever pose due to some peculiar distortion in space time.

happy dragon

     Not much in the way of memories about Mr. Happy Dragon here.  I just thought I'd post him for your amusement and for another entry into my quick sketches category.  Thanks and enjoy.

sex and donuts

(ADULT CONTENT BELOW)


     More Sharpie craze stuff from my 30's.  Recently, I went ahead and added a couple of gray tones to this one for a touch of clarity and depth.

     Not a lot of mystery about this one with all the fuzzy, fleshy, sexual stuff going on.  Although, I'm not sure what the whole mouth on top of the head thing is about.  I have other drawings that have that feature.  Dunno, maybe I have a hungry brain or something.  Hungry for donuts most likely.

simon

     This was done shortly after we got our dumbest cat to date, Simon.  Half cat, half dog, half badger and all animal, baby.  Most cats have a personality that transcends the animal and makes you think of them as a cute little member of the household but not Simon.  He operates solely on instinct; running around, eating, sleeping, pooping, barfing, eating some more and whining when he doesn't get enough attention.  He's no mystery at all, as his one brain cell can only do so much.  The one thing that does make him unique and/or remarkable in our household is that he's the first cat we've ever had that has a scorpion-like twitch to his tail when he's excited.  I attempted to capture that with this sketch.

dad, now in color!

     Here's my latest.  It combines two of my favorite things:  Sharpie markers and computer image editing.  I tried to just go nuts with the color, but staying with my first instincts.  You gotta start somewhere.

     As for the content, I'm guessing my dad is an influence, considering the one eye and the jagged, yellow teeth.  That's all I've got.  This is too fresh for me to know much else about it.  Thanks for stopping by.

the need for speed

     Watercolor paint lends itself to different subject matter than what I'm used to.  It's definitely an interesting prospect that I would like to explore but my work schedule of late has left me with far less time and energy than I feel is necessary to truly embrace a new medium.  I don't want to just futz around with it and churn out half-hearted attempts, especially when I'm feeling the need to express my frustration and anger in a more vivid manner.

     For my new works I plan to put down the brush and go back to my markers.  A fast, familiar medium is what I need right now, given my schedule.

dickhead

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     Good ol' Dickhead.  Part fallen angel, part crybaby, part undead abomination.  The main thought that enters my mind regarding this composition is the question: "Was the penis really necessary?"  In some ways I consider this one to be among the best of the craze, but I have my doubts because I can't determine if I added the penis in order to provoke a cheap reaction or if it's an essential part of the whole.

     In an effort to find an answer to this question, I created an edited version while I was preparing the original for posting.  Comparing the two, I think, reveals that he doesn't seem as sad without the penis.  The tears almost seem out of place in the edited version.  Perhaps I'm just used to seeing the original in my sketchbook but I think this tips the scales, ever so gently, in my mind towards "essential part of the whole."  Of course, it's no surprise that an artist would be naturally inclined towards defending the content of their own work but I think enough time has passed between original creation and current examination that I'm fairly comfortable with this assessment.

      Of course, opinions of the non-Vincent variety are likely to be the most objective so feel free to chime in if you're in the mood.

a stationary menace

     Propped up on awkward limbs and a make-shift support, yet it's got bloody teeth.  Who or what was stupid enough or unlucky enough to get that close?

     The backstory of the craze continues.  I've got a bunch of these yet to come.  Stay tuned.

colorful accidents

     A little random expression to show my enthusiasm for my new experiment in watercolors.  What you see is exactly what it looks like; bits of paper towels stained with leftover watercolor paint.  I just cut out most of the white parts and slammed these bitches down on the scanner.  A couple of minor tweaks with my image editor of choice helped accentuate the texture and colors.

