Julius "Pretty Boy" Porter

This started out as a quick sketch of an ugly, old fashioned barber with a glass eye (ya know, that ol chestnut). Somehow the pants got tighter and the shoes got clunkier and now he's got some weird punk vibe going on...

...oh well.

I'm trying to keep up on my artwork this summer, but an 8 to 5 job kinda puts a damper on my enthusiasm. At least my lack of a scanner is forcing me into practicing with my Wacom drawing skills.

Spot Illustrations

Here are two spot illustrations that were aimed at children. Each one was an assigned topic (mad scientist and singing cowboy).

"Sticky Fingers"

Somewhere out there, there is an article called "The Sticky Finger Set." This article is about a father having a mental breakdown because his kids keep stealing all his stuff (tape, saws, keys, scissors, tent poles...because kids apparently love tent poles). Anyway, I did a lil picture for it with children as paper cut-outs tying up the dad.

The original versions of this featured much warmer colors and a much, MUCH angrier father. Slowly it went from a feeling of homicidal rage to soul crushing defeat...sounds like fatherhood to me (HA).

Some Faces For Your Face

I took some time to actually look through the posts on this thing and I realize that I don't put pieces from fine arts classes up. Now there was probably a reason for this originally, but I've long since forgotten what the reasoning was...SO here are a few drawings from my portrait drawing class. Most of these are just one class worth of drawing and I think they're all done with good ol fashioned graphite...and just so no one thinks we have mutants for models, the one on the bottom left corner is pretty exaggerated.

Sorry for the horrible photography involved.

Kids book? Yes, please!

So this post is going to be a long one. I'm in the process of writing and illustration a children's book and I would like to blog my brains out on the whole thing. As I go throughout the process, I'll add more sketches/ comps/ line drawing/ and final artwork into this post (instead of making a new post every time and cluttering the blog, I'll keep this project as one single entity). So check back here and enjoy the "creative" process.

The book is (as of right now) called "Katie and the Land of Couch," and is about a little girl named Katie and her brother Hughie (both named after british celebrities I enjoy: Kate Nash and Hugh Laurie) in the town of Cobblestone. It's a rainy day and they help their parents clean the house which eventually leads to them falling into the couch and being transported into a magical world. They make a lot of strange friends (dust bunnies, a wind-up-mouse, a sock-topus, a toll collecting piggy bank, lost remote controls) and even some enemies. Will they be able to make it back home?...of course they will.

The first images are a bunch of preliminary sketches for the characters and some scribbling that is almost a understandable plot (notice how the interesting idea of a scarecrow with no friends lost out to "something with a british girl").
The second images are a few of the pages during the storyboarding process. I really haven't gotten the chance to sketch enough giant cartoon pigs in my lifetime... and yes I'm sure there are some typos in the sketches.

Then there are a few color comps and finally there are three (more or less) finished images. I think I'd eventually like to go in and add a quilted texture to the ground to make it more couch-ish.

Sketch-to-death recap

Right in the heart of finals but I'd still like to get something on here. The simple solution is to throw up a bunch of junk from sketch to death... HOORAY

Check out the Sketch to Death Blog to see what words inspired these and what others did with their thinkers.

Dave makes posters

Here are two posters I did for different classes. The first one is a self promotion piece that would be sold out of Juxtapoz magazine. I have no idea what the image is supposed to mean but I like to think it sums up my work pretty well.
The second one is a poster for going green. I wanted to combine the ideas of carpooling and bike riding as easy ways to make your morning commute more eco-friendly. All this poster really taught me was how much I hate going green advertising and how difficult it is to do it without literally coloring something green.

I'm pretty glad to finally be getting some non-sketch work on here. Only three weeks left in the school year so a surge of stuff should find itself on here soon.

Crustacean of the Opera

Another sketch-to-death assignment. This week's words were "crab" and "mask."

There's a bunch of these things that I haven't actually posted on this blog, so I may take the time to do one massive recap post sometime soon. Also, the end of the school year is coming up pretty soon and then I'll have the time to put up actual projects.

HOORAH

"The Downfall of El Manlymanstan"

Another week, another sketch-to-death assignment. This week's words were "burliness" and "Optometrist."

Nothing mentally breaks a big, burly dude like nerd accessories. When he goes to the orthodontist next week, he'll be nothing more than a puddle of nancy-ness. Never again will he grace the halls of 'The Really Quite Manly Federation of Really Quite Manly Men Wrestler Men.'

"Ouzo the Clown"

There are two explanations for this piece. The first would be that after a lifetime of children's birthday parties and faded dreams, Ouzo the Clown has given up on life. He was raised to be a great performer, but now only has the delusional dreams of a drunkard to keep him company in the back alleys of Jersey. He will never know the taste of fame or fortune...only the taste of cheap booze...and failure.

A simpler explanation would be that I had to illustrate the word "Delusion" for styles and concepts class and I wanted to experiment with a different way of doing a thought bubble.

Hopefully, this piece is a sign of things to come. I actually limited myself to a color scheme (something I really need to put more effort into) and attempted an interesting lighting situation. I might like it. Perhaps you will too.

Realistic Threats for Any Urban Environment

In design class, we needed to create a series of symbols for some subject. After a while of sketching, I decided to base mine around the age old relationship between gigantic monsters and the cities they love to destroy. So here they are doing what they do best...destroying junk. And so I present to you: Realistic threats for any urban environment.

Stack a bear

This is my image for the second week of "Sketch to Death." The words were "Two" and "Umbrella" and the rest is history.