Sketching today...

A sketch I worked up today for a friend...

On Rainbow Cloud; Day 2

Day 2 was last Thursday, but I didn't have time to post a new blog entry before leaving town for the weekend. I really struggled with the face. Starting with the thumbnail sketch, I wasn't going show MK's eyes. For one, the perspective didn't really leave the right angle for it, and I thought it would be more interesting if we couldn't see a specific expression on his face. Anyway, I struggled not adding an eye the whole time, and finally gave in to what I think was the right move. The issue I ran into after adding the eye was that the perspective on the rest of the face was off. His nose stuck out too much making him look like a lion and not a monkey, then his brow-line was too pronounced, then his mouth was off. Blah blah blah, it took a little while to fix it. The values look a little flat at the moment, since I'm working towards just getting the specifics down, then adjusting colors to match light sources, and the overall harmony of the piece. So until it's done, the drawing might look a little over-saturated with colors, without much attention to atmosphere or lighting. The Yin-Yang design in the shoulder armor was a spur-of-the-moment addition, I didn't want a big flat shiny disc in the middle of the drawing. So a subtle design breaks op the space and removes the flat "visual black hole."


Close-up of the face. MK's expression is frustration, exhaustion, and a twinge of guilt, because he knows what he ultimately has to do.


Log: 4 hours - 10 hours total

Soundtrack:
Dream Evil - In the Night, The Book of Heavy Metal
Zion I - Street Legends, The Takeover
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On Rainbow Cloud; Day 1

Off to a great start. This is the 3rd piece in my Monkey King series. It's tentative title is On Rainbow Cloud, as MK in his search for immortality learns to fly on a rainbow-colored cloud. The composition came to me in a dream a few weeks ago, and the initial thumbnail drawing sat in my sketchbook for a little while before I really felt the time was right to start. Well today was the day! I wanted to show a moment in MK's journey to the west that was non-traditional. Usually we see illustrations of him fighting monsters, or sneaking around mischievously (those pieces will come!), and show him sort of taking a break. There are moments in the story when MK gets fed up with escorting the Monk on his pilgrimage to India in the story Journey to the West. In the book, it's told that MK flies away to a place of solitude to mull over his frustrations and decide whether or not to continue the journey. I wanted to capture a moment of reflection, after which MK sighs heavily, finishes eating his peach, smirks a half grin, and returns to his destiny. Here are progress pics for the first day...

the original thumbnail sketch:

The layout pencil drawing on BFK:


The end of Day 1. Worked the background to completion. I used helicopter photos of the Li River winding through Guilin, in southern China's Guang Xi Province. The pastel I purchased at Prizm last week that I thought was plain White at the time ended up being a very light pink. I was skeptical at first, but then realized what a great addition to the clouds and atmosphere it was, when used with the ivory paper. To spice up the perspective in the background, I "bent" the landscape a little. The horizon line in the far distance weighs right, but slowly bends back left as we get closer to the foreground. I think it helps with the movement of the piece, and leaves the composition a little less flat. MK's got pheasant feathers stuck in his crown, accessories often seen in Chinese Opera productions of Journey to the West. MK also holds a peach, his favorite snack.


Log: 6 hours, 10 minutes.

Soundtrack: open stream of Dubstep jams from dubterrain.net

Dexter in a Box

My cat Dexter squeezes into a small shoe box just about every morning, and stays there for a good portion of the day. He only gets up to eat, litter box, or to recharge on the window perch. Here's a quick marker drawing of him in his standard position, head resting on the corner of the flaps.


Here's a photo of him in the act:

Valentine's Day Buttons

Just finished making 4 Valentine's Day button designs for Dean Johnson Design. They're a local design firm and gallery downtown on Mass ave. Every year, they choose a few holidays/events to make fun promotional buttons for. For a view of past collections, go HERE. There will be 12 buttons total, the other 8 will be by 2 other local artists. Here's a preview of the buttons I designed:

Corey's Commission... the process, Part 3

It's done! This was a really fun project. To think of where it started, and where it's gone, it's probably one of the longest projects I've ever worked on. There's a lot to consider when dealing with a new story, especially one that has 4 prominent characters and a dynamic between them. On to the next project- Monkey King #3. I promised myself that I wouldn't start on my next MK drawing until this piece was done, so now it's time to hit the big board again! Below is the final photo, and some details I liked. Fun fun! Can't wait to do another one!

