This piece was done for my buddy Kyle. It is of his 2 kids and was given to his wife as a Christmas gift. The final was printed on watercolor paper 21x27

couple things

My Seiler from the chiustream challenge earlier this month and another attempt at Michael Jackson.

Wedding Caricature

My best friend just got married recently. Here's a wedding caricature I did of her and her husband:

I have documented my creation process in here: http://www.squidoo.com/wedding-caricature-step-by-step

Jason Seiler for Chiu Stream Contest

You can go here and vote on your favorite!

https://www.schoolism.com/chiutv.php

Hone Harawira

This is Hone Harawira. A maori activist turned politician. Recently it came to light that while in Europe as a New Zealand political representative, he and his wife took a day off and had a little trip to Paris. When it all came into the open one of his constituents emailed him to ask who was footing the bill and Hone replied with an email which contained the text you see on the left. Lovely. Race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, video club membership it makes no matter. I loathe politicians.

Democracy Interrupted

Haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd chip in with a piece I finished recently. This was commissioned by someone working in Afghanistan, he wanted to immortalise his time over there. His request coincided perfectly with the shambles that was the elections and the announcement of Karzai's eventual and somewhat unconstitutional victory and reelection to President. Hurrah for democracy!

Einstein

Smiling at the Universe

The Godfather

Curits "50 Cent" Jackson

Mad Jack update

Thanks...i think im done...

Jack Nicholson

I have a little more to go here, detailing forehead and touching up the hair, but I thought this would be a great place to get some input as far as any criticism you guys might have before I call this one done.

Thanks all.

jon

Ali Larter

Painting of Actress Ali Larter from Heroes. also did a color version of this painting that you can view here

Beyonce

Psych Caricature

This is a caricature I did of the 2 main actors in Psych - James Roday and Dule Hill.

Acrylic Sketch of Ron Turner for his Birthday

Ron Turner, owner of Last Gasp Books. He is a Bay Area Legend, put out some of R.Crumbs early work, and his book wharehouse is a museum in itself for underground comix. A Friend of mine who turned 99 yrs old today (Or so he says)

Jay-Z

Sketchbook app for the iPhone

I bought it and it was only $5.99. I have a stylus for my iPhone (thanks http://www.thinkgeek.com/) and will post some sketches once I get one I'm happy with. I'm going to try out the techniques from Jason's class on it before I put stylus to Wacom.

Funny Face

This is a 22yr old singer from Taiwan. He has a funny face!

The World has Lost a great Artist, but I have lost a good friend!

Last night I received the worst news, that my dear friend of 9 years, Ismael Roldan passed away at the young age of 45. This is very difficult for me to accept, I'll try to keep this brief, but I just want to share a little bit about Ismael and what he meant to me.





Years ago, when I was first getting started as a professional artist, I was really struggling to figure out how to get work, how to develop my art professionally in a way that would grab the attention of art directors. I wasn't getting the kind of work that I wanted and I was getting tired of seeing the same artists being published over and over again and not understanding how they got where they were? I had a handful of artists at that time that were my inspiration. I would collect they're work out of magazines and hang them on the wall in my studio. I thought that if I surrounded myself with excellence, I would eventually pick up some of this excellence.

One of my most favorite artists at the time was Ismael Roldan. His work was inspiring to look at. Great exaggeration and likeness, great structure, humor, draftsmanship, perspective, you name it, he was what I wanted to be like.









So one day I gathered up the courage to write him an email, I basically told him that I was a big fan of his work and that I would love to work for publications as well, I thanked him for the inspiration and I attached a piece I had just finished that I was really proud of (to show him what I could do).

Well, I wasn't sure if he would ever write back, but to my astonishment, he wrote back that very same day. I remember being so excited and nervous to read the email. The email was straight up IN YOUR FACE truth about how horrible my work was! A very harsh and blunt critique. He told me my hands sucked, that I lacked knowledge in structure and form, and he actually went on and on. Even though the critique was harsh, he was able to somehow be very kind, he said one good thing, he said I could render like non other, but that won't help any if I can't fix the rest of my problems.

I was crushed, but at the same time, I was motivated to prove myself to Ismael. I didn't want this artist that I looked up to so much to think I was horrible. So I began to work on the things that he pointed out flawed in my work. I drew hand after hand after hand. I worked on skulls, and bone structure, I studied cross hatching and form. I sent him email after email, everything I did, I would send to him. And every time, he'd slam me harder than the time before.

I kept coming back for more, time and time again. Eventually, we became close friends, and slowly, we also became "peers" and we began to exchange work with each other seeking perspective and ideas from one another. I still remember the first time he sent me one of his paintings and wanted me to be honest and tell him what I thought about it. As time went on, we began more and more to talk about our kids and how important they were and how blessed we felt to have kids. Occasionally we'd talk about art, but mostly about life and what we were up to that week.





