These Things I Draw

I find that I naturally draw people or creatures of some sort and I've been doing that as far back as I can remember.  Sometimes I think I should be channeling this into some sort of comic strip or graphic novel which of course has the result of keeping me from drawing because I'm feeling like I should be doing some other kind of drawing.  I wonder how many other artists have these kind of internal battles?
Here's two recent sketches of people, not characters in a story as far as I know, not members of some ensemble comic strip, or at least not yet… just drawings.

Just Drawing

I believe it is good to just draw something, anything every day but its hard too.  What do I draw? I keep working on it and hopefully breaking down judgements on what to draw, or what's the point? Here's a sketch from today.

Memes as art?

I recently watched an interview with my greatest teacher Pete Seeger.  As always he was full of ideas and energy.  Whenever I had the opportunity to work with him in person I was always filled with the feeling that there were unlimited possibilities to tap into, you mostly had to be open to finding them.  I recently discovered memes as a creative outlet.  I've seen thousands online in recent years, some stick with me, some are quite disposable but they all the potential to be shared instantly with the world.  For better or worse or any of the many shades in between we live in a world with instantly is the new normal.  The fact that I can write and record a song in my home and within a week sell a digital copy to someone in Japan via iTunes or some other service is incredible.  The fact that there are tens of thousands of other artists, writers, singers, etc. all doing the same thing is fairly overwhelming.  A wise teacher once said to me that fear and excitement are the same thing, when you stop breathing, when you're tense that's fear and when you keep breathing and riding the wave that's excitement.
So I've jumped onto the meme bandwagon, or more accurately I've added another tool to my creativity box.

Art is Everywhere

I was giving an interview recently about my music primarily but we discussed art in general as well.  I was trying to explain that to me the world occurs as one large piece of art, I see the world around me as primarily colors and shapes.  For the most part I have also incorporated the importance of certain shapes and colors like the octagonal red sign at the end of the block.  Sometimes the world as art is more obvious.  I saw this collection of shadows, light and reflections on my bedroom wall at 12:20 this afternoon and having a camera handy, as a good artist should, I took a quick picture.  Of course being an artist means you can also manipulate what you see, I did process the photo slightly to bring out more of the shadows.  Of course anytime to photograph, record, draw, paint etc. you are manipulating reality and that's okay, its what artists are supposed to do.

Photos of the Monster

Here are a couple of pictures I took at the Monster Bash International Film Conference in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.  The man under the make up is my good friend Todd Spidle and he was made up by the folks from Reel Magik.  I'm using Snapseed on these photos which is a free google app that I recommend for creative photo work.

Welcome to Jerkville

I've often been the subject of my comics, making fun of myself is a talent I believe I have developed quite well.  Some people display their diplomas in their offices, or in the living room of their home.  I have several diplomas, awards and citations for being a smart fellow and I display them in one of my bathrooms.  I am proud of my accomplishments and want to share them, but I also don't want to flaunt them.  Having them displayed on a bathroom wall reminds me that no matter how many degrees I've earned or awards I've been given I am still full of shit several times a day.  Here's a comic that mocks my obsession with pop culture and fear that I will bore people to death.

Oil Pastels

One of my favorite mediums to work in is oil pastels.  I like being able to build up a thick mass of color quickly and then work it with my hands, brushes, pencils or whatever else is handy.  Here are a few samples.

Skratch, the comic made from scratch

I tried my hand at developing a daily comic strip many years ago and it is hard work.  I have nothing but admiration for cartoonists, especially those who produce a daily strip.  My idea, and I may go back to it someday, was to develop a comic strip from the ground up, sort of a meta-comic where the characters are well aware of their placement in a comic strip.  Characters, plot lines, even background would  be added or subtracted as needed.  I drew six daily strips and for whatever reason stopped there… maybe ran out of ideas… how do these people produce new work for every day?
Here are the six pages I drew probably back around 1990.  I do like the sparse drawing style I was using, I know I could at least draw the panels in that style if I could come up with the ideas.

Most Recent Sketches

Okay, we're back to the present day now.  I've been scanning my old sketch books for the last few days and these are from the current sketch book, looking at the dates it appears that they cover 2010-2014.

New York City 1979

Wow, these were drawn so long ago.  The drawings all come from a sketch book I carried about with me in the summer of 1979 when I was working in NYC.  It was an exciting and productive time for me as an artist.