Infidelity

This one has a funny story behind it. I was originally told that the story was more about skeezy old men catting around...cheating on their ladies...having affairs...getting a little action on the side...participating in extracurricular activities...well...you get the picture. Suddenly, however, after I completed the illustration the story was changed to something along the lines of "how to rebuild your marriage after the affair" so...yeah...my image didn't really make sense. I was a little miffed. Misscommunications and whatnot. I'm over it now. I still like the image, though. I like how creepy it is and that it almost looks like the long golden hair might belong to the crusty older guy. It made me uneasy, but I thought it helped the overall vibe of infidelity so I left it alone. It also starts out dark and cold at the bottom and heats up as it nears the other woman. In the original sketch the guy was looking in a mirror and sitting on a dresser in front of him was a picture of him with his wife...who clearly didn't have long golden hair. Ultimatley, I thought the removal of the wedding band and the tan line worked well enough on their own and by taking away the photo I gained an element of mystery. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself.

Hispanic slice of the pie

So...it's been a while. Terribly sorry for the lag, but the last couple of weeks have been hella busy...or is it hell of busy. To be honest I'm not sure. But I can assure you that whether or not it was hella or hell of...it was busy.

I'm not necessarily in love with this piece, but then again I'm not really in love with any of the pieces I have uploaded to the ol' photobucket at the moment.

Either way...on with the show. This piece was about the Hispanic slice of the American dream...the American Pie. Yes, I know that it's actually apple pie which is more commonly associated with America, but to be honest with you I liked the red better. I needed something to contrast the color of the crust and apples weren't cutting it. Note the American flag table cloth and the swank shape cut out of the pie...it's Mexico! The article raised the question on whether or not illegal immigrants actually take jobs away from Americans and the answer...for the most part...was not so much. It also raised other questions which at this point I can't remember.

I had A-1 today. Sweet.

This is another in the series on MLK. This was a lino-cut to match the woodcut I did for the last MLK piece I did. I have to say that it's a nice change of pace to actually dig into something with sharp instruments and then roll ink on it...and then make prints from it. It makes me feel like a real artist.

Kickin' It Old School (of fish)

Sea of Debt is still one of my favorites. It heralds the beginning of me actually developing some finness with my inking...like 2 years after I started using a brush. I think the guy is still a little chunky, but there are some nice things happening (or at least I think so) within the shark's head and mouth. This ran somewhere in the neighborhood of two years ago. I'm thinking of reworking it as a portfolio piece, but changing the guy and his placement a bit. Any other suggestions?

Well then...how's this?

I went back to the original helmet look, but kept the lower air intake, rounded lenses, and I shortened the fin. It's better, but not necessarily there yet as far as where I'd like it to be.

I'm a rocket man

I decided I should put a Shane spin on the Rocketeer design. Ultimately, I wouldn't touch it...it's perfect as it is...but I didn't want to just draw him as he was either.
I wanted the helmet to have the same vibe, but I gave it more rounded goggles. I moved the air vents from the top of the helmet to the bottom...so a respirator could be plugged into them when he hits higher altitudes. Which leads me to the oxygen tank I added to his chest. I'm toying with longer gloves, but that's about it. I think the Rocketeer redisigns were invite only, but I'm going to finish it anyway. Whaddaya think?

Loving Touch

The story was about a Memphis woman who's husband suffers from the disease. She created a series of exercise videos for the two of them to do together because individuals with Alzheimer's still like to be touched and interacted with. While the article talks about many of the negative impacts the diseas has on those with it and their loved ones, it focuses on staying positive. The overall tone of the story is to make the best of what time you do have left together. This was my favorite of all of my thumbnails.

Unused ideas

So...I got an email from the sports department editor saying they needed a cover illustration for a special section about the Memphis Tigers in San Antonio. They had the idea of the Memphis Tigers logo jumping out of the Alamo. L.A.M.E. So...I spent a little time thinking about a simple 3 color graphic (I'd have used orange instead of red, but that's the only color sharpie I had on me at the time) and also thinking about the page design. I felt I was really onto something cool, but they decided (earlier and without letting me know) to go with photos. But...no time is wasted if you come up with ideas...regardless of whether or not they use them...right? That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Two Fer Tue...er...Thursday!

When individuals are released after having served sentences for drug-related crimes, they're at a fork in the road. There are many different directions they can travel, but only two paths they can take. They can either rehabilitate and head for good things on the horizon...or...they can fall into the same patterns that got them in trouble in the first place and wind up back in jail...which I imagine blows the proverbial goat.

Balancing The Classroom

This illustration was for an article about "No Child Left Behind" and the weight it placed on the shoulders of teachers. I put little kid Shane in there. He's sporting the Superman shirt. Little Ashley is the little girl with dark hair on the far right. You get to do cool things like that when you're an illustrator.

SPEAKING VOLUMES

This illustration accompanied a story about a group of individuals who met at...if I remember correctly...the University of Memphis and read from banned books. My first image (later you'll be able to click "image" and see it) was a book bursting open...and in the process bursting out of chains which had previously rendered it unreadable. Ultimately, we settled on this idea...open books as mouths.
I knew I had a winner when I got a text message at work from the Amazing Priddy stating that he noticed and liked the image when one of his students was using newspaper images for a collage.
If I had it to do over I'd take the two horizontal brown lines out of the bottom...I find them distracting now. Almost EVIL looking. I know...the lines aren't really evil. I just wanted to link to that picture because I think it's fantastic. I need to find a way to link to it in every post. I don't have anything against the Pope...I just think he looks like Emperor Palpatine. I'm just saying.