This is an illustration done for a Twitter/STMB friend who wanted an illustration to go with an article at SKD about deceased hip-hop genius J Dilla. Dilla’s work, his associates, and those he inspired have been a big influence on me so I was glad to do it. I completed it relatively quickly so I decided to post some process work.
I don’t be at the spot swinging my chain like this…
I created an archive of illustrations not used on my website using my Flickr account which I haven’t touched in over a year. It is located here. A lot of old work is included. Interesting to look back at it. I may add more, but the 200 image limit on Flickr may be a problem.
This was going to be a poster for the Theatre IV Children’s Theater, but they’ve changed plays. I worked on it anyway for my portfolio, and this is the stage it’s at now. We had plans to making some changes, like Willy being less creepy and some alterations to the title. But Since it’s not getting print I just kept it as it was.
This was going to be a poster for the Theatre IV Children’s Theater, but they’ve changed plays. I worked on it anyway for my portfolio, and this is the stage it’s at now. We had plans to making some changes, like Willy being less creepy and some alterations to the title. But Since it’s not getting print I just kept it as it was.
I’ve been working on this for a while. It’s an illustration of Miles Davis’ Second Quintet which included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter. They’re one of my favorite groups of musicians so I felt they deserved to be my (sort of) last illustration for college! I’m also putting together a design for a compilation album focusing on the group.
I made a video of the process behind the piece.
I don’t know how I got this done in one night. Anyway, it’s an assignment based on a National Geographic article on the changing culture in Bhutan since the introduction of TV and the internet to the country. When asked whether he proffered 50 Cent or the king, a kid said something like “I don’t know. I like them both equally.” Yeah…
Have you ever felt like you’re outside of yourself, watching yourself do stuff? Like you’re not you. You’re something else that’s inside of you watching everything happen? Does that make any sense? I’m not terribly religious, but spirituality does interest me. And I have that feeling from time to time. So I figured I’d try to illustrate it for my Projects class. Hopefully Sterling won’t be mad that I changed my initial idea. And hopefully he’ll like this one. I like it more than the other garbage I forced out of myself, so…
In other news, I’ve been “seniored” on DevArt. Have I been active on that site for way too long? Maybe. But I still love that place, no matter how annoying it becomes. ‘tedikuma!
Something I drew in my sketchbook at the laundremat. I thought it was neat. Also…
This is a clip from Mind Game, a Japanese film that I don’t think is ever going to be released stateside. I watched it on Youtube a long time ago and finally just downloaded an AVI of it this weekend… Anyway, it’s a cool movie.
This is a painting I did for my Projects class. I think I might be getting better at this painting thing. Maybe. Anyway, this is about how me and my dad would drive up to the mountains while listening to jazz in the car. Yeha. The photo’s not great and there are a lot of things I need to fix in the painting. But I’ll get back to it, sometime.
I think this is pretty much done. I want to make the label on the record bigger. But other than that, I’m pretty happy with it…
Also, there are a lot of albums coming out in March that I need to keep track of, so I’m posting a list.
Amon Tobin – Foley RoomAntibalas – SecurityBlack Milk – Popular DemandEl-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re DeadJ Dilla – Ruff Draft!!! – Myth Takes
All this talk of abstract expressionism and fine art in my Projects class, along with seeing all the paintings some of the seniors are doing and my painting class is making me want to start using more paint in my work. I remember using it a lot more in highschool and some in freshman year. For some reason it stopped once I entered my major. I’m decent at the computer thing so I guess I should try my hand at paint again. This is a little sketchy thing I did tonight for fun. I should be doing actual assignments, but…
Also, GG Allin is scary and hilarious at the same time.
It’s been a year since J Dilla died. I don’t know why I became so attached to his music, but I feel like he’s opened me up to a whole new world within hip-hop. I think one of the things that interested me most was that I had been a fan of his music without knowing it. I had Common’s Like Water For Chocolate and Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun constantly on repeat back in high school, but I never made the connection. From what I can tell, he seemed like such a quiet and reserved guy, never needed tons of praise for what he did. He did it because he loved it and I feel like I can connect with that in a way. The aesthetics of his later work has also influenced me, with it’s broken, rough feel that I want to reflect in my work. I’m also excited about the people attempting to carry his torch as well as all the people/friends he left behind. Discovering his music I missed is also a great experience. I’m not trying to get sappy over this. It’s just something that’s really interested me for the past year. Hip-hop producers remind me a lot of illustrators. They create something with their hands, making something unique with their personal touch. They become their work. That connection intrigues me.
So this is a quick drawing of J Dilla I did last night. I used a photo out of Wax Poetics as a reference (by my favorite, B+!), but I think it worked out. Once again, playing with my dip pens. Also, this is the first time I’m used a spray bottle. I like the effect I get by spraying water over wet ink. It’s also interesting how I can control the direction of the spray. I love ink. Also, colored in Photoshop.
So lately I’ve had this thing about my work being too clean. I look at my older work and it just seems boring when it’s clean. Maybe it’s because it makes me think the piece is too reliant on Photoshop to work well. I also think it’s because of my obsession with dirty, rough hip-hop production, old record covers and dusty record stores. I find something nostalgic in it. I’m not entirely sure what it is. Either way, I want my work to reflect that. The world isn’t a clean, perfect place. And if I’m going to be honost in my work, I’m going to comment on the dirty realness of life. Also, being dirty is more fun.
So this is a revisitation of a piece I did in my Digital Drawing class last semester. I pulled the drawing off my wall, re-inked it with my dip pens and recolored it in Photoshop.. The difference is wild. Here’s the original. I can barely stand to look it. I originally meant for this City of God poster to look dirty and dingy, like Brazillian favelas. But after looking at it for a few months, it just wasn’t as dirty as I think I wanted it to be. And oddly enough, the file for the original had maybe 30 layers to it. The new version only has 3. I think it’s a huge improvement over the original and I hope I can use similar methods in my later work.
My teacher Sterling Hundley wants us to write about why we want to be artists. Here are a few reasons I’ve come up with:
We’ve been losing a lot of famous people lately. James Brown died on Christmas. Gerald Ford died a few days after that in Palm Springs while I was there. Me and my family watched Saddam get hung a hundred times while spending the night in the Dallas airport. The day before my birthday, Alice Coltrane dies. It’s weird.
Alice Coltrane was the wife of the great John Coltrane. I have a few of her albums, but she’s still one of those music artists that I know I should dig deeper into but never got around to digging. From what I can tell, she was a deeply spiritual person and her music is beautiful. I’m also following her son, Ravi, and her nephew, Flying Lotus (alias). You can find out more about her here.
I did this fairly quick portrait of her using a few references. The hair is more along the lines of how she wore it in the 60’s and 70’s. The clothes are what I see in her later pictures. This was the first piece I’ve finished using my dip pens. I think they’re my new obsession. As for the rest, I decided to go with flat colors in Photoshop. The patterns came from Indian wedding invitations, because Sterling Hundley says “If you don’t have to draw it, don’t!”. I’m also trying to make my work dirtier because I can stand for it to be too clean!