Corey's Commission... the process, Part 2

Color is coming along with Corey's commission. I've decided to take a new approach to working with this particular piece. I'm doing all the work on the characters first before working on the background. This is kind of the opposite of what I usually do, traditionally working back to front, but I was concerned with losing the pencil line sketches of the characters to the messy smearing about in the background. SO... the characters are done and 2 coats of fixative are drying over them. Once the paper is dry, I'll begin work on the background, and just push the charcoal up to the edges of the characters. I've left a dark outline around the characters, which will disappear as the background gets filled in. Here's a splash image of the four, and close-up photos of each:

Mannequin Tattoos

For fun tonight, I started sketching a sleeve design on a mannequin arm I've got at my place... Ended up coloring it all in. I'm envisioning a gallery show of nothing but mannequins standing around with different marker tattoos. Some with full sleeves, full back pieces, chest pieces, collars, or just something small... Hmmmm....... Ok, here are the pics:

Corey's Commission... the process, Part 1

My good friend Corey Dalton, author of middle-grade novel Tilly McGwinn, is working on a new youth fiction novel and I've begun the first of hopefully a few illustrations for the story. There's no title yet, but the plot is loosely this: The main character, Hap (short for Happy), accidentally winds up in another world, and teams up with other characters from famous fairy tales- Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Alice from Wonderland, and Peter Pan. They for a super-hero group to fight evil. That's all I'm going to give you right now, as the novel is still in production and it's a secret!I'll be posting more pictures as the drawing comes along, so for now I'll take you all through the design process.

First, we have my initial character concepts from Corey's descriptions. They end up a lot different from these, but this is where I started. A little too realistic looking for the fel of the story, and they originally were going to have matching costumes:


Next came revised head-shots of the characters, with a little more youthful style, and the change to their traditional outfits:


Once the head-shots were approved, I worked them into full poses. These I create to communicate the personality of the characters. Alice is prim, proper and a impatient, Hap is a little reserved but genuine, Peter an overconfident wild child, and Dorothy a young, sweet and darling:


I made an unsuccessful attempt at a final on Bristol Board. I got most of Alice worked on, but the soft pastels don't easily retain their opacity when smeared on bristol, and the drawing was just too small to really get good detail. Today I sketched out a new final drawing on Rives BFK printmaking paper at a larger scale, with a few changes to Dorothy and Peter's poses. This the right surface and size for the style I want to achieve.


Stay tuned for my next post as I work in the colors! Happy New Year everyone!

Sun Wu Kong, finished

By far the best work of art I've ever created.

Details below:

Herron's Illusutration Dept. Coloring Book Fundraiser

My old professor of Illustration at Herron Kathy O'Connell asked me to participate in their annual fundraiser for the Illustration Department. Kathy, her students, and Illustration Alumni are all each creating a black and white line drawing to be included in an annually printed "coloring book" to support scholarship funding for illustration students. This year's theme for the coloring book is "Through the Looking Glass." It could be based on Alice Through the Looking Glass, or loosely based around the phrase. I've gone with an independent concept of a mirror in an old Chinese antique shop. The mirror reflects the viewer's Chinese Zodiac, and their reflection appears as their birth year's animal. FUN! Below is my final illustration that will be critiqued in class tomorrow along with all the students! It's going to be a blast! Feel free to download the drawing from my blog and color it yourself!



Back soon with finished pictures of my new Monkey King drawing. I'm almost done!!!

More progress...

Stopping for today. In love with it.

Detail shots below...

Cape clasp on Dragon's Armor... to help communicate the overall size of this drawing, the small clasp itself is about 6" in diameter. Oh daaaang!

Log: 5 hours today - 9 total

Soundtrack:
Zion I - Street Legends, Takeover
Sneaker Pimps - Splinter, Bloodsport
Brother Ali - Us
Pete Philly & Perquisite - Mystery Repeats
BK-One - Radio Do Canibal

MK close-up - First Day Progress

The new piece is coming along nicely... VERY happy with first day progress. The eyes are so intense! haha. Back with more soon.

