Barnburner

Yeah, I think she won that one. A warm-up sketch from last week which essentially amounted to me super-wishing that I was boxing again.

In other news, school's out for the summer! (My last student-summer: what a strange realization.) This being said, I'm gonna make the most of it by rolling up my sleeves and getting busy making all kinds of crazy stuff. More updates to come...see ya when I see ya, dudes.

Bean Nighe

My junior independent, or mini-thesis. I've always loved the spirits and monsters that inhabit celtic/gaelic folklore, so I decided to write a story about a Scottish banshee, or bean nighe. Also called 'the little washerwoman,' a bean nighe was a portent of death, and could be seen scrubbing the bloodstained clothes of those who were soon to breath their last. Not too much is known about where the washerwomen come from, though there's a range of speculation: some traditional legends suggest that these ghoulish harbingers were once human women who died in childbirth, cursed to carry out this role for the duration of what would have been their 'full' lifespan. This story offers my own take.

Primordial Seedling

This one was for a pretty rad project. My teacher drew from a science book featuring a series of questions compiled by children about the world we live in, and the answers were each written by experts in a corresponding field. The specific prompt I got was "Where did the first seed come from?" and the answer, by a botanist, was fascinating. She discussed how some of the most primordial plants (such as ferns) reproduce by spores instead, and then when early plant life later began developing true seeds, they were similarly hardy. Most grew a tough, waterproof outer-casing: so durable that they could actually make long journeys over sea. (Think of how coconuts travel!) Pretty unbelievable.

My piece featured a gouache painting, and that graphic purple seed was done digitally, then printed on a transparency layer that went over the traditional painting, and revealed parts underneath. This presentation was inspired by a children's book about animals published by Nobrow. A gif seemed to be the only way to translate the work for online viewing, hahaha.

The Standoff...

Hey, all! I've got some nonsense to unload on you good folk over the next few days...mostly stuff that got done over my semester. (Second to last, and it's already almost in the past tense. Life is pretty good!)

This one was for an editorial assignment...I was given an article about the first amendment, and how people have been trying to bend the law to censor rap music. I like to think this judge is doing so because he's a metal-head....that is no wig, my friends.

More to come soon!