The Art of Erin Hicks

In-between Things

2009-03-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

Right now, I am in-between things. . .dappling in music, enrolled in a guitar and music theory class and applying diligently for opportunities to live and work in the mountains once again. Do what you can when you can do it. . .the only time is now. There is no later. My sketching has perhaps reverted back to scribbles on notebook paper, in books, on scraps, and random places. . .but the new and surprising difference I find now (after a good period of little focus on my drawing skills) is the relative ease, looseness, and freedom that comes when I put my pen to the paper. This may be because of many reasons including the fact that I am just doodling on scrap paper and am not sitting down to create a finished piece. . .but besides that possible fact, I am much more comfortable and intuitive, letting things flow as is the nature of fluidity in life. I know that I will sit down one day and create something finished, but right now that is not so important. I'm off to different vistas. . .and when I come down, art will be right there. It will always be there.

View of San Francisco mountains from Wutpaki Pueblo area, AZ/

Playing around. . .nothing in particular.

"The East-Going Heart"- December's Train Trip East

2009-03-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

December 2008 was a month of train travel, car travel, bus travel, and plane travel, all to visit friends and a life that I left in the East coast 2 years ago. I consider myself so very fortunate- this past year, I was able to spend time with 99.9% of the people who have a great importance in my life. . .the people I deeply care about. So, the year ended appropriately with a visit to the East Coast.

Here are quick watercolors- really fun to do on the train. I tried a new poly pro paper I found in the art store that claimed it was good for "all watercolor techniques." It definitely is a slicker surface and allows for a lot of happy accidents in quick watercolor sketching.

*From Fullerton, CA I took the Coastal Starlight up to Seattle, WA:

Around San Luis Obispo

The Cuesta Grade (SLO)

Mt. Shasta Sunrise

Some peak in Oregon

Mt. Scott, OR (regular watercolor paper)

*From Seattle, WA to Chicago, IL, I took the Empire Builder through blizzards:

Glacier National Park, MT

My Reflection

*From Chicago, IL to New York, NY, I took the Lake Shore Limited:

Random sketches

"Getting Things Done for America"- the past year (2008)

2009-03-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. It's been a little while, but as promised, here's a catchup on visual work from the past year or so. An old coworker of mine had a great suggestion when I started the Watershed Stewards Project through AmeriCorps in 2008: why not document my year of service through a sketchbook journal? The idea had me very excited, tying together my visual art background with my new involvement with environmental work. . .and immediately I started to sketch the new things I learned from my placement site about salmon, steelhead, and their habitat. But of course, as this will show, I didn't have my nose buried in my sketchbook as much as I initially thought I would. . .there were many new things to explore and experience in the Redwood Curtain of Northern California. As time has passed (and you art nuts may cross your fingers in shame of what I may say), I have let go more and more of the idea of filling up a sketchbook that has been so ingrained in me from college. It's more important to experience life. . .and then the drawings will follow. . . you don't have to fill up a book a month. Heck, if you only fill up a half a tiny sketchbook in a year, you're still just as much as an artist as others. Life is not about quotas. You're not going to lose your skill and ability. . .the time will be right when the time is right. It's good to step away. Being an artist is being an artist of life. Why limit yourself to one aspect, the visual? Life has been so much more rewarding. . .2008 was a rough year, but I have grown much and am grateful for the good that I did experience. Here are the drawings and sketches:

the Newness

2008-11-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a long time. . .I do agree. But there is newness in the air. . .freedom of the unknown. . .the paths of life have been interesting. . .a continuing adventure rooted in the mountains and rivers of California. I have a bit to update, but am currently in transition. . .ending an AmeriCorps program in Humboldt County and moving to who knows what and where! Check out my new website for now: www.erin-hicks.net. . .and updates and scans of sketches from the past year to come soon.

Peas and carrots,

*Erin

P.S. My art portfolio is still under construction. . .

My website & other updates

2007-10-03T12:26:00.001-07:00

My website and e-mail are currently not working. My domain name expired during my absence and someone has purchased it. This is dissapointing news. I have to figure out a new domain name, so that means my website address and e-mail will be different. For now, I am using arinh13@gmail.com as my current e-mail.

