Pomegranate Sketching

Pomegranate sketching while in Taiwan. Charcoal pencil for one, watercolor the other.

Peter's Hill: Watercolor Study

Small watercolor study from Peter's Hill yesterday afternoon. High 70s...very unusual for New England in mid October.  Later in the evening headed over to the MFA for some figure drawing.

Dog Portrait Commission: Miles Davis

Just finished this portrait commission of a great dane from Pensacola, Florida named Miles Davis. Based on the reference pictures he seemed to be a combination of stoic, chill, and slightly goofy humorous - all of which I tried to simultaneously translate over into the illustrated portrait. The features that stood out the most to me were the nice gray markings (especially the patch around the gleaming blue-greenish eye and the big triangle on his back), the spotty pink nose, and the stark, simple black collar that seemed to be a really nice punctuation mark on his overall appearance. The Notre Dame football prop is a reference to his owners, who I am told are ND alumni.

Urban Meyer Quick Sketch

Quick sketch of Urban Meyer, who yesterday stepped down from the Gators head coaching job. Experimented with a ink line type of drawing with three tones for the head. Boy did we Gators do a 180 in the wrong direction this season. In an overall odd year for college football where all the perennial powerhouses finished as duds, here's hoping that next year brings a successful start to a new era of Gator football.

Survivor Tocatin's Coach: The Dragonslayer

Every season of Survivor guarantees a few standout characters, this season's by far being Coach, the self-proclaimed "Dragonslayer." It's been a while since a contestant has been this amusing to watch, though completely unintentional on his part. Even Probst couldn't help laugh along during the season about Coach's wild adventures, constant warrior-related metaphors, and spontaneous quoting of philosophers. But he wasn't a mean-spirited contestant by any means so you couldn't dislike him like you would a villain. You just couldn't tell if this guy was completely full of it or totally full of himself...or both? Either way, he'll go down as one of Survivor's most colorful characters. Coach here is about 5"x5" painted in watercolor.

Update: Received a special request for a Sierra illustration today. Thought I'd give her a triumphant pose in her trademark "black and white stripes" which ironically was the name her tribemates referred to her as on the very first day when they tried to oust her. After that, Sierra became the underdog that I think so many of us could relate to and gave us some memorable moments this season as well. And towards the end there even in the jury I think most of us were living vicariously through her facial expression reactions of "Is this guy for real???" to Coach's Last of the Mohican-ish, warrior ways. This Sierra spot is about 5.5"x2.5" and also in watercolor.

To Not Sketch Would Be Illogical

I went into the new Star Trek movie with very little knowledge about the story and franchise outside of the usual pop culture catchphrases, costumes, and impersonations. I left the theater surprised having seen a very well made film on many levels. It was great to see a high budget summer flick where the amount of CGI (though superb itself) had very little to do with carrying the success of the story and characters.

I know I'm way behind in my knowledge of Star Trek, but I thought the contrasting personalities between Kirk and Spock was engaging. As I started studying the faces to sketch out the two characters from the film, I began to realize they made it a point to cast actors with physically contrasting faces as well. Spock is round and smooth; Kirk is square and angular. Spock sports the trademark thin eyebrows high over the eyes; Kirk has heavy ones that sit low to the eyes. Where Spock has almost no forehead showing, Kirk has a vast forehead. Spock has thin, narrow, puckered lips; Kirk has full upper and lower lips that stretch wider across the face. Spock has a more bulbous prominent nose; Kirk has a thinner one with narrow flaring nostrils. To me it is no coincidence that almost everything about their features are opposites.

Following on the heels of my last Lebron sketch, I was still itching to work with watercolors. And in case I didn't mention already, the movie is excellent...go see it.

LeBron James...

...is just on an absolute tear this season and so far in these playoffs.

The painted area is about 4.5" x 2.5", watercolor on paper.

Gouache Self-Portrait

A quick little experiment with gouache paints and a mirror. I never used gouache a whole lot before but after this I think I might try them out a bit more.

Barrack Hussein Obama = Prez

I actually drew this eleven days ago after the inauguration so this is a late posting. The ceremony had a very different feel to it this time around, in fact I don't remember paying much attention to other ones in past years. The energy of the crowds made it feel like I was watching ESPN College Gameday or something, but times a million. This was a really cool pic taken at the event, you can even zoom in close and look for celebrities in the crowd. It's been a while since the US has really felt like it hit a pivotal turning point. Optimism abound...hopefully it'll be a turn for the better.

This lil' sketch is watercolor and pen.

Dog Portrait: Nattie Gann

Did a caricature-ish portrait commission of a dog named Nattie Gann, a funny lil' gal with a lot of energy. The pooch is enjoying her first winter up north here in Cleveland and it sounds like she's adjusting just fine, although I heard her tennis ball froze yesterday while she was trying to play with it. The painting is 5" x 7" watercolor and pencil on illustration board.

Dogs are the greatest invention ever.

Secret Santa, Claire, and Bob Ross

Ah, I finally became a Claire Mojher line drawing! My colleague and friend Claire made this for me for a outside-of-work Secret Santa thing here in Cleveland. It is a lil' guy, pen on paper and includes many symbols of my personality. Her work is a combination of elegant linework and charming simplicity so if you're interested, check out her blog by clicking on her name above or in the sidebar of this page.



Since we're on the subject of Claire-related art, I'm posting up this birthday card I made for her back in October at work just for fun. Doing these lil' cards gives me a chance too to experiment with different ways of working, in this case employing a sort-of woodcut print look. But por favor, don't try to understand what is going on in the card, the whole thing is pretty much based on inside jokes and conversations between her and me so I'm quite certain it will seem arbitrary and confusing to most others.


What did I do for the Secret Santa thing? A small caricature of Bob Ross, the well-known, soft-spoken, big-haired painting instructor for Dan Liuzzi, another fellow AG illustrator.   It is executed in watercolor and pencil on watercolor paper.  Click on the pic to see the bigger version of it.  Interested in a little caricature of someone?