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Before The Oreos

Paws is Swap Backwards

Rama Hughes and I swapped portraits. It was my prize for winning the Portrait Party contest. My drawing (above) was done in pen and ink with a bit of watercolour. The scan doesnt really pick up all the subtle shades.

Taylor

A drawing I did of my little sister for her 10th birthday.

Swapper

I busted out the ol' inks and watercolour for this drawing of Patrick. And he busted... nevermind.

I won!

After a month of slaving away drawing your portraits, I won the Portrait Party contest! Now Rama Hughes and I will do a swap. I'm wicked pumped!



This swap was between me and an old middle school friend, James Vaucher.

Emily Haines

A drawing I did for daytrotter.com. It's for an article about Emily Haines (of Metric and Broken Social Scene). You cant really see the color I intended if you're not using a really dark and broken monitor. That sucks.

Thanks for the tip, D!

See Me Draw!

This is a video of me completing my 2,374th portrait swap with Jenna. I was a bit drunk and giggly by the end.

Thanks Liz for putting so much time into this! You are magic!

The final piece:


EDIT:

Jenna DeLuca's excellent half of the swap.

Lo

Just when I thought I'd never done a proper drawing of Lauren, I find this piece on a disc. I have no idea where the original is or when I did it. A professor somewhere probably uses it as a coaster.

So here ya go Lauren (I know you're reading this)!

Nudder One

Swap with super-inker Ammon. I want his pen.

Naked People Should Not Say "Dude"

She knows me so well, yet we've never met. The most hilarious results in a Portrait Swap so far, with Shelly from Naked People Should Not Say "Dude" (her drawing of me below). Go look at Shelly's blog right now!



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Swapz

Portrait Swap with bully Josh Pincus is Crying. Yup, he drew me with a few bottles of Hate behind me.

My Favorite Hamburger

The long awaited portrait swap between el Jurko and me.

Bite Your Own Tail

A portrait swap with Sarah. We both thought it'd be fun to draw each other looking kind of creepy.

Call me!

Dedicated to Jon. Anyone else, don't.

Mead Trapper Keepers

Dan and I agreed to meet up in Cambridge to do a real-life Portrait Swap.

Karl

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used to be one of the rotten ones

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How to Read Cards

Wu Wan King

One of six illustrations I did for Darryl Berger's short story, How to Read Cards. He's a damn good writer and Im constantly bugging him to send me his work. Im glad he suckered me into collaborating with him. The story was excellent and the drawings were a lot of fun.

One Year, Two Hundred Posts...

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...and this is the comic Ive always wanted to make.

Check it out in the September issue of The Agenda, a Providence-based newspaper.

I cant believe I've been sitting in front of this glowing box for 365 days straight. On this occasion (and since it's my last post) Id like to show Im not completely selfish and give some thank-yous: First Id like to thank Liz, who has played a large roll in my post-college drawing career. She drags me out of the house and sticks markers in my hands. Also, she's taught me a quality piece need not take 20 hours to produce. And I'll swallow my pride and thank Illustration Friday, because Ive found some neat folk through it. But I wont thank God, because he didnt help at all.

And just kidding, it's not my last post.

Interesting discovery: My blog's one year anniversary falls on Friday the 13th. Excellent.

Revealed

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cowboydog's drawing of me

No, he isnt a dog with a hat. This is Cowboydog (or Baggelboy). He puts all our drawings to shame, and is the subject of my sixth Portrait Swap.

Victim Five

my drawing of steve. click for larger view.




steve's drawings of me.

Another Portrait Party. This time with Steve Patton.

No Tounge Tongue

my drawing of switch




switch's drawings of me

Switchsky, my northern neighbor, and I exchanged portraits. This is my fourth swap. Ive also been trading the portraits in the mail afterward, which is fun fun.

Edit: See The Portrait Party for info on this game.

Dry Mouth

My third Portrait Swap. This one was between me and Steve. He is the one who brought you my idea for Illustration Friday Night.

Remember! When participating in a portrait swap via the internet there are a few things you should keep in mind when taking your reference photo.

1. Use strong directional lighting. It helps me see the planes of your mug. Natural daylight through a window works best. Get away from your computer screen, the blue glare does not count.
2. Get your whole head in the shot. Do not skim the top of your head or your chin.
3. Try to take high resolution photos and minimize the blurriness. If this means you have to get back on your meds to get rid of your shakes do it!
4. Do not send me nudes. Jesus.

More Saliva

Darryl and I drew each other. He considers me to be evil, and I have to agree.

Portrait Parties are sweeping the internet. Join us.

Spit Swap

I drew Sean Duggan. And he drew me. It was a Portrait Party.

I have more trades and swaps in the works. If anyone wants trade artwork/portraits/prints email me.

And so on.

I found out about two hours ago that my favorite author Kurt Vonnegut has died. It is really late and I am leaving for Montreal in a few hours, but I wanted to draw his portrait right away. I have been reading Vonnegut novels since I was thirteen, beginning with The Sirens of Titan. For me it is strange that he died now because I have been going through a phase of rereading his work. And I am actually near the end of Breakfast of Champions (one of my favorites). And I had already packed Slapstick to read on my vacation. Ive always had a fantasy of hearing him speak or lecture, especially because he often taught on Cape Cod. So I'm feeling sort of sad. And tired.

Vyctoria

My little niece. She has big black eyes.

