Christmas by Ralphie

Merry Christmas all, here is a sketch for you. Don't forget to watch A Christmas Story today!

Collaboration

You know what's cool? Collaborating is cool. 

Here is a ballin' recent thing that Guðjón and I worked on. I sketched this lady creature, and he sculpted it in his own style via ZBrush.

Cool huh? More to come hopefully.

To Build a Fire - Episode 6

Installment six, almost to the end!

Letterpress

Part of my fall semester involved learning letterpress techniques. To make a long story short, the class was awesome, and I'm continuing working with Ringling's letterpress studio with a few other students next semester.

These two pieces were based on my home. Colorado, I love you forever.

Compositions were made using woodblock type inked by hand and metal type of text that I wrote myself.

Enjoy :>

Portrait

All 100 somethin' of us ill majors get to do a senior portrait as part of our senior show. I took the opportunity to find a technique that I have never done before, and the result involved drawing my face on a body and working some photoshop magic. 

Special thank you to Guðjón and his nipple :>

To Build a Fire - Episode 5

Episode 5 folks! Our dear friend is in quite a pickle it would seem.

What WILL he do?! Tune in next Tuesday to wet your comic whistle.

KUHL

In light of my potential year in Singapore after graduation, I have spent the semester making artist books and handmade pieces. 

This series is called KUHL, and is a collection of images that I feel reflect characteristics of current trends--essentially, things that are "cool."

My process involved lots of drawing, lacquer transfer, and an abundance of glitter.

To Build A Fire - Episode 4

Here is page four of my adaptation of Jack London's short story.

I'm finishing up a two page comic for this year's MegaCon in the next few days. It is quite a change of pace from this one, keep an eye out :)

Myth Mouths

Hello, good afternoon, and Happy Tanksgeeveeng!

I have spent some time this semester developing the Mouths series that I mead last year. Get ready, The bowls are going to be a big part of my thesis, and I'm setting up shop to be able to start to distribute and commission them.

This particular set include mythical creatures: a vampire, unicorn, and sasquatch. Maybe you have seen them, I was lucky enough to have this series selected by guest judges Sam Weber and John Hendrix to be in this year's Illest of Ill exhibit here at Ringling.


Which is your favorite? Why?

To Build A Fire - Episode 3

Third page y'all. Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Red and Blue

I love making cards for people, and I love Kendra Phillips, so this was just all kinds of good. Gouache and ink on fancy pantsy paper.

To Build a Fire - Episode 2

It's a double-post-tuesday. Here is the second page of my adaptation of To Build a Fire. Enjoy :)

Tribal Swap

Happy fall! It is finally not hot as ballz in Florida. To celebrate, here is the lastest artist swap that I was a part of for Ten Paces and Draw. Thanks to Natalie Andrewson for the initial sketch - holla Ringling!

You can see the full post *here*

To Build a Fire - Episode 1

In my recent interest in comics I took some time developing an eight page interpretation of Jack London's story To Build a Fire. 

I will be posting a new page every Tuesday, be sure to check back!

I will leave you with this thought:

Today, ask yourself if you are happy. If not, why not? What do you need to change to feel joyful about your life? Now go change it.

The Book of Good

My work has been taking some interesting turns - lots of experimentation beyond the traditional 2D illustration piece into different areas of concepts, materials, and products. 

Artist's books have been a strong interest of mine, and in preparation for my prospective plans after graduation and thesis I have made lots of them.

More pictures of larger book projects will be coming soon, but here is a little guys I made for my favorite Icelander's birthday. The Book of Good: short, sweet, and true.

Mad Science

Hmmm a lot of madness lately. This piece is another indulgence in my love of slightly bizarre imagery (thanks to Becka Moor for the sketch and Ten Paces for the swap!)

See the full Ten Paces and Draw Mad Science swap post HERE.

Mad Tea Party

Hey, wow, hey folks, good to talk to you again!

Here is a little tid bit to show you. This is my completed image for Ten Paces and Draw's artist swap project. To see the full post online including the sketch that the final image is based on, click HERE.

Those Roarin' 20s

Illest of Ill season is upon us! Here was my submission for the poster design. Flappers were iconic of the 20s of course, and their ability to have a rebellious existence while still retaining some sense of feminism is something I really admire.

