> graphite on bristol 7 x 5", re-scaled in photoshop
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Here is another illustration methods project where we were given a little bit of time to go to the library and bring back some reference to class to use for an illustration. on top of these references we collected we were specific reference chosen by the professor which we were required to use. At the library i found a photo of 2 young boys rioting in Afghanistan. They had their backs to each other- one with a sling shot and one throwing a rock. I thought it was a powerful photo and an excellent symbol of camaraderie. The reference i chose from my professor was a photo of a boy standing with his grandfather in a garden of daises. In this project we were told that we must distort the figures in an attempt to come up with interesting shapes and design. I did a bunch of thumbnails and preliminary sketches. The result was the above sketch.

> acrylic on board 12 x 9"
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It took me a long time to come up with the color scheme for this piece. It was originally going to be a daytime setting with a blue sky. And the daises were going to be the normal color: white, yellow, green, brown. Somewhere along the line of premixing my colors i told myself that this would be boring and so i decided to make it an evening setting, hoping for a more beautiful picturesque look. I thought it would be cool to have the boys silhouetted. I made the flowers and the boys the same color scheme to help with an idea that i had that the boys were defending the flowers, or that the boys themselves were the flowers and thus defending their people from the birds. Also from the sketch i changed the angle and the direction of the Daisey field in the frame of reference. In the sketch i had the Daisey field flat and horizontal. I changed in the painting to have a diagonal swoop motion from the bottom left to the middle right. It created a zig zag diagonal composition with the daisy field slanting up to the right then the boys slingshot slanting up to the left, and lastly the diagonal of the birds moving upward to the right also. When people see this piece they ask me what it means and i dont know what to tell them.

> graphite on bristol, 14 x 8.5"
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This is our second Illustration methods class project, and our first full color painting assignment. We had to write down a list of 5 words randomly, and then when we were done we were told to choose a few of those words and make an illustration out of them. My words were choke, city, and cough. I threw an image of my self in a hometown Columbus Ohio city setting. That's the Laveck tower behind me. The little images coming out of my mouth are supposed to be images of boring suburb childhood life. The whole point of the initial idea was that i would be in downtown Columbus choking on memories of my boring suburban childhood. In the drawing i have: a boy playing video games, a girl trying to sell lemonade with no success, a mischievous looking boy riding a bike, a little girl jumping rope, and a cranky old man at the bottom watering his lawn and reading the paper.

> acrylic on board, 14 x 8.5"
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Before i began the painting i decided to mess around with the composition of the image. i through some pictures of the Laveck tower along with a photo reference of myself choking in photoshop. The positioning of the buildings is flipped horizontal. I think this works better, because the diagnoals of the buildings, especially the one cropped off on the left kind of lead you into the figure. I also painted the figures flesh to be much warmer than its surrounding overcast sky environment so that it would pop out more. In the end i took the ghost images that were coming out of my mouth completely out of the illustration. I even began painting them but decided to paint over them because they were to distracting in the image and was difficult to understand for people that i showed the initial drawing too. I feel like i made the right decision. Thank god for prelimary work.

> graphite on bristol, 12 x 9"
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This was the first paint project we got in my illustration methods class at CCAD. Some of my friends call it the "fury project". We had to choose an animal and have a human figure morphing to that animal. The whole idea with this project was to get us used to combining multiple references for an illustration. I chose a Ram. 30 or so thumbnails for ideas. Went to the library and found a few images of a Ram with a strong light source. Chose the best one. Took some photo references of myself with my 2Pac Makaveli hoody on and an airsoft pistol tucked in my waste ( i promise its airsoft). Wont post that reference for obvious reasons. I drew the image out on bristol and made a value study. Copied the completed value study (shown above). Transfered the drawing on to cold press illustration board. Blocked in value, wash, paint etc.
> "Ram Life", acrylic on board 12 x 9"
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The ram. A powerful and proud creature, looking for a chance to buck at any oppurtunity that presents itself. No particular reason is neccessary, however territory, pride, ego, and recreation are all possibilities. Such is the life of a ram. Such is also the life of a common street thug.

> oil on board, 12.5 x 7"

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> oil on board, 10 x 8"
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Here we have some quick oil sketches i did over the summer. each of them took about a day rough and dirty. I use a really quick process: drawing, block in, wash, direct paint. I was drawing from references i found on the internet. The reason for this is because it was during the summer break from school and i didn't have any access to live nude models. So i went on the internet and began searching "tasteful nudes" on google (haha). I needed a way to practice painting flesh tones. and this was the best and fastest way to do it. I completely recommend it. Aside from practicing flesh tones, it was also fun to be able to play around with the backgrounds anyway you want to.

> self portrait, oil on cavas 24.5 x 11.5"
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This is a self portrait i did this past summer 2009. My goal was just to complete a self portrait, because this was something that i've had difficulty doing in the past.