iPad Pro podcast doodles

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Today was interesting.  I’ve been listening to more podcasts lately and found a pretty good one with Tulsi Gabbard and Joe Rogan.  It really got me thinking more about the situation in Libya and how none of the media is talking about it anymore.  

It’s like everyone has amnesia now and just forgot about how big of a deal the humanitarian crises was under Gaddafi.  But now that we’ve helped the terrorist overthrow the dictator we just think it’s fine to ignore the fact that Libya is now hell on earth.  The terrorists have reinstated slavery now.  Yet these blatant violations of human rights seem less important now that we’ve succeeded in overthrowing a leader who didn’t want to play by the rules of the globalized financial markets.  Yes, I know he was a dictator.  Fine.  But he was a dictator when Tony Blair and Sarkozy were financing his rule, the same way they finance Saudi Arabia today.  

Anyway…I generally try to avoid politics, I did enough of it for a lifetime, but sometimes things just make me wanna go on a long self righteous rant on Facebook. (It feels so good)  the truth is, I don’t like the fact that so many people are so easily triggered by talking points like abortion, racism, and immigration when in reality our biggest issues get swept under the rug.  I mean, I was busy being upset about Kevin Hart and the Oscars (thanks YouTube algorithm) and kinda forgot about Libya myself – so I’m guilty too.

I remember now why I stopped using Facebook.  Ok, I’ll keep it art related from now on (mostly). This little sketch is a fun example of sketching on the #ipadpro using #procreate I love this app!

Also listening to Joe Rogan go on these long rants about the benefits of DMT and hallucinogenic drugs in pretty much EVERY podcast is starting to feel like an ad campaign.  I mean he may have a point, but he’s starting to force in to discussions at the most inappropriate times.  I mean, dude…chill.  But otherwise he tends to have some really good discussions from time to time. 

The Bakers

2 people, black and white, Caricature, digital, illustrated caricature

This was a birthday gift for a friend of mine.  This was a fun little process, I paced myself well but at the last minute I decided not to do color because it would take to long.  Buuut, I like the black and white version, and I was lacking black and white 2 person caricatures on the site so that’s another good excuse lol.

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Valentine’s Day Caricature

2 people colored caricature, Caricature, colored, digital, Standard, study

This was a fun little project for a really cool client of mine. He asked for a caricature of him and his girlfriend with the theme of the famous Martin Lawrence TV show.

Martin Lawrence TV show

Anyone who grew up in America in the 90’s knows about this show. This and the Simpson’s were probably the most defining of 90’s TV at my home growing up.

In my mind I visualized this one as a full blown illustrated caricature, like the 2 children I drew or the couple of the opera singer and photographer, but when I found out that he wanted a standard caricature I was a little disappointed.1F782F10-6D01-4D3B-A6A9-22413A6920F0

The early part of this drawing I was a bit distracted and didn’t put too much effort into the thumbnail. As you can see here I simply drew the bodies without much distinction, at this stage it’s not important to have all the anatomy worked out or all the details and I’ve learned how to intervene on myself when I focus on that stuff too much early on.

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The good thing about this project is my client wanted a lot of progress shots as I worked, so I kept sending him snapshots of my messy work, it helped me keep things loose :).

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In the end I was happy with the end product even though I felt that it could have been better. I’m happy with it.

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Here are a few pictures of my client and his girlfriend.

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Here’s my client with his big happy smile

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Here is my client’s pretty girlfriend

Gesture drawing January 27, 2018

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More gesture drawings tonight.

Gesture drawing January 2018

I really enjoyed drawing this one, I worked in procreate and I have to say the experience was really nice. I only used one brush this entire drawing – Willow Charcoal. This brush can be downloaded for free by the fabulous @artworkbygabrielle who needs no introduction. Just click the link in her bio and you’ll have access to her entire arsenal, And it’s free! (you’re welcome to leave a contribution, which if you’re able to you should 👍) It’s really inspiring to see other artists who share their process and tools to the art community, I hope one day I can have an impact like that.<

h and this #paperlike screen protector I have is just so nice.

A Caricature of 2 children

2 people colored caricature, Caricature, colored, digital

This turned out to be quite a learning experience. Partly because it involved a baby which I’ve always had difficulty with but also because I’m so SLOW.

The initial black and white drawing I did rather fast. I decided to draw 4 different layouts of the concept, I had watched an art video where an artist talked about the importance of thumbnails. This phase of the drawing was fun although I was already feeling a little stress because I hadn’t done anything on the commission in the almost 2 weeks I got it. I was busy updating the Schiller-Institute webcast after our conference, but I was also waisting time because a part of me wasn’t excited to draw kids.

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I don’t remember at what point I decided to do coloring but I remember just forcing myself to fill in areas in really broad and fast strokes. It was exciting and exhausting, I kept wanting to check my phone or do something else but I wanted to move on to the next phase, to see progress.

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The next passes of the creating were just work. It literally felt like clocking in and clocking out of a nine to five. I didn’t feel any real excitement but I noticed whenever I made big changes I would often stop to look at what I did, and those stops were way too long and full of doubt – what if I messed it up. My saving grace was my wife, she literally saved me from my own doubt by giving concrete criticism and suggestions. I would always be a little defensive at first but once I thought about it it always made the piece better once I did it, it got to the point where I would look for her advice. But then she started to tell me to hurry up, I could tell her advice was becoming less because she knows I’m a perfectionist.

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I would say my biggest lessons for this piece were

1.) Don’t waste time

2.) Listen to your wife

3.) Clock in and clock out (make a schedule, pace yourself & set goals)

4.) Don’t over think it

In the end the piece was great and I feel much more comfortable painting with colors instead of using the layered approach, I can’t wait to do some new studies now.