CocoRosie

So I did some editing on the CocoRosie psuedo album cover--digital and physical. Have a look and let me know what you think of the digital ad-ins of the minor text. Some input is very welcome.

here it is with the hand painted text:

and here it is with the minor text added digitally. I also lightened it a little:

and now with a little more breathing room between the song titles:

New stuff!

So, as a warm up for the semester (this warm up took too long) I did this painting of an old lady with two brain balloons! I'm fairly happy with it, I could've approached it better, but oh well. It was a fun painting. It's about 10 by 20 inches done in oil.

I've also done this cover for a pseudo CocoRosie album for my print media class. Done in ink on watercolor paper, 10 by 19 3/4. I painted in the text on transparency paper that lays on top of the image.

Figure Painting

I finally got some stuff back from my Figure Painting class from last semester! Here's two of the outside assignments.

Sketch Sketch Sketch DRAW DRAW DRAW

Hey all! These are some sketches I've been doing over break. Lady in the top left hand corner is Yuckie Warbucks. She's a character I'm working on-- I'm slowly planning an Kid-In-All-Of-Us adult childrens book...

I actually saw a guy like this pass us in a car. He was driving one of those GIANT pick up trucks. I laughed.

Flipping through my old sketchbooks, i always come across a character in this pained creeper position...

I was drawing this when we were driving around this whole campus of a shut down crazy people home in Columbia, South Carolina. It was incredible... it was like a ghost town smack dab in the middle of South Carolina's capital...

Love On Top

I watched Benjamin Button for the first time. That line was a good one...

She'll eat your cabin fever.

More Digital Practice

This one was fun. I'm looking forward to playing with my tablet more and more. As opposed to dreading learning a new medium. The more I play with it the more fun this seems to explore.

Digital Practice

Hey there! I know it's been a little while--I've been on vacation from school. I did two paintings for Christmas presents thus far (some more to come for after-Christmas presents). When school ended for the semester I was kind of comatose for a few days... The paintings were rushed so I won't be posting them.

I'm in the south currently and its EXTREMELY different from what I'm used to. It's warm. No snow. At. All. I'm having a bit of trouble deciphering whether or not I'm okay without the frigid North's inconvenient but lovable winter.


My family and I have been taking a lot of car trips to places here and there throughout the Carolinas. So, I've been drawing up a storm and probably will post some of the sketches when i get back. I've got my next painting planned to get started with reference pictures and what not. I've also been trying my hand at digital work. Not a lot, just a little bit. I'm pretty lousy at digital painting, but i'm practicing! Here's a doodle I've been working on tonight.

I know I should be doing still life's and what not, but i figured a made up portrait would help familiarize myself with the pick and choose color business that comes with digital painting.

I hope you all have been having a great time on your holidays! It's now the new year and I wish you all the best of luck with it! I know I'll be working my tooshie off to be the best i can.

See you at the races,
Tommy

Challenge Beauty

I finished another painting! It's smaller but pretty packed with personal symbolism. It's 8x18 inches--that's a pretty rough estimate considering i used my fingers to measure it... but it's done in oil on masonite.

This piece is supposed to spell out what i want my undergrad portfolio's message to be. It illustrates and idea of challenging the social norm of what beautiful is considered to be. It's a really broad concept so I shouldn't have any problem generating pieces for it.

I've been using jellyfish because I feel like they are an abstraction of what ghosts look like--thus the the shroud on the figures head. The bigger jellyfish are a particular breed that lives infinitely. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula Using a jellyfish that can go through cycles of their growing periods suggest that there is a constant need to judge ourselves, physically and mentally.

The shrouded figure is holding a bloody Leafy Sea Dragon (a type of sea horse). He is using an enlarged pair of scissors to make "adjustments" to the sea dragons appearance by cutting off the "leaves" that grow from it's body. So overall the piece speaks of our constant re-adjustments we take to make ourselves more comfortable in our own skin, sometimes to a grave level that can effect our body in a negative manner. We're all insecure about something and we try to hide it one way or another.

The painting came kind of easily, the concept sketch did not. I have pages upon pages filled in my sketchbook about how i wanted to compose this concept. I finally came to this when I was listening to this remix by oOoOO of Marina and the Diamonds' "Obsession" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNP69HA89Is I think it's pretty appropriate. Not to mention it's a DAMN good song--I almost like it more than the original. Spooktastic.

I'm going to eat my ramen now--It looks like brains because I don't use the flavor packets anymore, I just put spaghetti sauce in it. Yum. If you have any questions about this piece, feel free to ask me! I would love to have an artistic discussion about.

Thanks for reading! This piece is a little more personal that I generally like my illustrations to be... so... good night.