Oh Dean...

Oh Dean... is a piece I made for an upper division independent study class. It was inspired by Jack Kerouaks novel On the Road.
The book (one of the best I feel I've ever read) is the story of a handful of people who spend the post war years traveling about the US at the expense of pretty much everything.
I didn't necessarily want to capture a portrait of sorts of any one of the main characters. Instead I wanted to capture a feeling. Color and imagery go together in this piece to portray a sense of a grizzled, weary nature. The squint in the eyes reflective of one who is always looking to the horizon while the vibrant orange gives a sense of early morning anticipation for the day and at the same time weary surrender to the end of the day.
The text itself is from the very last paragraph of the book.

This work is also a bit of mixed media. The bust of the man is a linoleum reduction cut (the orange field is printed off a separate, larger linoleum block) and the text is silk screened.

Danger

This was another piece I had submitted to the juried BFA show at Long Beach State University.
It was rejected in favor of the other piece (Cyclical).
It is mixed media of silk screen, mono type and dry brush elements printed on wood panel.
The work itself is about danger, just as the title suggests.
I know most viewing the image immediately think it is the baby that is in danger. But what if that was not the case.
Can you suspend your disbelief long enough to fear for the safety of the unidentified monster?

Nothing about the imagery suggest this is the case at all. Then again nothing about the imagery proves the baby is in any immediate danger. It is just a suggestion that danger lay ahead. But don't we find in our lives on a daily basis that things are not always as they seem?

Cyclical

So this was the piece I had accepted into the juried BFA show that was held at the off campus site in downtown Long Beach.
The arrangement in the show is sans the bottom image (third panel) however.
I went to the opening on the 23rd of February only to find that despite my explicit instructions they had hung my work incorrectly. Instead of hanging it vertically they hung it horizontally...

But they said the would fix it so I really cant complain.
The work itself is a linoleum reduction cut where I utilized the white of the paper as one color and laid down two more to get the effect of three colors.
As far as my intent it is as the title suggests...

more mixed media

So this is more of me digitally mixing prints and drawings.
The print is probably rather familiar by now as I have used it a number of times for various things.
The drawing is rather old. I took it and beefed up the inking. I had always liked the drawing, but thought it suffered from bad inks.
Anyway I took the drawing apart in photoshop and reassembled it after throwing down some color.

The idea for it came from a song by a rock band called Galactic Cowboys. The song (Kill Floor) is about a guy who becomes mentally disturbed by his job at a slaughter house and decided to take his work to the streets.
I used the print Damages yet again because I felt it had that grizzly quality that would make for an appropriately dark vibe...

Zodiac at the Post Office

I have been working (off and on) on a graphic novel revolving around the Zodiac case from the late 60's.
This image is a splash page idea (that I have altered slightly for posting on the web).
The portrait like images of the two kids on the cork board behind the unidentified man (the zodiac) are likenesses of his first two known victims, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen.
Zodiac had a proclivity for mailing taunting letters to the press and the authorities and I had always imagined him being haunted by his victims at random times. So I thought about a "what if..." scenario and imagined him in the act of sending off another letter to the press only to be confronted (or rather haunted) by the faces of those he killed.

If you're interested in learning more about this exceptionally fascinating case please visit http://zodiackiller.com and http://zodiackillerfacts.com. Their are a lot of bad sites out there with bad information but these two are among the absolute best.

Anti-Angelic Diptych

More mono type prints with template elements. The painterly vibe the can be achieved makes me feel passionately connected to these works. I'm somewhat less than enthusiastic about rather iconic imagery, but they still speak to me. And after all since comics and comic style imagery are one of my main focuses I feel predominately satisfied. What are comic books and graphic novels if not showcases for iconic imagery.

Mono type printmaking

I am beginning to absolutely love this form of printmaking. This piece is a diptych entitled Taurus the Bull. The textures and the insane activity that can be achieved in mono type prints are simply phenomenal.
I am beginning to explore the idea of digitally mixing prints and drawings and have discovered that these types of prints with their look that is reminiscent of the "all over" style of painting (ala Jackson Pollock) can make outstanding abstract backgrounds for certain types of splash pages and figure drawings.

I will be adding in some of those digital mixtures here soon...