Phil Ashworth's Blog

Got Ma Pictures in a Book!

2012-01-30T13:13:00.021-05:00

About a year ago I was contacted by Andrew Fersch, a writer and teacher from New England, who I had worked on other projects with before, about illustrating a book of children's poems called The Rough Draft of My Life Story. We initially went over the general idea of the book, how it would look and the amount of work that would be needed for it. The poems had a good mix of cute and bizarre subject matter, which was exciting since I had always enjoyed the offbeat work of Shel Silverstein, Edward Gorey and Henrik Drescher. After the initial brainstorming the project seemed to just fade away and I didn't really hear anything more, so I figured it was a no-go. But, a few months later, Andrew contacted me to tell me the project was still on, and we got to work.

The completed drawings, all laid out:

Some personal favorites below:

Then came the day the books arrived in the mail, and honestly, I didn't want to open them. I think after putting so much time and effort into something like that, you just worry that it's going to fail to meet your expectations, or it's just going to have something terribly wrong with it. Or maybe I just always assume the worst. After a few minutes of staring at the package, I just got it over with, and a wave of relief washed over me. It wasn't a huge train wreck. It was, in fact, a really solid, great looking book.

This was an addition to the book that probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but the fact that some of the thumbnail sketches were included in the back, really got me psyched. I didn't know this was going to be done, and it was a minor, but really fun surprise.

The cover illustration, before and after:

A big thanks to Andrew for thinking of me when initially conceiving the idea of this book. It was a great experience, even though half the time I wondered what the hell I was doing. I haven't done much black and white work lately, and with the amount of drawings I had to do, it was both a relief and a challenge to restrain myself and think a little bit more graphically.

Decision Time

2012-01-10T17:08:00.003-05:00

My latest illustration for Steez. Article was about the various choices and sacrifices involved with the life of a sales rep. Thanks again to AD Joe LoVasco.

Online form: Steezminimag

Some rough interpretations of the article:

New Website Time

2011-12-31T13:38:00.005-05:00

Got a brand spankin' new personal museum up on the dang ol' interwebs. Getchyeeself a look right huurrrr.

philashworth.com

Now You're a Maaayyyuhhhhnnn

2011-12-07T12:28:00.011-05:00

Some real cool dudes, and other recent doodles.

Oh, yea. Stickin' it to the man. Twice. With puke.

Asleep on the Amtrak.

In the Beginning was.....The Spork!

2011-10-31T20:07:00.008-04:00

A comic from a few years ago, that was recently published in an issue of Space Squid (a great nerdy read specializing in sci-fi humor). This comic dealt with bacteria that is constantly forced with the dilemma of killing itself after it asexually reproduces. I think this may be called Parthenogenesis.

When I was living in Ithaca, NY a couple years ago, I was introduced to two physics majors at Cornell University, Robert Hovden and Rob Barton, and over time our love for all things nerd-related brought us to creating a comic together that enabled us to spread our dorky jokes and drawings to a very specific crowd. We worked on it diligently for a few months until we started to produce work we felt confident enough in to mail to magazines. We have just started to get a good amount of responses from 'zines that are happy to print our comics in their pages. We are also currently working on a website where we will upload comics on a more consistent basis. Until then I've included a few samples that have had the fortune of being printed/shown on websites such The Daily Crosshatch and The Cornell Lunatic.

More to come at Spork The World

I Wanna Skate THAAAAT

2011-09-28T01:24:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine recently skated a UFO that landed to give a talk at a prestigious Ivy League university. Pretty jealous the aliens let him get busy on their ship.

Building and Curing

2011-09-21T11:07:00.003-04:00

These are just a couple loose, spec drawings I did for some album covers being presented to GE, in regards to what the company is focusing on: Building and Curing. Sort of a random project, but fun. I think if these had gone on to finishes I would have completely reworked the composition for the "Curing" cover. Looking at it now, it feels too removed from the viewer. But, I was pretty happy with the way "Building" turned out. Thanks to AD Jennifer Wong for the project.

Jonathan Richman

2011-08-23T19:55:00.003-04:00

He's the guy who sings songs periodically throughout the movie, There's Something About Mary. Also was the lead singer of seminal punk group The Modern Lovers. He mostly plays music similar to tunes from There's Something About Mary these days and even though most people would call him a pussy indie rocker because of it, it's far less embarrassing than listening to guys his age milk tunes from a genre that died years ago.

This is Why No One Takes Me Seriously

2011-07-04T13:47:00.011-04:00

A piece I recently finished that is an ode to a bunch of different things. But, mostly an ode to the music of Queen.