As far as the future is concerned, I have decided to work for the CCC a little bit longer and will be moving up to Fortuna in Humboldt County. This will allow me the opportunity to explore my other interest: environmental and ecological work. I have not given up art, but I feel I have dedicated a good lot of time to it and after my experience in the mountains, I feel the need to be outdoors. I plan on continuing doing art of some sort and will try my best to post here. I hope everyone is well and I wish you all the best. Thanks for checking out my blog.

From the mountains I am come

2007-10-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I have come back from the mountains after having participated in the CCC/Americorps Backcountry Trails Program. For the past 5 months, I had the awesome opportunity to live and work in the wilderness. If you're 18 - 26, I highly reccomend checking out the program: http://ccc.ca.gov/backcountry/bcpage.htm
I was on the Stanislaus Crew- we started in Big Basin State Park along the ocean in the redwoods, and moved into Stanislaus NF (just north of Yosemite), working out of 3 camps. Our final camp was 14 miles in the backcountry next to Emigrant Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness. My heart will now always lie with the mountains. I miss the mountains, the people on my crew, and the work greatly. I tried my best to keep a sketchbook. Here's a selection of watercolors and sketches that I did throughout the season. On the weekends, we were able to go backpacking and explore other parts of the forest. This is when I had time to paint with my little pocket watercolor set. I hope you enjoy. If you'd like to view photographs from my experience, click here.

Watercolor done viewing Cherry Lake in Yosemite

Quick watercolor of view from Relief Resevoir

Tree near Relief Resevoir

View of the east side of the Sierras

Maxwell Lake with a view of Bigelow Peak

View of the face near our home during a stormy day.

View of Emigrant Meadow & Emigrant Lake- our home.

@ the end of Emigrant Lake

View from Snow Lake

<>View of Lake Vernon, Yosemite
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Sketches of Peter Lewis @ orientation

Sketch of Convict Lake

Our Jungle Can

This was the design for the front of our t-shirt that I did which was never used. The ink was going to be white on a dark color.

To The Wilderness Yonder

2007-04-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

"To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in the undermining of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed." ---Theodore Roosevelt

And so I am off to spend 5 months in the backcountry doing trail maintanence and conservation work with the California Conservation Corps. I am bringing a sketchbook with me, so hopefully there'll be plenty to post when I get back! Take care everyone! Thanks for checking my blog.

Encinitas Sketches

2007-03-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

When I get stir crazy I've been riding my bike to explore Encinitas. . .I usually end up at the beach. Here are some sketches.

^Reminder: don't paint with sunglasses on. . .the sun was so bright!

Playing Around & Practicing

2007-03-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Just playing around with this one (can you tell who I had on my mind?)

Practicing head drawing. . .I've done this portrait about 5 times. . .I think this one is the most successful though not entirely finished. It's of Vachel Lindsay. I wanted to practice on heads of people that inspire me.

SkOoL iS kOoL

2007-03-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of school. . .the entire term flew by faster than lead snapping off the pencil you've been spending 10 minutes trying to sharpen. I am so glad to have found the atelier. . .I feel that I have grown a bit in the short time I've been taking classes. . .and this is such a great feeling compared the the stagnancy I felt prior to coming here. You got to keep moving in order to grow. . .moving forward that is. I'm glad I made the move here. . .though there are some developments I will share later.

Here are the drawings (all in various stages). Once again, thanks goes out to the teachers whose input is reflected in all of these drawings.

Life Drawings:

^ I was really happy with this one as it is one of the more complete drawings I have been able to do this semester.

Some 20-Minute Layins:

Figure Quicksketch:
^This page isn't designed nicely like the ones you see in the wall. . .but it's one of my earlier attempts at their style of quicksketch. On it is some feedback from Jeff and Doug.

Head Drawings:

^This was a bad drawing day. . .but what really helped me was Doug's suggestion to just have fun and experiment with rendering on a day like that. Usually frustration really gets me on a day like that. . .but turning it into an opportunity really helped. . .I'll try to keep that in mind each time a "bad drawing day" comes up.

