Jimi

I was going to draw a psychedelic background but nothing looked right so why mess with it? I aim to frame it later.

Generals

Drew this for my dad for his birthday. I erased all those grid lines before I mailed it. From a photograph.

Generations

My mother and aunts, grandmother in the middle. Off a photograph.

Tibet

I finished this one about three months ago. Just couldn’t work on it anymore due to lack of interest. I guess when it’s done it’s done! The subject matter sounded cool to my mind upon the project’s inception but waned over time. Forgive the wrinkly paper look if you can and try and get a feel for where the subjects are, high on a mesa overlooking a monastery. I chose this subject for the expansive and sacred feel it gave me. Don’t know if this place still exists, it was from an old photograph.

‘Joel’

This is a black and white rendition of a mural that my acquaintance Joel painted on the side of a building. It was terribly exacting and full of tricky angles but quite fun to draw. I just had to be patient and let the picture unfold.

Wolf Robe, Cheyenne

This was drawn off of an old picture taken in 1909. I wanted to capture the essence and attitude of the Native American people from back then. Wolf Robe is wearing an Indian Peace medal with the bust of American president Benjamin Harrison. These peace medals, showing the features of whoever was the president at the time, were given to lead tribal members by the U.S. government as tokens of their appreciation for the tribes' cooperation. I don't think this tribal member was too happy about it.

Blondie and Tuco

From my fav movie of all time, The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. Blondie and Tuco here, riding away towards the gold in the hearse. Blondie knows the name on the grave, all Tuco knows is he needs Blondie around to find it. 

This took about forty hours to complete. It was a huge challenge. It measures about 34 by 24 inches and that's a lot of graphite.

As you can see my technique got better (through dogged persistence) which brings a favorite quote to mind, an old Chinese proverb. "Give a difficult job to a lazy man and he will find an easier way to do it." You Find Shortcuts, Better Tools, Better Flow...

Once I started to get into trying to transfer degrees of tone onto the paper, I started to see more and more subtle and not so subtle variations. Shadows don't lie, I learned, and perspective doesn't either. I had to be as exact as possible to bring the three-dimensional qualities of textures to life. The textures of skin, fabrics, and well, everything!