Alexander Hamilton.

I am beyond excited and proud to debut this piece I just finished up of the incomparable Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton. I feel like my portraiture has taken on a new life with this piece and I'm really seeing my progress and evolution. You can pick yourself up a print of it if you'd like over on my etsy! I'm not throwing away my shot to post this out there and hope Lin-Manuel himself sees this!

Is There Life on Mars?

Really making a conscious effort to create things that really reflect a style and how I want it to work. So, I present David Bowie! I've done David Bowie before, but I wanted to try a new portrait in this style. I think it really worked here with the colors. Bowie pushed fashion and stereotypes. I guess I wanted to reflect that here. I took lyrics from the song and also created visual imagery inspired by the lyrics around him. You can pick up a print if it catches your eye on my etsy by clicking HERE!

The Wedding Singer.

Does anyone use blogs anymore? To be fair, I haven't in a while. I figured I was just talking to myself on here, but in keeping with that idea, I'm going to share a piece I just finished that I'm really excited about. 

I lost my Gramps November 1st and have had a hard time getting going again in every aspect of my life. When I finally sat down to create this Adam Sandler piece, I enjoyed it and all of the pieces fell into place and I felt good for the first time in over a month.

I did this for The Hallway Show. There's actually a blog version of The Hallway Show, but we've since resurrected The Hallway Show over on instagram. This week's theme is Adam Sandler so I chose to do him as Robbie Hart in The Wedding Singer. I wanted to capture that 80's feel from the movie and the tenderness that Robbie possesses.

I also listed this print on my etsy if you're interested in getting one. I'm going to keep making and creating, but I'm doing so using baby steps. I hope everyone else out there is doing well. Take some time to be kind to yourself.

Freddie Mercury.

I know it has been awhile, but I'm still here. I wanted to share this Freddie Mercury I just finished up to show off this new style/direction I'm trying to go with my work. You can get this print from my etsy shop by clicking HERE, but what I really wanted to do was make this feel like an 80's heartthrob poster.

The Undertaker.

Almost a week ago, The Undertaker retired on WWE. I watched it and it was kind of emotional, I can't even lie. So, I whipped this portrait up that I am really proud of. I wanted his face to be the focal point. I used procreate, but I used the gouache brushes. Anyone else a fan of wrestling?

Kamala Harris.

First female, multi-racial Vice President-Elect. It has taken over 200 years for this to happen and that's insane. I did this portrait for The Hallway Show, but found myself particularly inspired by this quote that she recently said. There's a lot of work to still do in this country, but this is a start.

RIP RBG.

RBG's passing is a major loss. The amount of work that she accomplished cannot be overstated. I was asked to create a RBG for my friend's website. This is my submission. I wanted to honor her to the best of my artistic ability. 

Forever fighting the good fight. Rest in power, RBG.

Orville Peck.

Annie Forrest is a photographer that took a bunch of pictures of Orville Peck and released a book (that I don't have) called Giddyup and this is one fo those photos. I like the juxtaposition of this masked crooner, man of mystery against the backdrop of an indoor pool. So, I illustrated it.

Lately I've Been Feeling So COOL!

The Jonas Brothers recently celebrated the year anniversary of their single, Cool, coming out. Each of the brothers posted a photo from behind the scenes for the video and Kevin posted this awesome, brightly colored picture. Seeing how we are all self quarantining due to the coronavirus, I am living vicariously through this drawing because Kevin looks like he's on vacation and I wish I was.

Walter White.

Had the privilege for doing this Walter White painting for a couple of super amazing people. It was 8x10 inches, I believe. It's funny because I never watched Breaking Bad, but I know if its significance  and prior to painting this, I was nervous about doing it, but then BAM! It came out and it was good and I was happy. I was given direction in terms of the quote for the background, but here he is: Bryan Cranston in his Heisenberg glory. Click to enlarge to catch those details!

Rocketman.

One of the movies I watched more than anything during the 2019 year was Rocketman. It's a biopic where Taron Egerton plays Elton John. He also sings all of the songs! It's great. Anyway, I thought that for my very last piece of art for the year, I wanted to finish this piece up.

I drew it in my sketchbook back in October and let it sit there. The other night, I finally knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to look. By the end, it looked like a gig poster. Maybe it was up in Doug Weston's Troubador. Matt threw some texture on it and I really do love it. You can purchase a print of it up in my etsy shop!

The Clash.

Awhile back, I drew a picture of The Beatles (check it out; it's the last photo in this post) and I had a friend ask me if I could do The Clash in the same style, but bigger. I was READY and EXCITED to tackle the challenge. It's hard to tell, but just like the Beatles, it's bright, bold, glittery, colorful, and metallic. I had so much fun with this and wanted to show my versatility. So, if you want something other than a painting, I got you, fam.

30. Captain Spaulding.

This will probably be the last time I do a Captain Spaulding so I wanted to make it the best I possibly could. This is for all the fried chicken and Tutti Fruiti. May he rest in peace. To Sid Haig. The man with the grease paint.

