Human Cannonball

Oh hey people! For anyone in the studio this has been done for a while and is old news, but it’s new to the internet. I’m pretty jazzed about it and have more stuff in the works/ needs to be scanned.

This was for SooJin’s class. I got my wisdom teeth out Friday and knocked this out on Monday, so how’s that for turnaround?

Also the lovely Jillian Tamaki came in the other week and showed us her skills power point presentation style. She was really amazing, but that’s also old news.

Urban Myths

Image illustrating the phrase “underneath the surface”. This shit is true; I saw it on youtube.

and a fun character sketch for Joo’s class.
Just trying to loosen up.

portraits and the anonymous

Prelim sketch of Perez Hilton the gossip blogger/media whore. I’m thinking of doing a tightly cropped gouache in an obsessive way
(think Drew Friedman)

also more Navy:

sketchbook stuff

Just a sketch

Ok I really need to put up new work. Tomorrow I swear. This guy just makes me happy.

In other news I went back to James Jean’s show to, you know, actually see the artwork. It’s definitely better if there aren’t a thousand people crushing in on you.

I also caught Zohar’s show at the Jeff Bailey Gallery. It was so gorgeous it hurt. I’ve never been more attracted to tube socks in my life.

KINDLING

Ok.  I went to James Jean’s opening at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery yesterday despite the crazy weather, and so did everyone else. The place was so mobbed it was like being caught in a constant riptide of art students. 

I took some pictures, which are universally crappy because I could stand no more than 1 ft away from pieces that took up the entire wall. Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the work in person. I think the show’s design was extremley well done, and very smart to continue using James Jeans “process/recess” ethos.

 

The works I responded to the most were the ones that looked like life size recreations of his sketchbook, like the one on the main wall. It was awesome to see his elaborate kinetic drawings done to that scale.

If I were to have any critique, it would be that I simply do not understand his continued use of weird bobble headed children running amok in his compositions. Jean excels at drawing things few artists could execute as deftly (never mind conceive of in the first place.) Knowing this, its hard for me to really fall in love with works that rely on these rote figures. I hope saying that doesn’t make me an asshole.

After the show I happily came home to the one of the few things that I would run back in to save if my apartment was on fire. Above my desk hangs a signed print of James Jean’s cover for the Animal Farm collection of Fables. According  to Jean this is his favorite out of all the covers for  Fables and I totally agree!

A)JJ’s Rad print that looms over me whenever I procrastinate

B)I’m totally procrastinating by watching Rachel Maddow on iTunes

C)Neat new wacom tablet (totally not mine… mine’s busted) 

D)Kindling poster from the gallery

E)Sweet macbook pro, also not mine…neither is the other mac

F)mmm a big cup of tea ’cause i don’t drink coffee 

G)Oh, those are my glasses

New (awkwardly sized) Art

So, I haven’t posted in awhile, and I have a lot of new things to post, but i guess the best way would be to to stagger it all. Also I have a bunch of unfinished projects I really want to wrap up asap.

To start things off, I did a project for class that started in one place and ended somewhere entirely different. The resulting concept was “placing pop musicians in the context of fairy tales”. Here’s the finish:

 

gouache and ink

I decided to do a riff off of Hansel and Gretal featuring the band Tegan and Sara. The long format is a result of looking at Darger to much and is also a nod to the nice long pan you’d see in some old school animation. The background was actually a combination of Snow White and Bambi and was really fun to design.

Right now it’s about 95 percent done. I think I still need to tweak some things too make sure all the elements are clear. I’m still not you can tell the old witch lives in a Twinkie trailer with Hostess wheels…oh well i tried.

On a totally different note, here’s a life drawing from my sketchbook:

Mr. Softee

So with the end of pre-college and no real viable summer vacation options, I treated myself to a staycation in NYC this weekend. I found out it’s fun to be a fake tourist in ny, especialy since your NOT perpetually lost. I also found out that the stupid tour buses are AWESOME and I have no shame about riding them.

Other things I learned:

There’s a great Durer exhibit at the Museum of Biblical Art. I know your thinking,”I’m really not that into bibles, dude.” Well you might be right about that but you’d be wrong to stay away from this exhibit. It’s a way cool, way extensive show of freaky germanic art (ex: the apocolypse with a pope devouring demon.) and they have MAGNIFYING GLASSES!

American Teen was pretty good but also intensly wierd because I’m the same age as the “stars”. I thought it was pretty spot on, but uncomfortably exploitive at times.

Also:

I’m continuing my frozen summer treat theme with drawing of the iconic ice cream truck.

YES

Alright today I found out that I got a senior studio which is kinda a big deal (at least to me). A lot of my friends also got studios, so next year is looking to be much improved over the last one.

In other news I’m pretty much addicted to Brandon Graham’s LJ. I have to admit, I didn’t really like his stuff originally (circa meathaus 6). But now i know that it’s just cause I didn’t get it, simple as that. He’s clearly one of the most passionate dudes producing comics right now and he style is the antithesis of cookie cutter. It’s a shame what happened to his latest book, but the upside is that his online serialization of King City has made me a fan. I will definitely be picking up whatever Mr. Graham publishes next.

Melting in NYC

So far the summer hasn’t been too bad heat-wise. But I guess since my job doesn’t involving running around outside( like last year), I’m not as aware of the egg frying days of summer. Here’s a silly little illustration I did for a flyer that actually sums it up pretty nicely.