I had done these two sketches, that are below, a few months apart, and wanted to create finished pieces from them, but I didn't want to re-draw Freddie Mercury, which makes no sense to me, and I also didn't want to be completely tasteless with the words that I was going to include in the banner that is blocking young, impressionable minds from viewing all that is natural, yet considered indecent. So, I married the two into one big, immature creation saluting skateboarding, the imminent danger that is naturally associated with it, one of the greatest songs ever, evenings in the park under some sort of atomic sunset, and of course, birds.

Initial sketch:

There was some electric yellow all over this piece, but was too shy to really show off once it knew it was going to be making an appearance on here.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2011-07-01T11:33:00.006-04:00

Finally went to visit Providence, RI. It only took me 3 years after I graduated to make it back. Did a little drawing while I was there. I think seeing all the pre-college kids walking around with their gigantic portfolios and trunks full of drawing supplies made me feel like I was still in school(and should be slaving away at some drawing).

Not a lot to show, but it was fun to go visit old spots that various RISD faculty would bring us to while we were in life-drawing classes. It was nice to see that Providence hasn't changed too much, besides all the horrible looking condos popping up around town. Here's an embarrassing painting I did in a landscape painting course, just to show how long I've been learning from this park. it's also at Prospect Park, just from a different view.

Told you it was pretty bad.

Let Summer Begin!!!

2011-06-01T14:17:00.003-04:00

Pointless, but Hopefully Somewhat Entertaining.

2011-04-30T22:44:00.016-04:00

Sneak peek of a project I just finished, but cannot completely reveal yet:

I recently went upstate to visit my family and while I was there I found a long lost treasure: Alien comic books. These were the ones that came with various action figures done by Kenner in '92. When they released this line they wanted to give you a wallop of a package, so not only did you get melted down plastic shapes of alien life forms, but you also got a nail-biting, thrill ride of a read.

Sweet.
The craziest thing about these comics was at the end of every issue there was some crazy cliffhanger where aliens were wreaking havoc on some planet and the gang hopped into their space jet, flew there, and blew up any creature that resembled some alien life form that mated with any kind of species from Earth. This seemed to imply that the alien hunters never slept or ate, did a piss-poor job at actually killing the aliens, and that all species on Earth also exist on other planets.

I also found my first skateboard. Saved up 140 dollars to buy this thing when I was in sixth grade.

What was once the tail.

Made a new friend.

To anyone that saw me drawing hundreds of cats in my sketchbook, or had heard me mention this, well, here it is.

Largely inspired by this big guy.

Lost in the shuffle

2011-04-09T15:51:00.007-04:00

Here are those extra heads I mentioned I had laying around. First is Ray Bradbury. You are blowing it if you haven't read any of his work besides Fahrenheit 451. Maybe when Urban Outfitters can market some hip cover design for his other works, more people will find out how amazing he is.

A young Norman Mailer

Also, here are some lyrics which have recently blown my mind and I'd like to share with you:

"Just wrap your legs around these velvet rims/ And strap your hands across my engines"

"Pick up the dog-doo/Hope that it's hard"

"Just the two of us/Building castles in the sky"

Wolfie: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

2011-03-23T16:08:00.007-04:00

A recently commissioned portrait:

There's too many awesome stories about this unique creature to unload on this blog, but I tried as hard as I could to get this portrait to do him some sort of justice. But, in the end, as much as I struggled to really capture him the best I could, a 12 x 15 sheet of bristol board cannot control him, he's just too much for a mere sheet of paper to handle. I guess some people are just born that way.

Below is the sketch I did that put this project into motion.

Thawing Out

2011-03-19T18:15:00.008-04:00

These are some random things I've done lately that I'm somewhat happy enough with to show. No major projects or anything along those lines in here, only doodles done to keep free time from being idle time.

There are some more of these heads that i have laying around that I'll get to posting soon. I know I said earlier i was getting sick of drawing people, and here, presented before you, is something to contradict that statement. Well, I lied. I was just sick of how I was going about it.

You know this is what Christmas has been reduced to. There's no use in thinking otherwise.

Blogging in 2011

2011-01-10T13:29:00.013-05:00

Welp, it's a new year and it's time to release some life updates. I'm still alive, I survived the great NYC blizzard of 2010 and recently did some more spot illustrations for Steez. Another round of the ongoing illustrated definitions. Could we end up releasing a dictionary of these? Would anyone buy it? Would anyone care? Questions 2011 may or may not answer.

