Thursday, April 28, 2011

Cold as Ice

I got roped into doing another illustration of polar bears. This time for the Utne Reader. The article is a dramatic 12-page investigative cover story about who was really behind 9-11.

No, not really. You have to read the magazine to find how how big of a lie I've told you this time.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Not in church on Easter

Given the marvelous weather, I sat outside today and drew the sitting people. I give them to you free of comment, to give you the rare chance to come up with your own little stories for them.






Thursday, April 21, 2011

Now on Bookface!

PhosArt is now a facebook page, which you are free to like, or to love, or have a weird, clingy stalker relationship with.

Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate Earth Day, I thought I'd repost this festive all-ages comic, to remind ourselves what the real reason for the season is.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Journey

I did this a few years ago for a thank you card, I think. This bear is either going for an adventurepicnic or stealing and ruining someone else's picnic, in which case that little smile becomes incredibly sinister.

Monday, April 11, 2011

To Bean or not to Bean?

This week's theme, as much as I have a theme, is "Use up all my Payne's gray." I do believe I succeeded.

So I started out thinking of sumi-e painting, and the economy of line. I figured I'd do a little of that, and immediately broke that rule, adding whole bunches of little lines in an attempt to fulfill another little goal of drawing more of the people. Looking at this, I wonder how I'd do with a marker. I'd try it, but can't find one that doesn't bleed like a stuck pig.

Two regulars, and a guy who just came in from church and didn't sit down. I drew his reflection in a mirror as he stood in line to get something that sounds French/Italian.

This bloke here, whose hair I admire, was talking to the girl whom I never seem to be able to draw from the front. He quickly went back to reading his book and shifting his right hand all over the Goddamn place.

Having grown tired of drawing regular people in a humanistic way (this is called deadpan), I attempt caricature and fail miserably, even with a few of the most caricature-able people on the planet sitting across the way from me. I am shockingly pleased at how well I was able to give individuality to an attractive woman, something that is usually hard to do. Pretty girls tend to all look the same (insert joke about how they especially look the same when you aren't looking at their face, etc.)

And despite the fact that it was only noon, I grew tired with this mortal coil, and started to freak out and see thought bubbles over people's heads. The small child was particularly interested in engaging me in a staring contest, and I'm sure he could have induced a seizure in me if I hadn't torn my gaze away at the last moment. On the top left is primary reason I don't draw baristas.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Bottled

Not sure how all my bartender friends are doing, but this is for you. It's an old piece, but not as old as my bartender friends.

Egad, is that absinthe?

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Back to moleskine

I don't know why the notebook is called a moleskine. I imagine they were originally made of the skin of moles, and the producers added an "e" to the end to avoid the ire of PETA. Suffice to say, my reasons for turning to the moleskine were entirely practical: I had to go shopping afterward, and the moleskine is about 2 pounds lighter than my other sketchbook.

We start off with a blonde. She was not a happy blonde, but she wasn't as sad as I portray her here. On this scale, being off by a millimeter can mean the difference between someone smiling over a muffin, and someone smiling over baby rape.

This guy was not as badass as he looks here. But he was as nerdy.

Turning my head 90 degrees, I saw these people. One was reading a book/texting/tilting her head to allow her hair to flop around, solely to allow her the chance to run her hands through it and pull it back in a completely different style, and the other was sitting ramrod stright/staring vaguely into space/frowning/thinking about 'Nam/lunch/inappropriate use of slashes.

And we end the tour with this comic-style drawing of a very, very respectable looking woman who became less so when she turned her head. Faces are weird like that. Another woman ordering mochaventilatteccino walked by at some point expressing interest in my water pen, which you will never see here because it moves to much to draw.