Figure Invention:

This class has been so helpful. . .Erik really breaks down the difficult task of figure invention, making it seem more simple and manageable than I ever thought it was. We've been working on figures for one of our own illustrations. I don't know if I am going to finish this one through- I'm not sure how I want to do it and how I want it to look anymore. I've been looking at a lot of inspiration. I also don't feel that my character as far as design goes is where I want it to be. But it's the best I can do right now and I am pretty happy with it so far.

Cool Site

2007-03-07T22:53:00.001-08:00

I ran into this site today while looking for inspiration/reference: http://www.old-picture.com/

It has good quality large historical photos (pretty darn good for the internet that is)- anything from Indians and Cowboys to Presidents and Generals. I was looking for Indian reference and ended up getting sucked into looking at all the faces long dead. These are the people who shaped our world. . .who left footprints, no matter if we can readily see those footprints or not. Here's a cool photo from the site:

I've got more stuff to post once I take the time to scan them in. Mostly school stuff I guess, but at least I am drawing. This is a tough time. And, I would like to update my website. . .so I shall be working on that. It really needs a total overhaul, but I'm just going to add some more recent stuff (more recent than 2003!) for now. I looked at it recently. . .and boy. . .old art does not age well! Yikes. . .Anyways, hopefully that will be done soon.

Where I Am Headed

2007-02-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a succession of life and head drawings. Through the whole process, I have been trying to get used to the pencil (it's different from what I've used before), absorb new techniques and ways of drawing, try to merge my own way of drawing with these new techniques, and try not to lose what I liked about my drawings originally. It's to say the least, a difficult task. . .but then again, nothing worth achieving comes easy. These drawings reflect that struggle. I have to acknowledge the teachers there who have been so helpful. Some of these drawings reflect their input as they are ever so generous with their time and feedback, readily willing to sit down and do overlays and draw on your drawing to help you see and draw better.

Where I Started

2007-02-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

Here are two drawings I did just to guage where I was at and to compare for later on: these reflect my prior teachings, drawing style, and ability. Before Watt's, I hadn't done longer than a 20 minute pose in years.

Back to School: Watt's Atelier

2007-02-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. I want to post some of the work I have been doing in school to show my progress and what I have been up to. Time flies when you're having fun. . .though moving 3,000 miles to a new place is never easy, I have found attending Watt's Atelier to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience so far. I can't believe my first term there is already more than halfway over. It's such a positive creative environment, the teachers are awesome, and I am learning a lot. I wish I found this school a long time ago. Earlier this week, I was thumbing through an old sketchbook and found a list I had made of things I wanted to do about a year ago. One item said "Get better at art." and next to it was scribbled "Check out Watt's Atelier." I had run into it on the internet, and when I saw the description, I thought "gee. . .wouldn't that be nice to move back to California and do this." And so here I am.

Also. . .check out the school's website: I highly reccomend it if you're looking to learn true representational art, if you're trying to improve on the ability you already have, if you're also interested in illustration and entertainment arts, if you just want to get "good." This is the best way to go about it. . .

"The West-Going Heart"

2007-02-20T23:08:00.000-08:00

It has only been 2 months since I've been back to my birth-state. I am no longer Californian. I have a little New Yorker in me. . .I have maybe even a little New Jersey in me. I have the cold Atlantic crashing into the warm Pacific of childhood dreams.

I had a west-going heart and took the train across country when I moved. I had flown over the U.S. enough in the past three years- it was time to see the glorious details of everything I flew over. So, with the decision to move, I decided to take the opportunity to travel across on land. It was an experience I highly reccomend to anyone who is up for a traveling adventure and doesn't have to get somewhere real fast. It gives you the opportunity to appreciate the varied beauty of these great united states. . .it gives you the opportunity to slow down, meet people of different walks of life, and enjoy the act of traveling.

My train trip consisted of 4 trains. I first took the Lakeshore Limited 22 hours (we were 4 hours delayed on the tracks due to freight traffic) to Chicago. Then I took the Texas Eagle 4 hours south to Springfield, IL. I spent 3 days in Springfield visiting all of the Lincoln sites. I am so glad I made the stop here as I not only had the opportunity to learn more and be closer to my hero, but also discovered new creative kin: Vachel Lindsay, the poet/artist known for his performances of his poetry in the early part of the last century. Leaving Springfield, I took the Anne Ruteledge 9 hours to Kansas City, MO. Then I transfered to my final train, the Santa Fe Chief- 38 hours to Fullerton, CA.

