Little Umbrellas

Don't Worry

2011-06-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

This blog isn't dead, I'll get back to it in the Fall or hopefully earlier.

In the meantime you can check out my goofy Tumblr, True Companion, which has some more recent art posted on it.

Have a great summer everyone!

Scott Pilgrim vs. Me Coming to Turns with Becoming an Adult

2010-08-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

I turned 20 on Tuesday!

To celebrate my brother and I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs The World. We went to the early showing and the theater was completely empty. We had a raucous good time and the movie was one of the best I've seen all year.

Here are some of the presents I received from my lovely family:

Also, on Saturday I got to hang out with my friend Robyn Ng before she left for Brooklyn and later that evening I happened to be standing next to Shepard Fairey at AS220's Foo Fest. He was really sweet and he gave me a bunch of stickers.

A very memorable birthday, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!

Enter the Tap Room

2010-07-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

I got lazy this time, "computer paper and licorice-scented markers" lazy.

If you're at RISD feel free to stop by!

"2001" iPhone Skin

2010-07-13T07:45:00.001-07:00

Another Illustration II assignment with Kelly Murphy.

Assignment: design an iPhone or iPod skin.

Carmen 2010

2010-07-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

From Illustration II with The Great Kelly Murphy.

Assignment: Design a poster for a 2010 for a production of George Bizet's "Carmen".

R.I.P. Harvey Pekar

2010-07-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

Prepare to meet Kali... in the Tap Room!

2010-07-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Little poster I did for the summertime screening of Indiana Jones.

If you're a RISD student on campus right now you're welcome to come!

Expecto Anung Un Rama

2010-07-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

The happy thought I would use to conjure a Hellboy Patronus would be "Having a Hellboy Patronus".

Summer Reading

2010-06-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hi, Everyone!

So, I successfully completed my Sophomore year at RISD, went home for my brother's birthday and high school graduation (he's going to Pratt next fall) and now I'm back on campus working at Residence Life.

I've been to lazy to do any real art but that will change in a couple weeks when because I have to do some posters for transfer/summer study student movie nights.

I spend a lot of my free time reading and here are some books I've read since the start of summer that I've enjoyed:

An Education by Lynn Barber

I saw the film a few months ago and loved it and was surprised to find the movie is based on only one chapter of the book and Lynn Barber continued to have a seriously fascinating life as a journalist.

The Aya series by Marquerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie

This is definitely my favorite of the three books shown here, it was incredibly refreshing and lovingly written and illustrated. They're adapting it into a film coming out sometime next year and I am too excited.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The prologue was really intriguing but after a few chapters I wasn't sure if I wanted to finish it. Frankly, I found it horribly depressing although every other media associated with Nick Hornby (the screenplay for An Education) I've enjoyed.

More to come. Have a good summer!

Not really art...

2010-05-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

But still technically a joke.

R.I.P. Frank Frazetta

2010-05-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my babies!

2010-03-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

This goes out to my mother and everyone else who loves Conan O' Brien and Irish things.

One can't have it both ways and...

2010-02-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

This is a really good read, I recommend it and well as her other books.

Started Spring Semester on Monday and it's shaping up to be an excellent one!

Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow and Let Your Arrow Flow

2010-02-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

... straight to my lover's heart, for me.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

"Cupid" by Sam Cooke

And for you folksy types: a folksy version by Colin Meloy and Laura Gibson. This is the version I saw at the "Colin Meloy Sings Live" concert in Somerville two springs ago, it was excellent and we got to meet them afterward, they were really nice.

Subway Dogs

2010-02-03T13:57:00.001-08:00

It's true.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a for-real Pentel Pocket Brush Pen after several months of believing I already had one when I really had this.

I am dangerously in love, it's like it was designed specifically for moleskines, it's ridiculous.

Here are some star trek doodles I did testing it on my sketch paper.

They all look like creeps.

"Black Orpheus"

2010-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, I am way behind on this. Embarassing...

"Six Movies" Project: Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus (1959)

A modern re-telling of the "Orpheus and Eurydice" myth set in Rio de Janeiro at the start of the Carnival festival.

Final Piece:

My scanner didn't pick up a lot of the very light blues but it still looks o.k. I'm not that good with watercolors but every once in a while I decide to pick it up again. This came out not as good as I would have hoped but still much better than it could have been. I had a good time none the less.

