City Planning

Here are some digitally colored concept sketches I did for the mural project I did last winter. These represent my earliest forays into Photoshop coloring. The final piece ended up being done with paint pen and acrylic color. I think these initial planning sketches hold some value on their own. I love drawing cityscapes. Perhaps this is because I've always appreciated the aesthetic quality of long-term human development. I could write an entire thesis on cityscapes, there are so many great cities out there. This isn't to say I have no appreciation for nature. Cities have been a feature on this globe for so long they've almost become a part of nature. What is nature at this point?

The Floating Factory

Anyone who has spent some serious time in Photoshop knows that its true potential lies in the layers. I've played around with layers a bit on past illustration projects, but usually it would be maybe two or three. I'd keep the line art on the top layer and then have a sub-layer of color beneath it. This time around I increased the number of layers and played around with the blending modes to achieve a more painterly effect with my color. This is a drawing I did a month or so back. It felt unfinished in my book but with the color it really comes alive.

Fantasy Custom Kicks - Micron Hero P-Rod II's

Time for a mini-tutorial. It's no secret I like sneakers. Using the magical vector tools the Adobe Illustrator offers I'll make my own custom Micron Hero P-Rod 2 colorway. Here goes:


Take a photo of the shoes you want to customize. Make sure to get a good angle where all of the essential details are visible.
Place the photo into illustrator, isolating it on it's own layer, with template selected in layer options. Use this to get your linework, making sure to capture all of parts. The laces are crucial.
Once the linework is established you have a perfect template to lay in any colorway you could imagine. For this one I used the color scheme from the homepage of my website.

After the colorway is established you can go in and add details. I added a gradient to the swoosh to make it appear glossy on the screen. Shadows are created using a black vector fill with the opacity adjusted to allow the bottom layers to show through. A good way to create complex shadows is to layer black fills at 20% opacity, at this low opacity they behave almost like watercolor washes.

I used halftones to add texture to the shoe. I figure it's a good way to add a synthetic visual texture to the illustration. I plan on doing more with this, perhaps adding in stitching, more graphics, custom flourishes. Illustrator really allows you to do whatever you want.

(Disclaimer: I don't work for Nike, nor have I ever been employed by them. I'm just dorking around in Illustrator, making my own fantasy colorways. On that note, if Nike wants to put me to work, heck yeah, I'm down.)

Newspapers - Lakeview EP

I got my copy of the final, full color process printed album last night. It turned out better than I could've expected. Discmakers.com did a brilliant job on the printing. The cover is printed on a high-gloss, UV-coated stock that's slick as all hell. There's nothing like the satisfaction of getting something back from the printers. The music is awesome and it the whole thing goes well together as a cohesive package. The guys in the band have been awesome and fun to work with, allowing me all the creative freedom I could ask for. I'm proud to support their music with my design and illustration and look forward to future projects together. Now let me nerd out on the details:

This is the initial sketch I based the packaging off of, you can see elements that made it into the final version.

The album cover with the two main tools used to create it, micron pen for linework and wacom tablet for coloring.

I didn't plan it, but the fills for the "Lakeview EP" lettering were left empty, so the mirrored surface of the disc shines through. You could say it's a happy design accident that made the final product even better.

The illustration lines up perfectly with the plastic disc tray.

The back looks extra legit with the barcode in place.

curving lines

I enjoy drawing curved lines because it requires tapping into the organic geometry of the human body. Let me explain. When drawing curves, I post the base of my wrist on the page and curve my pen, creating a makeshift compass. I don't know if it's the right way to create curved lines but it works for me. The downside is mild discomfort in the wrists after extended use, but that goes with the field. I really just wanted to post this drawing online, haven't really found anywhere to use it yet.

Fake Fotografs

Just some sketchbook scanning, weekend chilling, photoshop layering, texture sampling, color halftoning, coffee sipping, digital coloring, curves tweaking, headphone bangin, wacom painting fun.

Moleskine Revisited

I found this drawing in the first moleskine notebook I started, done around November of 2005. It's strange looking back at old drawings, seeing the similarities and diferences with current styles. I did this one with a combination of nib pen and micron. No real point to it, just an exploration of shape and texture. I guess this is the closest to "fine art" that I do. If I remember correctly this piece symbolizes natural cycles and how they're connected. All in all, a solid style takes a long time to establish.

I find that starting out on paper is the natural first step in the design process. A pen in hand is so much more intuitive than a mouse. With ink and paper you have two states, black and white. It's an analog process because there can't be anything besides black or the white of the page at any one given point. When I start drawing my mind is blown by the infinite possibilities. I could draw anything. It's the fear of being wrong that limits creativity. To whomever is reading this, I urge you to draw with the knowledge that the blank sheet of paper is your universe, you set the laws and whatever appears on that page is %100 right.

Kicking it off.

I decided to start this blog simply for the purpose of showing more drawings online. This is where I can display raw scans from my sketchbook, before they're cleaned up and used for some other purpose. It's a look inside my head, at the mechanics of my thought process. It may be rough, but sometimes the rough cut is better than squeaky clean. The sketchbook is the nerve center of my entire opperation.