Solid

"Solid"
digital
Summer 2008
pencil/sharpie/photoshop

Going with the comic book theme, somehow I just started drawing and ended up with a hybrid of Solid Snake and Iron Man. I love Solid Snake's outfit since it's fun to draw all the buckles and whatnot. Not entirely content with this, since his pigeon-toed stance doesn't quite sit right and the guns aren't placed right in his hands. But I enjoy the linework.

Shotgun City

"Shotgun City"
digital
Pencil/sharpie/photoshop
Fall 2007

I'm always a fan of comic book art and desperately try every now and then to get the same look. This is one of my more completed and successful attempts. No real story behind it, but I was just basing it off of a Grand Theft Auto vibe I had at the time.

GQ Bale

"GQ Bale"
digital
pencil/sharpie
Summer 2008

I constantly use Christian Bale or Daniel Johns for facial studies since 1) I like them both, and 2) they have really interesting facial features. Thus, many drawings of them result. This was done from a reference in an issue of GQ that featured Bale. He's a bit more stylized, ie. the hair.

Hand and Guitar

"Hand and Guitar"
digital
photoshop/pencil
Fall 2007

I used a photo of my friend's hand as a reference. I like the way hands contort themselves when pressing the strings/keys of an instrument. As you can see, I another gradient to this and burned some areas for contrast. I particularly like the small bit of red reflection as if there was a red lamp out of sight in the bottom right corner.

I Need You So Much Closer

"I Need You So Much Closer"
digital
photoshop/pencil
Fall 2007

This was just a sketch of two hands that I did and decided to revamp with photoshop. I was in a bit of a gradient phase where I would just apply gradients to everything. Lyrics of Deathcab. How emo of me.

Dangling Hand

"Dangling Hand"
Summer 2007
18x24
Acrylic on canvas

I like drawing and painting hands. Faces and hands are my favorite. They're also extremely hard. I love the knuckles in particular. And that bone that juts out on the outside of the wrist.

Peace

"Peace"
Fall 2007
8x11
Acrylic on canvas

Just a study I did with my hand. I wasn't intending on a profound message. I just like rendering hands since it's so easy since I have two!

Lennon

"Lennon"
Fall 2004
24x30
Acrylic on canvas

I feel this painting is a big mis-representation, if that's a term, of what I do. First of all, it was my first canvas painting so everything about the perspective and proportion is off. It was also a large-scale painting, still the largest I've done to this day I believe. It was an assignment from my senior year highschool art class. The outline was simply to do a portrait of anyone. In retrospect, I would not have picked Lennon. But I did so because I knew it was recognizable and artsy. I'm not even that much of a Beatles fan. All in all, the only reason I don't paint over this is because of the sentimental value of it being the first canvas I used. There's mixed feelings attached to it.

Jimi

"Jimi"
Fall 2007
Acrylic on canvas
Made this for my friend. I don't love it but I was mostly experimenting with colors and blending since I think I have a tendency to stick to some strict color rules.

My Gangster Self

"My Gangster Self"
Fall 2007
Pencil, Sharpie, Watercolor Crayons on paper
8x12

This drawing started out as a joke. Clearly I do not think of myself as gangster due to the fact I'm a descendant of every possible pasty white North Western European combination. Also because this pose looks ridiculous. Regardless, I began using some sharpie on it (creating another one of these) and then applied some watercolor crayons and it turned out alright. Not the most flattering angle but I can deal.

Leeloo

"Leeloo"
Fall 2007
Acrylic on canvas
8x11
I used a picture of the character Leeloo from the Fifth Element as a reference for this picture. She has really cool green eyes and I enjoy painting eyes. Eyelashes are usually hard since the margin for error is quite small. If you have too much paint on the brush, you might render a Tammy Faye instead of a Mila Jovovich.