Next time: The Virgin Spring

Romanovs

2010-01-18T14:29:00.001-08:00

Project: "Six Movies in Six Weeks"

2010-01-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

About a week before leaving school for vacation, I blindly signed up for what I thought was a Friday 9:30am- 12pm shift as a computer lab monitor for OIT. I'd forgotten to give my boss my hours for Wintersession so I had the last pick, but in addition to a Monday 9am-1pm shift I thought I had gotten lucky. I couldn't imagine why no one had signed up for such a sweet Friday shift.

A few days later, my boss forwarded the official Lab Monitor shift schedule and I realized my mistake: I had signed up for the Friday 9:30 pm- 12 am by accident.

Needless to say, I was pretty pissed with myself but I didn't want to drop the shift because that's the coward's way out and the pay is too good. But what to do?

"Wait, 2 1/2 hours is just long enough to watch a movie," I thought.

So, I decided to create the "Six Movies and Six Weeks" project. Each Friday, I'm gonna watch a movie I've never seen and then do some little illustration stuff for each film. It seems like a pretty good exercise considering I'm only taking a Liberal Arts this Wintersession.

With the help of some of my friends I've created this list:

Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus, 1959 (1/8)

The Virgin Spring by Ingmar Bergman, 1960 (1/15)

The Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein, 1925 (1/22)

Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, 1950 (1/29)

Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog, 1982 (2/5)

Band of Outsiders by Jean-Luc Godard, 1964 (2/12)

I'm gonna post the drawings and illustrations for Black Orpheus in a day for two, I would have done it earlier but I've been sick and sleeping all week. After The Virgin Spring everything should be caught up.

I hope everyone had a great vacation and that all my friends are having a challenging and rewarding spring term and I hope all my RISD bros are having a wonderfully lazy Wintersession/ mind-blowing time abroad.

John Singleton Copley's "Watson and the Shark?"

2010-01-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

More like World's Greatest Painting.

Halloween/ Artist's Ball/ Sketches

2009-11-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

I originally intended to post this, like, three weeks ago but you know how it is...

So, for Halloween I went as a "Mad Men" secretary:

taken by my friend, Angie.

And then a week later for Artist's Ball I went as Uhura from Star Trek:

Taken by my friend, Dustin.

Sketches:

"Mad Men" Inspired

2009-10-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

For my Illustration I class.

Special Bonus post for Myken!

2009-10-10T22:22:00.001-07:00

John Singer Sargent?

More like John Singer General.

I wanna live like RISD people, I wanna do whatever RISD people do.

2009-10-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

So, I started my sophomore year at RISD about a month ago and haven't had time to post but I've accumulated a lot of sketches in that time.

I've been having a really excellent time and I finally, after what seems like years of looking, got my hands on a Pentel Brush Pen (which they've all of a sudden started selling at the RISD Store) and that is what most of this sketches are drawn with.

"No, we can't dance together. No, we can't talk at all."

2009-08-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

I turned 19 today!

These are some sketch from the past few days:

I am dead-set of seeing this movie!

I originally came across this on artist Steve Wolfhard's blog. It's called "Pervye na Lune" (First on the Moon) and it's a Russian Mockumentary about how the cosmonauts where really the first to land on the moon. Its not on Netflix or Amazon probably because it hasn't been released with english subtitles, but I could really care less. Understanding what's happening in the movie doesn't seem the point.

These are stills from the above scene and the film clip. Pretty inspiring.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

Brooklyn

2009-07-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I went to Brooklyn for a brief internship with my professor, R. Kikuo Johnson. I also hung out with his roommate, Marvel Comics artist Paolo Rivera. I learned about working in the comics and illustration field as well as gained useful Photoshop skills. They're the sweetest guys and I had a fantastic time.

We went to the David Mezzucchelli lecture at the MoCCA gallery in Manhattan. It was a lot of fun and its always really thrilling to see original artwork, as well as the artists themselves. He had just published his new book Asterios Polyp; I picked it up the next day at Rocketship Comics and it is a pretty amazing piece of work.

