Relationships & Transistions: Things That Connect

Lately I've noticed how relationships between two people, two colors, two story ideas are only as strong as the things that connect them. In an of themselves they are whole and identifiable but they're relationship to each other tells a richer deeper story.

I heard somewhere that Tolstoy believed transitions to be one of the top three most important things in writing stories. I've never read Tolstoy, not sure if it's out of my league of interest or intelligence, but usually the simplest of concepts are understood by all but used masterfully by few. At any rate, I got what he meant and I believe in service of the audience clarity and thoughtfulness is tantamount to putting one's ideas across.

I guess much like life, I've positioned myself along a path so that one job or career choice flows into another--always building on the last episode. I learn as I go and certainly don't take wild leaps of faith into the unknown. Risk is not a large part of my vocabulary but then maybe that says more about trust in one's self than anything.

Think about how things are connected in your life, the kind of books you read, the clothes you wear and the choices you make. You might start to see a bigger picture than what's right in front of you. Ask yourself why more and you may be surprised how it's all connected?

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Oh, How Bazaar!...Repost: Haste

If you think you've seen this before in an earlier post you'd be right. Lately I've come down with a bad case of "hastiness" and I've been steamrolling through a multitude of projects in a variety of styles and not taking the time...like I promised I would start doing...to pay attention to the details of "the finish".

Well it was brought up to me by my peers so I'm making considerable efforts to pay attention. Even though this is in my sketchbook there's a certain way that I have been finishing this work with a midtone digital pass. I also pushed and pulled depth as simply as I could without detracting from the ink work.

Hopefully you'll agree this works better.

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Old and New

I woke up one morning recently with this vision in my head.

Maybe it was my subconscious playing with me. Then again, it was like returning back to my roots as a t-shirt designer right outta college. Or perhaps even further back when I was in elementary school and I would race to the library to be the first to grab the latest issue of Hot Rod magazine. For whatever reason Kustom Kulture was something I was really attracted to as a kid. I would going to auto-ramas with a friend at the age of 8 . Now, I can't stand cars. They're boring to look at and the ones that are interesting are way outta anyone's price range.

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Twilight Conjurer

Sketchatorium

It's like a vomitorium...but with sketches purged from the guts of my sketchbooks. How pleasant you say? I guess that all depends if you like these kinds of sketches. :)


There used to be a time, years ago that I would sketch like this all the time. These whacky ideas would sometimes make it to t-shirts but many times not. Those were creatively halcyon days of my youth, but I was so messed up in the head I didn't know what I was doing.


It's good to revisit this side of my brain, I think it still has some untapped resources to amuse if nobody else but me.

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The Hard Choices

Oftentimes I'm stuck when it comes to choosing between staying simple and adding a little bit...and then a little bit more. It's the same feeling I used to get in school when taking multiple choice tests--every answer could possibly work if reasoned out. It all depended on how you look at it.

For me it can be relentless when it comes to artwork. Unlike life I tend to be very black and white and react at a gut-level. I think it's a reaction to what goes on in my studio, as I'm often petrified with indecision. That's when I usually ask for outside opinions.

In these examples, especially this particular style which is what the bottom is in its raw form. I had told myself I'd never add anything more than a simple color for effect and leave it at that. The point being is you're basically burying the paper and you lose that wonderful texture. But as you can see, regardless the illustration looks just as interesting but in a different way fully colored.

What's nice is digitally I don't have to commit to anything that I can't undo. That's why I think my adventures in easel illustration are going to be helpful. I'll have to make those hard choices and stick to them come hell or high water.

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4th Anniversary: Watercolor

Just threw down a card for the wife over the weekend. Before the internets I was a mail hound. I would spend my time writing letters, making cards, and weird stuff and sending them to all my friends and families. There are several "Shane Folders" that I've heard people have where they've put a collection of all the stuff I've sent them. It'd be great to one day have everyone send me that stuff back so I can archive it. There's easily 15 years worth of stuff.

Then the internet hit...and the mail just didn't seem so important anymore. It's a damn shame really. Lettering writing and penmanship moreso is a lost art. When you think about it, it's as distinct as our fingerprints and says a lot more about us than we really know.

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