Possibly the Cutest Thing I've Ever Done...

So here's some more WIP on this boy scout illustration I'm doing.

Let me be clear though, this isn't for the Boy Scouts, just a piece involving a boy scout and a girl scout. My pieces need no affiliation, darnnit!

Anyways, it's been a month since I've graduated and things have been weird. I've picked up a little freelance (when I say little, I mean little), but hopefully things will be moving in a different direction really soon and I won't be in this weird-in-between-flux period that I've been in this past month.

Hope you guys like the piece thus far, and of course, thoughts, criticisms, or ideas are more than welcome! Later Head Waiter.

Boy Scout

I'm working on a new character illustration as I'm writing this, so I figured I'd show some sketches in order to prove it to the world.

I'll be taking this one a little further than my motor scooter spots by trying to incorporate a little bit more storytelling!

I'm really trying to push myself to keep going. I've hit a rut these past few weeks where none of what I was doing was coming out very well and I feared for my post-college artwork. All seems to have returned to some form of normalcy though, as with this project I feel my confidence returning and, more-or-less, a return to form as far as my illustration goes. This illustration's going to be a little more adorable than what I'm used to doing (certainly not a bad thing), but should still reflect the same kind of quality I've been turning myself toward with my past few illustrations. I'm hoping the constant pushing in the right direction helps me turn out illustration work the likes of which I had never thought myself capable of, but we shall all see. I just want to succeed.

Anyways, tune in soon to see more!

Hellish Relish Edits

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been working on a few things and since graduating have been kind of busy and strugglin' to come up with new illustration ideas. Anyways, to make up for no updates in close to a month, here's a little something I edited about a month ago.

Now, this bad lad, as you can see, is very similar to the one I posted earlier in my blog. This time around though, I've cleaned some things up and, overall, just made it more appealing.

I'm working on some new things right now (I've finally come up with some ideas) and will hopefully be posting some cool stuff eventually! Thanks for dropping in, talkcha soooooon!

Second Moped Illustration and Last Week in Detroit... Forever?

So, as promised I've stuck to this series of Motor Scooter Illustrations. There's one more left and I promise that he'll be even more goofy and fun than these first two.  I'm having a lot of fun with this project and I think they're coming along really nicely. Thoughts and criticisms are more than welcome.

I'm graduating this Thursday.

That's certainly a phrase I didn't think I'd be writing any time soon. I'll try to not be melancholy or emotional or trite, but it definitely feels like it was just yesterday that I was a wide eyed kid saying, "We're good" when asked by models if the lighting was good in class, while no one else said anything and stared upon me awkwardly.

My classmates and I have all grown tremendously and it's been a wild ride. I've been lucky to be able to attend classes with some of the most talented young people around and I'm so excited to see what we are all capable of these next few years.

I don't know what I'll be doing, but I'm not worried and neither should anyone reading this. The future might be uncertain, but after the personal Hell that is CCS, we should be capable of anything.

Thanks for stopping in, ya turds!

Moped Guy

Okay, so, here he is, the first in hopefully a series of three people riding mopeds. Thoughts are more than welcome!

Motor Scooters and Fat Guys Process

This isn't quite done yet, but I've been drawing stupid stuff like this since I was a kid and, as much of a cliche as it is, I still find the idea of a big, mean lookin' dude driving a motor scooter or other tiny vehicle hilarious.

I've been reading Chuck Jones' second autobiography, "Chuck Reducks", and, needless to say, it's been incredibly influential on my work. I grew up watching Chuck Jones (Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, etc.) cartoons and, amongst other things, these old cartoons are what truly got me into drawing and painting. After several years of pushing away my cartoony sensibilities and focusing on other aspects of art and design, I've finally accepted cartoons and goofy stuff as what I truly love to draw and create and I think my work shows that.

Anyways, I'll be throwin' the finish of this bad lad up here in the coming days and I think I'm going to do two more of these to make it a series (different characters of course). Hope you're diggin' the direction and thanks for stopping in!

Hellish Relish Semi-Final

Okay so after getting to see some neat-o process, you can check out the "final" version of it. Thoughts and crits are more than welcome *<8;0p (Wink-y faced clown sticking his tongue out)

Hellish Relish Process

Took a break from pluggin' away at my relish label to share what I had with ya thus far.

I'm having a lot of fun with it, just a fun cartoony devil with some devilishly hot relish.

Hellish Relish

This is the beginning of my next project for Senior Studio.

My school had Leo Espinosa in to speak about his work and the industry last week and I was lucky enough to be able to show him my portfolio afterward. He was really phenomenal and his work is awesome, the biggest thing I took away from his presentation and our chat is that characters, regardless of what they're for, need to be developed and actually be "characters".

Anyways, my friends were joking about pickeling stuff the other day when one of them said "Hellish Relish" and this image jumped into my skull. These aren't the only thumbnails, but I am digging the direction so far and really enjoy this character. Hopefully this will be a kick-ass relish label when I'm done!

Geometric Shapes are Apparently my Jam

I've been incredibly busy finishing up school, but I had a free evening a few weeks ago and created this.

I named the file "randomcrystalthingy" and, honestly, that's the only way I can describe it. This was kind of fun for me to work on because usually I put a lot of planning and thought into my illustrations, but this time around, I just opened Illustrator and made it. It's not the greatest thing I've ever done, but it's just weird enough that I kinda like it.

Pitch Imperfect Logo

I worked on this a while ago, but I figure I'll post it now! It's just a little logo I created for my friends; they were hoping to start a record label, and by George, they kinda did. They haven't been keeping up with it as much as they could, but they're still in school. So hopefully when they're all wrapped up with that, they'll get back into this!