This is me with Ismael last year at the ISCA's 17Th Annual caricature convention where I won the Gold Nosey as well as many other awards, including a Guest of Honor Awarded by Ismael. That award meant more to me than any of them, and receiving that award from Ismael felt like coming full circle as an artist. I remember seeing him in the crowd as I received my awards, he looked like a proud older brother. Ismael told me that the first email he sent to me was so harsh, because he wanted me to know the truth so I would improve, but mostly he didn't think I'd ever bother him again. It was to his astonishment that I wrote back again and again. He tried to get rid of me, but instead fused a friendship that I hold very dear.


I will never forget the kindness and time Ismael shared with me. He took me under his wing and I wouldn't be where I am today as an artist if it wasn't for his talent and kindness. I feel as if I have lost a friend, a mentor, an inspiration, but mostly, a brother.







Throughout the years, Ismael and I exchanged caricatures of each other. This is the most recent one that he did of me, and the most recent one that I did of him. We also exchanged originals, I own several originals of his. He also sent me books throughout the years of artists that he thought would inspire me. The man was generous.











Ismael, you will truly be missed!

Blue Shark Sketch

Hey artists out there, have you sketched today? Why not? Sketch each day, even if only for a little bit!

Kevin James

Odosketch #3

This is a fun little site to mess around with . . . it doesn't have every color or brush available that you would need, so it forces you to be creative with what they have and just have fun!

Fun Sketch Site!

This is a cool site where you sketch RIGHT in the browser and it records it....thanks Joe Bluhm for sharing this on your blog . . . this is fun. This was my first try, just messing with the brushes, seeing how this site works . . . Give it a try at Odosketch.



Here's another quick doodle . . . the brushes are a bit weird, I can't figure out how to change the brush sizes, not sure if you can? Anyways, it's fun to mess around with if you're looking for something to do.

Juice

Good Movie from the early 90's staring the late Tupac Shakur, if you havent seen it check it out

Geisha

This is a vector piece that was drawn for a tattoo sign. I kind of liked it and wanted to post it.

True Blood: Eric

Johnny Blues

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. So here. Tada!
Check out my gallery at: http://bardsville.deviantart.com/
~Cheers~

Ghostface Killah

Evey Hammond

Still working on it. I have a hard time finishing stuff.

I've seen better days . . .

This is a piece I started about a year ago . . . I decided to take it to the next level and beyond . . . I'm in the middle of about 10 paintings right now, so there will be plenty to share here soon. I'm going to keep this painterly, get tight where it needs it, but to my eye and taste, I like things to be a bit brushy . . .

Update on Prints for Sale!
It was brought to my attention that I forgot to mention that the prints I have for sale on Etsy are Limited Edition of 200 Prints. Each print will be signed and numbered, once sold out, that's it!

I'm at Wizard World Comic Convention for the rest of the weekend!

Here's a pic of me and Imaginism Studio's Peter Chan at our booth at Wizard World Chicago. Today I'll be busting out some acrylics and painting a little, so if your there or in the area, stop by booth 3504 and say hi. I'll of course be selling my books and DVD as well as some new Giclee prints.

I'll post some newish art tomorrow!

Robert Di Nero

Pencil Sketch of Larry King for Sale!

From time to time I'll be selling original drawings, sketches and paintings on Etsy. I just finished this Larry King drawing, click here to buy and see what else is currently for sale.

Prints will be available soon as well. If interested in prints, any work of mine is available as a giclee print.




SOLD - Acrylic wash of Darwin, painted for my newest book.

Henry Miller 7-28-09

Tony Soprano

Mick Jagger

Turiana Turia

I thought I'd put this one up here. This is a kiwi politician of no particular importance. Fun to draw though. 

RIP Michael Jackson

i could write for hours about how much i love Michael Jackson and his music, so all i will say is RIP and thank you.

Simon

This is Simon from Narok, Kenya. I had been in Africa for three days but when I met Simon I had only been in Narok one night and a morning. I was still nervous about the whole Africa thing but this guy really put me at ease - at least while I was at his place. I mean how can this face be anything but comforting? He ran an outdoor bar that was surrounded by tropical plants and stuff so it looked kind of nice in probably the poorest city I've ever been in. Narok has a good amount of people in it to not have any paved roads (besides the one leading to it). When Luke and I arrived here he had us out two beers and a little appetizer. This would be the last beer I had for about two weeks. Man it was good. It was like a little oasis. Luke gave him a New Testament Bible the previous year and he had become a minister in the year since we were there. I thought that was pretty cool - a minister/bartender. I think he felt like there wasn't any better place to preach than the bar.

This is us sitting at the little oasis.

Lil Wayne

Rihanna

not much to say about this one, wanted to try some different stuff and REALLY wanted to paint that hair