Skeleton riding a coffin skateboard: Part 2

In the earlier version, the skeleton sort of looked like he was flying... instead of doing an ollie. Now that the crucial banana peel has been added below his board, he appears to be skating on a road and not flying through the cosmos.

TSA 3000 - Final Draft

With many big projects on the horizon, I really wanted to wrap up my work on the TSA drawing, which has been an ongoing struggle for the last year.

When I first set out to color this picture, I had in mind a dramatic/limited nighttime color pallet of dark blueish gray with a yellow or chartreuse highlight. Things didn't quite pan out the way I expected (they usually don't), and suddenly deep red became the only background color that made sense.

This design will eventually be printed on American Apparel t-shirts and sold through our website ThoughtLion.com. A few high-quality art prints will also be made from this design during the next few months.

Medusa Drawing & Print, 2008

Here is another favorite of mine. I made this in 2008 after taking a long break from drawing... about 2 years! This work was strongly influenced by the time I spent at UCSB, and particularly recalls to my mind a certain Italian art history class I took, where we briefly studied Medusa as she appears in artwork.

My favorite aspects of this drawing are her forked tongue and the many different types of snakes in her hair. If you look closely, there are also a few snakes that have been severed and are falling away in mid-air. This was the moment immediately following her beheading!
 
I consider this drawing to be one of my best ever, right after "Et In Arcadia Ego." The only failure in it is that I think it is a bit too similar to Caravaggio's Medusa. Both are very similar in their poses, and both are meant to be worn in some way -- mine was printed on a t-shirt, his was painted on a shield. The shirt can be purchased at our website thoughtlion.com.

Tren Fantasma: Train of Thought, 2013

I've been working on this drawing since mid-February. I could give a long-winded description of why I decided to draw every little weird thing in this picture, but it could most easily be described as a long solo game of exquisite corpse based around a central theme. 

I have been considering turning this design into a t-shirt for the Thought Lion/Duder Manor project, but am unable to come to a solid decision. I would certainly love to wear this design, but I'm not sure I could convince others to buy something so strange... as clothing. I have also been considering the idea of a colored art print.

The artwork is loosely based off the Tren Fantasma (Ghost Train) ride located in Montevideo, Uruguay. I regret to say that I was unable to go on the ride when I visited a few years back. 

Et In Arcadia Ego, 2009

This may be the best drawing I've ever made, so I am surprised at myself for forgetting to post it for so long. This artwork was inspired by the classical theme "Et In Arcadia Ego" (I too am in Arcadia). Works of this nature suggest that death can be found even in the most idyllic of places. 

This artwork was used for our t-shirt line at DuderManor.com. Check it out.

Skeleton's Playing Poker 2012

The "Skeleton's Playing Poker" design is finally completed after a full year in on-again /off-again production. The plan is to print this design on a dark "asphalt" colored American Apparel t-shirt. The caramel color I was considering earlier looked a little too goofy.

 

(Archradish and I are working on combining our labels, so this design will not print until our new logo is completed.)

Skeletons Playin Poker II

New t-shirt design coming soon:

I have been working on this drawing since the Sea Lore shirt was completed, and as I juggle my other projects. I am planning on printing this design on American Apparel "camel colored shirts with up to four colors in the final design. The final product should be ready to print in two or three months if I can stay on task.

A painting of this same subject was made back in 2006. 

Updates

Lot's of cool things have been happening, and I obviously don't update this blog nearly enough:

First, Dan/Archradish & I are working on getting our shirts in more shops. We are also considering participating in another local vendor sales event at some point this summer. More on that later...

Second, on Friday I will be attending an opening for a small community college magazine that is published once a year. This year I was honored to find that my art submission landed on the cover. I am very proud of this particular work, and people really seem to dig it. I recently found out that some random guy photographed the image with his cell phone (at Cuffs) and proceeded to get it tattooed on himself!

Third, I won an award for my spectacular news graphics. Gotta love The Davis Enterprise:

http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/enterprise-brings-home-general-excellence-award-for-third-year/

Sea Lore II

Sea Lore is finally ready for production! Time for a celebratory beer! 

The plan is to print this design on a rustic looking tan/natural American Apparel shirt sometime within the next 3 months. I'll make a final post when the shirts are on the site and ready to go.

Jonah And The Whale (2011)

Yesterday I decided that my "Sea Lore" shirt (see previous post) could not do without Jonah living inside the whale's belly, so I got to work on this little piece.

The image will be shrunk down and placed inside the whale's stomach using Photoshop magic. It will have to be shrunk pretty small (1-2" wide), so here is a nice large version for all to enjoy. 

At the moment I am about half finished coloring the "Sea Lore" design. It shouldn't be too long before the final product is out.

Sea Lore (2004-2011)

New shirt in progress. Below is the rough artwork, which turned out fantastic! Next step is to add some color.

The original idea for this drawing was first presented to me in 2004 as a radical "what if" image of a giant squid attacking a ship — plus a ton of other ships from various time periods ... and of course Washington crossing the Delaware needed to be involved somehow.

At the time, I realized that I didn't have the talent or patience to create such an image, so I set it on the to-do list for some tentative future date.

In 2010, I read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge, which rekindled my interest in the "Sea Lore" project. You can see references to this story in the border. And I highly recommend clicking the link above, as the poem is not too long and is an EXTREME payload of brilliant writing.



If you want to check out the video art of the guy who envisioned the whole thing to begin with, click this link. 

Mad Scientist Shirt Now Available On Duder Manor

On March 3rd I posted the original uncut drawing for "Model Of Plan Of Man." That same drawing was made into t-shirts, which we now sell at www.DuderManor.com
 

Also, Dan/Archradish and I will be hawking our wares at Armadillo Music in a few weeks, so I will post the show info as soon as I am positive about the dates and times.

The detail of this drawing should be appearing in a press release in a few days. I am excited to be published in our beloved local newspaper!

Model Of Plan Of Man (2009-2010)

This posting is a more recent work of mine. It has been made into a shirt, but the shirt is not yet available on the website (http://www.dudermanor.com).

Like the Piano Death listing in the Memento Mori Series, this work is primarily about the futility of pursuing dreams of grandeur. The 2 scientists near the upper and outer border represent the age progression of the man in the middle, who is literally wasting his life in some nasty room. While he tries to attain immortality through his creation, his own life is wasted in the process.

The imagery of this drawing references WW2 mad scientist, Dr. Mengele (a.k.a. The Angel Of Death). Mengele was known to experiment with eyeballs and occasionally had a few tacked to his wall. There is quite a lot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in there as well.

Memento Mori Series (2004-2006)

This is the first drawing from a series of Memento Mori work I started in 2004 and finished in 2006. This particular piece was inspired by Harry Clarke's illustration for "The Premature Burial," written by Edgar Allan Poe. I'm very happy to say that it has finally found its way to the public as artwork for the band Alaric (limited edition album covers and T-shirts). 

http://www.myspace.com/alaricalaric