two portraits.

..vs. Obsession:

My sister (age 14):

Two pieces about obsession and insecurity, about facades both transparent and opaque.

Painting portraits is so infinitely gratifying to me. There's so much psychology to be explored and so many stories to be told, and all can of that can be said with just the image of a face.

never done nothing like that before

I like bike riding. So when Jason Holley had us do something we've never done before to inspire our final project for his image&idea class, I decided it was finally time to join up with LA's notorious Midnight Ridazz.

After a handfull of rides and with improved leg muscle mass to show for it, I am hooked. Here's the product of these adventures:


There's three narratives going on here, representing the first three rides I went on - each had its own resounding theme. Sociability, violence, vulnerability, unity.. all that great stuff. Ask me about it sometime, it's a story I really enjoy telling.

I have so many great photos from all of these adventures, this definitely isn't the last of the ridazz-related stuff you'll see from me. I feel a portrait or two in the works, for sure..

Also, this is my new kitty. She enjoys being a kitty helper --


She needs a name!

illustration design!

Drawing is fun and type is fun but what could be better than both at once?!
Here were my two favorite projects from the class:


Band poster -- Les Savy Fav have a lot of lyrics involving animals, the barnyard type in particular. I kindof just wanted an excuse to draw a really large rooster.



I drew the linework out, scanned it into Photoshop for the color, then printed on low-grade brown paper.




Atley Kasky from Good Magazine came in and did a guest-critique for our final assignment. We each were assigned a phrase and told to handwrite/illustrate it however we pleased. The cassette is gouache on Rives BFK, and the "tape" is cut paper. Again, I kindof just wanted an excuse to paint a giant cassette tape.

I went to boston and new york city!

I took a self-indulgent vacation before summer term started. I visited relatives, museums, friends and neighborhoods. I also did a little bit of drawing:

springtime sketchbook scans, pt. ii

Drawings of people of varying degrees of musical and cinematic fame..

Limited-palette paintsketching.. I'm rusty with acrylics already, and its only been a term..!

sketchbook scans (for springtime!)

from photos.

girl-students draw giant man-model

how come no one ever told me drawing animals was so much fun??
(bears, in particular..!)

"indoor lighting"/"naked guitar-serenade" setup in alex's class, yesterday.

pink & orange

Warm colors for the warming weather:


Painting from Schaefer's class. I love his "fairyland" setup for the comp&painting class, it gives a chance to really push the warm color palette. I stylized this one a bit more than usual, but I think it makes a more interesting portrait in the end.

These are from fashion illustration class.. the midterm. The theme for my designs was based on scents. I'm alright with how this ended up, but for the next project I'm definitely going to work much more loosely with the watercolor and lines.

..a study from a Vogue magazine ad.. getting the hang of watercolors again!