S W E A T E R

In my hunt for graduate school, I'm trying to get some new work ready for my portfolio. I have some ideas for a for making two new short books with matching movies, we're you read the books and watch the movies at the same time, and get lost between the two. So, in taking reference photos for one of the books, I began flipping through all the shots I had taken, and I saw a little movie. So, I opened up iMovie, and threw it together. At first I thought I was just wasting time, but it actually helped me see the pacing and page order I wanted a lot more clearly. So now picking my shots for book should be no problem!

You can wach the upload down there, or watch it in higher definition HERE.

F I N A L I Z E D

So my most recent project, and my senior project, a graphic novel entitle OMA (previously mention in my last post) is finally done and available at BLURB.com.

Here's another piece of preview art to wet your whistle:

So please, check it out. Tell you friends. And tell you friend's friends.

C O M I N G _ T O G E T H E R

My current focus of attention is my upcoming book Oma, a graphic novel that's about when my grandmother was worse for ware, and what that did to me when I was left alone to handle that emotional responsibility. Here's a look at one of the final pages that's ready for print.

You can check out more of the book at my WEBSITE.

L I F E _ D R A W I N G S

Now, I know that this is me copying James Kochalka's "American Elf", but I really love this idea, and last I heard imitation was still the most sincere form of flattery.

I've decided to start keeping a diary. And like James Kochalka, I'll be illustrating it and sharing it with the word every day. I'm running it through Tumblr, so I have a reason to use my tumblr account, and because it's just easy.

So please, check out my online diary: Life_Drawings

M O U S E _ G U A R D

Hey all, at the recent involvement fair, I decided I would keep myself busy as I manned the Illustration Club booth by drawing.

Having jut read the first volume of Mouse Guard, I found myself with mice on the brain. So, I scanned some of those drawings, and now I'm trying out my hand at coloring (probably my weakest area).

I think it went pretty well, but I definitely need to spend some more time playing with brushes in photoshop.

Kenzie from Mouse Guard

original sketch

I N _ T H E _ S T U D I O

Here's a peak into my home life. I've recently been spending quite a lot of time in my studio, attempting to get a jump start on my senior project this upcoming semester. After cleaning out our incredibly crowded loft, I've made lots space for myself. You can also see that I like to surround myself with art that I've collected over the years, and lots of books that inspire me.

Recently I've been looking very closely at Craig Thompson, especially his book Blankets.

And if you're looking closely, you've noticed that I've been working on tracing paper a lot. I plan on having my upcoming book be comprised of screen prints, rather than traditional pencil and ink drawings. So I use the tracing paper to make the preliminary drawings for the screen prints, which are then transfered to screens later. To make sure the screens come out cleanly, I use a variety of different sized paint markers, as well as an india ink brush pen, which I find gives a nice combination of clean and decisive lines, while still retaining a looseness in the drawings thanks to the brush. And as for erasing, I use an X-Acto blade to cut out pieces of the drawing that aren't working, and then tape over a fresh piece of tracing paper to fix it.

There are some images of my upcoming, so far untitled, book seen down below. I currently have 6 pages completed for the book, and will have more detailed photos of the book coming soon.

E R R _ A H H

With 2011 being the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps, in my Illustration class this past fall, we were tasked with making posters for the event. I started with some very complex sketches, but eventually worked my way to this, which I am incredibly pleased with. Here are two different versions of my screen printed poster.