On the big board again...

The second in a series of large drawings begins today. A big close-up of Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King. I think I'm going to pursue a series on MK... I've been wanting to for so long, I think it's time. I'll post updates as it comes along! Enjoy!

"Monkey King - The Southern Gate" completed!

Big drawing is done... Monkey King greets the South Gate of Heaven. Detail shots below... Colors so soft and rich! It was really fun!

On the big board today...

Started with color today on my new Monkey King piece. Here's where I'm leaving it tonight. I've been practicing not working so long each session with my art. My standard practice was to marathon with a piece until it was done, but I'm slowing down now, taking my time. I've found I'm not so anxious towards the end to finish, and so I don't short the work on the finishing touches. I get to look at it a couple times with fresh eyes too, take a few days to really make it right. With that said, here's the progress for day one... having SO much fun with the clouds!

A Quick Commission...

I was contacted late last night by Amanda, the head of INDIEana Handicraft Exchange about doing a technical drawing of a store they are trying to get going. There's a presentation tomorrow in front of a grant committee to fund the store, so It was a VERY short-notice project. It was fun and challenging to draw like an interior designer... I ended up coloring it pretty simply in Photoshop, so it looks a little like Rogue Robot, but a little more realistic. Here's an inked version, and the final color image. Back soon with initial progress on the Monkey King final drawing, on a big piece of paper.

More Monkey King-ing

Been on a Monkey King kick again, as well as returning to my graphic novel, but I really want to use this winter as a time to make some big, portfolio-bulking artwork. Here's a sketch I started with, and a rough color mock-up of Monkey King defending his island, at the entrance to the South Gate of Heaven. In the story of the Monkey King, Heaven is depicted as the capital city of gods and immortals, not a paradise for the dead. There is a government there that controls all creatures on earth, and Monkey King is on their shit list for being blasphemous, and generally disobedient. So Heaven is kind of "The Man" in the story, and Monkey King just wants his independence. I've included this backstory to explain my visual interpretation of the clouds, how they need to look sinister, but still have a Holy/golden feel. Anyway... Here is a scene where the South Gates of Heaven are opening up over Monkey King's island to cast their judgment, but MK is resolute. I'll be posting progress on the final piece, once I get the clouds figured out. I'm not completely happy with them yet.

Monkey King / Self Portrait

Forgot to post this marker drawing I did about a month ago. Lots of fun. I double-matted it in a fun skinny frame. Good keepsake.

Amory goes to the Emergency Room.

Thought I'd tell the tale of my first valid visit to the emergency room, mostly just to have it for my own records, but also for your reading enjoyment.

The backstory (pun intended):

Around the time I started tattooing full-time (this may have no actual relevance and be mere timely coincidence), in September of 2008, I'd started having incidents of serious back aches, that seem to come out of nowhere. They would last for a couple hours, coming on slowly, and growing in intensity until I was literally unable to stand. They would slowly pass with the apparent help of ibuprofen. The pain is sharp, like a knife, in my upper/middle back, just below my shoulder blades, and always just to the left of my spine. Those back aches happened a handful of times over the fall and winter, lasting a little longer each time, maybe by an hour, until I had a worse one in February of this year. I traveled to Chicago for a meeting with some fellow camp counselors of Marwood. During the meeting the back pain started. It tapered off with the help of some stretches and a bit of back massage from Morgan, another counselor. That night after the meeting, I stayed at my aunt's house in Oak Park, and took a nap early to try and sleep off the residual pain. It came back, and in much more potency. The pain gradually spread from my back almost directly forward to my abdomen, and a what I can only describe as a "bubble" grew in my solar plexus. it was painful to touch, and kept me lying down only on my back, and not my sides. The pain in my abdomen turned into nausea, and I spent the following 6 hours puking my guts out every 20 minutes. I couldn't even keep a sip of water down, so no pain-killers I took had enough time to break down and get into my system. I took a hot shower around 4am to get my mind off the pain, and finally fell asleep after out of mere exhaustion. The last thing I remember was thinking I wish that I would just die, so it wouldn't hurt any more. I woke up the next day tired, and with a sore stomach, but otherwise feeling like nothing had happened. I didn't have health insurance at the time, so I couldn't realistically seek medical attention.

