Wedding In The Woods.

I am getting married! It is a funny transition to make in some ways because it isn't a huge shift in my sense of commitment or love for Lindsey (we have been together for almost 6 years) but it does make me feel more grown up for some reason. Lindsey asked me to doodle up a wedding invite to send out asap. We're getting married in a state park near where she grew up. The logistics are complicated, but since I am not a church-going man and she likes trees, the woods seemed like the best place to have our ceremony:

She wanted something more simplified and cartoon-like without being a cartoon. I think she was leaning towards a 'folk-art' type of illustration so I tried my hand at that using (ironically) photoshop so I could adjust the colors to match what she was looking at for inspiration. I like the foxes and I hope you do too.

What's My Name?

A few weeks ago I did a bunch of live drawing for the Dove Lewis Animal Hospital blood-drive at the Lucky Lab. People would bring up their pooch and I'd do my best to get their likeness in the limited time that the noble creatures would hold still. A few of them were better at it than people. Most of the pet owners were very nice and appreciative. I would do it again. It helped me get used to the idea that not all dogs want to eat my face off.

Quick Draw.

My friend Michelle Alba and I don't talk as much as I'd like. I want to share all kinds of things I know she would like and I find her so entertaining that it seems a shame to have a short conversation with her. The result of this is that I don't call her because I know the exchange should be long and detail rich to make up for the interval since our last connection. My relationship to this blog can be very similar.

I'll keep this short and sweet and, hopefully, we all still get a bit of something worth having.

Here are the sketch cards I'm sending out with the most recent order of Tragedy Series prints

Animal Cornucopia

These Kitties were drawn for my friend Becky who is producing a zine about this troupe of adorable little scamps.
Periscope took a trip to the zoo (prompted by Natalie Nourigat) on Wednesday the 27th and it was great! I spent a whole day doing observational drawing. It was a success in both fun and output. Only a few animals presented real challenges; the penguins were tough and one turtle was fast enough (surprisingly) that he avoided a full portrait.


The giraffes were beautiful, The bats were smelly, the crocodile was amazing and stoic. My elephant drawings required some real time compositing. I felt a kinship with the chimps because they are so similar to us in all the most important ways; I owed it to them to portray them appropriately.

The sleepy animals were the easiest to draw. The sea lions were an amazing mash-up of the stay puft Marshmallow man, a jumbo jet and a dog. The penguins were very fast and yes, that is the real Iorek Byrnison.

This particular De Brazza's monkey was fascinated and angered by a raccoon that was taunting him outside his cage. At one point a man came up to me and asked "Do you ever just decide to give up and draw the butt?" I told him that I'm patient and I hope for multiple animals so that I can extrapolate. Though, that being said; it also depends on how interesting the butt in question may be.
I LOVE the Oregon Zoo!

My Lindsey Book, My Animal Mystery

I have a sketch book that I am filling with primarily observational drawings. That same sketchbook has become a venue for my portraits of Lindsey. Most of them are drawn at breakfast or while she is watching movies. I like trying to capture how I see her and sometimes I'm more successful than others. I want to fill the book with images of her over the next few years and catalog my appreciation of her while improving my drawing skills!

She was disappointed in the fact that they currently make the French Toast with regular bread instead of Croissants as they once did.
I've also started to accumulate a collection of quotes from her. Though this is my favorite over all:

"If you get the water, I'll start eating the pizza"
Lindsey and I are both filing for extensions this tax season because we are disorganized and as a result of that we've been going through piles of paper that have accumulated around our apartment. That usually seems tedious and tortuous to me but the good news is that I found this old mini comic (circa 2008) that I had started while I was teaching at Art 4 Life:


There is a mystery in the comic and I think I'll finish it because I remembered the mechanism I planned on using. It's going to be fun and, hopefully, somewhat challenging. Check back with me over the weekend for posts about Stumptown. If you are local or inclined to hop on a concorde come find me and say hello!