     My main reason for doing this was due the effect the paper towels had on the paint.  I enjoy how the colors bleed and separate (particularly the purple and blue) as the towel absorbs them.  I suppose I could develop this happy accident into something more deliberate and planned, perhaps experimenting with cloth or other absorbent materials.  Sort of a tie-dye kind of thing.  It's a thought.

bamboo engineers have a tough job

     Another assignment from early college.  This was when I was still living with my mom and she was renting this awesome studio-type apartment above a drugstore.  The subject matter here was one of those cheaply made, bamboo-wicker-type chairs that were all the rage in the late 80's, early 90's.  These chairs were designed to hold the weight of a normal adult or two calmly relaxing young adults (for example, me and my future wife).  Of course, the two young adults in question can remain calm and relaxed in a chair this size for only so long before they become active, horny young adults.  The physical stresses that two people in such a state produce are far greater than the maximum rated capacity for a chair of this type.  This was the first of at least two chairs my mother had to purchase when I explained to her they accidentally broke when I happened to sit down in them too hard, clumsy me.

don't wanna be around when he sneezes

     Got myself in the digital mood and futzed around with a pencil drawing from my teens.  I reduced the colors and edited the palette to achieve this effect.  This drawing always gave me sort of a bland feeling so sprucing it up a bit with some color has hopefully added some interest.

muppet eyeball head

     Here's my latest watercolor creation.  Yes, it's watercolor paint.  Yes, I know I tried to make it look like a Sharpie marker.  I wimped out a little but I got some good practice in.  It takes a lot of care to get the kind of lines you want with a wet brush.  I remember back in college, when I had dreams of being this great ceramic artist/sculptor, I used to think that 2D compositions were for posers.  I had particular disdain for painters but now, every time I pick up a brush, my respect for them grows and grows.  Not only respect but an increased understanding of what makes painting so alluring.

     This is truly a wonderful and complex medium to work with, as such, it's a little intimidating which is why I limited myself to only black and to a very familiar subject matter and style for this composition.  I do like the new level of fuzzy effects I was able to create with a brush.  In contrast to the coarser hairs I produce with a marker, a brush goes beyond fuzzy in the realm of full-on furry.  Like muppet levels of furry.  I mean just look at this guy, he's almost lovable with his wispy eyelashes and tufts of fur! (The original looks better, as I had unusual amounts of difficultly with the scanning process this time around.)

     Well, I'll stop jabbering now.  Thanks for joining me in my painting experiment.

viking bananas

     I drew this in high school and it still perplexes me.  It mocks me like some sort of viking helmet, hover-jellyfish of confusion.  I'll get my revenge by drawing its nemesis.  I'll draw some sort of pumpkin, steam shovel, rocket-powered banana of clarity.  Yeah!  So take that you... you THING!

adventures in watercolor

     I bought some cheap watercolor paints last week to experiment with and yesterday I finally had the chance to use them. This was the first time I'd picked up a paintbrush since college. I soon realized a brush, wet with paint, was no Sharpie marker and, quite frankly, I got scared.  I mixed some colors and decided to lay down a familiar skull shape and added some darker regions for the eye sockets and mouth.  At this point, I panicked and picked up some markers and produced the following, awkward mixed-media creation:


The hard, sharp lines of markers don't really go well with the soft, dreamy lines that watercolor so easily creates.  I decided the mistake I made was not sticking with the paint until the bitter end so I tried again and didn't even look at a marker:

All in all, I think this is an improvement.  For my second attempt, I'm fairly pleased with the results and I'm looking forward to more painting.

lust mouth

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     Next in the Crazed Death Porno lineup we have good old-fashioned lust.  I'm not sure as to the specifics but lust is definitely the central theme here, methinks.  Personally, I react more to the face than anything else; the wild eye and the fleshy mouth protrusions...

     (The keen observer might note that I'm reacting to this piece as though I didn't create it.  I did, in fact, draw this damn thing but fuck if I know what I was doing at the time!  I have to create this shit and come back to it later if I hope to have a chance at divining a semi-accurate meaning.)

     Sure, there's an enormous, erect, ejaculating penis but that alone isn't all that significant to me when viewing this composition.  It's that fucking face, giving you the side-eye like some sort of strange, mutated bull that would turn and charge you if it wasn't attached to that rock-like base.

     On a calmer, more curious note, I have to wonder what that wavy, electric, forcefield-type thing I drew around him is.  This is something I've drawn before but I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a protective thing, something that is emanating from the subject or just an excuse for me to scribble a wavy circular design around the composition to give it a finishing touch.  I guess I'll leave that one up to you.

spinal tap

     A little something from the early stages of the craze.  My main memory while drawing this was, "Ouch, that's gotta hurt!"  I think this might also feed into my whole victim complex.  I'm much more fragile and whiny than I might appear a lot of the time and I tend to get unreasonably upset over the smallest things.  I probably drew this because I was in a deep, debilitating, soul-crushing funk over having to mow the lawn.