I moved from the great outdoors of Upstate New York to Manhattan in August. Stayed with an extremely gracious friend for a few months in a tight living situation. This air mattress was my bed, couch, desk, and kitchen table all in one. Let's see the folks making swiss army knives beat that combo!

Moved on over to Brooklyn in early December and was able to spread out a little more.

Heat is included in the rent:

Finally have my life situation stabilizing and finally have a wall for this Dennis McNett print. So far so good in ol' Brooklyn. Now Spring just needs to arrive because I'm already over winter.

Pages From the Book of Sketch Vol. 2

2010-12-03T00:18:00.007-05:00

Some recent faces I've done in between other things going on. Feelings are a-brewin' down below that drawing people, or to be more specific, doing caricatures of random famous people, isn't as fun as it used to be. There may soon be a void where there was once hours and hours of enjoyment from people drawing. But I heard from a wise old man that if it isn't fun, then what's the point?

Ronald Searle at The Forbes Galleries

2010-11-17T19:04:00.013-05:00

There's an amazing show that gives you a glimpse into the career of Ronald Searle going on right now at the Forbes Galleries, and I'm telling anyone that may read this that they should go check it out, a.s.a.p. It will most likely raise your spirits, open your mind, and cure any back pain you may be experiencing. There's also a room of brand spanking new illustrations he did to accompany a book of poems written by Robert L. Forbes. The show runs until March 12th and is on the corner of 5th ave. and 12th St. Here's some images to give you an idea of the awesomeness that awaits you.

Sharpen Your Spork!

2010-11-05T21:58:00.003-04:00

http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2010/11/05/guest-strip-rob-hovden-rob-barton-and-phil-ashworth/#more-7423

Here's a taste of a project a couple guys and I have been working on for the past year. We submitted this comic we did a little while ago to www.thedailycrosshatch.com Every week, The Daily Crosshatch puts up a chosen comic submitted by followers of the site, and ours raised enough eyebrows, and cracked enough grins, to be this weeks choosing, or maybe it was just a slow week. I will soon spill the beans on the project that we've been working on, but for now, hopefully you will enjoy this little bit.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!

2010-11-02T13:29:00.012-04:00

This is a recent promotional project I did to appear on a website. A biking maniac, Andrew Fersch, contacted me about a goal of his to begin biking 1300 miles on Arbor Day, and along his journey, plant 1300 trees. Apparently, recently biking across the U.S. wasn't enough for this man because New England is the next to be dominated, and beautified. Andrew just requested a simple logo from me to help promote this adventure on his website. I figured, why not? Seems like a goal any decent human being could get behind. From start to finish, it was a quick and enjoyable one. Thanks again to Andrew. www.arborride.org

All inked up, just waiting for the color to get into the mix.

Below are some of the sketch ideas.

Reunited, and it feels so good.

2010-10-06T23:05:00.006-04:00

New illustration for Steez Magazine. Pretty hyped that my good bud, Marcus Sears has been having his photos published in the same mag for the past few months. He's a rad photographer, filmer, and one fine human being.

Preliminary sketches:

A Quickie

2010-09-23T12:46:00.008-04:00

"The Violent Femmes..they bring all their equipment on the bus. And you cannot fuck with the Violent Femmes. You cannot fuck with this band!"

Grip it and Rip it

2010-08-26T00:03:00.003-04:00

"Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that the trip must be made."

-Bruce Catton

I found this photo a few weeks ago. No idea who took it, or what year it's from, but it's pretty gnarly. Seems like the blog is becoming a showcase for skateboarding lately but there'll be new illustration stuff soon.

The Salad Days

2010-08-18T14:32:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to share this for a while and today felt like the right day for it. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to this short movie by a Post Office clerk a few months ago. Usually when complete strangers try to talk to you about skateboarding it's a pretty embarrassing experience. However, this guy, After noticing I was holding a skateboard, doesn't bring up the X Games, but instead, tells me I need to see this movie from the 60's called, Skater Dater. It helped that he had this tone in his voice like he knew it was pretty ridiculous and that I would think the same thing. Plus, the title alone was enough to convince me to watch it. Even if it was a complete disaster, which most movies about skateboarding usually are, there would still be some good cringe-inducing laughs from it. Well, I watched it, and it is ridiculous, and cheesy, and totally awesome! From the choreographed opening sequence, to the hill bombing battle, it pretty much rules. It has hardly any dialog, which is a plus, and the soundtrack is pretty rad. There are better versions, but this was the only full version I could find at the moment. So, here it is, in all of its stupendous glory: SKATER DATER

Interviewed for Steez

2010-06-30T14:59:00.003-04:00

Along with the 5 spots to wrap up the 2-part article, I was put on the hot seat and grilled about the finer things in life. A big thanks to Andrew Fersch.

