THIS is what you have to show for yourself?

I'm back, sorry loyal viewers for last week's discrepancy, I got caught up helping a friend design her tattoo. But not to worry, I'm here with the eagerly awaited update!

To things started here's this:

I'd recommend watching the whole four minutes since he is a god, but if you can't the relevant part starts at 3:15.

And here they are:

#1 Mankind

Yes that is Jim as a whaler, it would make sense then that this scan came out particularly washed out so the contrast is upped, but even then it might be kind of hard to make out.

#2 The Pelican with a Machine Gun

While researching what exactly whalers look like I found my best info from the contestants of the Alaskan Whaler category at the World Beard and Moustache Championships. Who knew such a wonderful thing existed.

and finally a distant #3 The Lion on a Jet Ski

Another interesting I've come to remember is how intimidated I can get when using source material. I love the act of drawing but if I'm not careful when I want my drawing to look like something specific I use references, usually images from the internet, but then I get bogged down and afraid to draw. This drawing I attempted a few times, and I could get the lion to look decent, but I the whole drawing would suffer since most of my attention was focused on "getting it right" instead of creating a pleasing pose and the drawing itself. For this last attempt, I just closed all the tabs and went for it blind, it took way less time and I actually really enjoyed it.

And lastly a friend came over during the week and we had a drawing session where this came out, the design is mine and the shading is hers. Don't ask me what it is, I don;t know.

Well that's it for this week! We recently harvested another cat from their spawning grounds (the trash river). It will grow to be a legendary mouser for another volunteer but for now it's just a tiny one-eyed kitten that I am insisting we call Odin the All Father. More on that later. Thanks for stopping by!

That moment when you realize you've lathered up three bugs while washing your hair

Another Sunday so more sketches. I've decided for the time being to stick to the old sketchbook and get back in the swing of things. Who knows, maybe my patience for re-training myself will become stronger as the weather cools off. And now to this week's contestants:

Here is a sloth eating. Deal with it.

This one is from listening to the Decemberists, mainly this song.

These next few were suggested by a friend. They are from Neil Gaiman's American Gods. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend it. Thanks Mawnde!

It's been interesting trying to get back into drawing on a regular basis. All of my old muscle memory is slowly coming back, not as quickly as I'd always like, but there are sometimes when something clicks back into place and somewhere inside me a voice is sighing in relief 'thank goodness he remembered how to do that, now hands won't look like piles of clay snakes anymore'.

Anyway, that's it for this week. See you all next time

The Week in Which the Bugs Descended

Hello everyone!

Here is my first weekly update.

My original intention was to use this time in order to help myself learn how to use a tablet and work directly on a computer. So I sketched out something simple to work on.

After trying this out for a bit I can say that losing all of the hand-eye coordination I've built up sucks. Using a tablet means that your hand is in once place and you eye is looking another, leading to a totally disjointed experience. Having a whole art store's tools at your fingertips is awesome as is the possibility of editing and going back if the line you just put down is wrong. But it's going to take a while to re-train my hand. I also want to work on using color so I mapped out a basic scheme to work with:

And this is when I decided I'd had enough for now. I got a little further along but when it's hot and you're sweating all over everything and your hand won't do what your brain is insisting is a simple line I figured I might want to back off a bit.

In order to convince myself I could still draw I pulled out the sketchbook again and did these two:

This is my host dad from Agnam (jerk) when we were up north. Every Friday he would dress up in his grand boubou (jerk jerk) and his posse and stroll around town like he was the king of the town (jerk jerk jerk), because he thought he was (sigh).

And a donkey cart! For some reason even though people here use small whips made of string to get horses moving they feel that the only way to get through to a donkey is through a giant club. Interesting note, several donkeys around here seem to be African wild asses, an endangered species of donkey. They have zebra-type stripes on their legs.

Well that's all for this week. Let's see what the next brings.

Work with Yajeende

Here is the latest document I made for Yaajeende depicting the process for making hay. There are two other documents that I can post if there is interest. This is the first document I did entirely digitally.

Peace Corps Work

Here is some of the work I have done with Peace Corps. The two marathon drawings are t-shirt designs, the first one was used for last year's races and the second one is currently up for consideration for this year's marathon.

Sketchbook Catch-Up

To get things started here are some quick sketches from some of the books I have with me. These aren't in any particular order. Sorry if they are hard to see, the contrast wasn't great on the scanner I was working with.

And So It Begins

Hey guys!
So in order to stay motivated I want to use you and your combined social pressures to help me keep on track with a 'at least one painting a week' schedule. I'll be posting the development process as well as the final picture within a seven day period (inshallah). Comments will be welcomed and appreciated as will suggestions for further work and ideas for what to do next. Thanks guys and I hope this will be as fun for you as it will be for me!