That incident caused me to rethink the way I position my body when tattooing. From then on, I sat my clients higher and myself lower, to straighten my back, and hopefully give my stomach a rest. I started going to the YMCA regularly and doing stomach and back-strengthening exercises to hopefully reduce the risk even more. With the exception of a small hour-long episode at Kristen's back in May, I've not had any more incidents.

The Incident:

This weekend I traveled to St. Louis on Saturday morning to visit Kristen. I hadn't seen her in over a month and with us both having been through very difficult times lately- the loss of her mentor to cancer and I losing my job at Voluta, we finally had a chance to reconnect and see each other again. Saturday was great. We caught up, spent time with her friends, watched SNL. As SNL was ending, I felt a familiar strain starting in my back. I immediately did some stretches, and repositioned myself to take any and all pressure off my back and stomach. It didn't go away. I figured it would be another small episode like last time, coming and going quickly. I'd been taking good care of myself, so I wasn't worried about another "Chicago." We went to bed around 12:30, and I knew I wasn't going to sleep any time soon. I got up, did more stretches, and tried to stay calm. Panic was welling up inside, and I got really scared. I took a hot shower around 1am to try and relax my muscles, hoping I could just fall asleep after that. I got out of the shower feeling nauseous. From after my shower until 4:30am I was throwing up and having diarrhea every 15 minutes. I tried to sleep on the floor of the bathroom in between, but I couldn't. I finally woke up Kristen and had her take me to the ER at a nearby hospital. I shivered and shook uncontrollably the whole way there and threw up more outside the ER. I was admitted, and had to tell 3 different people at 3 different stations the same information, before my 1/2 hour long wait to see a doctor. No pain relief, no help. Finally they called my name after several trips to the bathroom, and I got to my room. They put a tube in me, gave me fluids, a high dose of morphine, and other drugs to help with the pain. I found that as the pain lessened a little, it didn't go away. I only cared less about it than before, which seems unfair in a way. I wanted the pain gone. Over the following 9 hours they drew blood, ran tests, gave a rectal exam, found blood in my stool, took x-rays, and mostly left me waiting, doped up and half-conscious for hours at a time, Kristen sitting in a small chair at my bedside for the entire thing. She slept, in strange positions across 2 chairs, on and off between doctors coming in to ask me the same questions the ones had asked previously. Out of the whole thing, I remember most clearly being asked my birth date at least 10 times. The final verdict- Gastritis. Gastritis is an inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach. It's basically an extreme case of Acid Reflux. It can be caused by a variety of things: Stress, a boost in acidic drinks like coffee or alcohol, spicy food, and H. pylori- a bacteria that lives in the stomach and causes ulcers, and sometimes leads to stomach cancer.

The Doctors did however say that blood tests showed that aside from the gastritis, I am in "perfect health." So..... With that I'm on my way. I've got some painkillers that I won't need for the pain I don't have right now, and some other stuff that will help to regulate the acid level in my stomach. I feel like someone whisked up my stomach with a hand blender and I've got a bunch of knots on my back that need some deep tissue work. Other than that, I feel fine.

As of today I'm no longer drinking coffee, my hot sauce obsession is now kaput, and I am officially past my "gin and tonic" phase. Time to get in more "perfect health," whatever that means.

I'll be here Friday and Saturday, so come out! It's free!

	Friday, October 2, 2009 6 - 10pm
	Saturday, October 3, 2009 10am - 6pm
	Harrison Center for the Arts
	1505 North Delaware Street
	Indianapolis, IN

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is a contemporary craft fair that consciously celebrates modern handmade goods, the relationship between creator and consumer, and local, alternative economies. The IHE is quickly becoming a notable stop on the indie craft fair circuit, which includes events such as the Renegade Craft Fairs in Chicago, Brooklyn, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, Stitch Rock in Delray Beach, Florida, Art vs. Craft in Milwaukee, Detroit Urban Craft Fair in Michigan and Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia, among others. The IHE began in 2007 as a way to highlight local crafters and artisans as well as to expose Indianapolis to some of the best vendors on the national indie craft fair map.

