Atkins Portrait

I recently finished a portrait for my friend and high school chem/physics teacher, David Atkins. As a surprise for his wife's birthday last week he commissioned a portrait of their kids, Owen and Amelia. It's done on a 24" x 30" canvas in oils.

Guitarist Maximus

A quick post to show my progress on a project for Directed Themes in Illustration class:
My subject of choice is simply a radical looking guitar player. Some preliminary studies:



The final pencil drawing that I'll use for the acrylic painting:





Later!

The Flying Bear

To get things started, I'm very excited to share my recent creation: the flying bear! He's a sculpey model (with a little help from wood, wire and tape) I made for my Grad Portfolio class. He is ideally a grizzly and sparrow mix, and will soon have a paint job that better reflects sparrow markings and colors. He was just given a quick brushing up for class critique after his late night bake session.

The idea of the flying bear came to me in a dream a couple of summers ago. I dreamed a valley village of stick huts on a sunny but misty morning. The atmosphere was thick with evaporating dew, but warm brilliant colors and bright sunshine streamed through. Suddenly, incredible flying bears came down from the surrounding mountains in a fierce aerial gallop, swooping down amongst the villagers and snatching up the bewildered children. They were swift and precise in their acquisition and disappeared into the mist as quickly as they came. The final image of my dream was a woman frantically screaming and futilely firing a revolver towards the spot in the sky the bears disappeared into.
The big question left unanswered by my dream was this: were the bears carrying these children away for good or evil? I envision the former. It is my notion that these bears are kind, noble creatures that wish only to teach the children the sacred ways of life in the forest. After years of observation, the bears determined that the children were unappreciated in their village and were being robbed of their innocence and purity of heart. They carried them away to a brighter tomorrow, not to mention Girantula...