Life is short...let it begin

After almost being creamed by an 18 wheeler this morning in the rain, while driving on a Texas Highway, I think it's high- time I get my butt in gear and do this thing already. A Shade Better Than Stick Figures has been too long in the making to just sit here and semi-exsist. (Granted it's more than an 18 wheeler charging at my passanger side door that's made me think this way :D...all last week I've been researching too).
I want it, I can taste it, I can feel it in my bones- I can see the website, I can see the dollar signs (of course many of those dollar signs are flying out of my wallet)- I can see the almost tax ID, I can see the store front/art gallery with lettering on the windows...awe to be young and inspired...
I know there's hard work. But it's passion inspired, motivation driven...it's there. I think it's time. My head is in the right place.
Posts to follow with the art I've been working on...be prepared.

update

Here's a picture of David's car that I drew several weeks ago...sorry I haven't posted lately, it's been crazy around here.








This is a sketch I did yesterday. not done. I want to possibly paint it in photoshop...maybe, there's 3 of these "I want to paint in photoshop" projects in my hands right now- we'll see how soon that gets done.















So that's it for my update, for now. I have 2 new Munny's that I haven't posted pictures of...one is still in progress, but by far my favorite. Must go, the art bug has bit me and I need to get to drawing, or painting something.

Animal Crackers, Distractions, and Incompleteness

So as I'm sitting here...at work, pondering life and eating animal crackers- as I often do- I realize that I haven't posted anything new in awhile...or anything old, for that matter.
I wanted to apologize for that. I've been so good with the updates, and then I go and throw it out the door.

Here's a run down: I finished the 2nd drawing of "For Betty", for my friend. I didn't scan it though, she came to pick it up before I had a chance- it actually turned out better than the one that I previously posted. She liked them both, I hope the rest of her family liked them as much.
I started and am 1/2 way done with my 3rd Munny. The second Munny I did for a friend. The Munny looks like a Panda bear with a Blue and Purple scarf (which I knitted), his name is Pandar- it's from a City of Villans character that my friend created. Then there's the third one, which is named after this blog: A Shade Better Than Stick Figures. I used waterslide transfer paper to adhere scanned images of my art work to the Munny. Everything is on it, I just had to get the clear coat for it- which is Krylon Clear Coat, paint on...It's taking longer than planned. My dad is building...or recently built (I just haven't received it yet), a paint stand, so all of the Munny pieces will fit on it at once so I can paint, and they can dry, right there, no problems. Once I have that, I can finish the 3rd Munny and Post him. I think he'll be called ASBTSF for short...which is also my screen name on the Munny Forum. :P
I'm trying to think if I worked on anything else as of late...I do have 2 seperate drawings in the works, neither are complete, both are just for fun, and both will be in color. One is with colored Pencil and the other...well it hasn't been decided how that will be done yet.

So it's not that I don't want to post...It's more like- everything is in a stage of incompleteness, and I'm not ready to unveil it until it's completely done...I may post pictures of the progress once it's complete, but not before.

Also, I will try to dig out some drawings from "the past" to post, just for fun. But anyway, that is the update for now. I do apologize for the lack of posting, I really do. Thanks for understanding (all 2 people who read my blog).

last post~

Ok, I think I'm an idiot. I just re-read that last blog- why does something typed one day sound good that day, and then 2 days later- it reads really horrible?

I like drawing- no matter the topic, subject, whatever (especially if I'm getting paid for it) ;) ;). I think where I was going with that last post was an open invite into my head while I draw, which should always be a shut door policy. So I do apologize for that.

Just know that if I drag my feet on getting a drawing done, it in no way has anything to do with you the commissioner- it has everything to do with my emotional state and my connection with the subject matter. Even if I don't know the person who is the subject- if they happen to be deceased I often find myself wondering how the person commissioning the project is doing-how they are coping with the loved one being gone- if they are as messed up as I am, when someone dies...it's all very weird.

So yeah- I like drawing-anything...with-in-reason...for a price. I'm not limited to the stuff that you see on my blog- I drew some really messed up stuff in High school. Maybe I should show some of that stuff off...