Steez Spots: Part 2

2010-06-18T22:42:00.006-04:00

So, here are the other 5 spots I had done for a 2 part article in Steez magazine. In case I forgot to mention it before, these spots were done to accompany definitions of terms used by snowboarders and skiiers. I especially got a kick out of drawing the fourth image down. Back when I did snowboard, I loved it when people ate shit so hard going down the hill; Powder and clothes went flying in every direction. Coincidentally, it was usually someone showing off, so I never really felt bad for blatantly laughing at them. But, in case they weren't showing off, and did get seriously hurt, I apologize now for laughing.

More stuff from this issue later on.

A Hallmark Moment

2010-06-03T17:00:00.005-04:00

This guy is making another appearance on this ol' blog for one of those warm, cuddly, the family all sitting around a warm fire, sentimental reasons.

A few weeks ago I noticed an e-mail that had "The Loch Ness Project" titled as the sender in my inbox. Instantly intrigued, I opened that sucker right up and surprisingly, it turned out to be an e-mail from the wife of Adrian Shine (the man picture above). She had caught a glimpse of my drawing on-line and wanted to let me know Adrian saw it and got a kick out of it. After a few more e-mails and a trade off, I had a signed copy of a booklet of his resting in my hands. To have someone that I've done a drawing of see my work, find amusement in it, and reach out to me is kind of a surreal thing. It makes the work that much more satisfying and can even trump the financially fulfilling side of things. Aaaannnnd, that's enough sentimental junk for now.

Update

2010-05-06T15:42:00.003-04:00

Some of my illustrations will be hanging up in the Gimme! Coffee on Green St. in Ithaca for the month of May. Stop in, get yourself something to drink and check out some of my work if you're in the area.

Ding-Dang Drawing for a Friend!

2010-05-02T21:13:00.002-04:00

I just did this for a friend. He wanted a drawing of a young Bob Dylan and that's just what he got, gosh darnit!

Sh-sho-show Picsssss

2010-04-07T22:36:00.016-04:00

The show has come and passed, and it was quite a blast. A lot of our friends made it into town for the night, which turned it into a big hang-out rather than some stuffy show. This picture is of my mom and Travis right before the show started and right after we had some awesome ice cream.

These are the cookies that my friend, Alexis, baked up for it. She's rad. Out of the 100 that she brought, there was about 10 of them left that I am now hoarding for myself.

After doing all these random heads for about 2 years, I finally found a place for some of them.

These following pictures have some of Travis's sculpture work that he brought down for the show.

Thanks again to everyone that stopped in. I'll let this picture of my bud, Marcus, sum up how the night wrapped up.

Spots

2010-04-05T12:56:00.007-04:00

I recently did 10 spot illustrations for Steez Magazine. The article is split into 2 parts, so the other 5 will be on here in a little while. The purpose of the spots were to accompany definitions of slang terms that are commonly used on the slopes. I think I recognized 3 out of the 60 that Joe sent to me. I feel out of touch.

Coming Soon!

2010-03-21T14:28:00.003-04:00

Who: Phil Ashworth and Travis Winters

What: Showing of some illustrations and sculptural work from the past year or so.

When: Friday, April 2nd. 7-10pm.

Where: Homegrown-104 E. State St. Ithaca, NY

Why: Because.

How: Begged until the guy felt sorry for us and decided to give us a show because he thought we were pathetic losers.

Hooty HooOOoo

2010-03-16T00:39:00.005-04:00

These are just a few from the winter months when I had some free time. This first one came from a strong disgust for the long, cold winters that any north easterner continually develops year after year. It also comes from reading Calvin and Hobbes a lot when I was a kid.

Little scraps of left over paper, once again being used to draw famous people. George Carlin and Joan Rivers:

New Caricatures

2010-02-02T12:30:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple portraits from a project I worked on a few months ago. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out as planned but, in the end it was still fun to do some new drawings, and get some insight into the literary culture of Romania. This first one is of a famous Romanian playwright, poet, journalist, and political commentator; Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912).

The next one is of Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889). Regarded as the most influential Romanian poet, he also spent time as a journalist and editor for the newspaper Timpul. Him and Ion Luca Caragiale both belonged Junimea, a literary society, which was an intellectual and political association from Romania.

