It was suggested to me to fix the shape of this poor childs head. SO i played around with it in photoshop for a couple minutes. Photoshop is fabulous. I think it looks better, not perfect, but better. I should probably look back to my reference, but who knows where that is at the moment. Anyways maybe I will fix it on the actually painting one day soon.

Ok finally got a chance to post this. This is one of those pieces I started a looooooong time ago and then so many things happened inbetween that i totally lost my motivation for it...Its done for now anyways!

These are some drawings I did while romping about the city the other day. New York City...you have to love it and hate it all at the same time. I was ALMOST late dropping off one of my portfolios because I had to take a detour because of some movie that was being shot, my feet are still killing me because I was all over the place at once and Broadway just RUINS the grid...the good news is I AM starting to figure out the NY subway system...a bit anyways. hahaha I love New York.

WELL...I did get my portfolio back! I actually got to pass through security and go all the way up to the 20th floor where The New Yorker is located to pick it up. No more mailroom for me haha...of course I didnt get past the front desk but hey it was a step. Anyways a woman came out and gave me my portfolio and said nice work! But even better is when i looked inside my portfolio along with the standard printout note, there was a handwritten one where the art director gave me their direct contact info and said they were definetly going to keep me and mind and told me to keep them updated with new work! so thats excitng...we will see if anything comes of it. Anyways I posted a couple more sketches below. the last one is from Wallstreet where I met Larissa for lunch. I was sitting at a table right out side of the New York Stock Exchange...where real people work...!

Might as well post this now...This is my first real freelance job I got a couple of weeks ago. I did these five spot illustrations of chefs for a Thanksgiving ariticle in a magazine called LRM (Living Real Miami) It is a new local publication for the city of Miami. The deadline was pretty tight, I basically did them over a weekend inbetween working at my part time job. The art director is nice enough to send me a couple copies of the magazine in the mail, which I should be getting any day now. I will scan that and post it when it arrives.

These are sketches I did on the train ride into the city today. I went in to drop my portfolio at The New Yorker. I figure, might as well try, it couldnt hurt. They are located at 4, Times Square (talk about an intimidating address) I literally had to drop off my portfolio in the mail room with a sticker on it that said the art directors name. haha...I am going back in to pick it up tomorrow. I am guessing they will send it back down to the mail room for me to pick up? ooor maybe i will never see it again, I will let you know how that goes...

Ok, sooo I am still building up my childrens book portfolio. Most people that I talk to with experiance in the childrens book market like my style of work but want to see images of children and animals. Painting animals with human characteristics is not really me so I plan to focus on painting children intereacting with animals instead (which is how I came up with the idea for the last piece as well) These are the drawings I just finished for my next piece. I found a photograph of my younger sister at a farm where she went to camp. She was sitting face to face with these geese that were behind the fencing. I liked the body language in the picture and the fact that she got right down on the same level as the geese.

Above is the first drawing that I did...I thought it kind of looked a little like "ha ha, you are stuck in a cage"...sooo i changed the expression, I think it tells more of an interesting story anyways. Below is the final drawing in my sketchbook. I then projected the drawing onto the board which I am looking foward to painting tomorrow.

man...what would I do without reference? Look at the dog in that first sketch I did to get the idea down...haahah, thats right I'm not afraid to show you terrible drawings...

Studies and the final for my bubbles painting...I ended up scanning these studies of the kids into photoshop and moved them around until I got a compostion that I liked, then i transferred it on to the final board.

These are some people i drew on the train into NYC...I need to start drawing in my sketchbook more from life, I miss it, I will have to find a good coffee shop to go to

My first idea sketch and the final...First I was planning on showing the girls relaxing in the pool with a couple of tropical drinks or something like that, My sister pointed out that it would look like they were passed out because of the alcohol soooo i left those out haha

The Queen, Queen Latifah

Some sketchbook junk from the Academy...

This is an exercise that Mark English had us do at the academy...I have done three of these exercises, they are harder to do then they look. Its a good exercise though, you basically try to simplify every object into one shape. No matter how good your rendering is, a picture wont work if you dont have good shapes. This one kinda works...whateve im posting it anyways

My Conversation piece for Chris Payne's assignment...I think i kinda like the final drawing better (minus the linseed oil splatter)

This was Gary Kelley's assignment...for National Public Radio

Ok so this summer after graduation I attended the Illustration Academy. (www.illustrationacademy.com) ...I will post some of my process work and final pieces from there. This first one was an assignment that Anita Kunz gave...celebrity portrait

maaan...I forgot I had a blog until I saw it linked from someone elses blog...haha, i have a scanner now so maybe I will start posting more. I guess i will start where i left off and show the finish of the drawing that i did under this...