"For Betty"

Here's the drawing I promised. To be honest I love and hate these drawings- let me explain:

People usually come to me to draw a loved one- unfortunately, sometimes, it's of a loved one whose past on. In this case- this was a friend of mine who asked me to draw her grandma who past over Memorial day weekend. I actually knew her grandma and it was kind of hard to draw this picture for me. I just hope I did her justice- I'm awaiting word from her now. I don't really hate doing these drawings, it's just sometimes, the fact that they're dead makes it harder for me (I don't deal well with death for some reason). Maybe that's why I like drawing kids better... O_o...who knows.

This is one of two drawings that I'm doing for her family- they will be the same...or relatively close- they're both from the same photograph, so hopefully the next one will come out looking close to this one, or better.

the Munny forum

no no...no new drawings to post just yet...hang tight.
This post is about the previous post. I finally got some courage- thanks to a push from a fellow vinyl-head, and posted my munny, in the Munny forum, and got some encouraging words. Although everyone said it looked jazzy.
He got a new name J-Boogie...or J-Groove, I still haven't decided which I like better.

He will be getting a new friend soon-only to be taken away very shortly- as I was doing it as a project for someone else. I'll post pictures of that up soon too. (so many projects!!! Making my head spin!!!)

Also- some of you will be happy to know that I finally, at long last, registered a domain name, and will soon- maybe not as soon as some of you would have liked- will have a website. So stay tuned. I won't abandoned blogger or any of the other various websites I frequent when I get my website up and running- it will be more of a show-off gallery- and a "pimp-my-talents-for-possible-business" web-site. I'll have links on it to this and all my other sites too :)

anyway, must go- too many projects to leave sitting for too long...

I've been MIA because of MUNNY

This is the reason I've not posted anything in awhile...It's a Munny. It's something that is in diar need of a 12 step program.

I bought this one intending to give it as a gift to a friend, but couldn't bear to part with it...so I bought her another one- then I bought myself 5 more to work on...I know...it's rediculous. So while it may seem like I've stepped off the face of the earth and stepped away from my traditional medium of drawing on paper I haven't...I'll be posting a drawing soon. But be prepared for more Munny's soon. You can go to www.kidrobot.com to join the fun if you dare. Be warned, this is the most addicting- non-drug-thing, ever! EVER! It's awesome!!!!

Oh yeah, I did the above Munny using Prismacolor colored pencil only...and 2 really horrible coats of Krylon UV protectant glossy finish spray...I had never spray-painted anything prior to this project, so it dripped because I got too heavy with it in spots, and it bubbled in spots because...well I live in Texas, and the humidity of spraying outside, without the use of a spray booth isn't the wisest of ideas...but it's all I had to work with for well-ventilated-areas.

"Bandanna Mosley"

Here's a drawing of my friends' dog. I was bored at work today and drew it in about an hour and 1/2 or so...I screwed up on the bandanna pattern. And I spelled Bandanna wrong on the picture but it's since been changed :P

Just for fun

This is what happens when I get bored and feel like drawing...Just thought I would share.

another cool website

So a friend of mine, posted on my myspace page this really neat website that I had never heard about but it's really cool... http://drawergeeks.com there's a lot of really talented people that post up art work on this site, very interesting drawings and concepts. I was very impressed. So take a look, stroll around the site, there's lots to see and be amazed by :)

"Baby"

My apologies for the bad quality of this post, I had to take a picture of this with my digital camera due to the size of the drawing (11" x 14") the one on the bottom. The photo on the top was only a tiny wallet size. So hopefully it's an accurate rendition. The father of the baby seemed to like it. Let me know what you think.

"Little Diva"

And here it is, the last one in the series of the little girl named "Natalie". I haven't shown the parents yet, I did this one more for my portfolio than anything and because I thought this picture was cute. Here's the photo I got it from:

Reaction time

So George, the guy I drew the picture of his mom for, loved that picture (I think I already posted that, but I could be wrong). The proud parents of "NattieBug", and "NoodleBug", love those two pictures and the mom adores the drawing of her and the baby called "Rhonda's Love", I still haven't heard word on the dad and the baby drawing called "Jon's Love"...perhaps because I've discovered that the cheeks are off on both the baby and the dad, I'll make the adjustments, resend to the parents and re-post, and post reactions if I get any. The picture of "Alec and May" went over well, they said it was "tight", so that's good :P I have two new baby pictures to post up and soon to be a third and fourth, although the fourth one I'm having doubts about because the commission is for an 11" x 14" drawing...I haven't done a drawing that size in quite some time and so far just the texture of the paper is throwing me off (I've been doing all the others on 8 1/2" x 11" letter size copy paper, really smooth texture, as opposed to "normal" drawing paper which is more porus and has an odd texture about it- we'll see), hopefully all goes well, I'll post it up whether it looks good or not, you know me, I like posting up the good, the bad, and the cross-eyed :P
I guess I could start posting up the original photo to go with the drawing so I could get more feed-back than from just the people I'm drawing for, huh? Duh! :D

Alec and May

Here's another drawing...I'll hopefully remember to post the reaction- these people don't know that I can draw, I just asked if I could draw their picture from this photograph-they looked at me funny and said sure. So we'll see how it goes :P

"Jon's Love"

This is one of the last drawings in a series of this adorable little girl named Natalie. This is her with her dad Jon.

I just have to say that I don't think this drawing is very good. But I don't think I could re-draw it to look any better. See, Jon and I have known each other since we were three, and I've tried to draw this guy like 3 different times now...and the drawing never looks like him. I have a theory on this though. I don't think I can draw people I know. Especially if I've known them for long periods of time- mainly because I can still remember how they look when they were younger- not that it's how they look in the photo that I'm drawing from, but apparently I have some mental tick or something and it blocks me from being able to draw the picture right. I think parts of this drawing look like him, but I don't think it completely looks like him. I think the little girl looks right. But I could be wrong, I'm waiting on feed-back from Jon and his wife right now to see what they think of the drawing to see if they want me to re-draw it. I just can't figure out what's wrong with me when it comes to drawing people I know.
Anyway, Happy Easter everyone.

Untitled

This drawing was done from a Polaroid photograph taken back in the 1970s it looked like. Not the greatest quality, but apparently I could work with it. I was hesitant to do it, because it was a small picture, fuzzy quality, kind of faded.
The guy who commissioned me to do the drawing hasn't actually seen the drawing yet, I work with him so hopefully when I get back from lunch today I'll see him and can give it to him and get some feed back.
The picture is actually of his mom. I couldn't figure out what to title it, so I'm going to leave it "Untitled" as the title.

Rhonda's Love

This is The latest and greatest in a series of drawings of the little girl, this one just happens to include the mother of the little girl as well. I guess it should really be titled "Jon's Love" since that is the dad's name, but I have this weird little superstition that it's like a tattoo, you name it one thing and the planets will collide and reek havoc on our souls and we're all doomed so let's just name it what comes naturally. This pictures Rhonda and her baby, so we'll name it "Rhonda's Love". Not too shabby if I do say so myself...not to toot my own horn or anything but TOOOTTTT!!!! :P I think it looks pretty sweet. There's a few more drawings to come in this series, but I haven't drawn them yet- although I do have to take a slight break in between because I have a few other contract jobs from co-workers to tend to.
Well that's all for now.
Questions, comments, concerns....Post now or forever hold your peace... :D

striving for something more...

Ok, so while doing some research while at work...ok, so really, while looking up the name of a company a friend of mine might go work at, I found a website, which many people have probably already found called www.conceptart.org AMAZING! That's all I have to say. I now want to do that, to be 1/2 as talented as the people are that are logged on to that site. Just the art work that I saw in the 20 minutes that I spent on that site alone was enough to make me want to go home and rip up everything I've worked on in the last 7 years. Ok, well not really, but it did make me want to go home and work on some drawings of my own. Not that drawing from photographs isn't completely rewarding, but seeing these totally gruesome drawings, and great expressions on the faces of these creatures people draw! Awe, it was fantastic and phenominal all at the same time! Mind boggeling!

