The Lemonade Girl

This drawing was made on the day the last entry was published. Bleh. I like it. I totally stole Jen Wang's style for this one.


You can see through to the next page because I didn't tear the page out of the sketchbook. Maybe more to come soon. Check out my facebook notes for my daily comic. Maybe I'll put them up here too sometime.

I love her style!

Jen Wang is an amazing artist with a great style of drawing. One of my favorites, and an influence on my work. Check out this short comic by her. It's beautiful.

Click on it to see the whole of it. Hope you enjoy it.

Character Inks

Character Sheet

This is the character sheet I made for my preproduction course. Eh, not my best work.



I have been working on thumbnail sketches for the story. I'll get the first chapter done, and post one page a week. I don't know when they will be colored though, so expect a black and white image.

Comics!!!

I got to meet the McCloud family this past Monday! I am amazed at how the whole family is as much a part of the tour as is the talk. Winter asking for someone to teach her to purl (which she found and learned!), Sky with insightful comments, Ivy was very friendly, and of course Scott was funny AND informative. A very friendly family. I wish them luck and safety on the road.
I bought a copy of Daisy Kutter today, and have been reinspired! Yesterday and today, I have tried to draw but was not able to. I felt like Peter Parker in the second movie, afraid I had lost my powers, but not really realizing why I can draw and why I WILL draw.
I will be up all night working on a paper. Hurray coffee!
Also, i'll be working on a character sheet for Emma and Ishmael for my preproduction class. Of course, this is what I'm looking forward to the most tonight. The world is developing well in my mind and on my sketchbook, and I am contemplating the story. So far, I've written how the siblings make it into this magical world. I don't have a name for it yet, though.

SKETCH DUMP 07!!!!!

Or, at least a few weeks of 07.

This is who I am.

In human terms: unforgivable. I am a despicable man. I am a detestable person. My hands have spilt the blood of others. My body committed more grevious sins than most. My depravity gave birth to perversity, and that perversity killed. It maimed. It makes me unforgivable. The body and bloody of one cries of the guilt and of the shame of mine. With that guilt I will die. With that shame I won't make ammends. She stands and accuses me, and I plead guilty. I stripped her of dignity, and I brought her down to nothing. I stole a portion of her soul which did not belong to me. I sinned against her and against God.
There is the blood of another. He who was not sinful took this heinous crime that I committed and made it his own. We sinned against him and crucified him. With all our sins, he died, his blood trickled to the ground, and there, beneath the cross, it also speaks. When we murdered him, he forgave us. His blood points up to the cross and tells me he took my sin; he became my sin and removes my condemnation.
I am Cain. I have murdered and the Lord has found me guilty. My shame is too much to bear. But the Lord has been gracious. He has blessed me with forgiveness, when I did not deserve it at all.

I do not deserve it at all.

I was thinking about it when I heard this on the tele:

From the Travel Channel:
"The west coast attracts all the fugitives and refugees of the US. Portland ends up with the sort of most disturbed people."

Luke 5:27-32 tells the story of Jesus calling Levi, AKA Matthew:

27After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." 28And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Jesus tells me to follow Him, and he calls me to Portland. There are the people Jesus came, died, and conquered death for: the rejects, the socially outcast, the fugitives and refugees who need a place to rest, and Jesus is the rest we all long for, whether we know it or not.

Preproduction class

I am luckily in the storyboarding class. HURRAY!!! I have not drawn more in that short amount of time. Hopefully, this class will get me closer to where I want to be artistically.
Soon, I will post the work from that class. Also, I'm required to have a deviant art account, so I'll link it in a few days. Any ideas for a name for my deviant art account?

