Nothing Is Ever Finished

So I took today out to create the basic design of my website, and also to edit some of my work. I came across a piece I had done in the spring that desperately needed help and reworked it -- and it couldn't have come at a better time. I created this piece in anticipation of the Terry Gilliam film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which hit US theaters two days ago. I picked a look that I thought visually and conceptually correlated with the film, specifically one of Gareth Pugh's designs from 2006. I had fun with this one, I hope it tickles your fancy!

Sneak Peak

Some exciting things are happening in my creative world. Soon enough I will be able to share them with you! Here is a sneak peak of a piece I'm working on at the moment.

Life

Life isn't easy and neither is getting the wind beneath your wings. That's why it's good to have friends who you can run away with.

Gilt Groupe

Lately I've been doing some illustrations for the online luxury fashion store, Gilt Groupe. I do illustrations for Gilt [MAN]ual, the blog for the men's section of Gilt. I'm excited to be doing these illustrations for them, and I'm more than thrilled to see which direction they take me in. I love drawing clothing and fabrics, so it makes this experience even more rewarding then it already is. This is one of the images, speaking to looks that include crew neck shirts.

JUST HAVE FUN

This is another erotic piece that I just finished, describing a fun and romantic situation. I think it's cute!

New Piece

Woo, two posts within two weeks! I'm feeling good. This is a new erotic piece about the freedom of sexual expression, I hope you like it.

Dropped Drawers

Apologies for the lack of updates, I've been pretty busy on a lot of projects, most of which aren't in final or print stages, so they shouldn't be released yet. But they will come soon enough! For now, here is an image I made of a sexy lifeguard pullin' up his Speedo.

New Still Life Illustration

This guy is in the October issue of Out. He was a lot of fun, as is most of the work that I do in pencil.

Spot Illustrations for Out Magazine

I had the pleasure of interning for Out Magazine's art department this summer and the amazing opportunity to complete some illustrations for Out's September issue, which hits stores in the next few weeks. All in all I have seven spot illustrations, four portraits and three still life's, in the issue. I'm very happy and humbled to have been offered such an opportunity and I'm going to miss Out and the amazing people that I had the chance to work with!

La Roux

I did a portrait of the musician La Roux this summer. I'm trying to find my footing in digital color, and I think I like the approach I've established. In the next few weeks I will post some images of some work I'm going to have in print soon, as well as more sketches from this summer.

Zoo Day

Spread from a fun day at the zoo. I need to get back there next Wednesday morning, this was too much fun.

DRAWER

Remember that two sketchbook goal? Not gonna happen. It was a good goal, and I will have one sketchbook finished by the end of the summer, but I don't have THAT much time. This is also a symptom of being a slow draftsman, which I have to get over, I need to quicken the pace a bit! Another thing I have to get over is my obsession with drawing portraits, people, and animals. I need to do settings, buildings, the train, the bus, and the spaces that people exist in. It's sort of essential.

Well, indulgences aside, I've been going to the Natural History Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to draw, and I've been having a blast. Here are some sketchy selections.

Sketch Sketch Sketch

One of the goals I've set for myself over this summer is to complete two sketchbooks while in New York. I've never been big on sketchbooks, but most of the advice I've been given in order to become a more successful draftsman and illustrator is to draw all of the time. Begrudgingly, I started a new sketchbook in May. To my surprise, I've been loving it, and I'm pretty thirsty for it. I have a lot more sketching to do, but I've done a lot since being here.










P.S. New York is amazing! My internship with Out Magazine is absolutely invaluable, and the hands on experience with design is nothing but appreciated. Not to mention that I'm learning a lot about the publication development and meeting/getting to know wonderful people all the while.

Fashion Never

Forgot to post this -- it was for my fashion illustration class. We had to do posters for plays about a vice and it's matching virtue. I was given lust and chastity, and decided to play with counter cultures.

