Thoreau & Twain.

I found two quotes I'd like to share: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Henry David Thoreau & "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain. I think both of these should be kept in mind, regardless of what you do. I'll post art tomorrow.

More Fist!

I visited former professor/friend, Don Kilpatrick, at my old stomping grounds the other day. Don was teaching his letterpress class and he had been printing prior to my arrival. I had my eye on both of his posters AND I was lucky enough to receive them! Don posted/wrote about both of them on his blog so check em out.

My Room Part Deux.

This is the last of the "My Room" series. My friend, James Noellert, often draws the space around him. I'm a rookie at it. It was my first time. I used a pen and added the value in photoshop, but I only added it here and there. The adjacent piece was a "happy accident" when I was messing with the channels in photoshop.I went to a Death by Chocolate/Candle Party at Micaela's tonight with Shelby. I got to see a lot of people I've missed and it ruled. There were so many different kinds of chocolate treats; chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate candy, chocolate cookies, etc. I felt sick just looking at it, but it was great. My friend, Lindsay, got 3 vintage leather smelling candles. They smelled like an outlaw.

My Room Part 1.

I've been drawing my room lately because I'm working on my observational skills. The good thing about my room is that it doesn't yell at me, doesn't charge me, and it doesn't move. Here's a collection of scarves and bags that hang on my door.

The Music Man For France.

First off, I wanted to say thank you to everyone that commented on HOUSE. The positive response was overwhelming and I appreciate the comments. So, thank you!

I received a letter from my friend Cloe today. She's from France! She is sassy and one of my favorite people. I'm writing her an insane letter. I created this musical man for her. Thank you SO MUCH, Cloe! Your letter couldn't have come at a better time.

Paging Doctor House.

This week's pick on The Hallway Show is HUGH LAURIE. Hugh is great as House. I'm being nagged to do some Hobbit inspired work. Keep an eye out for that.

Space Bots.

I drew these robots at Ram's Horn the other night. One of my new friends, Angel, let me use her gel pens. Unfortunately, you can't see the gelly, glittery, shiny goodness that's on the paper because the scanner doesn't translate those things well.I watched this documentary called The Yes Men Fix The World. It was witty, funny, and informative. The Yes Men are culture jammers. Culture jammers are activists that disrupt mainstream cultural institutions and/or corporate advertisers (wiki).

Rex & Paper Planes!

Rex makes paper planes, watches them fly, and then eats them. Notice the Jason Curtis inspired boots. I woke up around 7 am because it was thundering. I like hanging out in the living room during thunderstorms; not my bedroom.

Friday Night at the DIA.

After pulling a 30 hour all nighter the night prior, I took it easy tonight. I woke up, got ready, and ventured with Micaela and Shelby to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts). I love going to the DIA. I especially love going on Fridays because it's open late and they have live music. Tonight I saw Phyllis Chen and Johannes Moser. Phyllis played with a tiny piano! The donkey in the following picture is the only piece of art you can touch in the DIA. I feel like a rebel, even though it's allowed. The reason for its coat changing is because of all of the people that have touched it. It's pretty cool.This is my absolute favorite painting in the DIA. I always called it "Fireworks", but it's actually called "Nocture in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket" and it's by James Whistler. He did it in 1875. This painting fills me with wonder and excitement and this digital capture doesn't even justify how great this painting is in person.Did anyone else catch the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien? It was incredible. He went out with so much dignity and style. His speech right before Freebird was absolutely touching and his spirit lives on. Carpe diem, Conan.

Prisma Zelda!

I have been up for so long. Sleep deprivation is the WORST. I'm too tired to hook my scanner up, so I took a picture via Photo Booth. I have such a soft spot in my heart for Link from The Legend of Zelda; we've been playing since I came out of the womb. I used Prisma Color Pencils. I also wanted to give a shout out to my parents which is why I tucked that little note in there. Hey, thanks for having and raising me.

Map of America.

I freehanded this map of the United States recently. I was actually surprised to find that I know so many people across the country. I want to go on a big adventure and visit all of them. From which state do you hail (OR country)? Holler from Michigan.

Wicket The Ewok.

I was still feeling Warwick Davis when I did this blind contour. In case you didn't know, Warwick Davis also played Wicket. I'm a big Star Wars fan. Star Wars beats Star Trek any day of the week. May the force be with you. (Click to enlarge!)

Warwick Davis.

