Hospital Beds

The other day I had a serious epiphany while listening to audio books in my car and pining for ice cream (specifically raspberry dark chocolate chunk ice cream). And that epiphany was that I love art. It makes me happy. Simple, I know, but then after that realization was a tidal wave of why-am-I-not-making-art-more-what-am-I-afraid-of-I-gotta-start-setting-goals kind of thoughts.

Anyway, how this relates to the blog is that I've decided to start updating once a week. No exceptions! And dear friends, followers, and random peeps who accidentally stumble upon here, if I fail to update regularly, feel free to send me harsh messages about my inability to commit or how people who don't post art regularly on the internet never get to eat raspberry dark chocolate chunk ice cream.

To start with, here's a sketch (not quite finished... no hands) I've noodled away at off and on for a bit that I think I'm going to leave be. I started it after reading Demo 2 and drooling all over Becky Cloonan's gorgeous art. I particularly liked the last story, which involved a lot of bodily injury and had some really beautifully paneled hospital scenes.

The Shadow Character Lineup

I've been working on a short comic for a group project with some friends from BYU. We're having a show that displays some concept work and comic spreads from the project. The opening reception is this Friday, Dec 7 @ 7:00pm on the second floor of the Harold B. Lee library. I can't be there, but if you're in the area you can drop in to see everyone's art and say hi to the other artists!

Each of us chose a classic story or fairy tale to retell in graphic novel form, with the goal of getting children excited about reading. I chose "The Shadow" by Hans Christian Andersen. His dark fairy tales speak to my sensibilities as a storyteller.

My favorite character to design for the comic was the princess, who only shows up in the last pages of the comic, yet probably has the most costume changes of all the characters.

And the lineup with the princess, scholar, and his shadow in two different phases:

Unlikely Duo

Last weekend I moved to Glendale, CA and I'm starting to really feel settled in to my new place. I haven't had too much time to do art (but I unpacked my art box the other day, so that will change!), so here's a sketch I got around to scanning. I think it shows that I’ve been playing Mass Effect :)

My BFA Project is Complete!

This week I finished and exhibited my senior project at BYU! It's been a year since I started this project, and it's such a relief to be done. The show is up until the end of the month, so if you're in Provo you can check it out at Gallery 303 in the HFAC on campus :)

My project was a series of concept pieces for a theoretical animated film. It's a spooky children's story about some kids who find a book that grants whatever wish they write inside. But of course, the wishes always come true in terrible ways... 

I also included some of the concept work I did next to each piece. Here's a couple of them:

Elementary Education Course

This is the last course I worked on at IS: Writing for Elementary Education Majors.

Poetry Illustrations

I just finished my last week of work at Independent Study. It was a blast working with all the great people there. Here are some illustrations from one of the last two courses I worked on (I'll have the other up soon). The course was an advanced Poetry class. I decided to keep it simple and use two colors to get an old book printing vibe.

Cleaning House and Golem Armies

I feel like I've been cleaning nonstop for nearly 3 weeks. I moved out of my apartment and I also helped my brother and his wife move into a new home. Now I am nearly all settled into my new space; I only need to find a desk so I can get my computer set up for painting again.

While browsing through some of my school files, I found this painting from several months back that I forgot to post. I got the idea for the ultra-crested banner from an illustration I saw by Ken Wong, I believe.