Oh look it's been forever since I've posted. Also, a portrait.

Well, I'm honestly ashamed of how much art I haven't been making lately.

On a happier note, I did this from-life, oil portrait a number of weeks ago and am finally putting it up here.

Completely within a relatively short period of time, alla prima style, limited palette, the works. Painted over a sanded down previous portrait, with a quick acrylic gesso (which is probably gonna suck as far as archival purposes go), and then a quick graphite cartoon and thinned-down oils for all of the mass building. It's probably the first time that I've been able to reach this level of inherent dynamicism within a painted piece (in regards to brushwork and visual energy), and I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm actually not quite sure where it is now...maybe my locker? Oh well. I try not to fall in love with my pieces too much because the less complacent I am about it, the more likely I am to keep on working and pushing myself to do better.

Mais voilà, c'est moi.

Gridlock

Just some playing around on AdobeIllustrator.

These cubes are insane.

The whole thing works best with equilateral quadrilaterals, but I'm sure someone could think of another way to do.

Duplicating them creates an instantaneous (and somewhat surreal) sense of depth that's incredibly reminiscent of M.C. Escher.

The alignment is pretty sloppy, and it all sort of gives me a headache, but it's soooo cool.

It's very...atomic. You feel a little like a God.

Sketchbook

Here are just two recent pages from my sketchbook, a study of a 1890's photograph of a Russian mugshot, and them experimentation with colored pencils, turpentine, and acrylic paint.

Turns out, guys, watercolor pencils are a TOTAL sham. Why would you buy a whole set of normal colored pencils, and then another whole set of water-soluble ones? The wax and oils in normal colored pencils (or at least prismacolors, which I use) enable them to be affected by turpentine. The turpentine (especially when it's thin) dries almost instantaneously, which allos you to go right back in and start drawing again. It's pretty incredible.

Painting Pointers

I need to start painting a lot more, because how in the world will I ever become a medium for the spirit of John Singer Sargent if I don't practice more? I mean, really.

Pointers for future reference:
-I need to not let myself go back and correct paintings: Alla Prima all the way
-I should probably use bigger brushes
-Keep palette limited (8 colors, which I have, is pushing it...)
-REDUCE REDUCE REDUCE (I'm so bad when it comes to simplifying what I'm looking at. In fact, the more I look, the more complexity I perceive, so it's sort of a Catch22)
-Painting's overall success? Hmmm, B, B-. It's decent. I like where it's going, but my technique is still sloppy. I need to work on that.

Graphics & Icons

Some quick stuff I've been working on:

-A selection of part of an infographic that I'm doing for my work about a specific type of market specialization

-I was finally roped into it: As much as I've tried to resist it, I've finally been reduced to designing invites for church activities. This is where designers go to die. May I never have to venture here again. I wish I could've used my Illustrator-icon-making skills to make muffin-tops instead. I think that would've been much more interesting. And hilarious.

Praise be Clarendon and Interstate. They can rescue anything (even exclamation points, which should be illegal by now).