House that silly goon

After the mayhem of finals week was finished, I got a chance to do some watercolors again. Here's one of Hugh Laurie as Dr. House. I dont watch the show religiously, but I've seen my share of episodes. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger asshole on television. You gotta love him.

Skulls

I just had my final critique in Life Drawing today, and it's been one of my most favorite, yet frustrating classes I've ever taken. I really have learned so much, and can't wait to take life drawing II next semester. Above are two skull studies done in class.

Editorial cartoonage

Here's a couple cartoons from the latest Stoutonia (UW-Stouts esteemed biweekly publication). I'm starting to root for the Detroit Lions out of shear frustration. I don't think any professional football team should ever go winless. Detroit's just having a rough time I guess. The last drawing was more of an illustration than a editorial cartoon, but it was going to accompany an article on bad drivers. However, last week a Stout student was killed in in a car accident in Minnesota, and it would have been in bad taste to run the article, so it got pulled last minute. Anyway, Im going to excuse myself for these drawings, I was in a rush on all of them as I have been cramming for finals, final projects and critiques. Oh, when the hell am I going to graduate....

Life drawing

As a semester of life drawing is nearing an end, I thought I'd post a couple of drawings from before Thanksgiving. There's a couple quick hand studies, and two 1.5 hour poses. Those are the longest poses we've done in class and I really enjoyed them. It seems that I can hardly get a drawing done to my liking in the alloted time, but in these I got to slow down a little bit.

Sketch dumperoo

I finally got started in a new sketchbook. I've been pretty lazy the last week or two with regards to sketching. I guess I've been getting caught up doing something so trite and nonsensical as schoolwork. But never-the-less, the first sketch is of my lil bro. sadly its not even a caricature. Then there's a Jack Black, a couple Ben Stillers(I just watched Tropic Thunder and have those two on the brain), and a George Lucas. It feels weird sketching/drawing after not doing much at all for two weeks, but its really great to get back into it.

colored pencils

I'm working on finishing up my latest sketchbook, and decided to whip out some colored pencils for a bit. Here's a Sean Connery and John Travolta. I haven't done much with colored pencils, but I was somewhat pleased with how these sketches turned out.

Life Drawing I

This semester I'm taking my first life drawing class, and I'll just say its been an awesome learning experience. I was very aware that I didn't know much about the human figure before, but now its almost discouraging. Almost. I really love the class because of the challenges the body presents. In the class we always start of doing 30 sec. gestures then gradually work our way up to 60 sec. 2 min. 5 min. then 10 min. poses. After a discussion of some bones or muscle groups, we then go into a longer pose. These drawings are all around 30 to 45 minutes poses. At first I really wanted to do longer poses ie. 1-3 hour poses, but I soon realized that that would be nothing more than practice rendering. Which is good, but not necessarily where my priorities should be focused. So anyway, there's plenty of flaws in the drawings I've posted, but I can definitely see improvement from the beginning of the semester.

Cartoonage

It's America's favorite arctic beauty. I think I'd be able to live my life without hearing about Sarah Palin ever again, but I have a feeling that wont be the case. Seeing as she has retained a "rock-star" status with hardcore, gun-clinging, christian, conservatives, her future may seem bright with the GOP. Maybe in 2012 she won't sound so dumb when she does that one thing... what was it.... oh yeah, open her mouth.

Oh, and there's a donkey dressed up like the monopoly guy... I'll leave it at that.

Barack and roll all night!

It's all over. No more excitement for at least another two years. What will ol' Obama ever do until the next election?

Vote early, vote often.

I hope everyone's exercising their rights and voting today, even though you may have to suffer some lines that will make the DMV pale in comparison.

Sketch dump o' frustration

I've heard it said on several occasions that there are some faces that certain people just cant get a good caricature of. It's different for everyone, and here's a couple that have given me a lot of grief. The superhuman being that is Brett Favre has escaped me every time that I've taken a stab at him, and the above sketch is the best I could do. Still not satisfied, but I can live with it for now. Also I've drawn Hugh Laurie as House once or twice, never really getting any decent results. Just recently, I tried to caricature Kelsey Grammar, a seemingly easy face. For me, not so much. I drew him nearly ten times and I am quite upset with every one of them. The lower two drawings are some of my Grammar drawings, just trying to show my different exaggeration attempts. Well, once I get over my frustration, I think I'll give him another try, but until then, I'll sit in a corner and pout...

Stoutonia: The guiding light of the UW-Stout campus

I've recently been doing editorial cartoons for the Stoutonia, the UW-Stout school newspaper. This would explain all the cartoon posts lately. In the last issue which hit the stands yesterday, I was asked to do illustrations of both Obama and McCain. It was really short notice, but I had some down time so I whipped these two drawings out. I was under the impression that they would be small little spot illustrations to accompany two lengthy articles about each candidate. Through some miscommunication it turns out that each drawing was printed about 7 or 8 inches tall. I was a little disappointed to see that as I would have done the original drawings much larger( the originals are about 4x6) and added a bit more detail. What's worse was that both articles were about 3 paragraphs of useless babbling. One of the writers came right out and said he didn't follow politics at all.- How do you expect to write a decent article when you've got your head up your ass one week before election day? But life goes on. I think the drawings turned out okay, and I've been getting positive feedback from fellow students who have actually picked up the paper and read it.

In addition, I had 4 cartoons published in this issue, all ones that I've posted here already. I thought that number seemed a bit excessive, but seeing as I get paid by the cartoon, I'm not going to be one to complain.

The paper and some of my cartoons/illustrations can be seen at the papers website www.stoutonia.com

cross hatching like a mad man

Speaking of mad men, golly gee, there's a drawing of Tom Cruise. I haven't taken a stab at Mr. scientology yet, so I thought I'd give it a try. I think I missed the likeness a bit, but oh well. You win some you lose some. Any way, sorry about the bad lighting in the photo.

Vote Red Party in '08

I couldn't help but laugh when I read the comments Sarah Palin made about Obama's tax plans. She said something comparing them to socialism. Anyway, I felt it necessary to draw Karl Marx because it would be fun. Also there's a cartoon of Joe the Plumber, a guy who gained instant fame and has become somewhat of a symbol of the middle class and small business owners. I did a little coloring on each. I was just experimenting with ways to color editorial type cartoons. It would be a stretch to say im satisfied with either, but I still really like a loose watercolor feel. It's safe to say I'm far from putting down the paint brushes.

More Palin because I like "Palin" around with terrorists

She just seems like too easy of a target. But I'll be damned if she doesn't have some sex apeal.

Indy

I still haven't seen the new Indiana Jones yet, but after the last South Park, I feel I owe it to ol' Harrison to take a stab at him.

Unsweetened Ice T

Still honing my watercolor skills. I think there's a little progress, maybe... wishful thinking perhaps. Whatever. I'll keep plugging away. Anyway, It's Ice T. I was watching Law and Order the other day it dawned on me just how cool of a face he's got.

Below that is another editorial cartoon.

Mr. OJ Simpson

Here's a cartoon of good ol' O.J. Simpson and his recent predicament of being tossed in jail.

The Queen of Alaska

VP candidate Sarah Palin, Governer of Alaska. If only Clinton had a Vice President like that.... Anyways, last night during the debate, she didn't sound quite as idiotic as I thought she might. I did get a little sick of hearing about her Alaska-small-town-family-oriented-puke-in-my-mouth comments and analogies.

LOTR color

Here, after another pain-in-the-ass scanning job, and a very tedious watercoloring job, my Lord of the Rings piece is done.

More Cartoonage

Another political cartoon. I've been following the economy situation pretty closely as of late, and apparently its showing in my work. Who woulda thunk it.

The U.S. Economy: A Fairy Tale

Just trying my hand at editorial cartooning. I'd say I've got a long way before I develop that kind of style, but in the meantime, its just fun to putz around with it.