Each semester when I teach watercolor, I have a week focused on portraiture. I choose a random student to paint as a demo for my class. I ask for a volunteer, with out telling them what they are volunteering for. They are happily surprised that I will be painting them for the demo. Here are some of my recent students in watercolor portraits.
Bee Waggle
I helped design a game for agrotourism venues (corn mazes, sunflower fields, etc.). The game is called The Bee Waggle Game. Here are some character designs for the game:
Some Recent Work
Well since it’s been two years :| I figured I should post some things of the work I’ve done during that time. I’ll start with the book I did for a client. It’s called The Red Steer Miracle.
Doodling
It’s been a while since I posted anything, but here’s a little sketch I made. Normally I come up with an idea and then I start drawing, but sometimes it’s fun to just doodle. With this drawing I just started making up a head with no idea where I would be going. Digital drawing is great for this, because if you don’t like where it’s heading you can just go back a few states, or use layers and save different versions. In this case I pretty much just kept pushing through until I felt like it was done.
I named the file Mary because at one point (when I was first saving it) I thought it kind of looked like it might end up being the virgin Mary. At that point all I really had was a face. Then I decided to draw some hands, but I didn’t really know what they would be doing. I thought of having her holding something. At this point I also started putting some details in the eyes. I thought about having her looking at an object in her hands, but I didn’t really know what it would be; several thoughts went through my head, a bunny, a coin, a shoe, it could be anything, but as I continued with the eyes, I thought it would be cool if she was looking away from the object. At some point it started to look a little sad, so I ended up turning the object to sand, so I guess we’ll never know what it was that she lost.
Anyway, I’ve been super busy lately, so finding time to post things has been difficult but I’ll try to do better in the future.
Mug Shot Series
I love to paint portraits. Sometimes it is hard to find a person willing to sit for a painting and my wife gets sick of me painting her. I’ve found that painting mug shots is a great alternative. Many times a person who sits for a photograph can have a hard time looking natural or showing any real emotion. Mug shots often capture emotion and there is something stirring about knowing that this may be one of the worst days of their lives. As you will see in this series, there can be many different emotions or expressions displayed. When I look at he mugshot photos, I don’t pay much attention to what kinds of crimes they may be in trouble for, I’m mainly concerned with finding interesting faces and expressions. I won’t include any names and I have received permission from the mugshot source.
Still Lifes
I'm not much of a blog writer and I don't have a lot of time right now. I'll be in Guatemala tomorrow (Woohoo)! Anyway, I thought I'd post a few of my still lifes that I've completed recently before I go.
More Thesis Work
I'm getting very close to being done. I still need to put the book together. I barely have time to sleep.
Thesis Work
I've been working a lot on my thesis lately and haven't had much free time, but here are a few of the things I've been making.
The Village People
Here are a few more sketches for my thesis.
Dogs
Here are a few dog sketches I made recently.
New Site
This is my new site. I hope you like it. I will try to keep you up to date with my current projects.
These are some of the hunter characters that I've been designing:
