Moving!

I've moved!  

New Blog:   www.artmmm.wordpress.com

Website:    www.alirthome.com

My blog has packed its bags and moved to a new host site.  As much as i like google being apart of every aspect of my life and business, the blogger app was not free.  For some reason, that pushed me to get the free wordpress app and start a new blog there.  Hindsight, i realize more work went into the endeavor than the 3 bucks i would have spent to keep the blog where it was.  No regrets.  The ordeal kicked my butt in gear and now i have a blog that feels more like me along with a new website going up.  To say my farewells to this place, i leave my latest work along with the addresses that can be used to locate me.  Honestly, its not hard to find me, but its not like many of you are out there tryin really hard either. c'est le vie (spelling?)

Once again, here's that new location for you :)

New Blog:   www.artmmm.wordpress.com

Website:    www.alirthome.com

More Postcards from WonderDisneyLandPlace!

I Love making postcards to send away.  I only wish i did it more often. 

Home Sweet Home

Jordan and i are finally back from the "elephant graveyard" of the United States after a two month long tour of our great nation's southern region.  There is just something about the state of Florida that we just don't like but can't exactly put our fingers on. Probably that uncomfortable mix of northern go getter-ness and southern heat without the hospitality.

 Any who, our last week was spent at this dive of a fair in Lake County where mosquitoes sucked our blood and the fair goers killed what was left of our idea of good customer service.  I almost cried when i saw the sign for Pennsylvania last night.  Too much to do this week but i will be getting more pictures up from the trip and tons of funny caricatures.  Happy trails to me!

Caricature Road Trip: Part 1

Sadly, all of the pictures i have from my Venice show are on my phone which i have not transferred to my computer yet.  Therefor i had to skip a show's worth of pictures to bring you my favorite work from the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida.

These two just wanted to be superheroes and that is all they gave me to go on (as usual)  Finally, after pulling teeth, i got them to at least name one they would prefer to be.  And yes, Wonder Woman would win in a battle against Superman.

 This guy was so thrilled with his.

 

By Far my favorite caricature of the show was this sketch.  She had an amazing smile and i tried my best to make that the only thing you would notice in the picture.  I should never be afraid to go for it and looking back on any sketch, there is always room for more exaggeration.  ALWAYS.

Long Time No Post

I have been on the road since February on a caricature tour of sorts, traveling from Florida, to Georgia, to Louisiana, back to Florida where the journey concludes and my party of two travels home to good ol' PA.  We have one more show left and i am confident i will have wifi for the rest of the trip so posting some awesome caricature sketches of some crazy faces will be no big deal.

But in honor of the bestest Easter movie involving super cute CG bunnies pooping jelly beans ever created, i drew a bunny of my own. And yes, i will more than likely see that movie.  If you knew me at all, you can wipe that look of disgust off your face right now.

Helena Bonham Carter

I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow so i wanted to get in one more post before my flight!  Awhile ago, i did a caricature for Caricaturama 3000 Showdown.  I didn't win (of course), but i thought the piece was very well done even for me!  i did it all with colored pencil and micron pen.  The likeness is a bit off, but i still like it.

(special guest appearance by Tim Burton)

Randomness 2

Here are just a few random sketches from my sketchbook.  The flamingos were a wonderful experiment into a range of styles i could play with from very graphic to realistic-ish.  It's hard to know what kind of style i should pursue in my illustration work, but i feel that the flamingo in the top right was very successful and i think it might be a style worth looking into.

Wanna guess who this guy is?  Ignoring the fact he has a totally cliche puppet politician body (i hate me too for that decision), can you tell me the name of this famous person?  If not, i will probably cry and call into question my abilities as a caricature artist.  i do plan on reworking him at some point, but for now this is where he stands (or hangs! cuz he's on strings and all!  hehehe)

Last but certainly not least, i drew a pic of my room and then filled it with random creatures.  Simple and fun!

Valentine's day

I was with Jordan over the weekend at his parent's house where we celebrated Valentine's day with super amounts of enthusiasm and gusto.  Gusto meaning his awesome mom April gave us homemade chocolate pretzels and other sweets, while his dad Jeff got us Pasties from a local business (Delicious and a must try).  Jordan and i on the other hand did practically nothing, which is frankly okay with me.  He's amazing every day so one day makes no difference to me.  Any way, i at least wanted to do something for his mom and dad even though i don't have much to offer other than my deep appreciation for them in every way.  The artist that i am, drew a picture.  My love bursting out towards them.  Its not my fault that my love is made of rabbits. 

New Friends!

 
Living out here in Mechanicsburg gets frustrating for me at times because all of my art friend are over two hours away.  I miss the times that we went to life drawing sessions together or the ever amusing drink and draws at the coffee shop in Bethlehem.  Moving to a new place usually means meeting new people, but because my job takes me out of state, it makes it harder to meet like minded people.

For reasons beyond excuse, i finally looked up possible places online to life draw for free.  I thought life drawing would be a good place to start in my quest to connect to people.  I stumbled upon a Central PA Meet group that was meeting that night in a church and decided to just go for it.  It turned out to be just like those nights i spent with my friends at the classes and the drink and draws.  The conversation was great and i drew a lot of doodles that i'm proud of.  And i talked way too much about caricatures, but am realizing more and more just how much that one job decision two years ago changed me forever.

