ooblog

Here is the last installment of the small sketch book I used to carry with me.  On the last page you can see some stickers I made years ago.  I should make some more.  Does anyone have any sticker ideas they want to see.  Send me an email at “stickers”at”oobust.com with the header “Stickers. . . Here’s a thought” and I will see what I can come up with.   Although it will take a while, I don’t think it will take me as long to complete the second little sketch book I started as I draw in it fairly frequently.  I have completed about 15 pages which is about two pages a week.  Once again, there is no real rush on it as I have plenty of other drawings I’m cooking up in other ways.  Lately, the more things I complete the more projects seem to come to mind.  This is a good thing, but I can’t help thinking that the line will never end.  On another note, I can’t help but think about how Spring is here.  The sun definitely tried to wake me up this morning.  I look forward to longer  and warmer days and hopefully happier passers by.

I recently did the work below for a contest which required concept art for a gun.  There were some requirements (skull has to be on the gun, hold at least eight bullets etc.) and some samples just to get people excited about participating.  The first thing I thought of was Deckard’s gun in Blade Runner.  One of my all time favorite movies as well as guns.   This of course moved on to Han Solo, Battle Star Galactica, etc. A few summers ago, I also purchased a book which has great reference materials call The Illustrated History of Weaponry.  I considered all of this to be adequate research.  To my surprise the judge who commented on the images was  some sort of weapons expert.  The feedback on all of the entries was enlightening to say the least.  The trigger location, ease of prolonged use and stress on the wrist.  You get the point.  It just goes to show that even if you are making something up, looking believable often goes beyond visual language.  The last image was modified as the comments on my gun was related to the over all length of the gun and bulk of the handle.

The other week it snowed and I thought it might be better to call Global Warming, Global Climate Change even if the first term may be considered more accurate.  My thought is that someone might think “Hey man, it’s snowing.” What’s all of this none sense about climate change.  I didn’t realize some news stations would actually promote such false claims that Al Gore and 95% of the science community might be wrong.  Are our problems only relative to what we see in front of us or are the pictures of significant ice caps melting not enough.  So here is my thought.  Let’s suppose you are at the doctors office and in this case he has some fairly good news. He says “you are going to live. . . as long as you change your habits.  Smoke less, eat better, exercise, yata yata yata.  So now you have a choice to make and it’s a  pretty obvious one.  Now let’s think about the skeptics who think Global Warming doesn’t exist.  Let’s say climate change isn’t entirely mans fault made much like poor eating habits might not be the only thing that could cause a heart attack.  Let’s think that this is a normal planetary phase.  The answer is still to slow it down or try to change it since it’s prevention depends on our lively hood.  We know we can do something about it.  We know we can make lifestyle changes. We know that we want to live.  No difference in the doctor scenario except for the fact that in this case you are choosing for everyone on the planet and not just yourself.

While I’m at it, if we can figure out how to make water and/or start a colony on the moon (or Mars for that matter) fixing our problems on the planet seems like the more logical step.

So what are you going to do?  Below I’ve included part two of a little sketchbook finished a few months ago.

Happy Valentines Day dear reader.  I drew and inked (20in x 30in) this piece a year ago, but I didn’t fine tune the coloring and some of the additional elements until earlier this year.  The concept was originally based on the white queen from the X-men.  Part of her abilities include invisibility and her attractiveness to influence people so I wanted to make it look like she was blinding the viewer with her power to make people fall in love with her.  I also thought about the idea of what white fabric might look like surrounded by a white background.  Not as easy as I had originally thought it would be.  Mucha images were used for inspiration as well.  Enjoy!

I will probably update this with better words tomorrow, but I’m headed out so this is a quick post.  My studio mate DongYun had a show which was wonderful that opened on Thursday.  Good news is that it was a good show, but the bad news is you will only be able to enjoy it in photos as the show is already down.  Although I’m not a football fan I have to congratulate the Saints as New Orleans could use some positive luck/vibes.  I did some work this week which I will have to post down the road.  Since we are already in February, I want to show some images from my small sketch book that I finished in December.  Once you see all three installments you might notice some sort of progression or change.  Here is to installment one which I started while I was at SVA.  Of course, SVA makes up the second half of the book as the first half spands several years of occasional tinkering.

I’ve always liked those neon signs that you might see while driving on the road.  I would suspect to grab ones attention to get  a bite to eat, stay at a motel or go bowling.  Does the free HBO ever get anyones attention anymore?  I recently fine tuned this piece which comes from a short story I read recently.  Although the sign in the story doesn’t specify the type I used the brief description to go with those crazy signs I like.  This weekend I was also able to go by a small works art show Nu is in and hang out with Martin at his house before he ships his paintings out to LA.  Martin I’m going to paint in oils again soon.  O.K. now its out there so I have to stop saying and actually do it.  Below are some stages and details of the super sign.

Here is something I worked on for a portion of the week which was due today.  I started another contest today as well which is due later in the week.  Although the current contest will hopefully generate some exposure the second has a little bit of money on the line so keep your fingers crossed for me.  The images below are some of the stages this one went through.  I actually like the second stage better, but the indigo skin was one of the requirements.

I finally started using a watercolor set purchased several months ago.  I saw the results of this set from a teachers sketch book last summer.  The brand is Cretacolor and the colors are more vibrant than watercolor sets I’ve used in the past.  Of course the demo (in all blue) started with some inks I use on a regular basis.  I decided to test the new set out on the same watercolor demo I started in class last semester.  Below is the demo as it looked in class and how it looks now.

Today, I figured I would show something in progress.  There are 42 rabbits here which I figured would be appropriate for today as the number was almost 26, but I decided to keep going.  Without being anymore obscure I might showcase the 42 rabbits on October 10th  to drive home the point of todays original number of 26.  In other news, if you haven’t seen the Destination show off of Little 12th street, it will be up for the rest of the month.  I’ve been doing a decent amount of drawing this year and I hope to keep up the pace.  It has been fun and has reminded me of why I make art to begin with.  Below is me enjoying the process.  The first is the whole thing and the rest are details.  Here is to the rabbits project.

Happy New Year dear readers.  I wont get into the irony of 2010 being “year of the tiger.”  Although the Chinese New Year is a few weeks away I decided to make this as a year ago I made an image for “year of the Ox.”  I’m still thinking about resolutions and 2009 so you will have to bear with me.  Until things start to define themselves a little more clearly I will leave you with the image below.