Boy

This started with a sort of minimalist sketch. Like I said before, I've been trying a lot of different styles and adding more detail and emotion to each full-length illustration. This was a fun picture because I really wanted to get the colors as close to what was in my head as was possible.

Why?

I think about things and people that I know and combine those thoughts with fictitious more-interesting stories and it turns into some sort of character. I don't know what's going on here. I guess I was feeling reflective. I also tried using more vivid colors than usual.
I used markers and colored pencils.

Gateway Chalk Art Festival 2014

This is what Annabelle and I conjured up for the Gateway Chalk Art Festival this year. I wish I had gotten better pictures, but all I had was my phone. I worked mostly on the two squares on the right hand side and Annabelle worked on the two to the left but we ended up helping each other out at the end with the shoe panels.
Honestly, I feel like I could have worked harder on it, but this year's festival was weird to me and I kind of just gave up near the end, I guess. I am proud of how it turned out though. The quote that we formed the idea from is pictured at the bottom: "I'm afraid of what happens to children if no one took the risk to love them." --Liz (Utah Foster Parent)
I like to draw things that have a sort of hidden and personal message that you just have to think about a little. This one is just kind of like "picture a world without parents", but I wanted to keep the drawing itself light.
The Gateway Chalk Art Festival is an annual event and it's super fun if you're into chalk art. It benefits Foster Care too, so check it out for next year!

Golden Chandelier

I did this one last summer-ish for a good friend of mine.
  This really helped me grow as an artist too, I think, even if it is pretty simplistic. There was a lot that went into it. I guess it would qualify as a painting, but really, I did a lot of the coloring and solid work with colored pencils and markers. I just really liked the look it gave everything, I remember. I spent a lot of time on this thing, because I remember it being the first big painting on paper I ever did and had some idea of what I wanted the end product to be. A lot of the artists that I talk to and associate with, sit down and draw something that they already have planned to the detail in their heads, but honestly, I really don't draw that way most of the time. If I draw that way, it's usually for somebody else. I don't mind doing it though! It's actually kind of a challenge and I like that.
  I usually just throw on some colors--in the most literal sense possible--and then just sort of let things take shape. If an image pops up in my mind, sure, I will put that thing down, if I like what it has to offer, but I usually only have a rough idea of what I'm drawing until near the very end. Usually it ends up being surprisingly meaningful to me that way anyway.
I love all of the different techniques that people use to express their thoughts through art. It's pretty amazing if you think about it. Transferring dreamlike images from a person's mind onto paper, canvas and even cement so that every person outside can try to understand your view on things is fascinating to me. Anyway, hope you are having a nice Sunday. Try scribbling something cool today!

People and Places

Pencil drawings, plain and simple. Just when I started getting more adventurous with backgrounds. Most of these are just people I came up with in my head, except for the bottom one, that's Will Graham from Hannibal. I gave the top one to my friend.
I think I might start posting just pretty pictures one day of the week or something.