Messy Hand Lettering

Yo! What's good! This will be my last post before a little hiatus for about month and a half, I haven't been posting almost at all since September because I've been focusing on school, which has been going really well - I'm learning a lot and I definitely feel that it's been a good look in terms of expanding my horizons artistically. As always, I've been doing lots of my own art on the side, so here's a little taste of some new flavours I've been heating up - These are all acrylic paintings on random cardboard scraps - I'm moving right now so my canvas is all packed, but I was desperate to paint so I tore the cardboard backing off of a large drawing pad I had out and cut it up. Ps. I'm still waiting on some photos from projects a few months back so if those come through soon you'll see them asap!

Ballin' Bandito!

This ballin bandito was a quick painting today before work! There is definitely a ton of homework i should be doing, but he has a gun so I was too shook to say no. PS- the lemon on his hat is to keep it fresh.

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Another Marker Portrait

Whats good!? Here's another marker portrait I finished last week - Wiz Khalifa is at it again! I choose to do another portrait of Wiz because he's well known for being inked up from the feet up and my last portrait of the Taylor Gang star didn't really capture that aspect. I came across a good reference photo and wanted to try and catch the visual texture of all the tattoos on his hands using only markers. I chose to abstract the bottom of the piece as well as the background - Wiz is always talking about being a star and having a ton of star tattoos so I think it's an appropriate touch. This piece is about 3 times as big as the last one, and this scale seemed to work much better considering the nature of the medium. Jets in the building! Song after the j-j-jump - Wiz over the classic Pharcyde beat (Runnin) which was produced by the legendary J-Dilla (rest in power).

A flower for Leah

A quick piece for my girlfriend Leah!! Brownie points!! Everything was done with warm grey Prismacolour markers.

Marker Drawings

What's happenin'! Still waiting on photos from my last couple projects, so while we wait here's a pair of quick marker drawings I did this week...enjoy! The portrait is of Wiz Khalifa, a hiphop artist I've been up on lately, check for his video "Pittsburg Sound", one of the songs that blew him up, after the jump. I definitely prefer painting a portrait as opposed to doing it with markers, but they can save time and have some interesting characteristics as well. The bird logo is something I've been thinking about for a bit but is definitely not where I want it to be yet: I'm not happy with the palette yet and I still have some scale issues to work out within the lettering, so you might see a few reincarnations on here in the future.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Mural

Teaser!! More pics up soon! (photo credit: Loren Webb)

Phil and Kayley's Wedding Portrait

P & K, August 27th (9x12" acrylic on canvas)

Yo!! Wow, what a busy couple weeks for me, lots of work got done, including this wedding portrait, a garage mural inspired by the iconic Scottish artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and a bunch of work on R.O.C. #5! This is the portrait I did for my cousin Phil's wedding - this was my second attempt at a portrait in acrylic, the first being earlier this month for my cousin Kevin's wedding (see a few posts back). I didn't have any of my own photos of both Phil and his wife Kayley together, so I decided to snoop on Facebook and see what I could find. I don't think I'll use that approach again because the quality of the photos just isn't high enough to convey the level of detail I'd like to include. It was definitely a big challenge to try to create something expressive and realistic from a pretty grainy and pixelated photo, and I ended up spending about 30 hours on this piece. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results, but I feel that I still have a lot of work to do and tons more to learn.

I included a few symbols within the painting, something I've been doing more and more, and I'll share a few. The dove represents the people from our family who couldn't be there and are watching from above - Phil's Papa Ken just recently passed away (RIP), and it was a huge loss for the family. The dove is presenting interlocked wedding rings to show that Phil and Kayley's union is being blessed by all those who couldn't be there. I painted the background a calm blue to represent the clear blue skies I wish for their future, and I lined the banner in gold to signify the prosperity I hope they have together. Like in Kevin and Maria's painting, I chose to change a few minor elements to aid the composition - for example I took the pattern off of Phil's shirt, 'trimmed' his hair a bit, abstracted some portions of Kayley's hair, and made a few small changes to the folds in Phil's collar.

Fo Yo Sorrows

Fo Yo Sorrows (40x30", Aerosol, Acrylic, Houspaint, Krink, 2010)

Fo Yo Sorrows (detail)

Fo Yo Sorrows (detail)

Fo Yo Sorrows (detail)

Ayo! Here are a few pics of my latest project 'Fo Yo Sorrows', inspired by a Big Boi song of the same name off of the "Sir Lucious Left Foot the Son of Chico Dusty" album. The song features the legendary George Clinton and one of his layered, funky, grinding analog basslines, as well as a verse from Too Short and some bumpin' Organized Noize production. I tried to do something new and take a few risks with this piece because what inspired me about the album was how Big Boi bridged diverse sounds from new and old schools to create a unique blend that referenced his work with Outkast but still stood on its own as a solo album, and to me was an instant classic.

