things i fear

I finally broke out the tablet that Camden got for me a couple winters ago and started doodling comics on it, mostly for his amusement. I decided to start a new blog to house them; right now there's only this one, but there are more coming.

a sketchbook page

The base layer. I discovered that if I apply several coats of gesso to the paper I can paint on it like a canvas board. I've grown to actually prefer the paper to canvas. I like the way it warps and wrinkles because I feel less anxious to get it right.


Halfway done.

three drafts, in progress

A few months ago, during a figure drawing class, my teacher gave me the most humiliating criticism I've received in a while. Possibly ever. She looked around at the other students' sketches, rendered in dramatic high-contrast charcoal and conte, then looked at pen-and-ink figure on my board.

"You need to start over," she said.

"Oh. Um, why?"

"Because your portfolio looks like a coloring book."

Man, that hurt. It still hurts. I've been trying to work on a series of small graphite portraits of my friends and friends of friends, in the hopes of learning more about light and form without having to deal with this spacey old bat breathing down my neck, but it's hard to brush off a blow that low.



And, ironically, I think the problem I have with these portraits is that I can't shake the feeling that they'd be stronger in a more linear (illustrative?) style.



With the possible exception of the first one, I think that the graphite and attention to form and light makes the portraits look kind of hokey. They look like they might be on the cover of one of those brochures you saw at your guidance counselor's office in middle school, mantled with dust and bearing titles like "What You Need to Know About Chlamydia" or "Marijuana: What's Up With That?" Maybe it's just me, and my teacher's right, but I dunno. I guess I'll do a few more and see if they look better in the context of a bigger series, or I'll bring out the shadow more and see if that changes anything.

hey, internet.

Sorry I've been gone so long. I meant to call, or text you or something, but life? It's crazy right now.

Still, it's not like I don't value you. I do! You are so important to me, internet, really. Think of this as a fresh start. Right here, right now. We're going to do this together.

(Updates to the shop within the next couple weeks.)