Sgt. Pepper's.

My friend, Scott, has been nagging me to draw for like 2 weeks now and I kept saying I would tomorrow. Well, today I finally did it. I've had this picture of The Beatles in my mind for a few days and wanted to draw it so I did. I'm a huge fan of these outfits. I want to wear them. I listened to The Beatles a decent amount growing up. My mom would play them from time to time; always a Lennon fan, but never a McCartney. Way she goes, I guess. I've also included a couple progress shots. Check it out. Click to enlarge!

Creed Bratton.

Creed Bratton from The Office is one of the best characters. He's a true psychopath. My friend, Luke, asked me to paint a portrait of Creed for his wife, Annie. She's a huge fan of the show and he wanted this great quote about worms on there, too. Creed has a lot of great quotes to pick from, but this is a great one. Check him out!

Hanson.

For Christmas, a coworker and friend asked me to create a Hanson piece for his wife (also a coworker). She's a huge Hanson fan and wanted to incorporate that love in with their love of Christmas. It was a real challenge, but it was a lot of fun to do! Matt did the glitter scarf as an homage to their album, Finally It's Christmas.

"Let The Past Die."

I started this portrait right after I saw The Last Jedi back in december, but then life got in the way. Well, I jumped back at it and I am IN LOVE with the way it turned out. Gotta give props where they're due: Matt Benyo totally came up with the idea for the background! It's that awesome backdrop from every 90's kid's yearbook photo, BUT they're little lightsabers! So cool. I think when you can geek out over your own work, you know you did a good job. So, I did two versions: one with the helmet and one without. If you're interested in purchasing a print, let me know! Click to enlarge!

Happy Birthday, Shelby!

Whipped up this Harry Potter Luna Lovegood birthday card for my little sister's birthday. Her birthday isn't until March 22nd, but we met early since she's busy and so am I. She loved it and much like her favorite character, Shelby has a very unique way of seeing the world and the magic that is in it. I did this weeks ago and couldn't wait for her to see it so I could post it. I used watercolor, markers, and micron pens to make this card. Happy birthday, Shelby! I love you!

Why So Serious?

10 years ago, at the ripe age of 20, I learned about love and loss. I know how dramatic that sounds, but if you understood my obsession with Heath Ledger, his work, and The Dark Knight trilogy, it wouldn’t sound dramatic at all. I will never forget being in History of American Illustration and yelling out in the middle of class that Heath Ledger was dead which then started a frenzy of checking phones and phone calls. I called my mom, on the verge of hysterics. She understood. She always understood my passions and my love, when I didn’t fully understand it. Anyone that saw me or knew me could attest to my love and sadness. That year, I saw The Dark Knight A LOT. I threw a Dark Knight gallery show at the U245 gallery on my college’s campus where I proudly came dressed as the joker. His loss lit a fire in me. His death inspired me to capture him as much as possible. I created one of my beginning pieces in Illustrator 10 years ago (click here). I remember being so proud of that piece. Today, I am so thrilled to revisit both Heath Ledger and Illustrator and really do both justice. I’ve watched these movies so many times that I can run circles around anyone that wants to quote them. His costume is something that feels so familiar to me because of how long I’ve spent looking at it. I finished this last night at 4 am and while I know I say ‘this is the best piece ever’, this time I can say I have never been more proud of a piece. Maybe it’s because it feels so personal to me or because of the significance of it, but on the 10th anniversary of Heath Ledger’s passing, I wanted to make something incredible. I did two versions of this piece and while I wish he hadn’t passed, I’m grateful for the work he left behind that continues to inspire me to this day. RIP Heath Ledger and thank you. Click to enlarge to check these pieces out. 

Always.

OKAY. I have officially created the greatest piece I've ever made. I know I say that a lot, but with the amount of time that I spent working on this portrait in Illustrator, I swear it's true. Harry Potter is obviously the greatest ever. At work, we've been alternating between the first three movies for weeks. It doesn't get old and it's still one of the best series created. I did a Snape 8 years ago in Photoshop as a cut out and looking at the two next to each other, I'm blown away by how far I've come. (Check the old one out by clicking HERE!) I love that as artists, we are always improving. The more we do/make, the better we become. It's great to see yourself progress and evolve over the years and that no matter how much time goes by, you can still surprise yourself. So, after WEEKS, I proudly present  Severus Snape, head of Slytherin house, and the best Harry Potter character. He has MANY layers because he is a very layered individual and I put all of my passion into this. I could honestly talk about him all day, but click to enlarge to check out the details and to see the underlying work involved. I wish my dad was here because this would really blow Charles away. He'd say "WOW" and tell me it was "Unbelievable" about 30 times, but while I am lacking in the dad department and missing his support, I have a lot of really amazing people that support me and I am beyond words grateful for that. Thank you for believing in me after all this time.