Buck and Nate

This is a drawing of a random head and Nate. At first, I thought my rendering of Nathaniel Theodore Hawthorne of Stonehenge sucked. But after staring at it every night before bed for the last month, I have decided it is OK. Anyway, my blog doesnt have very high standards.

Solo

Budget Analysis is Fun!

My dearest friend, Jon. Yes, this is what he is like. And I love him. Check out his blog, too.

Last of the High School Portraits

Tiffy. Charcoal on a huge sheet of paper.


My mom. She didnt like this portrait. Pastels on paper.


Self portrait. Charcoal on paper.


Jen. Pastels on blue paper.


Jon. Charcoals or pastels or something on paper.


Taylor eatting ice cream. Charcoal on paper.

I scanned some old slides of my high school portfolio. These are really old. I did the one of my aunt Tiffy in my junior year of high school, I think. When I was 16. And I wish I could draw a shirt again like I drew Jen's that day.

Romance is dead, long live romance!

In commemoration of Anna Nicole Smith's sudden death, and Illustration Friday's theme Crash, I designed an Anna memorial tattoo. Feel free to get it inked in the most intimate of places.

Six Years Ago Today

Jon's hand. Pastels on black paper.


Girl I dont know. Pastels on colored paper (that was my thing).

I risked my life and crawled into my attic this afternoon just to find my slides of my work from high school and college. So for the next few days I think I'll be posting those gems.

But about my attic, you don't understand. The stairs are thousands of years old. They're the kind that you pull down from the ceiling. And one side of the support system of springs and nails is completly gone. Plus, they are directly over the stairs that lead to the first floor of my house. So if you fell, you'd fall far.

These two drawings were done when I was 16 or 17. When I was a kid and smoking was cool.

Self Portrait with Gun

I had my first day of work today. And I still had time to draw and post something! Hey, maybe this wont be such a bad thing after all.

you make me turn red

pencil, Micron 005, Prismacolor marker & a little watercolour

This is a self portrait I drew for Illustration Friday's word this week, Red.

80s

I drew this old lady while watching Harold and Maude (1971). Practicing my wrinkles. She's looks good for 80.

Everyone knows what happens to Maude on her 80th birthday, right?

And this is my 20th Illustration Friday post.

My Outter Self

I couldnt sleep, so instead of jumping out the window I drew myself in the mirror.

Joaquin Phoenix

This week's Illustration Friday topic is Phoenix, so I drew actor Joaquin Phoenix. Walk the Line and Quills are excellent films he's in.

The 60's

This is a drawing I did for my mom, for Christmas. It's her with my grandparents. I dont know how old she is in the photo. Maybe if she looks at my blog she can leave the information in a "comment"?

The scan is a bit choppy, because I don't have Photoshop here in Dallas. I'll try to fix the quality when I get back to Massachusetts January 4th.

More Drawing Less Talking

Jon reading the paper, at Cafe Depot, in Montreal.

Also, I'm leaving for Dallas in the morning. I don't know if I'll have the capability to post while I'm away yet. If not, see you January 4th!

Oh, and this:

Our Quest/Journey/Voyage

Some doodles, plus a drawing of Jon from our trip to the New Hampshire border (anyone from New England knows what that means). I've been working on drawing people while they're not sitting still (at all, even a little).

Boy

This is my second or third drawing with a mechanical pencil.

Sluggy Liz

Here's the closest I've come to documenting my "process."


First, a detailed pencil drawing.

Then, I paint some.

Then, I'm done.

That's it. This piece was made for an unreciprocated painting swap with Liz. I'm sure she's cooking something crazy up.

Victim

Babel

I just came back from seeing the movie Babel. Pretty good flick. Anyway, it inspired me to do a little sketch of one of the actors, Gael García Bernal.

Clear Eyes Is Awesome

I was born in the 80's. I've watched too much TV.

Anyway, I was very surprised and delighted to see that my topic was chosen for Illustration Friday this week. Too bad the word I submitted was Clear. For the last few weeks IF has had themes related to translucency (Ghost, Wind, and Smoke), so as a sort of joke I entered a bunch of topics that mean clear. Like crystal, translucent, see-through and limpid (yeah, I used a thesaurus).

Couldn't Penelope have picked my word when it was Peas? Oh well! My website hits are way up, and I got to draw my first portrait of Ben Stein! Here's a link to one of the Clear Eyes commercials, via YouTube.com.

Dylan Smoking

I am between sketchbooks right now, but I found a corner near the front to do a quick sketch of Bob Dylan. Done with pencil, Micron 005 pen, and a Prismacolor marker. About 3"x4".

Smoke

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "smoke." I figured I'd post this one from my portfolio. This image is also available as a postcard in my shop.

Liz at Julio's

Liz and I enjoyed some Mexican food in Vermont. Taking a break from the long, snowy, car ride home.

Irate Pirate

2" x 3" etching

Smitten Pirate

Lauren in a photo booth. I love how the parrot is kissing her cheek!

2" x 3" etching

(my 50th post!)

Lauren

Another drawing of Lauren. Sketched while we waited for our burritos at Acapulcos. Done in pencil, pen, and a "Mint Cream" Prismacolor marker. One day I'll do a proper drawing of her.

Trouble

There was something about this sweet pose
that said Jon and I were up to no good.

2 1/2" x 3" Pen & Marker

Quiet

Pencil sketch colored in Photoshop.