Dad, You're Pretty Great

My mom commissioned this caricature of my dad in honor of his retirement last month from some 40-odd years of teaching. The irony of this picture is that my dad is the sort that gets antsy on vacation and dreads rather than looks forward to relaxation. The guy just loves to work - a habit he and my mom will continue as LDS missionaries beginning this Fall (location TBA).

So thanks, Dad, for taking care of us all those years (and continuing to look out for us). Thanks for your example, not only of hard work, but (together with Mom) of lasting marriage and enduring companionship. Happy retirement and Happy Father's Day!

Hand Monsters!

Does anyone else suffer from this malady? Sometimes strange pigmentations appear on my skin, only to fade away within a few hours or so... Weird.

Ancient Doodles Unearthed

Here are some blasts from my lined-paper past that managed to escape the Great Purges of the last few years. During college lectures, (a.k.a. designated doodle time) I would fill my notebooks with these. And a few notes too, of course.

IF: Urban

Nowhere near done, but I kind of promised myself I'd post, regardless. I'm immersing myself in all things steampunk for a project I'll be doing some art for, so that provided the inspiration. Illustration Friday's topic of 'urban' gave me the catalyst.

For some reason when I ask myself, "What should I draw today?" the answer never seems to be, "I know, a cityscape in two-point perspective!" But once I do get into a perspective drawing I'm always asking myself, "Why don't I do this more often??" It's pretty fun. Next time I'll pay more attention to and have more fun with scale and depth.

Beauty and the Beast

Here's a few selections from a recent assignment for Core Knowledge that I like to call FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN 30 DAYS!! (not including time for revisions but still, this represents a tremendous output for me at this stage in my development!) It’s definitely a challenge, but great to get that kind of mileage. And then, on occasion, when it seems like I’m just spinning my wheels, it's cool to look back over the past year and realize that yeah, I am getting faster, making discoveries in digital painting and gaining in confidence.

One of the big challenges of this project was getting Beauty to live up to her name. But then, I’ve never been one for conventional beauty. Nothing against all the beautiful people out there, I promise - just seems to me they're a bit overrepresented, that’s all. Meanwhile, the worth of the Beasts and the uglies and the underdogs is far too often overlooked... And I guess that's the point of the story, isn't it?

Witness illustration

Here is an illustration I did for this month's Friend/Liahona magazines (dream job!) entitled "How Can I Be a Witness Of Jesus Christ?"

...And just because I was most proud of the part that got covered up by text, here are close-ups of all the fun I had with acrylic over gesso on these paving stones. (I know, just indulge me).

IF: Haunt

Thanks, Illustration Friday! This was too much fun.