Spock!

I saw Star Trek. I'm not a fan of Star Trek. Honestly, I'm more of Star Wars fan myself, but I gave it a shot. I literally clapped and screamed awesome at the end (two of my fellow art friends were in the theatre as well; one of which being Micaela Ruiz). So this is dedicated to Spock. This is a combo of Leonard Nimoy (old Spock) and Zachary Quinto (new Spock). I decided to save myself some clean up time by doing this via photoshop. Live long and prosper!

Graduation Day!

If you had asked me a month and a half ago if I would be graduating, the answer would've been questionable. I had such a rough semester that I honestly didn't think I would be graduating. I hadn't done much work (well I did, but it was terrible) and my attendance wasn't that great, but at the end, I cranked the volume from 0 - 10 and worked my butt off! I created an entire body of new work (the portraits) and I made up for my lacking attendance by helping the department set up for the student show (that debuts tomorrow). All of the hard work paid off when I walked across that stage and took my family and friends to see my wall (pictured below). It was a real treat seeing everyone's walls finished and congratulating one another on 4+ years of hard work and dedication to our school and craft. Tomorrow is opening night. I really hope I sell some work, but I'm excited for everyone to see it. 2009 is flying by and graduating from CCS is my biggest achievement yet. Thank you to everyone that has supported me along the way. Also, I was interviewed and featured in the most recent issue of "C" which is the alumni relations magazine through CCS. Matt Chung and Bailey Isgro were also featured; everything's on pages 4 & 5. You can check it out by click HERE!

MJ & Wall-E.

I had some extra spots on my senior wall that needed to be filled so I planned on pulling an all nighter last night, BUT exhaustion got the best of me and I fell asleep only to wake up at 9 this morning and FREAK OUT. We had to have our walls finished by noon and I still had 2 pieces to do so I set to work! In 2 hours, I busted out both of these! I apologize for the pictures, but I didn't have time to scan them so I took a quick picture and left to finish setting up at school. Michael Jackson ruled during his Thriller era and Wall-E killed the big screen with his debut. These two characters along with the others I've been posting will be for sale at the College for Creative Studies' Student Exhibition Opening this friday through the end of May. I'm selling the originals in really cool frames for only $80 each! Stop by, see my wall, enjoy the work, and direct people toward it! If nothing else, stop by and say hi! I graduate tomorrow and Friday is the opening so the next post will have pictures of graduation/opening night. I'll come up with a new piece by Monday so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the work and have a fun weekend everybody!

Alf!

As the pickiest human being on the planet, pizza is my favorite food. However, Alf's favorite food is cats. I don't like cats myself (as food I mean), but I'm not an Alien Life Form so I guess I wouldn't. This is America's favorite alien, Alf!I graduate in 2 days. It hasn't hit me yet, but I am nervous and excited and a little bit scared. Also, I have been working hard on putting my senior wall up so I will post pictures of that after graduation.

Larry King.

America's favorite interviewer; Larry King.

Joaquin Phoenix.

Although Joaquin Phoenix flipped out awhile ago on Letterman, I decided it was still pretty necessary to create a portrait of him. I found this really great picture of him online and I cut his hands out and used them in this portrait because I think it helps the whole crazy angle. I don't know if Joaquin is crazy, but he is GREAT and it's all because of this guy that I got my spark back. Thanks, Joaquin.

Also, I received an email & did an interview. You can read it if you'd like HERE.

Wolverine & Susan Boyle.

I'm all about Celebrity Portraiture/Iconic figures. That's what the next couple of weeks are going to be about. Let's start things off with Wolverine (also known as Hugh Jackman) and Susan Boyle. I just look at this piece of Wolverine and I laugh so hard because of his muscles and his claws and I love Susan Boyle because she is Britain's under dog. It's all about mixed media these days. Rock and roll.

Obama-Rama!

I started this piece back in January and just got around to finishing it up. I was fortunate enough to actually attend the inauguration with my long time friend, Zack, and what an event it was. I've never been much into politics, but I've always been a fan of history and to say that I was at an event like this was overwhelming for me. I also think the fact that it was an unplanned adventure added to it being overwhelming; in a good way.I did this using ink and a nib and I also used acrylic and cut paper.

The following is from Obama's inauguration speech. It was pretty inspirational/moving to hear it in real life and to be surrounded by over a million Americans, all eager to stand together, and believe as a whole. People eager to believe that things can change and, over time, they will.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Epic Return.

This entire year I've been fighting what I really enjoy doing. I've been trying to paint, I've used colored pencils, I did pen and ink, and a whole lot of other things in between, when all along, I was ignoring what I truly enjoyed and what I truly enjoy is cutting things out of paper. I've taken it to a new level and I now paint paper and cut that out, but the thing is; I see things in shapes and I like to make shapes and cut them out. It's FUN and I thoroughly enjoy it; I LOVE IT. So, it took me until the end to have a moment of clarity and, by then, I had an entire semester's worth of crap-work and I decided to get rid of all of it and do a bunch of cut outs and they looked better than all five of my paintings combined. I've got a long way to go and I know that, BUT I feel great about everything and I'm excited to show you what I've been working on. Forgive me for my absence (yet again), but I'm back for GOOD. The first piece was circus themed done in illustrator and photoshop. The second piece was for the Detroit Zoo and I did it in Photoshop. I didn't get to turn it in, but I did it anyway.