Most of the products sold by IHE artists serve the dual purpose of art and function and range from the beautiful to the irreverent, from the adorable to the slightly sinister, from the hysterical to the just plain bizarre. Vendors may use traditional crafting techniques but they express contemporary themes and design. Vendors offer a range of unique handmade goods from wooden jewelry to fanciful undergarments, from custom vintage-inspired western wear to stationery, from plush animals to natural bath and body goodies, from hand-screened rock ‘n' roll poster art to pop culture icon finger puppets and much, much more.

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange fall show will be held on Friday, October 2, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in conjunction with IDADA's wildly popular First Friday gallery openings, as well as on Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Harrison Center for the Arts, located at 1505 North Delaware Street, just north of downtown Indy. This fall the IHE will feature 70+ vendors, live roller girls, live music by the Shirtless Biddles, Mandy Marie Luke & Mo Foster, The Jack Davies, Julia Schafer & D. Mark Conway, Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun and A Squared DJs, as well as giveaways of many fantastic raffle prizes donated by our vendors and sponsors.

Admission into the fair is FREE to the public. Raffle tickets are sold for $2 each, three for $5 or 7 for $10. Patrons may obtain additional raffle tickets by bringing children's arts and craft supplies, or children's art books, for donation at the door the day of the event. Money made from raffle ticket sales is used to purchase arts and craft supplies for select Indianapolis area public school art programs. Prizes for the raffle are donated by our vendors and local, independent business sponsors.

The event is kid-friendly, but some artists’ work features the occasional dirty word or sexual image, so parents might want to take a gander before their little ones get an eye full.

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is the first and only of its kind in Indianapolis and is currently held biannually.

Concerning Tattoo: A Step Out of Familiar Territory

Today's a good day, and I'll tell you why:
Thought I'd share a new design for a client at Voluta. I felt like sharing it here because I've had a lot of freedom with this design. Most of the time, clients have something pretty specific in mind whether they know it or not, but I was basically given an open project on this one. The only structure was the starting point being a Fibonacci Spiral (geometric spiral that appears in nature i.e.- sea shells, hurricanes, galaxies). Here's the rough sketch of what I came up with. Needs a few tweaks, but the client and I are both very pleased.


This design is a milestone for me. I've been cruising along, sticking to the mainstream "boundaries" of tattoo. The client wants a lion, they get a lion. They want a floral arrangement with names, they get just that. They are beautifully drawn, perfectly executed in tattoo, and the client is completely satisfied. However, starting primarily with this design, I'm venturing into a more open project where I have a lot of artistic license. This brings me to an unfamiliar and very enticing place. A place I feel stylistically terrified, without boundaries or guidelines, and completely free. Rarely do I travel into the realms of the not-easily-recognizable, and NEVER into the abstract... It's just not my thing... at least not until I dreamed of a design last night, woke up, and this poured out. So now I have this adrenaline-like rush in my chest, fueling my brain to push, push, push the envelope, to break the boundaries of mainstream tattoo, and offer clients something a little crazy, but truly original, in it's most raw form. If it catches on, I'll be sharing it all here. I'll post the final product soon too, one the client approves!

Blue Fish

Another new piece. Actual size is 3" x 3.5". really tiny. Graphite and marker.

WhopperCroc™

Sometimes only one thing can satisfy you...



On display in the Benjamin Franklin Gallery
Friday, September 18th, 6-10pm
During the Wheeler Open House

A Last-Minute Return to Art vs. Art

Hello everyone. Thanks to a serendipitous run-in with Shannon from Primary Colours, I've decided to take part in Art vs. Art. For those of you not in the know, it's a local painting competition that happens every year, that I've managed to win twice already, in 2005 and 2007. I didn't compete last year, and was convinced to come out of hiatus. So I'm back, and I need your votes! Visit this site: http://www.artvsart.com/ All the rules and regulations of the competition are there for you to peruse. Click around on the Primary Colours logos till you find the "Vote Now" page and check out the 113 paintings that were made between the hours of 10am and 4pm this past Friday. If you like Canvas #94 (my painting, see image below) vote for it! All you gotta do is type in your email and confirm the auto-reply! Thanks, people!

Here's the website image:

Here's my own photos of the finished piece, and the supplies I was given to paint it. Red, Yellow, Blue, White, Black (didn't use any), and 4 hours. I finished in 3:45.