Micaela picked Warwick Davis over on The Hallway Show. Shelby and I both posted; TEAM KIRCHOFF! I chose Warwick Davis from WILLOW. I looked at this when I drew it. Remember Warwick in Leprechaun? That movie scared the crap out of me.

One Year Ago Today...

I went to my first Jonas Brothers show here in Detroit. No one will understand how magical that day was or what that day began for me. It began a year of adventure, friendship, irrationality, and love. 1-18-09 is a day I will never forget; from the anticipation leading up to the show, to the cold, to meeting new friends, and getting main floor. I have been trying to draw the Jonas Brothers for the past 5 hours. Maybe 3 of these look like the JBs, but this blog is about the good and the bad so it's all getting posted. I am pleased with the way all of the blue bow-tie drawings turned out ESPECIALLY Kevin Jonas (far left, curly hair) because I drew that one without looking. This post is dedicated to the Jonas Brothers and the people involved with the anniversary of this day that I will remember fondly. Click to enlarge!

VIVA EL COCO!

This whole late night talk show fiasco is ludicrous."Hosting 'The Tonight Show' has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to me. And I want to say to the kids out there watching, you can do anything you want in life unless Jay Leno wants to do it too." –Conan O'Brien. I support Conan and so does my new friend, Conan enthusiast, and Leno hater Irene Tomoko Sugiura (Holla). I decided to draw Leno and Conan as blind contours (I didn't look at the paper as I drew them) and I went back in and added the shading and subtle details (while looking). The color chosen for the background reflects "late night". Click to enlarge!

Where Is The Love?

I've noticed an increased negativity and selfishness in people. Who am I to point the finger when I'm guilty as well, but recent events have caused me to stop and think. I left a comment on someone's blog. I later received an email from that person, thanking me for the comment, because no one from CCS had left this person a comment before. This stunned me. Have we become so caught up in our own lives that we don't stop to peer into someone else's? It's human nature to care about ourselves, but to live a truly appreciated life, we have to reach outside of ourselves. I think it's important to slow down, take a look around, see all there is to see, help one another, spread the love, and SMILE. What do you lose? I'm no saint, but I'm working on it. They say that attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

Party Zone Alert.

The excitement from yesterday rolled over into today and I took it easy. I watched Sunshine Cleaning which was decent and I started to watch Gigantic (starring Paul Dano & Zooey Deschanel), but I stopped. I also played Wii Boxing. Brother Chan and Sister Al sat behind me, yelling, as if they were my coaches. Afterwards, it felt like someone decided to drop 100 pound weights on my arms. Shelby and I took a bunch of funny pictures. For each one, we came up with an idea to try to communicate. For instance, the bottom left one, I said, "Act like mom's yelling at us! GO!" and the third on the bottom was: "act like we're watching Lord of the Rings!" Now Shelby is gone to get BUBBLE TEA and we are supposed to do art when she gets back, but my arms are like those in Harry Potter when they lose the bones (what's the name of that spell in the 2nd one). I guess playing Wii Boxing was counterproductive. Real art tomorrow. Twas a TRIFLING THURSDAY.

Emotion Day/Big News!

Today isn't actually Emotion Day. I went through quite the range of emotions today though; blah, meh, frustration, apathy, bliss, miz, empathy, and excitement. It's actually kind of mind boggling to think about how many emotions we go through a day. In lieu of the aforementioned, I spent the day getting in touch with my "emotional side" and I did this abstract doodle. Sometimes, not actually drawing something is a good way to go about doing things. It was a nice change of pace to say the least.This is where the EXCITEMENT part of the day comes in. Friend and peer, Gary Bedard, sent me an email telling me about a Robots Show on the popular website Drawger. Drawger is a blog site for illustrators, by illustrators, and it's invite only. Some of the biggest names in illustration today have blogs on there (including former professor and friend, Don Kilpatrick) and Drawger holds shows on the site. The person that administers the show approves, or denies, the work submitted. I am SUPER INSANELY PUMPED to inform everyone that TWO of my robot pieces were selected for the show!! djksfls;df;!!! They are old pieces [which reminds me that I need to do some current robot pieces stat], but you can view them HERE and HERE! I provided fun descriptions for the pieces. This is a really great start to 2010. Honestly, thank you so much for informing me, Gary!

Motivate & Create!