Risk it for a Biscuit

2010-01-24T19:38:00.006-05:00

Joe LoVasco, from Steez Magazine, contacted me recently about doing an illustration to be included in their new issue. The article was about the pitfalls and risks we take with winter sports and the dangers of competitions for the big cash prize. Joe dug the treasure map-like drawing, so we chatted about changing a few of the dangers that could be illustrated on it and it was a sealed deal. From sketch to finish it was a quick deal and was good fun. Thanks Joe.

In case you notice that banana peel on the bottom of the illustration and start to wonder to yourself if anyone has actually ever slipped on one, I'll save you the time and let you know that it has happened, and it was me.

Steeeeeeeeeeeeezz Skateboards

2009-12-31T13:45:00.018-05:00

Back in September, Joe from Steez Magazine, e-mailed me about possibly doing a skateboard graphic for a run they wanted to do for the holidays. Since I've been skateboarding for about 13 years, this was a huge deal to me. I guess if you don't go pro and get a board with your name on it, the next best thing is to have a graphic of yours on a deck, or you can try to be like Mark Gonzales and have both, but good luck on that one. Joe was pretty open to whatever I wanted to do as long as it could have some kind of crazy face, or person on it.

I mostly just thought of stuff that looked funny to me or would be funny to someone else. A fat guy giggling and acting very giddy was one of my first thoughts. That giggle Homer Simpson has is comedy gold and that may have been subconscious inspiration from my years of watching him.

Old ladies doing anything that's out of character is something I like to see. I love seeing little old ladies smoking, drinking and swearing more than a 16 year old. I could die a happy man if some old lady threw me the horns or the "gnarly" hand signal surfers and skateboarders get associated with.

Joe got a kick out of the giggling fat guy (I'll just have to save the gnarly old lady for some other opportunity). We played around with the idea of him reaching for the Steez logo, or maybe reaching for some other person on the nose of the board. Joe then recommended a beer can, and we decided that we could have him spraying some beer, and place the Steez logo in the middle of some foamy goodness on the nose of the board. You can tell we were reaching for a very sophisticated concept on this project

The stuff nightmares are made of.

I drew the head, hands, and spray separately so that we could play around with places for them to be on the board. Doing a skateboard graphic for the first time is tricky because when you first try to fit something on the entire length of the board, you never really think about what an awkward dimension it is to work with.

These were the color ways we played with. While I liked most of them, we had to decide on two that we liked the most. Joe and I both agreed that the lime green and navy color way had the best contrast. I wish we could have done all of them but oh, well.

We decided on the lime green/navy one and that we would do wood grain for the negative space. We also decided to just do a blue and white one for those more simple folk out there that don't dig all that fancy shmancy jazz. Unfortunately, I found out a few weeks ago that there had been some confusion with the printing company and only the white and blue colorway had been completed. It was a bummer to hear, but on the upside, there has been talk of doing another run in the future, with a new graphic.

Just a day after Christmas I received some of the boards from my friend Andy, who works on the magazine and grew up in the same town I did. Even though there had been some minor hiccups with the project, it was still great to have some of the decks in my hands. Skateboarding and drawing are my two biggest passions and to be able to combine them is amazing. Hopefully I will be able to stay involved in both for as long as I live. A big thanks to Joe and Andy for doing this and choosing me to be the one to do their first ever run of skateboards.

p.s. I will post, at a later date, where these decks will be available and how to get your hands on one if you would like to do so.

More Randumbzzzzzz From Summer

2009-09-08T21:54:00.013-04:00

Here are some sketches and little head studies of some recognizable and unrecognizable people and places.

Sean Hannity has an amazing, "I know you can't stand me, and I don't give a shit." look. It pisses me off just looking at him. It's probably the reason why he is so popular. Which makes me wonder, with caricature, why do we even draw these people we can't stand and maybe even get a little worked up from just seeing a picture of them? Even if it is to tarnish their image or poke fun at their mistakes, it still makes me wonder why we devote our time to them. It probably stems from some sick satisfaction of drawing humiliating pictures of people we didn't like in school.

This following guy is the cartoonist/caricaturist, from the late 1800's/early 1900's, Eugene Zimmerman. Originally from Switzerland, he later lived and worked in Elmira, NY, which is just about 15 miles away from where I grew up. You can still visit his house/studio since it's considered a historical landmark. Him and Mark Twain would occasionally see eachother wandering the streets of Elmira.

I was savagely assaulted by an army of ferocious mosquitos while drawing this house. But, in the end I'd say it was worth it, I walked away with a drawing, and some itchy spots on my arms and legs, and most of them never walked away, or flew, due to my cat-like reflexes.

