Hammered this out the other day in the sketchbook. I'd like to start working more narratives into my sketchbook. This just seemed to unfold as I was spacing-out. Scans and pictures never do phthalo blue and alizarin crimson any real justice. Don't taunt the ducks because you never know when they'll turn on you.

Back to basics on this one. I really liked the way this kid was sitting and the way his hoodie was folding around his arms and torso. There was a way that his pants fell over his shoe that revealed the thickness of the shoe as it cut in at the fold. These small fold constructions are like a playground for illustrators.

I have some amazingly talented friends that have come up with this amazing concept called Chelsea I Want My Flannel Back, and I've had the pleasure of being able to do some work for them right off the bat. The stories are great and always have something to do with things we've lost along the way of life and we want them back. Though I'm quite biased, since it was started by my friends, it's a wonderful site on its own. Here are a few of the contributors so far: Jon Stich, Mia Nolting, Nina LaCour, Evan Pricco, Kristyn Stroble, and Mandy Harris.

Please stop by, check out the site and submit if you are so inclined. I took a little different approach on this illustration than I usually do but I had fun and learned a lot about process. Cheers everyone!

Quick post of some recent sketchbook stuff. Enjoy!

I had the pleasure of working with Michiko Toki on the latest issue of California Magazine. She contacted me over the summer of 2009 and asked if I was up for doing portraits of five influential figures on the forefront of green energy technology as well as other areas of bioengineering. Boy was I!

Originally this project had a summer deadline but the magazine had a green issue slated for winter and this story fit right in. This gave me a lot of time to really absorb what the scientists were doing and why their work is so important. Michiko was a real pleasure to work with and I hope to continue to work with her in the future. The layout of the portraits was a real success and the little touches of the names looking the same as the art kept a wonderful continuity throughout the pages. There were a few adjustments to the color of the final illustrations for the look of the magazine but I think they did a great job keeping things close to the originals. The hard copy of the story looks fantastic and the online version of the story and illustrations can be found here.

Below are the originals that were submitted. They were all done in acrylic, ink, and graphite on found pages. I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed working on them. Cheers!

Cyrus Wadia
Miguel Salmeron
Arunava Majumdar
Jay Keasling
Paul Alivisatos

Another sketch while doing the laundry. It's quite nice to be forced to get out of the studio sometimes. Laundry has to get done at some point and this quality time away from the confines of home makes for some great sketching. I'm sure there will be many more sketches from the launderette to come but until then I hope you enjoy this. Cheers!

What! Two posts in quick succession? This is the season for giving so I thought I'd keep the good times coming. Had my first day at the new neighborhood launderette and I have to say it was a success in terms of good characters to draw. The laundry was not of any particular note. Let the holidays begin! Cheers.

I see this little yellow car outside my studio window everyday and it has such an eventful, if not sad, life. This little guy is hit by almost every car that tries to parallel park in front or behind it. It's quite sporting to watch as bad drivers try to maneuver around it. It has been rainy for the last few days and this just makes the whole story that much more sad.

On another note, I just finished my portraits for California Magazine and will post them as soon as I'm allowed to. I'm currently working on a few projects for different causes but one you should check is Beautiful Grim. This is more of a personal project to help out a friend but there are more than a few legendary artists involved in this and I'm quite honored to be a part of it. Please check it out as anything helps.

In lieu of my lighter fare I thought I'd bring something a little darker to the sketchbook, it being close to Halloween and all. I didn't take the time to fuss around with this in Photoshop so sorry for the poor quality. Scanners don't like layers of transparent washes and my camera is on the fritz so this is what you get. This was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from fussing around with different painting techniques. That's what sketchbooks are for. I'm in the middle of a fun project and I'll post it sometime next month if I can. As an illustrator you are perpetually leaning new things just from the inherent nature of our assignments.

Sometimes you just need to slay some dragons to make it in the art world. I'll let you know how it works out.

Some of you may know that I have a proclivity for painting old war photos in my sketchbooks, this is no exception. These rarely take more than a few hours to finish. I paint them to stay fresh and to learn a bit about how I like to paint and which materials work or don't work. This was done with Speedball black ink and gesso along with some hints of acrylic, and acrylic ink. Fun stuff, cheers!

I had to buy a new Moleskine the other day since all my sketchbooks are still hanging at Gallery Six for my solo show. I thought a good way to break it in was to go to Sketch Tuesday's at 111 Minna here in S.F. It's amazing how little people are willing to pay for original artwork. This was my second time going and it's pretty fun from a sketch artists point of view. All sorts of lively characters come to see the work and all I have to do is draw them as they pass. As far as it being anything but a social event it lacks in true talent at times and seems to be nothing but a seen and be seen type of gathering. Nate Van Dyke, Adam Flores, Mike Giant and a few other talented artists come to sell there sketches but even they, at times, fail to impress the clientele. It's strange to be able to sell work for hundreds of dollars in a gallery but fail to sell a sketch of the exact same thing for $15—$20. The market really needs to figure that one out. I'll stick to editorial where at least there's a promise of payment.

On a lighter side, I did get some choice sketching done and present it to you just above. That's Frank Lin second from the bottom, he's an animal and a damn fine illustrator that just put together an amazing anthology of comics and short graphic novels by some of the best young stars in the arts community. Thanks again for stopping by, cheers everyone.

Work in progress for the show at Gallery Six.

Yep, another sketchbook painting. My sketchbooks will be on view at my show at 666 Gallery September 18th. See the magic in person.

Here's the press release for my solo show at 666 Gallery. The opening for the show is September 18th from 7—11 pm. I hope everyone can come out to check out the show that night because after that the gallery is open by appointment only. I will be showing an almost entirely new cast of works in the same vein as my sketchbook work. It'll be a grand old time, and I hope to see some old friends and look forward to making a few new friends.