Here are my sketches from last night.  Page one is from the small chapel (where an old man was snoring behind us and i felt thoroughly uncomfortable where people are praying and crying) and the second is from the bar we went to afterwards.

Experiment!

Today, i wanted to try something new with my artwork since i get bored fairly easily with whatever process i am doing at the time. So i experimented by drawing a picture of my rat Lou and coloring him differently than i would normally.  I still havent figured out how to finish my pieces properly or in a way that works for me so i put it in illustrator just to see what would happen.  I also find it funny that i experimented with a rat. The first and last one done were not done with illustrator.

south florida

about a week ago, i returned to Pennsylvania after a two week long fair in West Palm Beach.  I was finally able to work with Nick Mitchell and Sean Gardner which i have been dying to do since i met them.  Knowing my desire to learn coupled with my super human sponging ability :) i busted out some of my best work yet! my coloring is getting better but still is pretty awful and i have a long way to go yet.  But i will say that this trip was a dream come true!

I swear that is how he looked when he came up to the stand, and apparently all the time according to her.  I love when i can capture a personality :)

This one is probably my favorite one from the fair.  both faces came out just the way i wanted them to, the line work was solid, and they were amazing customers.  Definitely 2 thumbs way up!

New Year

I have an iPad, and i already know what you're thinking.  Big iPod right?  Oh so wrong my friend.  I can do just about anything on this bad boy, including digital painting.  I got this program called sketchbook Pro that allows me to do most of the basic digital painting and drawing with the touch of a fingertip.  It helps when you are on the road and need to do that sketch everyday but find you have no paper or pens.  So here are a few rough paintings i started.  The first i did during the superbowl. i swear I was rooting for the steelers.

Suprise! the last one was created by my cousin melissa after some coaxing.  I actually really like its simplicity and coloring.  And she claims she is no artist.  P-Shaw is what i say to that.  Go Mo!

Christmas Time in the City

I was in New York City over the weekend, but i did not get to do much drawing unfortunately.  We walked all over Manhattan and drove for hours around the city with out ever leaving the borough.  I decided then and there that i would never move to NYC for the sole reason that in the chance of zombie apocalypse, i'd be stuck on a island with no way out and surrounded by millions of people.  It could happen...

Anyway, i drew up a few santa ideas and this one's head i loved, but my initial idea was to give him a super lanky body.  My cousin quickly suggested that i make him look like a ball which ended up looking so much better in the end.  Thanks Mo!

Coffee Shop 2

So i will be heading to New York this weekend to meet more of Jordan's friends from his college tour.  Point being, i'll do some artwork and sketching while i'm there and come back with more pictures to share with you all on Tuesday!

In honor of the cold weather, i took the drawing of the older gentleman from my sketches i did in Lancaster and created a winter scene. I like incorporating the photography with my drawings. The picture in the background is of Michter's Distillery, the oldest factory in the United States located near my parents' place!  I always wanted to explore it but my desire to not get arrested overrides my curiosity to see a run down factory.

Coffe shop 1

Jordan and i were visiting some friends down in Lancaster over the weekend.  Due to some lack of planning, we ended up spending most of our time sitting in restaurants and coffee shops.  The sketchbooks inevitably came out and the doodling fun began.   Here's a page from one of those afternoons.

 

I scanned in the pages and decided to practice in illustrator a little.  

Ta Da!

Illustration commissions

When i'm asked to do caricatures on my own time, i like to do them more as an illustration rather than a park sketch.  To me, the time and effort is completely worth the outcome and its more fun for me as well.  My Pop came to me and asked if i would do one of his baseball players.  He said that he's a first baseman, plays ice hockey, and to somehow work in an eagle since he just received his Eagle Scout badge.  "Can you fit them all together? I know you'll come up with something."  Voila.

 

This illustration is for my uncle's bride to be!  She wanted her two nieces and nephew done.  They love to perform so i put them all on stage!  I'm pretty sure the Boba Fett outfit is my favorite part of this picture.

Leslie Nielsen

I found out last week that my favorite actor died that past Sunday of complications from Pneumonia.  I almsot cried...



The challenge for the Caricaturama showdown was then, of course, Leslie Nielsen.  I wanted to do him justice and give him a proper illustrated tribute.  So here it is!

some computer stuff

i've been playing with illustrator a lot lately trying to bring what sketches i do that i actually like, to life.  They are very basic, but i love what my sketches look like finished.  I feel that i'm developing a style and working with that style, the images i see come out with a very graphic look.  Plus, the process is very quick and simple thanks to Jordan! 

The creature and the boy picture was made for an illustration book.  The entry was "the thing that ate stuff"

The dog was drawn for Melissa's class room.  Its Bella!

Octo-Pie!  Randi, this one's for you!

This one i did specifically to be a desktop background for my computer.  I like making weird but simple creatures.  This one reminded me of that monster from Ben Ten.  I like kid shows...so sue me.

These two are just random sketches i did in my sketch book.  The first i saw in some squiggles i drew in my sketch book and then finalized.  Jordan inspired the second one because he loves drawing animals doing not so cute things.

caricatures part2

 One of my better park sketches towards the end of the season.

These next sketches are from my travels at Fairs and Festivals

This one is from Perry, Georgia

These two are from a Greek Festival in Miami. I've grown so much!