Summer Sketchzzzzzzzzzzz

2009-08-31T00:04:00.015-04:00

Summer has been sort of quiet, so I figured I'd share some random sketches. It's nice having friends that blow glass. It requires them to be quite focused and still for a while, so I basically have free models to draw whenever I want. Here are some from my friend's studio.

These next two are just a few from a bunch of pages where I just lay down random colors and then draw whatever comes to mind when it dries. I wouldn't say these are great images by any means but you never know when a random sketch can inspire you for something bigger later on.

Illustrating album covers? They still do that?

2009-06-19T15:38:00.005-04:00

Here's a recent album cover illustration I had done. My friend Jeremy and some other friends put together an album and asked me to do thier cover. It's pretty cool knowing some people out there still seek traditional illustration for things like this, but who knows how relevant album covers will be in a few more years given the current decline of the music industry. Jeremy knew exactly what he wanted for the cover and it was a pretty quick deal from sketches to finish. Hopefully I can get an image of the final cover soon and post it here and find some link to thier music. All I can say at the moment is the band goes by The Forgotten, and it's not the punk band by the same name.

The sketch idea's were pretty repetitive, but it was more about dealing with the composition since the concept was pretty much taken care of right away.

The 80's, So Hot Right Now.

2009-05-28T11:52:00.010-04:00

Immediately after I finished the first illustration for Joe, he shot me back an e-mail about doing another one for the same issue. The article he sent over was about the many different groups of characters that flock to the slopes, but it mainly dealt with "The Joey." Even after snowboarding for years, I had never even heard about this so it was a pretty entertaining little nugget of information. "The Joey" is pretty much the biggest goofball at the resort. The one who always gets in the way, wears the craziest outfits, and is altogether clueless when it comes to any sort of etiquette on the slopes. Joe had initially mentioned using a lot of dayglo colors and after reading that I couldn't help but envision acid wash jean jackets, tight jeans, and patterns that you might see on Saved By The Bell.

I felt like the first round of sketches were too heavy handed, in that they were sort of telling the viewer how to feel, or were giving away the reaction too much.

I was glad with what we settled on after looking at the sketches. I think it captured the idea of "The Joey" better than any of the others and honestly, was probably a lot more fun to do than any of the others would have been. A bonus perk to the whole shebang was that it ended up being a fun trip down memory lane.

Snowboarding in May

2009-05-23T18:03:00.005-04:00

A childhood friend of mine helped start up a snowboarding/skiing magazine called Steez a few years ago, and he recently told me to e-mail their art director, Joe LoVasco, about doing some illustrations for them. A week after I initially contacted Joe, he shot an article my way for thier new issue about the SIA snow sports trade show in Vegas. After 37 years, the event has started to become too polluted with "glitz" and "glam," and is being moved to Denver to help get back to the roots. The magazine is usually black and white so it was great to read from Joe that they are now doing it in color, and to just do whatever I want.

These were the 3 quick ideas I had that I was sure would all be turned down. I still want to do the one of that infamous neon cowboy with the snowboard under his arm, just for kicks.

"The Bird Show"

2009-05-04T00:28:00.004-04:00

This was a piece I did for a juried show in April. The entrants had to submit a piece that could be whatever came to mind when they thought about birds. I always wondered what it would be like if a bird tried to sneak one out in a birdbath. A pretty idle thought, but it's fun to imagine what it might be like. I ended up receiving first place, so I guess enough enjoyment came from the idea I had to share.

Sex Can Still Be Awkward

2009-04-06T18:20:00.005-04:00

About a month ago I was invited to a dinner party for a few local artists where we would all hang out, have a few drinks, or more, and then enjoy dinner together. There was a little catch to the event; we all had to bring a piece with us, that dealt with the idea of sexual energy, for a critique after dinner. It kind of threw me for a bit since I had never done a piece dealing with that subject matter. I really thought about it for a while and eventually got something. The night was a fun time and everyone had an interesting take on the subject. A big thanks to Tom Buechner for having me there.

Another Old Dude

2009-03-02T23:51:00.003-05:00

Ambrose E. Burnside was a General in the Union Army, which he relunctantly accepted, and suffered a crushing defeat at The Battle of Fredericksburg. After another failed attempt at fighting the Confederate Army he requested President Lincoln accept his resignation. He may not go down in history as the greatest General but he may have paved the way for a revolution in facial hair.