I didn't really draw while I was there, mostly I took pictures. This trip was definetely the highlight of my summer. :)

Star Trek and Stuff

2009-07-07T14:24:00.001-07:00

I really like Star Trek. I feel like a bit of a poser for only having seen "Next Generation" and parts of The Wrath of Khan prior to seeing the new movie, but I'm all about the intricacy and concepts of the continuity.

I hadn't drawn anything in days until I drew all of this earlier today, and it just felt so right.

Also: Artemis, Aphrodite and Dejah Thoris from earlier this summer.

Atermis

Reference from [link].

Paying Respect

2009-06-29T11:27:00.001-07:00

Taking a que from Ms Lucy Knisley.

Not to say that Michael Jackson's death outweighs those of the other people who have recently passed away, but his music and the music of the Jackson 5 were a big part of my childhood and I counted him as one of my musical heroes.

He will be greatly missed by my friends and everyone in my family.

"Brimstone and Treacle"/ The Rabbit Hole/ Truck

2009-06-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Some drawings from the past two weeks:

I rented the Sting version of "Brimstone and Treacle", it was very good. I paused the movie about halfway through and drew this and it came out a bit Margaret Keane-y.

From the "Black Steel Peacock and Friends" concert at The Rabbit Hole bookstore in Fitchburg.

T-shirt design for my buddy, Tom. One of my first really finished ink drawings, it's not perfect but it came out much better than I had hoped.

"This is a douchy chord progression."

2009-06-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I went into Boston to see the Shepard Fairey show at the ICA and The Decemberists concert at the BOA Pavillion.

If you're in the Boston area this summer I suggest going to see the Shepard Fairey show, it was very good.

The Decemberists were incredible and I accidently bought a wicked sick seat about three or four rows from the stage. They're so inspiring to watch and the females vocalists that they featured on the album (Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shora Worden of My Brightest Diamond) were stunning. It was a raucous good time.

(I watched an Atlantic Harbor Seal having it's blood pressure taken at the Aquarium!)

Buffalo One

2009-06-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

About a week ago my friend Tom, who works as a firefighter for the Erving State Forest, asked me to paint the back of the park new "Water Buffalo" water tank. I was a lot of fun and the first real project of my summer.

Pictures credited to Tom:

Its Over!

2009-05-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

I finished my foundation year at RISD last Saturday!

These are all my drawings from second semester:

Process photos from my 3D Final:

I hope everyone has a great summer!

Chuck Close?

2009-04-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

More like Chuck Perfect.

"The Gross Clinic"?

2009-04-23T10:58:00.001-07:00

More like "The Gross Clinic".

Bermuda

2009-04-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

I went to Bermuda for spring break. It was fantastic; everything there was beautiful, all the people were friendly and polite and I got to meet all these relatives that I haven't seen since I was a baby.

These are all the sketches I did while I was there:

Concert Poster

2009-03-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

I drew this about a year ago, but I still really like it.

Figure Drawing

2009-03-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

I love figure drawing, I could do it for 2-3 hours at a time.

Sketches

2009-02-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

I bought a moleskine.

2009-02-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I feel about it.

This bird has flown.

2009-02-14T19:24:00.001-08:00

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Friday was our last day of Comics Class so a couple of us decided to make Valentines for our Professor, R. Kikuo Johnson.

He was pretty stoked.

I H.P. Lovecraft you!

2009-02-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

A valentine for my brother.

Greek stuff.

Dook Dook Dook

2009-02-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

An exercise from my Wintersession class "Comics: The Grammer of Graphic Novels" taught by Prof. R. Kikuo Johnson.

This class is fantastic, I'm gonna miss it so much.

Tintin and Snowy

2009-01-16T20:29:00.001-08:00

Drawing Final

2009-01-11T11:20:00.001-08:00

Part of it at least.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

2009-01-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

Sketchbook 1

2009-01-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Please excuse my poor scanning skills.

Art History. Duchamp's "Fountain" vs The Female Nude.

Faunette.

Little Marc Jacobs.

Check this shit out

2008-12-28T01:43:00.000-08:00

My new favorite dress!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and are still having a nice Hanukkah.

Reason I'm Schreep Deprived

2008-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm on Christmas Break until the 4th.

I made this as a thank you card for my friend, Brett.

What's the haps?

2008-12-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hi! I used to have a blog a long time ago but I never updated it.

I started my freshman year at the Rhode Island School of Design this past September, this is some of my stuff from class: