Technique: Lines and Roosters

When I was very small, I created a cartoon character named Mr. Turkroost.  I created many adventures and friends for him, and would draw lots of cartoon strips of him.  One of these days, I need to visit my parents and dig through some boxes and scan some of my early artwork. (I won’t kid anyone — most likley it will all be garbage, but still, for posterity’s sake it should be posted, and it would at least reassure my art professors in college that, yes, I did learn something from them.)

My father always supported my artistic endeavors, and to this day he’ll ask me if I’ve drawn any Mr. Turkroost’s lately.  So, this “Modern Turkroost” is for my dad.  My cartoon is all grown up and abstracted. I really wanted to play with patterns, line texture, and repetitive composition on this piece. Enjoy!

Created in ASketch on iPad with Nomad Brush.

Technique: Lines and Seuss

I have loved the nonsensical world of Dr. Seuss since I was about the size of a Who. (“A person’s a person, no matter how small!”)  His linework is incredible, plus the sheer creativity in all of his works — the creatures, the landscapes, the representations of people — how can you not just sit in awe?

I always was intrigued that, for the majority of his work, he only used 3 or 4 main colors in the books.  Generally speaking, his works were black and white, with one or two accent colors. (Cat in the Hat? Blue, red, black, white.  The Sneetches? Yellow, turquoise, black, white.  Sam I Am? Orange, green, black, white.  Get the picture?)

This piece is a tribute to Dr. Seuss.  I am blatantly mimicking the composition off of an image I Googled.  I wanted to see if I could recreate the energy and vibrance of Dr. Seuss’ linework by close study of it and its color palatte.

I really enjoy this work.  It’s one of my favorites I’ve done, even though it is unfinished. I may leave it this way. I like the abstract edge that the unfinished areas add, plus it gives me a brief snapshot of how I work (from the inside out, apparently).

Abstraction: The Other Mother

This piece was inspired by reading Neil Gaiman’s children’s book, Coraline. 

Part of my artistic journey this past year has been to tackle a Project 365 — a project where you complete a certain task every day for a year.  Personally, I begin my 365’s on my birthday each year.  This year’s project involves “Doodle-a-Day,” which is my challenge to draw or doodle something every day and post it to a Facebook album.  One of the focuses of that project was to work on my ability to represent faces / people.  People are notoriously difficult, especially to create a likeness, and I just needed a good reason to practice.

Here, then, is one of my people sketches. “The Other Mother.”

Created in ArtRage on iPad with Nomad Brush.