Time is not Linear

Hey guys, it's been a while, but some really good stuff is coming!!! Stay tuned!!

The cave

The cave of Jen's dream.

Illustration and Logos

Some of the logos and other graphics I have created for projects and clients.

Woot.

This illustration was created for a Washington Times editorial that discussed the potential self-destructive behavior promoted in rap culture and how it directly opposed Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideas of racial equality.

It was called "Banish the Bling"

This was an illustration for the Torino Winter Olypmics. If you can tell, the trail of the sled is made entirely of words. Yes, it took me hours, and yes, those are all REAL olympic words... that I typed... one at a time.

This was an ad I created for an energy drink named after myself. I decided to go 100% retro and borrowed my mom and grandmother's old TIME and LIFE magazines and looked at all of the ads. 

I created these ads from that. 

I didn't create the illustration on the first ad, but I did add the helmet and color. I also created the drink bottle.

I used a classic astronaut illustration as a base an drew EVERYTHING in illustrator. Everything. The file was about 80 megs. Took forever to load. Each star IS individually placed.

Fun stuff

Here are some random drawings I did for fun.

Tree Short Story

Here's a short story I wrote as a response to a picture of a tree. I hope you find it interesting!

A tree once sat in a forest, the conglomeration of friends surrounding him.

But one day he began to itch for more. Slightly beyond the boundaries of the forest stood a valley of unbelievable splendor. He would catch himself dreaming of the day he could uproot himself and glide freely across the vast fields of waving grass before him. His only concern was that in these fields, he saw no water.



But one day, we caught a glimpse of two children and a dog galloping across the great expanse. He noticed that they disappeared behind a hill, and a few hours later emerged, all soaking wet. 



"That must be it!" the tree exclaimed to itself.



So one day, after being scolded by his friends and family, a huge storm came rolling across the valley. 

The soil became so moist that the tree found it easy to move its roots.



"My time has come!" exclaimed the tree to itself.



After a little budging, the tree freed itself from the soil and began to stretch its roots across the ground. After some akward hustling about and falling on itself a few times to the roaring taunts and laughter of those around him, the tree finally moved beyond the outer edge of the forest. 



The sunshine ignited the droplets of water across it's foliage as it careened down in to the valley and toward the Hill of Destiny (as he coined it to himself as he glided across the landscape).



He finally came to the top of the hill, and below such a great and mighty river surged through the valley below him. 

He found a good, solid place and dug his roots as deep as he could go. At first it seemed a little lonely, but then others began joining him.



After a time, half of the forest had joined him at the river, spreading their roots deep into the watered soil. 



The forest scoffed from their dry hill, saying "Look at those fools, trying something new. Something that has never been done before."



But suddenly something began to happen to the River-trees. The most beautiful fruit began to emerge from their outstretched limbs. Colors they had never seen began to emerge from their limbs, as they clapped and rustled in delight. 



Soon a new forest was formed, with fruit never before conceived of, as the dry forest continued in monotone cynicism, their leaves beginning to wither because of the lack of rain.


Moral of the story: try something new.

Fuzzes

So for now I want to mention two important pieces of the fuzz puzzle.

Take a look at these two images.

Notice any similarities?

These will play an important role in the future of the story.

The Lost Art

I was looking through Wikipedia recently, randomly looking through histories of countries when I came across an entry about Illuminated Manuscripts.

In graphic design classes we had to study the manuscripts for their historical value, as they, along with the Carolignian type, were the first actual graphic design layouts (debatably).

The intricate detail was immense, and considering people spent their entire lives to creating these 'illuminations', it stands to reason that they're among the most detailed and amazing works of art on the planet.

I think for the most part, the art of illustration has been looked down upon as being shuffled away with other 'artistic endeavors' in current western culture, whereas in the middle ages, art was considered a very spiritual exercise, and those who created it to be enlightened. Art itself was a spiritual and deeply emotional expression, and therefore schools who taught art were among the highest institutions academically. 

Even in the eastern culture, art is not separate from everyday life, and many in current Eastern cultures consider it a deeply emotional or spiritual exercise. 

Have we lost something in this modern age where artists are generally considered nuts?

What has happened that whenever sitcoms portray the 'artistic aunt' or relative that they automatically hug trees and talk to plants or try to commune with beavers?

It seems that somehow the aristocratic and socratic ideals have infiltrated into the original ideas of artistic expression.  Have we replaced the emotional fluency of expression with rationalistic boxing-in of ideas?

Maybe we're ready for a renaissance in the western culture, where art is no longer considered a secondary profession, nor is the worship of rationalistic method the only accepted way of thinking or expressing yourself.

In some ways, the rationalistic method has only produced more mediocrity than excellence.

Break out of the box! It's the only way.

Perhaps the real enemy to any art profession, then, is mediocrity and reliance on reason as the sole method of expression.

This is all I have to say.