A True Believer

Another series of drawings I have been working on is for a graphic novel called the Man in the Basement. It is a ghost story. I have about 25 of the drawings done so I will be posting them here. Here is one from the book

"A True Believer", Charcoal on paper, 9"x6", 2009-10-11

A coloring book for Christmas

I drew a ten page coloring book for Christmas this year and gave them away. The parents wouldn't let the kids draw in them because they all felt they were to precious. It was a coloring book, I brought crayons.

Here is the cover and an interior picture. The entire book can be found here:

http://www.braindeadaesthetic.com/pages/Neeko_coloring_book.htm

Grasshopper

Over the summer I have been drawing a lot of insects, this is the most recent. Currently almost all the other drawings are in a gallery show. I became much more fascinated this summer with cicadas than normal and collected over twenty nymph husks, which they leave hanging on trees after they emrege from the ground.

This grasshopper was caught while out walking the dog and I took it home. In the big picture it means nothing but I killed it before using it in my studio.

“Grasshopper”, Charcoal pastel on paper, 15” x 22”, 2009-10-03

Portrait of a Young Woman

I drew a portrait of my nephews girlfriend yesterday. I met her at his graduation last spring but didn't catch her name.

"Young Woman", Graphite Pencil on paper, 7"x5", 2009-10-04

Halloween Art Trading Cards

Here are a couple little Art Cards I drew while watching Project Runway on TV. Shading under the flickering light of the old tube.

"Poor Yorick", Graphite pencil, 2.5"x3.5", 2009-09-10



"Happy Skull", Graphite pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-09-10

Color Wheel

For this drawing of a color wheel I used cast off husks from cicada nymphs they left hanging to tree trunks.

“Color Wheel”, Color Pencil on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-09-01

Wasp, Swatted

A couple days ago I was eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. A wasp landed on the middle of the paper and started pouring over the editorial page. I got up, went to the pantry, grabbed a fly swatter, and went back to the kitchen. whatever the newsmen had written must have been of great interest to the wasp because it was still crawling along the text, I guess it was a slow reader. I gave it a swat with the fly swatter which pretty much did it in as much as it curled up with its head on backwards. Every the optimist I took it up to my studio and put it under the magnifier.

End of story here is the drawing. “Wasp, Swatted”, Charcoal on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-09-10

End of the Serenade

Here is another drawing in my new series of Insects. This cicada had been run over in the middle of the street and I peeled it up from the pavement. It is drawn in charcoal with gray pastel and just a hint of green.

“End of the Serenade”, Charcoal pastel on paper, 15” x 22”, 2009-09-04

Woodcut Little Dog

I finally pulled the edition on this Art Trading Card sized print and let it dry. It is of a little dog my niece had at my parents last year. The dog was mostly black and white and I put it on a green background.

"Little Doggy" 2.5"Wx3.5"T, Wood Cut Print, Three color, 2009, Edition of 10

What is brown and sounds like a bell?

Dung. Or a Dung beetle to be precise. I found a dung beetle in my basement, it had crawled out of the ash pit under the fireplace. I have never used the fireplace but the grackles drop all sorts of crap down the chimney including themselves. Beetle Heaven.

This drawing has over twenty hours of work into it, I find color pencil can be very tedious to use but has a look that can be worth it. For me the color study was about texture and the nature of the grid work applied to the background and the beetle.

“Dung Beetle”, Color Pencil on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-08-18