Clean

This is my picture for Illustration Friday the theme is clean.

I have recently been accused of using performance-enhancing drugs to improve my blogging skills. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am on a strict diet of carrots, french-fries, Toffuti and the occasional hash brownie. To prove my innocence I offer up a urine sample, fresh from my body and onto your screen. If you test it you will find it is clean.

BWHahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha… heh, heh.

“Clean” was drawn on a scrap of paper with my Faber-Castle H-3 pencil, inked over with my Gel-roller, and then colored in Photoshop.

And now for something completely different…

I know I have been missing from the blog-o-sphere over the last week or so, but I just got some wonderfully amazing news that knocked me on my ass. Unfortunately I can’t talk about it on my blog right now. If my friends you are dying to know, e-mail me and I will go into more detail.

Do you ever pee in cups? Do you want to leave me some love?

Opposites

This is my picture for Illustration Friday the theme is Opposites. This is not an original idea. I first saw this image on a poster that was hanging in the house of Chief, who was my Pop's best friend. The poster was an ad for some rock band but I don't know which one. (Bonus Points for anyone who knows!) I was trying to think of something clever and original but it's too damn hot. It's 103 degrees where I live and the our PC room is upstairs, meaning it must be well over 110 in this stupid room. So, I'm drawing and writing as fast as I can, then I'm heading back into the basement where it's cool. (I'll fix typos and bad grammar when it cools off, a few days from now.)

"Opposites" was drawn on a scrap of paper with my Gel-Roller, then cleaned up and colored in Photoshop.

Do you like to sweat in buckets? Do you want to leave me some HOT love?

Pepe in watercolors

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon. The sun is shining but it's not too hot and a slight breeze is coming through the window, the perfect day to attempt another watercolor. This is actually the third time I've started this painting. On the first two tries I couldn't get the drawing to look right so I gave up. I guess the third time is the charm. I documented the steps I took on this painting and I think the breaks I took to scan the painting really helped me make a better picture. (Note to self: Remember to take breaks when working on a project.)

First I did the preliminary sketch on a piece of watercolor paper with my Faber-Castle 3-H pencil. Sometimes I have a difficulty drawing on watercolor paper because it's lumpy.

I finished the illustration and now comes the really hard part; erasing everything so you can add the colors. If I like the way a sketch turns out I don't like having to erase it. I'll say to myself, "What if I blow it and screw up the painting now? It looked so good as just a sketch. Why didn't I just leave it alone?"

Ok, I erased everything and used watercolor pencils to color it in. Now I need to get some water and borrow Gorky's brushes. This is the tricky part. Cross your fingers!

That didn't turn out too bad. The final step is inking over the sketch with my Gel-Roller. The Gel-Roller I use most of the time has a big fat tip and some of the lines in my painting are pretty fine so I go with my seldom used Gel-Roller 05. I didn't like the look of the floor in the pencil sketch so I'm going to do it differently with the pen.

There you have it, the final painting. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I started this painting at 10:30AM and finished it around 2:30PM. Not a bad way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Oh yeah, here's the original photo I did the painting from.

When is the last time you enjoyed a lazy afternoon? When is the last time you left me some love?

Sacrifice

I guess all that's missing is the little "Not Me" ghost from Family Circus. Actually It's more like a Three Stooges bit. BWHahahahahahahaha... ahem.

This is my picture for Illustration Friday, the theme is sacrifice. "Sacrifice" was drawn on a scrap of paper with my Faber-Castle 3-H pencil and then inked over with my Gel-Roller.

Bah! I hate the way the hands look in this illustration. Other than that I'm pretty happy with it. Oh well, that's why I call it bad art.

Have you ever been the guy at the end of the line? Do you want to leave me some love?

Skyline

This is my picture for Illustration Friday the theme is skyline. I wasn’t much inspired by today’s theme and I spent way too much time struggling with my illustration. "Skyline" was created on a piece of multi-purpose copy paper by tracing a real picture of Stumptown with my Faber-Castle 3-H pencil, then I inked over that with my Gel-Roller, then I scanned my tracing and started messing with it in Photoshop. I couldn't quite get it to look the way I wanted, but here it is anyway.

I love my city’s skyline although every time I look at it I start wondering why humans try to separate themselves so far from nature. Oh the folly of man.

Or as Aldous Huxley said, "Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough."

Or as Ice Cube said, "So come on and chickity-check yo self before you wreck yo self."

Have you chickity-checked yo self lately? Have you left anyone some love lately?