Being on that site definitly made me realize that being the receptionist, while it does pay the bills is very temporary. My heart will always belong in movies, or tv, or games (or I can be the receptionist at a movie house, a tv studio, or a gaming company...but not at a security company for long, unless they'll let me work on my own art projects all day long, like this place) :P

I just wanted to post that up, I can't believe I've been under a rock...ok, well not under a rock, living a lie, I know I've heard of that website before from my AID days, I think I even used it as an example once in a class, but it's changed so much since the last time I visited, that it just blew me away. I didn't pursue concept art when I was at AID because you had a 0% chance of graduating as a concept artist, and zero social life (not like I had one when I was there anyway...but that's a story for another time :D) But yeah, my goal now, DRAW, DRAW, DRAW! Draw 'til my fingers bleed man! (ok, maybe not that bad), but at least until I can be producing some "quality" stuff that doesn't look so damn cartoony. (Not that there is anything wrong with cartoony concept art...I just want edgy is all, and lord knows my concept art is far from edgy.)

But, now with all that being said, I do have to say, that I have 3 more drawings to do for the family of the little girl I drew below...and then One major drawing for them as well for their wedding. I'm super excited about those as well- It's practice, experience, stuff for my portfolio, and that cute freakin' girl, and the super photogenic parents to boot. Once those are out of the way, a the few contract drawings I have coming from a few people I work with, then it will be smooth sailing, RIGHT?

"Noodle Bug"

Here's the new drawing. Same girl as the last drawing post, just a different photograph to draw from. I'm not sure how I feel about this drawing. I think it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped it would have. The last one was just so cute. This one is a little dark...I will make this note that I've noticed...This was drawn from a black and white photograph, for some reason skin-tones no matter what nationality the subject- always turn out darker than the actual subject and therefore I draw them darker...it's retarded. Especially if there's something white in the picture- take her dress for example in this picture. She looks extremely dark where her dress looks super bright. (Granted her parents can probably tell that I darkened the hat too...but there really wasn't anything to the hat from the photograph)
But anyway, I'll email it to the parents and see what they have to say...they were extremely pleased with the last one, so that's great!
Anyway...just wanted to post that.

recent interest-no pictures on this post

I recently started a new job and during that job I have lots of "free-time", my boss told me that I can do what I want, so I was working on the "sister" picture to the below picture (it's the same little girl, just in a different pose)- and the people at work really enjoyed the drawings. It made me feel good. Working at my last job (ok, I worked two jobs in between this job and the one I'm actually speaking of, I just don't mention the two in between jobs because it was basically like working for Satan himself), I began questioning my artistic ability being around so many talented people on a daily basis. I started losing my focus and wondering if I was "good". Coming to a "non-industry" related field (and by non-industry I simply mean it's not movies, it's not tv, it's not commercials, it's not gaming, I'm a receptionist at a corporate company), I got the smile put back on my face having people have astonished looks on their faces, people telling me that it was "amazing" what I could do. I really enjoy drawing realistic drawings from photographs, I really do...but truly, part of me, would give almost anything to be able to come up with concept ideas out of thin air like the people I worked with at my last jobs. Those people are truly gifted and talented. I was truly in awe of everything they could do. I do love doing what I can do, I wouldn't give up my gift to have what those people have, but it makes me appreciate what they can do so much more.
But anyway, I guess where I'm going with this is, in all of my blogs I haven't put anything about contacting me, not that I'm pimping myself out or anything for jobs, I get enough jobs as it is, but if you see something you like, and you want to contact me for something, a drawing, a painting, or what-have-you, please don't hesitate to contact me, leave a comment and I'll contact you. I know I've been harsh as of late to some commentors, one being a spammer, the other-Titan, is actually a friend-it's how we joke. I don't want to leave my contact infomation on a blog for all of the world to see because a spammer can just take it and run with it and then I'm doomed for all eternity, so you can see why the secrecy. But please, I'm more than happy to draw for anyone, almost anything, anytime (almost...do give me several weeks notice, if not several months notice as I do have several projects going on at the same time). I just wanted to put that out there, since it dawned on me that I haven't actually said anything on here about that.
Anyway, that's enough of this random blog for today, hopefully I'll get the other picture up later today or later this week.
thanks.