Although I'm happy with this piece and the direction it represents, if I had to redo it I would definitely go at least 50% bigger - working on this small of a scale made the aerosol portrait part of it unnecessarily difficult, especially considering the level of detail I was looking to reproduce. Big Boi - "Fo Yo Sorrows" video feat. George Clinton, Too Short, and Sam Chris after the jump!

The ROC is back!

Research on Control 3 (18x24" mixed media, 2010)

Research on Control 3 (detail)

Research on Control 4 (20x16", mixed media, 2010)

Research on Control 4 (detail)

Research on Control 3 (detail)

The ROC is back!! Here are two more additions to the Research on Control series as well as some detail shots, a couple process photos, and a pair of quick sketches that got things started. Back to school for me in September! J. Cole knows what I'm talkin about, hit the link and check him out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyB7sut1pY&feature=related

The figures throughout this series were done entirely without models or photo references, which proved to be a challenge in some cases more than others, and although I'm happy with the results, I think my work will benefit from the classes I'm taking in the fall - especially the model studies in my upcoming drawing class. Knowledge is the key and we gotta be the locksmiths!

OctoDon: Roll Out!

Photo credit: Leah Erickson

Whattup! Sorry for the wait, it's been a crazy busy week and a half! I've been working on tons of stuff, including not two but three more additions to the Research on Control series, a portrait for my cousin Kev and his new wife Maria who's wedding I just attended (check the last post), sketches and concept for an upcoming Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired garage mural, and in between all that I took a hot second to bust out the Octodon on my friend Johndog's old car - aerosol cephalopod mafia roll out!!

Kevin and Maria's Wedding Portrait

Kevin and Maria (9x12" Acrylic on wood panel, 2010)

Yo! This is a portrait that I did for my cousin Kev and his new bride Maria to commemorate their recent wedding - Big up! Big up! It was a great time, and the afterparty was crazy like only a Jamaican-Filipino afterparty could be, word is bond!! The piece was a challenge for sure, I haven't done too many portraits, and this was my first one in acrylic, but I learned a ton and I'm looking forward to stepping it up again for the next one. The music and dance was a definite highlight, the whole party just mash it up - hit the link and check the vibe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eybAUrqSjuk

Research on Control 2 (and R.o.C.1 revisited)

Research on Control 2 (22x30'' mixed media, 2010)

Don't ask me why these dudes are wearing spandex pants...

I did a few of these sketches quickly early on but

most of them felt too posed so i went bigger.

Research on Control 1 (40x30'', aerosol and acrylic on canvas, 2010)

Back again to get it crackin'! I've been busy lately working on a new series called Research on Control - remember the piece above from a few posts back? It was just the first in a series I'm doing on the struggle for control of public visual space, and I just put the finishing touches on the second in the series (top of this post). I needed to do this series to express concepts about control of public visual space that I've wrestled with for several years now and have never been able to properly articulate with words. Other than that, I'll try and let the work speak for itself. Completely unrelated video after the jump! This one goes out to all my DJ homies on the grind - I got you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDppqfj7Mu8

Colours Art Supply Mural

Almost done!

This was a mural I produced as a demo along with a tutorial yesterday, July 24th at the south Edmonton Colours location (7371 104st) in Alberta, Canada. I painted the piece and taught the lesson within about 4 hours. The owners of the building wanted something eye-catching because nobody could find the place, and they also wanted to provide customers with a tutorial on use of the Montana Gold brand spray paint that they sell. You know your man was more than happy to help them out! I started by giving the students handouts with a few tips on which caps to use when, and showed them how to hold a can to get more control as well as a couple techniques to practice to help their can control, then answered any of their questions as I started working. About halfway through I took a break and showed them some things they wanted to learn on a few scrap boards. Teaching was fun, and I'd be interested in trying it again - I feel like I learn a lot about my own process as I share it. Big ups to everyone that came out!! In terms of the mural, I wanted it to be legible but stylized and fun, and my time was restricted quite a bit by lesson length and budget. I used art supplies to represent some of the letters and stylized the other letters to try show the diversity in styles of art, and also so I could show my students a wide variety of techniques throughout the piece.

Few more works from Artwalk 2010

Welcome Home Deer (~6x12", Watercolour and India Ink, 2010)

Laser Bear (~12x10", Watercolour and India Ink, 2010 )

  

Fortune (24x6", Acrylic, 2009-2010)

              7x20" quick pencil sketch for an upcoming watercolour and india ink (2010)