Sky Reflected not the Same

Another side step while I continue work on my large piece.  Which is going well, but hard to tell if any progress is being made.  Also here is a little illustration I did this week.

Art Patients

The Magnificent Monkey Magnet.

This is just sort of a hodgepodge of drawings I did this weekend.  One thing I learned is I need to work on my art patients.  Being a patient artist is important.  I can easily draw for an hour or two, but if I do not feel I am moving fast enough I get frustrated.  I think my work really shines when the process can be broken down in to little modular cells.  For example I delight in drawing a thousand simple things, but dread one complex object.  Why would that be?  I can easily draw a picture of a thousand leaves, but struggle drawing a tree.  I can’t tell if this is holding me back, or just something to side step.

And lo, a face.

Cows.

Feel the biting rage that is ‘drawing a jar’.

Editor as Character

Usually the “Editor’s Note” is a comic convention to help fill readers in on what is happening or let readers know which comic titles contain other parts to the story arch.  However, Marvel Comics had a tradition (I am not sure if it continues to this day) of having an “Assistant Editors” month.  During that month, I guess, the real editors took a break and left the comics in the hands of the assistant editors, who were lovingly portrayed as goons of some kind or another.

During Assistant Editors Month the “Editor’s Note” took on a life of its own.  Sometimes they were misleading or inside joke-like or a dig on one of the real editors.

I am hoping to continue in this tradition of editor’s notes that can’t be completely trusted and have to be taken for what they are worth.  So in case anyone is wondering, no, I do not think it is OK to be too drunk to help a child who has wet the bed, and instead hope your wife does it, but I do not think it is out of line for an editor to.

No Rabbits, Only Robots and Refrigerators.

While the last wash of my latest watercolor is drying, I would like to share with you Robot and Refrigerator.  This is a little project I am messing around with using Blender and Photoshop.  Often when I am working on a comic book, or narrative project, I often think; if I could draw better this story would be better.  Or if I could write better this drawing would be more interesting.  With drawing sort of taken out of the picture I am curious to see what I am able to do.
I don’t want anyone to think I am giving up watercolor or the yeti parental situation.

The Bottom of the Sea

Here is the fifth installment of the Yeti saga.  I think it is going well, slow but well.

Today I would like to write a little about inspiration.

According to the fossil record, horses once had hands.  Unfortunately the dinosaur book that I have checked out from the library does not have a good illustration, or at least a satisfying illustration.  From time to time, I find myself wishing I had a solid, historically accurate, illustration of a horse with hands.  I also feel that if I could draw better, perhaps I could create this illustration.

Yesterday I checked out Animal anatomy for artists : the elements of form by Eliot Goldfinger.  Looking at the bone and muscle structure of horses has intensified my interest of seeing a picture of a horse with hands, but at the same time has made me realize that it probably would not look as impressive as I hoped it might.

This new knowledge has created an interesting contradictory feeling within me.  I think this feeling is inspiration.

Part Four of the Yeti

This is the fourth part of the yeti series and things are now starting to get interesting.  If it is too hard to tell from the illustration, the yeti lives in a tree, on a rock, in the middle of the ocean.

I have a watercolor painting that is complete, however I want to look at it a little longer before I post it.

Peaceful Yeti Father Enraged!

Here is the third installment of the Yeti narrative.  I hope everyone is enjoying it.

My watercolor paintings are doing well.  I do find myself working at a slightly slower pace, but this is mostly because I am spending some of my dedicated studio time to looking at/and reading about paintings.

This has the unfortunate result of a lot of introspection.  One of the stories I like to tell myself is that I paint for fun.  This is largely true, but it does not answer questions found in painting books.  Questions like “why do you paint what you paint?” or “why do you paint like you paint?”

I do not really have good answers to these questions.  Most of what I paint seems to be based on what I was last painting.  Ideas and observations from my current painting will form the base for my next painting.  On the surface this idea of building on the past seems good and seems to be taking me somewhere.  However when this statement is reduced to its components, “Why did you do this?” “I did this, because before I did that.” doesn’t seem to be a very good answer.

Some people seem to have good answers as to why they paint.  Some people like to say “I paint from my feelings.”  I think that the next time anyone asks me in person why I paint, I think I will turn towards them, look them in the eye and say, “Because I am a damn good painter.”  I will try to look serious and attempt to intimidate them into buying a painting.  Years from now when people ask why they bought the painting they might reply “because I was frightened by the artist.”

That last bit was ridiculous, but I sometimes I think fear of the artist (not of violence, more of ego) impresses people to like their work.

Yeti Dad 2

Here is page two of the Yeti dad saga.  I was pretty happy with this one.  It looks like I should be getting my camera back in a week or two, and it will be back to watercolor.  For now I hope you enjoy this installment.

The Bad Yeti Dad

I left my digital camera in Southern Oregon so I can’t take pictures of my latest watercolor paintings, which is OK.  I sometimes worry that feeling the imaginary pressure to use a painting in a blog post can sometimes make me rush things that would be better with a little more time.  Having a little time away from the blog will let me reflect and see if this is true.  I am still painting, and have a new work I am anxious to share, but it will have to wait a bit until I get my camera back.

In the meantime I would like to share some of my other non-watercolor work.  As I mentioned in a previous post I bought a wacom tablet and still think it is just about the best artistic tool you can attach to a computer.  I am sporadically using it to work on a little comic called “The Bad Yeti Dad.”  It is just for fun, and a good counter-point to my watercolor work.  It also doesn’t require the camera.

As the title implies this comic is about a father Yeti with poor parenting skills.  He has three children and uses drinking and yelling as the crux of his parenting strategy.  While not autobiographical, it is a character I can identify with.  Right now I am on page 5, I am not sure if the watercolor blog is the best venue for this, but it will have to do at least for now.