I was having a conversation with my friend Cristina about New York City. She mentioned Central Park and I said I couldn't believe people living in NYC could get used to seeing Central Park everyday. She replied by saying she doesn't ever want to get so used to something that she forgets what made it so great in the first place; she didn't want it to lose its magic. Her words resonate in my mind as I sit here and type this. The next time you see a familiar sight, look upon it with fresh eyes. Fresh eyes mean a fresh mind. Here's a motivating page from my sketchbook.Also, my dad left me a really great anonymous comment on one of my cut outs that said: "CUT IT OUT CHELSEA....AND DON'T STOP..."

Willem Dafoe.

Willem Dafoe had some nice stubble in the reference I used so I tried to accentuate that and he has a lot of wrinkles. I just asked Vince Joy (because we are video chatting and doing art at the same time; TEAM WORK!) what I could compare all of his wrinkles to and he said a peanut. Are you serious? Not a peanut haha, but I went into this piece not really feeling it and now I am finished and I can't stop looking at it and laughing because it's ridiculous and looks nothing like Willem Dafoe, but I'm pleased with the end result. Vince and I have deemed it "awesomely bad". He was Danny's pick over on The Hallway Show. Check out the other submissions!

"Do YOU Dream?"

There's something about movies that I've always loved. For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with them. Growing up, I wanted to make movies or be a pro movie-goer, but I gave that dream up to be an artist; though it is not something I regret. I like that as you sit in this dark theatre, you become involved in the movie; hopelessly entangled in the story and its characters. Some movies have lasting impacts on us and inspire us in so many ways. There's nothing like that feeling after seeing a great movie. Since 2000, I have been collecting my movie ticket stubs (I actually have one from 1997 when I saw Spice World, but that's taped in my Lisa Frank diary and there it stays). But over the years, I've seen many movies.My most recent stub, that I have yet to include, is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which I have become obsessed with. This could be due to the fact that I love Heath Ledger or because I love the idea of the imaginarium. For some reason, I can't post the wonderful clip referencing my title line so please click HERE for a taste of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The movie is dark and magical, introduces unique characters, has amazing imagery and sets, and casts a creepy mood throughout. I have been thinking about it nonstop. I will probably do some cut outs. Speaking of movies, my friend Derek Szubeczak is a Media Studies major at Wayne State University and he loves movies too. I spoke with Derek and asked him why films? "I've had a love for films for as long as I can remember. Besides music, film was the other thing that had a major impact on my emotions and intellect. They have always fascinated me and for better or worse have helped shape my personality. Great cinematography is just beautiful. It's like a perfect photograph only in motion like a perfect memory." Derek runs a tight ship with friend, David Englebrink; the two helping one another. Derek also creates the soundtracks you hear in the films. The work is interesting; my favorite being The Used Magician (below). Derek and Dave are really cool guys and I'm excited to see what they come up with in the future.

The Used Magician from Derek Szubeczak on Vimeo.

Speaking of movies, I watched Big Fish again and I found out that Miley Cyrus (then known as Destiny Cyrus) plays an 8 year old girl in the film and that kind of made me dislike the movie a bit. C'mon Tim Burton, MILEY?

Topsy-Turvies.

The next few posts are going to be about anything involving the word IMAGINATION (or imaginarium) and I will explain why, in depth, in my NEXT post. My local library had a big box of books they were discarding and I found this total gem entitled "Topsy-Turvies: Pictures to Stretch the Imagination" by Mitsumasa Anno. It's comprised entirely of pictures. I've snapped a few to give you an idea of what it's about. The best part is the Author's Postscript at the end. Click it and read it. It rules.Today was like Christmas. I went and hung out with a bunch of my friends from school and Micaela & Maria both gave me some really cool things. Mickey gave me this neat little notebook that comes with a pen and Maria got me some really cool different types of paper for my cut outs. I was thrilled beyond words! I love all of my friends and I love get togethers like the one we had this evening. It was a lot of fun.

Wintery Things.

It snowed last night and it was our first decent snowfall. I busted out my FLYERS CAP*. I hardly wear it, but my head was feeling cold so I felt it necessary (that's not real fur. I got it for $13).My mother suggested I go with her while she went to WALMART. I hate going to Walmart. It's my least favorite activity so I told her I would go with her, but wait in the car. She went in and I drew in my sketchbook. I drew a car, but I messed up the GRILL so I stopped. Then we went to the gas station and I drew the gas sign. I also made a web of how everyone in He's Just Not That Into You is connected and wrote down things I learned from the book by Greg Behrendt.* I didn't know it was a flyers cap until just now. Thanks google.

Lazy Day.

