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Fears: Deep water

20071104 in Sketchbook | No comments

The Sketchbook Project, which I had written about in several previous posts, finally concluded and had its exhibition on October 27. Over 200 notebooks were returned of the 500 that had been sent out and the exhibition was a great success. I was truly amazed at some of the entries; events like these show me how far I have yet to go to achieve true success in illustration or art in general. I feel like I am only at the very surface of my potential at the moment.

The image I chose to close my posts on The Sketchbook Project represents my fear of deep water. I’m not talking about the mere 10 or 12 foot depth of swimming pools, either. I’m afraid of deep water. The kind you can only find in the ocean, where you can feel the cold currents sweep up from below. Who knows what’s lurking down there, so far beneath you?

To view the rest of the images from my sketchbook, visit my Sketchbook Project portfolio.

Goñi

20071025 in Artwork | No comments

This is my husband, Goñi. I had never done a portrait of him before, and last night I completed three (this one is my favorite).

The paintings are part of a photography project assigned to one of our friends, Sharma Shari. Her assignment consists of experimenting with the lighting on a person in order to achieve the best possible portrait. To spice things up, she asked me to do several life-sized portraits of her subject so he could use them as masks. I think it’s a great concept and I’ll be sure to post the results of the portrait session here as soon as I can.

Juggle

20071016 in Illustration | No comments

“Juggle” was the topic for Illustration Friday a couple of weeks ago. This is the first piece that I’ve ever completed for IF and I’m very happy with how it turned out. Obviously, the whole point of Illustration Friday is to complete the illustration in a week - I’m way off on that part - but at least the continuously updating topics are a constant source for ideas and inspiration.

I was thinking hard for several days on what I could use for the “Juggle” topic. I could have rendered a more common idea much faster, but I wanted to be as far away from cliché as possible. I’m not sure exactly how I arrived at the idea of a fat man juggling fast food, but once I had the concept, I sketched out some face and composition studies and then got to work.

This illustration is acrylic on bristol board. The acrylic didn’t curl up the board because I used it with caution. I suppose I could have just used a canvas, but I find that it’s harder to define details that way. Also, my main motivation for using bristol board was that I could print out a copy of my pencil drawing on it without ruining the original.

Fears: Cars

20071008 in Sketchbook | 1 comment

This is not an irrational fear. Automobile accidents are the highest cause of accidental death in the United States.

But what scares me isn’t that I die in an auto accident. My biggest fear is that I kill someone with my car. That’s why I drive such a tiny car. It’s about as safe as a mid-sized car but it’s much less likely that I kill someone with it. Large SUVs and trucks, on the other hand, are safer for the driver but much more deadly for everyone else.

Fears: Solitude

20070927 in Sketchbook | No comments

Continuing with my fears theme, and a direct opposite of my previous post, this image represents a fear of being left alone. This is the kind of fear that sits in the pit of your stomach and can make you weary for days.

I don’t think this is a very personal fear. Humans are social by nature, so a lonely soul is an incomplete one. However, I had severe self-image issues when I was a kid, so I believed that I would grow up alone. Thankfully, I’ve gotten over most of my self-image doubts and am now happily married, so this particular fear has subsided greatly in me.