Main Mane!

The front of a card for the lovely Sasha Sickles. She's 22 now, isn't that nuts?

Jimmy

Here he is, an all of his finished glory.

DJR2D2

Character Re-design #3! Be sure to check out the full post on Ten Paces and Draw, the awesome hosting site for this project! 

DJR2D2: my hommage to the summer dubstep experience.

Jimmy the Wonderpug

Jimmy, the greatest pug to have ever lived. I'm sure those of you who know the Ullimans can attest, and it is with great sadness that we had to say goodbye.

Here is a little peek at the beginnings of a portrait of this fine gentleman.

Fantastic Mr. Foxie

Here we have the second installment of my contribution to Ten Paces and Draw's ongoing character re-design project. I love love love Fantastic Mr. Fox, so I jumped on the opportunity to illustrate Ash and Kristofferson. This set's theme: Wes Anderson Tributes! Tons of awesome work from awesome people, have a look at the full post here.

Bring on the Good!

#coloradosummer 

Summer has been so good to me, and I am in the midst of such an exciting time of my life. Really, I couldn't ask for more.

I began my summer with a road trip back home in the company of the fabulous Jon Dillard and magnificent Jessica Cattle. Hiking, bon fire-ing, big foot hunting, Duck Dynasty-ing and lots and lots of driving. It was such a pleasure to have them around for a few weeks.

Some of you know that I am currently interning with an awesome group of people called Concrete Couch. We just finished up our forth, a combo mural and mosaic by South Shook's Run. Prior to this past week, we completed a mosaic bench at the Century Link building,  a concrete/recycled Van Briggle rock bench in front of City Rock (check them out, they've got it goin' on), and a giant mural by the creek at Mid Shook's Run Park. I am so excited to see what the rest of my time with Concrete Couch will look like, and I hope you join me! Anyone is welcome. Check out our facebook page for tons of other pictures of each project.

IntenSati is in full swing too. It has been a joy to teach at the Bija Yoga Studio, and I can't wait to get back to the Ringling Sati community come August.

My interest in photography has peaked this summer (meaning instagram is my favorite secret weapon) - here are some other snap shots of what summer days have looked like.

As a farewell, I want to leave you with a thought that I find particularly striking:

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,

Love is knowing I am everything,

and between the two my life moves."

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

Hey dudes, 

I have recently jumped on the Ten Paces and Draw bandwagon as part of their character re-design project! My first round was posted recently - Cottonmouth O-Ren from Kill Bill! Now you know how to say ouch in Japanese. Congrats!

Check out the entire set of re-designs HERE.

The Twilight Zone

This piece is based off of an episode of The Twilight Zone. In short, this guys just love to read. He works at a bank and his boss is all "ehhhhhh stop reading on the job get to work etc etc." His wife is manipulative and is also like "ehhhh you are good for nothing all you do is read meh meh meh meh you and your books bleeeeh." So this dude feels pretty horrible. One day he steps into the safe at his bank to get some peace and quiet to read. At that moment, a bomb explodes and destroys all of humanity, and he is left the only person alive. At first he is all "OMG what am I gonna do." HOWEVER, he finds the library, and celebrates because "OMG now I have all the time in forever to read these books without anyone judging or disturbing me HOORAY." He diligently organizes hundreds of books into what he will be reading for the coming months. Upon stepping back to admire the piles, he drops his glasses, and the break. Wah wah, NO READING FOR YOU. The man is left all alone, practically blind, unable to read. THE END.

It is a little difficult to see in the above picture, but this piece was made in a deep frame. the book is an actual book, and I constructed the other parts of the image using paper, cork board, and lots of fun other things. Fun :)

A brief hommage to Ricky and Jessica.

Another small collection of sketched from this year. Some are older than others, but that is the name of the game. Hope you enjoy :) 

A thought:

"The truth is that love and power go together. With power, one can really begin to open up the heart. With no power, love is distorted.
People who display an inner strength are treated differently from those who come across as weak. The more powerfully you speak, the more you will be a force in the world around you."


I encourage you to ponder those words. We are powerful people!