When I woke up this morning, I deemed today one of those "get-up-and-do-nothing" sort of days, but I was productive. I helped my friend Jeremy with some things and, in turn, he bought me a calendar. Now I know that sounds stupid, but it made my day. It's all about the little things with me so this little thing meant a whole lot. I also went to the library and picked up some books for my sister and picked up He's Just Not That Into You for me (which I finished AND, might I add, learned a great deal from). Then I made this little cut out of Link as Deku Link from Majora's Mask. I am a huge Legend of Zelda fan. My entire family has been playing that game since I was born. This is less than 2 inches high and made entirely from Nat Geo pages.

Marty Feldman.

One of my favorite people is Marty Feldman. What a guy! I'm a Mel Brooks fan. I enjoy his movies, humor, and his choice of actors. I've been working on drawing with pens and capturing a likeness. This is an ongoing thing for me. Sorry this is later than usual. I slept all night and just woke up. I daresay my sleep schedule is fixed; which sucks. We're supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow today. That's the RUMOR. I can't wait because I'm going to convince the sibs to eat pizza and play Mario Party. Also, Jason Curtis, you really should draw a robot.

Inspirational Overload.

I've been looking around on the web at a variety of sites to get INSPIRED. I hope that they inspire you as they have me. The first set of images comes from the website "Don't Fuck With Robots". My friend Meredith showed it to me. Robots are fun to look at. Unfortunately, the artists responsible for the imagery aren't properly credited so I don't know who did them. Click on images to make them bigger!My friend Sarah stumbled upon this guy, Brock Davis, and his website from 2009. His goal was to make something cool everyday in 2009. The stuff he came up with was AWESOME. The titles are especially witty and clever. It's neat to see how he utilized the spaces around him to create really cool things and the way he combines graphic elements to make his art. A few of my favorites are: fencing, working late, xylophone, and arcade expressionism (my personal favorite).And last, but certainly not least, Meredith (formerly mentioned), posted about this really cool site called Well Medicated. There's a lot of inspirational things on there such as "50 Amazing Gig Posters Sure to Inspire". No sneak peaks on that one! Just head to the website and check it out (though I will say the Vampire Weekend poster near the end is my all time fave; not ONLY because NOSFERATU is in it). In order to make art, one must be inspired by the world around them.

Guy Fieri!

This week (well, technically LAST week)'s pick for the Hallway Show was Guy Fieri. He has that show on the Food Network (Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). I haven't done a cut out in awhile. I don't particularly care for this one, but it's a piece nonetheless. GOTTA KEEP GOING! I've been looking at a lot of different sites that are really inspiring so look forward to some inspirational posts.

Quelf.

I spent last night playing 3 hours of the board game QUELF with some of my friends. If you've never played Quelf, I implore you to do so. It is hilarious beyond words, completely random, and it will have you smiling so big, your face will hurt before the end of the game. You roll a die, make your way around the board, and you pick up colored cards and follow the directions on the card. For instance, my friend's roommate, Matt, had to do disco moves while singing a disco song. I had to recite a sentence backward twice while singing it in a foreign accent. Sarah had to wait in the bathroom until someone came to get her, but she wasn't allowed to tell us that; we had to figure it out on our own. It's seriously one of the best games I've ever played and I was first turned onto it by my cousins because they own it. It was always a riot playing it with them. I hope there are many more Quelf filled nights. This post is dedicated to the game of Quelf.I've spent the past couple of days fixing my blog. I changed the layout. I also went back through all of my entries and gave them an overall uniform look and gave each of them labels (which can be found underneath my followers and above the blog archive).

Gandalf (The Grey/The White).

Lord of the Rings. LoTR. Lord of the Rings. ALL THE TIME. Actually, I did stop for like a WEEK, but now I'm back at it. Shelby and I have been watching and drawing religiously from it. Here are three Gandalf drawings I did. Shelby and I both agree that the best quote from the trilogy, spoken by none other than Gandalf himself, is: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." That's from The Fellowship of the Ring. In unrelated news, I just woke up from a 19 hour nap. Granted, I feel incredible, but I don't know why I slept that long. I was probably hibernating because it was 9 degrees today. That could have something to do with it.

New Year's Ninja.

I'm spending today coming up with resolutions. It's the year for CHANGE. NEW YEAR! NEW YOU! NEW START! GREAT ART! I'm burnt out and exhausted from this evening, but let it be noted that I had nothing but good, clean, fun. Here is a ninja shuffling on the side of this building. All he's thinking is, "THIS IS WAR!"