Transitioning

I'm in New York, and love abounds
and yet
I miss this house.

and I miss this.


and I miss my family very much.
But I love too much about this life to pass up it's opportunities to love and meet new people, places, and experiences.
I just wish I realized that more often!

Finally Finals Final

I'm still alive. Miraculously having survived finals, I return to the internet ether with images from my concepts finals. The focus of these portraits is on specific masculine identities and their variations that compose the larger hegemonic masculine identity. I mean, I painted portraits of boys being boys. Take what you will, they would be for editorial purposes, if such an article were ever published!


"The Sensitively Not Sensitive Metrosexual"


"The Womanizing Mega-Hunk Lumberjack"


"The Really Successful Boss-Man-Boss"

Marriage Experiment

Hello all,
So I've had this dilemma for a while now. What medium and technique should I use in my work? I don't have a clue! But I'm playing Sherlock Holmes and I'm "getting to the bottom of this". And, voila! The first experiment in this pseudo-painting, pseuda-drawing, pseudo-photoshop almagamation is complete. Lets see where this work goes from here, though.

Updated Work

Some things fell through in my life, and some images came out of the work done before then, so I think I can share now. I was waiting to put these up, but I feel it's okay now that I have nothing to worry about (I'm sorry, that was really cryptic.) These are two images I posted last semester that I altered.

Updated Gopenhagen Interpretation

I just wasn't satisfied with a boring drawing and even worse -- rushed photoshop work. I like this one 'better', but I wish my drawing was larger so that I could have really fleshed it out. But c'est la vie! I like what I came out with!

Housewife Bullshit

ALERT. THIS IS A STYLISTIC FLUKE.
I have never done an illustration like this in my life. I was given a piece of "1950's ephemera" and was told to build off of it. I got a Vogue ad about how to look beautiful for your husband and your boss. So, my I try and use the so-called 'trite' subject of feminism and make a piece about the sad fate of a depressed houeswife from the 1950's. To get a feel for it, I looked at a lot of W. David Shaw, for illustrations from that era with a lifestyle feel to them. I'm glad I tried this piece out -- I learned a lot!

The Copenhagen Interpretation

In response to quantum mechanics, specifically the Copenhagen Interpretation, comes this illustration.
I'm working with some stylistic ideas, tendencies, and likings that I hope will coalesce nicely soon.

Marc by Marc Jacobs

As an assignment, I and two other students were given a designer and told to narratively illustrate their clothes on figures, in a setting, for a magazine spread. I was assigned as the concept leader, and my team picked the Spring 2009 RTW collection for Marc by Marc Jacobs, and chose three concepts to help us create our image -- mischief, urban roller skaters, and a Central Park Zoo safari. We split up the work accordingly, and developed a time line for turn around processes in order to complete the assignment in a timely manner. I drew the figures and apparel, and I'm pretty satisfied with their outcomes. There are some general detailed problems with them, but over-all, I'm pleasantly surprised with what I did!

ULTRA PRODUCTIVE MODE

I've been doing a lot lately, namely making tons of images. As such, I will be doing more work oriented posts this semester. Yay, right? These images are from a series I did for my fashion illustration course, using designs from Elie Saab's Fall 2008 Haute Couture line. I thought that they fit very nicely on beautiful women roaming the hazy, midsummer fields surrounding Versaille palace, c. 1780.





Gouache and Watercolor on Arches Watercolor, 140 lb Hot Press
These pieces were fun (if you couldn't tell, I really like flowers and hair).

More Fun

Break is almost over! I'm not too sad though, life isn't always all that when your not doing much. So here comes another quick illustration! The drawing is from a Heidi Slimane photo.

A boy can dream.

Look at those slacks -- they are precious. Thank you DV Man International for telling me that the Dior Homme house crafts these beautiful wool stretch trousers.

The Break

It's winter break for MICA, and I have been pretty lax on the posts, for which I apologize. But I have not stopped making images. This is just a doodle I did in my sketchbook with some color. Hope you enjoy it, it was fun.