Anudder Self Portrait

Another recent self portrait. More of a sketch than a finished piece, but I thought the face came out nice.

Regular Drawing

Treated Drawings 2

Treated Drawings 1

Take Some Risks

A self portrait. I did the pencil drawing about a month ago and then felt crummy about being such a narcissist so I put it aside. It's nice, though, to have some finished drawings that I'm not really attached to floating around for when I get in the mood to just paint and not worry about, "will my precious drawing will get ruined in the process?"

No attachment to drawing = Take some risks = Better painting

Hounds

I made this painting of my girlfriend (the first new addition to my site in a long time) after a weekend trip to my parents' house in CT. The dogs are both based on Danny, the English Setter we got when I was 11 and who's still kicking. I think that makes him 126 in human years or whatever and it really shows, he's a mess. But I remember him as really joyful and energetic and I wanted to portray some of that. As I look at it now, I realize I may have also been paying unconscious tribute to Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" album cover.

Part-time gig

I put in a few days a week working for a children's mural painter (see also: this post). More and more we're also doing paintings on canvas too. Here's some photos from a series of flowers I did a few months back:





And an in-progress shot:

Red Girl (2)

EMI's debt

One for Billboard Magazine about EMI's struggle to get out of debt.

Red Girl (1)

Charlotte Magazine

Here's a comics-style illustration for a story about the bond between a group of friends growing older together in North Carolina.

A Colorful Man

Posh Spice

For King Magazine: Posh Spice hypothetically singing at an upcoming Olympics opening ceremony.

MIM

This came about when I wanted to make a self portrait that showed the weird way glasses refract light and make it look like the wall behind someone is cutting into their face. A nice likeness, but also a reminder not to overdecorate.

Offensive Line

A new illustration for ESPN magazine.

Stylized Self Portrait

Street Fighter 3

This guy's torso and head really got out of control. I sometimes fall back on the decorative elements (such as stripes, outlines and dots) if the forms aren't coming together with enough depth and drama as I'd like. The legs are much more successful I think.

Don't Spill the Oil

Street Fighter 2

The second man-on-wood. Might have gone a little overboard with the decorative marks and outlining, plus I was still working with the not-too-successful "concealer" paint around the figure. Not my favorite but still some nice things happening.

Learning Good Consent

My good friend Cindy Crabb, who writes the amazing amazing zine "Doris", asked me if I wanted to provide the cover to a new zine she's compiling, which I definitely did.

Street Fighter

I just decided this guy looks like he's being introduced before a fight in "Street Fighter 2". This is the first of a group of figures on wood that I did a few months back. They're some of the best pieces I've done and a few are on my website. They're done without any sketches or underdrawings. All the line-work is done with paint makers in response to a few layers of mostly loose, free-form areas of acrylic. In the first couple, I used tan paint to cover the paint that ended up beyond the silhouette, but it felt fussy and artificial.

Wuz Entmee Redux

This is over on the Vice Magazine website for the moment. If you wanna read about what a "GAY" "shit" "rip off" it is, go check out their comments section!

Also, me good buddy Chris McD has a neat comic up there now too.

Oops

Oops. I posted a pic of this painting in an unfinished state last weej. Since that picture was taken I added the blue background-type area around the figure to define him a little better in the space.

Red Head

Omega-3 Enhanced

This one was on the cover of the Dining section of the New York Times on Wednesday. The article is about a new (and questionably effective) trend of adding nutrients from one food (anchovies, for example) to another unrelated food (that orange juice you're drinking).

Figure on Board

monitor self portrait

This is me sitting in my cubicle at Gem Studio (a storyboarding company no longer in existence) about 5 years ago. I traced my reflection on the monitor in Photoshop. Above me are the fluorescent lights, natch, and those little black rectangles on the windows are outward-facing cardboard American flags.

Self Portrait of Me and Tom

Of course, its just a double self portrait of me, but the double self portrait takes on an additional meaning if you have an identical twin brother.

Big Dreams

Another old comic I made. My favorite. It's based on an actual pattern of dreams I sometimes have (not lately) about giant threatening things that are large enough to be terrifying despite being somehow far away - but the distance causes the terror to be somehow less immediate, more intellectual/reflective than emotional/instinctual.

Pencil versions

Here are the unmodified pencil/ink versions of a few of my recent pieces. Although a lot is gained when the color is eventually added, a little something is always lost too.

OrthAdonis

Cowboy MBAs

Here's a piece I just finished up for American Way, the American Airlines in-flight magazine.

The article is about college programs specifically for aspiring ranchers (an extraordinarily complex occupation.)

Carried Over

A little trick I use to add some unexpectedness to a given piece is to, while its in its early stages, wipe off excess paint from a brush or knife I was using to work on a different piece onto it. In this case, the area of red, brown, and blue on the leg was carried over from this painting. Then I added the zigzag and began to respond to the new colors as I continued working.

Smooch

My figure paintings seems to fall into one of three categories: standing still, dancing, or smooching.

Jono

An old drawing of my old pal Jono. He was wearing really tight pants long before it was cool, and I'm sure he'll be wearing them long after.

Duress

Tom and I watched a weird Japanese movie a few months ago that I can't remember the name of. It was about a guy who spurts out grotesque bio-mechanical
cannons from his body when he's under extreme duress. It wasn't a very good movie but it made a big impression on us both. This is based on one of the sadistic bad guys who caused the duress.

Seascape

Sketch

A sketch with some outright lifting of my father's palette knife stripe technique (thanks, dad).

The American

A book cover I just finished up for The Overlook Press. The book is titled "The American". It's a Young Adult western by Justin Allen.

Spat