Monday, April 7, 2008

Roots

March was a scarce month for blogging with little action going on in the studio. I participated in the Pivot Gallery farewell show which was an honor. The Pivot Gallery has presented SubSurface the last two years for which I could not be more grateful. The farewell show was an exceptional privilege because I had the pleasure of hanging alongside my favorite local painter, Brian Myers and well known illustrator, Chris Sickles of Red Nose Studios. Both are people I have looked up to for some time. As I have said before on this blog; it's an honor to be invited to join such company.

Another very important thing I did last month was to document some of my favorite sketchbook drawings. It was so exciting! It's no revelation that I revel in the life of a sketch. It's where all the stuff really starts to happen. I learned long ago that everything beyond a sketch is labor; Labor I can live with, but nonetheless a finished piece is not the reason I draw. So, here again are some of my favorite sketches.


The above drawings are just plain silly for the most part. The top is the result of a 'humanoid' phase I experienced and is, obviously, a different perspective on pet ownership. The second appears to be a commentary on drug abuse although I had no particular reason to address the subject at the time.



This last one is one of my most faves because of its relative completeness. It really looks like a book cover waiting to happen. Maybe because I had been reading more fantasy at the time. Either way, there is a narrative here. He seems to be a spy-ish fellow seeking cover behind a poorly endowed tree (whose species is otherworldly) and ready to toss a futuristic explosive device. Balanced and rendered, it almost appears that I had a plan for this one...One day.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not sure what you meant by "humanoid", but maybe it was similar to my thoughts. It is interesting how the walker is so calm and cool. It looks like they are thinking "come on, stop it, not again". Almost like they are annoyed. The animal has quite large teeth, but the drawing is more upbeat than angry.

I agree I like the last one the best. Not because it has more details but there is more of a story there. He looks like he stole the little explosive and wants to show it off. I know I said that it wasn't because of the details, but the tree is really cool. Almost ads to his sinisterness.

Very fun! :)

CurtisArzate said...

man i really like this one.....the tree is really cool....you could do some really cool comics if you tried.