Ben

2009-02-23T19:40:00.006-05:00

My friends and I love watching Drunk History on www.funnyordie.com and in case you're wondering what that is, I'll fill you in. The premise is pretty simple: people get ridiculously drunk and then tell stories from American history. The stories are usually pretty hilarious due to how drunk the person telling the story is and also the absurdity of the story. There's a couple episodes on Benjamin Franklin, who is played by Jack Black. I decided to draw Ben for my friend because he always toasts Ben Franklin, which is in reference to one of the stories, and I wanted him to have some kind of picture on his wall to toast. I am starting to attempt to incorporate type into my drawings but I think it'll be some time until I'm happy with it.

Return of The Scraps

2009-02-19T12:51:00.003-05:00

Woody Allen

After some other bigger illustrations I had more scrap paper laying around again, so I've just decided that all scrap paper from now on will be used for these little head studies. I like doing them and it's fun to sort of experiment here and there with them and see how it affects my other work. Who knows how long it'll continue but it'd be cool to have a gigantic stack of them years from now, and plus it's a good way to use the extra paper instead of throwing it out.

Rudyard Kipling

Introducing, Matty P

2009-01-24T16:01:00.004-05:00

This is my friend Matt. Months ago he asked me to do a drawing of him and at first it was going to be a simple sketch but I turned it into this mess of a picture. I wanted to incorporate a lot of things/events from his life into it, so all the little bits and pieces in this picture have been his job locations, skateboard poses, traveled roads, childhood stomping grounds, and actual clothes. He's a character for sure.

2000 and Shine

2009-01-07T23:00:00.005-05:00

Well, 2009 is kicking off on a good note. I just found out this guy was accepted into the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 47 show and catalog. I had done this piece as part of a final project series for a class last Spring.

Pages From the Book of Sketch

2008-12-21T18:33:00.004-05:00

I've always liked it when other people share some of their sketchbook doodles, so I've decided to do the same. It's interesting to see if people's personal sketches are stylistically different or similar to their finished work. I figure this will probably be the last post for 2008 so I wanted to share some of the last few pages of this year.

Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Seventh President of the United States: Andrew Jackson

Hometown coffee shop

A Scene From The City

2008-12-13T19:46:00.005-05:00

I saw this one day in Manhattan and I could not get it out of my head for days. When I passed this guy I laughed to myself but it wasn't a laugh meant to mock him, but more out of fear or how depressing of a scene it was. His job is to sit, cramped in a little space, all day and sell magazines of beautiful people enjoying life, cameras to help us remember all the fun things we did that day, candy that we love to eat, gum to make our breath smell better, and everything else for us to enjoy while we roam around the city. It made me think of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon talks about the honor in having to work a job where you tend to people and their needs all day and then Robin Williams calls him out on all his bullshit.

Adrian Shine

2008-12-01T12:18:00.005-05:00

I saw this guy on a documentary I watched about Loch Ness on the Travel channel and I knew I had to draw him. Check out all that hair! Problem was I didn't know his name, so I figured it was hopeless that I'd find any photos of him or any info on him. Well, by some strange stroke of luck I found out what his name was and what he did; Adrian Shine is a researcher at the Loch and has written over a dozen books about the environment/life of the area. He was initially drawn to the lake because of Nessie but after years of research believes it was either a hoax or is dead. He uses the creature as a jump off point for getting people to understand the region and how the lake affects the surrounding area. I think I remember reading he built his own submarine years ago to do underwater research!

Pooooost.

2008-11-13T01:09:00.004-05:00

It's been a whee bit since I've posted anything and I had this sketch from a couple weeks ago that I must have forgot about.

I don't imagine many people will be drawing this guy too much anymore. After I had the likeness down I felt like I turned him into some sort of lizard or dinosaur and it just seemed fitting to have some tar, possibly from the La Brea Tar Pits, oozing down his throat. Fact just learned while posting this: Brea is spanish for "tar". That means "The La Brea Tar Pits" is redundant and it's translation is "The The Tar Tar Pits". Cha-ching!

The Last of the Scraps

2008-10-12T21:26:00.004-04:00

Welp, these two pieces mark the last of my leftover RISD scrap paper that I had been using to do these caricature studies with.

Maybe it's because Freud is so recognizable as an old bald man with a big white beard, but while I was working on this I kept thinking about the images of people we retain and how we choose to remember them. These iconic images of them are burned into our brains and it seems to get harder and harder to recognize them any other way. Also, if you take the name away from a person you realize how much you really rely on it for help in recognizing them. I don't know where I was going with that.

This drawing of Janis Joplin was pretty fun. I don't usually use very bright colors but I had laid down a bright pink ground, that I chose to leave untouched for her glasses, and I think it helped give the drawing a lot of punch that compliments the personality she had. For now I think I'll continue to work with softer, washed out colors but maybe I'll come back to this kind of palette again.