Art and God

To say beautifully and render wonderfully the works of the Creator, the plan of the Redeemer, the awe of the King Jesus, this is why we were made. Worshippers for Jesus. We all worship, whether we believe it or not. We worship drink, we worship sex, we worship knowledge, we worship ourselves, wasting our time finding lasting satisfaction worshipping created things, when we were made to worship God the Creator. Art is a form of worship, poetry is a form of worship. It is for this reason that art strives to beautifully render the world, the creation, and the pain. We then worship the art, we house it, we buy it, we sell it and value it highly, yet secular artists are some of the most depressed people there are, with suicide rates among the artist community being higher than most other occupations. But what if we were to stop worshipping the creation of art, and instead, worship the Creator through art? The beauty of our Creators plan, the flawlessness of His sovereignty. Only worship of him through the method God created us to enjoy will satisfy us, and yes, it is hard work. It's not going to flow easy, and inspiration will only come from many hours of work. Artists were created by God, and we're still under the curse, and we still have to work hard to eat, and we still have to suffer, but it is in that suffering that He speaks to us tenderly, and it is in that dry wilderness of the soul that he fills our mouths with cool water.

Sketches for my Big Project

This is Isaac. He is a small boy. Click to see full.

A Ladybug

I drew this with a pencil at Jacobs apartment tonight, after a few hand sketches. He gave me a sheet of bristol so I made this. Enjoy! I might go back and tidy it up and maybe color, although I might use the original as a practice canvas for oil painting. Click to enlarge.

Comic ADDstravaganza!!!!

I lack the ability to concentrate on a single project, so I will be posting these comics I am going to try to get published on the UTD Mercury. They are about life as a commuting student at UTD. They will definitely venture out past just that aspect, so look forward to hijinx and danger!

I am also working on finishing Imaginary Stitches and starting a new story tentatively called "The Elevator," and also working on concept art for the book I will be writing. That one is my grand project that will take a couple of years, seeing as it requires research, and many many many sketch books. I will be keeping people informed.

From the best show ever...

Found this today. Colin Meloy either taking my phone or giving it back.

That's my hand!!! Wooo

WOO!

Okay, so it has been a few months since my last post, and not much has happened besides a really really really good show.

I got to see The Decemberists here in Dallas this past wednesday. Needless to say, the show was amazing, as the band itself. The latest album, The Crane Wife, is perhaps the bands most well-rounded album, having a circular, epic feel that leaves wanting to listen from the beginning once it is over.

Colin Meloy, with his prowess at the art of showmanship, made the show a spectacle to be seen. Even though my guest to the show didn't quite appreciate it as much as I did, my appreciation for the show was worth the entire 40 dollars I paid. I can proudly say Colin Meloy made a phone call from my phone to my sister during the show and sang part of "The Culling of the Fold" into it. IT WAS AMAZING!!!

The next page of the comic might go up over Thanksgiving, once I have free time. I'm looking forward to that. Either that, or I will cut this particular story short and write stand alone stories.

Time to relax.

I have not even started working on the next page of IS. But be assured that before long you will see the next issue. In the meanwhile, I have been sketching alot. I am ridiculously tired right now though. I built a pinhole camera and have been having fun with that. Also expect some product photography! Right now, I need a drink.

I started my Teach For America application yesterday. I can't believe it. Last year of my undergraduate education. Life hasn't turned out the way I thought it would, but rarely anyone's does.
I am torn between applying for the big city that never sleeps or a rural area in South Dakota Native American reservations.

WOO WHO!!!...?

Here is page three. Enjoy! Page four will most likely be a week from now.

EAT THAT POOR SELF-IMAGE!

Wednesday, I can say, was productive.

Comic was inked, scanned, arranged, flattened, colors removed, ready for painting. Photogram ideas floating around my head, fixed the light leak on the bellows to my new (to me, anyways) camera, taught Jacob and John how to set up the dark room, and John was there for clean up. Went and picked up Days We Would Rather Know, a collection of poems by Michael Blumenthal. Amazing, go pick up a copy. The way things are going, time will run out for me before I finish life. Imaginary Stitches is tearing out my stitches. This is, however, a lesson in writing. I need to write in images, and make each one meaningful, and make every part essential. Perhaps every page in this comic is essential, but I feel it moves too slowly. Maybe that's just the me that wants everything fast speaking. I need to slow down and breath and go to sleep soon to wake up, bright and early, to go learn to be a poet, and come back and paint all day long. Paint Paint Paint! Comic might be done tomorrow evening. As long as I don't die, it will be here before the weekend!