aboline

Sketchbook! Some of these are a bit old, Volker still has hair.






















And also an illustration



This was an open assignment. I was trying to draw a memory I think I had of new england when I was very young. I'm not sure if it really happened or not. I think that would be a cool theme for a series of illustrations, "stuff that maybe happened". That and I wanted to draw sheets. I need to figure out how to work and not tighten up on bigger pieces. Pratt recommended I look at J Muth and I think you should too. If you like watercolor. His are sweet without being saccharine or tacky.

Final projects and things being completed. I want to maintain this mindset over break and paint a lot, see if I can find some cool subject matter in NPR, and maybe coerce Watts to go landscape painting with me.

This semester has been supercrazy.

jazzy

24 hour comic we did a few weeks ago. Text later, maybe.










I'm living off of tea and various granola products. Doing magazine layouts melts my brain. Reading comics to keep sane. Looking forward to Minnesota and things to come.

yola

they are friends i spose.

Only a few weeks left in the semester. This is good and scary. Winter break will hold- sister graduation, possibly north georgia, definitely land of lakes and snow and more snow, and definitely catching up on other projects and letting all of the knowledge and pratty-zen-like wisdom marinate until I maybe start to get it and step it up and start doing something I'm happy with.

til then

somehow

I've been keeping a collab sketchbook with some kid I know and it's been pretty fun. It's kind of refreshing to work on someone else's lines, and have them work on yours. These are a few pages.
More Prattwerk posthaste.

little fingers

Another watercolor technique that uses ink and charcoal and other things. I like what I can do with this one.

Recently I've been putting a lot of thought into what I want to do with comics. One of my big hurdles was being unsure or unable to decide on what kind of look I'd want it to have. Pratt's techniques have been useful in that regard, as the drawing is very fresh and direct (something I'd want) and still has an emotive quality (also something I'd want). The story is the hardest part at this point. I have a very brief sketch of an idea of what I want to say, it's just always been hard to flesh out a story, make it something worth your time, worth my time. We'll see, I spose.

lucas?

CNN devoted a whole article to this.
The picture that accompanies this made me happy though. Just because you know the guy was all excited to dress up in his nice purple shirt and hold the kitties.
But yeah, this is CNN's 5th most important story in the united states today. Awesome.

ginger

Pratt showed us an interesting watercolor technique, similar to that of Burt Silverman, where you treat the paint more like oil, push and pull lights and darks. I think I'd use it only for creepy images, but still a fun excercise. Volker post apocalypse, and some creepy lady from a photo book I have. The third one is a one hour thunderdome I did the past week, topic being "shoes." Last one is a watercolor I did a few weeks ago, but that I finally found stuffed under my couch, and got around to scanning.

cradlesnakes!

I finally got my sketchbook back from Illest of Ill. I think this has been my favorite sketchbook to work in, at least in a long while. I felt like the smaller format made it easy to catch a moment, convey a mood, tell a story, whatever. Assume everything means something or everything means nothing, either way I really liked this one. The bottom painting is a crappy photo of a painting I did of my friend Adam staring down some unknown dangers in a dark alley. The two above that are some quick watercolors.
Exciting.

thumbwrestle

If I could find people that would hire me to work no larger than 6x8 I'd be set for watercolor. Bigger than that and I c h o k e. But I had forgotten how much I love watercolor. I have not found a more satisfying material to work in. Just need to make it work.

Open your windows, it's beautiful outside.

cordelia

A few new scans. More soon....

ramona

Recent pages out of my sketchbook for Pratt's class.

Barnes & Noble with volker

Whole Foods

Volker and Matt and guitar skills

Sketchbook illustration for "fear"

Uh, some building down some alley downtown.

More after I get some sleep.

-Erin

oh I get it

Hectic times like these, I am reminded of the wise womanly wisdom of Ani Difranco-

maybe you don't like your job
maybe you didn't get enough sleep
well, nobody likes their job
nobody got enough sleep
maybe you just had
the worst day of your life
but, you know, there's no escape
and there's no excuse
so just suck up and be nice

It sounds much kinder with some guitarin.
But that being said, Ringling has been pretty intense. I've worked so much harder already this year, and I feel like I'm actually pushing myself, being pushed, and pushing other people. We're all just getting shoved all over the place, pretty much.
Also, I know myspace isn't really known for being a place of... actual content and substance, but I've been keeping up with my blog there much more frequently than this one. This one will remain art and pithy statements though. Most of the posts are friends only, but there's still something. I'm keeping blogs like sketchbooks, jeez mcguire.

so very well

George Pratt spewing wisdom ^
I'm grateful for anyone who pushes me to be a better anything.