Changes Around Here

2008-09-30T18:25:00.004-04:00

If you are one of the few people, or maybe the only person, to come to my blog and have noticed that everything is posted in September now, when the posts used to be from July, August and September, it's because some of the pictures weren't enlarging when you clicked on them. I'm slowly learning the blogger tricks. Click away and enjoy pictures being even larger than before, all for your viewing pleasure.

Somewhat of an Odd Couple

2008-09-30T18:14:00.003-04:00

The father of that incubus in the White House:

I feel like it's sort of a requirement or an obligation to draw certain people when you are interested in caricature. Politicians just seem like a must for some reason, but I still haven't done Nixon. I wonder if they were ever sorted, if there are more George W. Bush caricatures/illustrations over Nixon, or vice versa, and which president has had the most scathing drawings done of themselves.

Christopher Hitchens:

I love how Christopher Hitchens looks absolutely wrecked sometimes during interviews. I also love his brutally honest attitude, especially when he has been on Fox News speaking about Mother Teresa and the Reverend Jerry Falwell and others.

New(ish) Drawings

2008-09-30T18:11:00.005-04:00

You can't go wrong with drawing wrinkles, scraggly hair, and sagging faces: especially when it's Gene Wilder. Him and Eric Idle have started to look like eachother now that they have aged considerably. I thought that could be a fun thing to read in case you might be wondering if Gene Wilder or Eric Idle resemble another actor now. Or maybe it wasn't that fun.

Good ol' Stephen King. Not even getting struck by a van can slow him down. It just sped him up.

Breakin' the Rhythm

2008-09-30T17:56:00.004-04:00

Some illustrations from my spring classes:

The point of this piece of the skeleton sandblasting his own head down was to make a band poster but we had to also incorporate a childhood memory, which was one heck of a sure fire zinger. I narrowed it down to Tom Waits and my fondness for those balsa wood dinosaur skeletons. They always seemed to break or split apart when you were putting them together. Wood glue should have been an accessory with the purchase.

I had put this piece on the duckbangstudio blog but I figured I'd put something somewhat new on here besides caricature sketches. I was picking articles on my own to illustrate for a portfolio class. I think this piece came from a Newsweek article about stories in the news that are exaggerated and sensationalized but have no substance or reliable answers.

Mick Jones

2008-09-30T17:54:00.003-04:00

I chose to just go with black ink for the drawing on this one. On a lot of the other studies I've been adding acrylic or watercolor paint to beef up the drawing a little bit more so I wanted to keep this one simple and quick. When I was doing this study I realized how much fun it is to draw people playing instruments, for me at least, and how much I suck at drawing the actual instrument. Good thing the focus is Mick and not the neck of the guitar.

Two Dudes

2008-09-30T17:50:00.005-04:00

Francis Bacon:

This one was sort of a happy accident but I wasn't paying attention to how big I was drawing his head and how small the sheet of paper was so there's an awkward cropping to it. Oh, well.

Orson Welles:

I still haven't seen Citizen Kane. It seems like it's a movie everyone must see or pretend to have seen but I don't have any desire to see it.

Aliens Took Over The Daily Show

2008-09-30T17:47:00.002-04:00

I always laugh when I think about that movie The Faculty, the one where aliens invade a high school by taking over the teachers and then gradually, the students. Jon Stewart was one of the alien teachers. He eventually gets his fingers sliced off by a paper cutter and then recieves a syringe to the eye. The syringe is filled with some home brewed powder that is getting the students high, but also conveniently kills the aliens. This ends his 5 minutes of glory in The Faculty. I wonder if he looks back on that moment of his life and shudders or gets a good laugh from it.

I Watch Stupid Movies

2008-09-30T17:43:00.003-04:00

Did some more quick caricatures/portraits.

While I was working at this one of John McCain I was subconciously turning him into a C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller). Imdb that for further clarification. He sometimes does look like some deformed mutation that could have been spawned in a NYC sewer.

Aldous Huxley, much better than a C.H.U.D.

Some Smiling Faces

2008-09-30T17:37:00.004-04:00

Lately I've been going through my scrap paper left over from spring semester and just throwing down different color grounds and inks. It's been a fun way to help me loosen up the way I draw and try new techniques. Here are a few faces I drew lately:

Tiny Tim was one crazy looking guy and I don't think I had to do much stretching in the drawing. He was the kind of person that's a living caricature so any exaggeration doesn't seem far from reality.

I just drew Ron Perlman because I see Hellboy 2 commercials all day, every day.