While on the train, I did little watercolor and ink sketches of the scenery passing by.
Here are the sketches. . .I hope you enjoy.

Alien Invasion

2007-02-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the alien project all finished up. . .for baby Veronika. This is a somewhat 3-D piece~ the top part was cut out of plywood by hand.

Update from Cali

2007-01-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. As is evident, I have not posted here in quite a while. Where have I been, you may ask? Well, I've been in the process of a move from east coast to west coast. After a long train ride across the country and all the holidays, I am now happy to say that I am settled in California and am attending Watts Atelier full time. I've only gone a week and it's very intense. I have quite a bit to post, so when I get my scanner hooked up and everything figured out, do look forward to: The Alien Project completed, Watercolor sketches aboard Amtrak, drawings from class, etc.

I hope everyone is doing well and many thanks for checking out my blog!

Alien Invasion in Progress

2006-09-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

Yup. . .definitely a work in progress :)

((Scroll down to find post with original drawing for this project))

"Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo. . ."

2006-09-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm taking an animal drawing class at SVA. . .turns out to be more like a animal painting class as we are using watercolor to
"capture the *spirit* of the animals." Yeah, well anyway. . .I just like drawing animals. . .or err painting them, in this case. Turns out this watercolor technique is really loose and fun. . .but I still want to draw the animals, you know. So maybe I'll do a little bit of this (because it won't hurt me to do something loose. . .and they look kind of cool) and a little bit of drawing.

Here's what I did for the first class at the Bronx Zoo:

Bunnies, rainbows, and kittens. . .

2006-09-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

. . .or just bunnies. I just finished reading Watership Down and had rabbits on my mind. I sketched these from my head inbetween projects at work, not trying to catch any character in particular. . .I thought it would be cool to draw one of the Owsla, but it didn't necessarily turn out that way.

I'm back. . .and Alive!

2006-09-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

The mutant animals in Maine did not eat me!. . .and I am back :) What a wonderful experience it was! Here is a quick watercolor and sketch that I did inbetween the rains at Echo Lake in Acadia National Park. Enjoy!

A deluge of posts

2006-08-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

Today marks a tropical storm's worth of posts (no I wouldn't say a hurricane). It is not as if my wouldbe posts are missed. . .but I am trying to be more frequent. . .and less of a "failure!" ;p

Anyways, I'm going on an adventure to northern Maine next week and hope to have sketches from the train, bus, van, and taxi trips plus hopefully I will find some time to sketch/paint in the wilderness. I am going to be volunteering on a trail crew so it's not like I'll have a ton of free time to do such. . .but hopefully.

Till next time. . .if I don't get eaten by a bear that is! ;p

The Creation and Destruction of the Cosmos

2006-08-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

On the science channel last night, there was a documentary circa the 70's about the cosmos and its creation. It had mentioned theories about the creation of the universe previously unheard by my ears that centered around ancient Hindu beliefs. The Hindus apparently believed that each galaxy was created by a god's dream. Every galaxy had it's own god and after many years (I forget how many), their dreams would crumble from existence and the galaxies would cease to exist. And then, they would dream over again, and new galaxies would be created and the cycle would repeat. Tying it into the current astronomical sciences, the documentary stated some scientists to believe that the expansion and contraction of the universe may represent the same phenomena. When the universe expands, galaxies and the contents of the universe are created and exist for billions/trillions of years, to cease to exist when the universe starts to contract and all matter is compressed (and if you're a scientist, please correct me if I am saying this wrong). It is a cycle, and the contents of each cycle are oblivious to the contents of each previous or future cycle.

I found the documentary's conclusion, although an obvious turn, to be that which rattles the constructs of reality in our brains, and makes the world and our existence seem a little less certain than we have made it out to be (even though certainty it is not). It is a little mind earthquake:

"Perhaps man and the universe are the creations of god's dreams, or perhaps god is the creation of man's dreams." oooohhh

While this was going on and I was in the midst of packing (I'm going on a trip!). . .I grabbed a paper and pencil and sketched this. . .nothing special. . .quick, and not too much thought put into it. . .but I wanted to sketch, and I am happy for that.

Father Abraham

2006-08-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yes this is a sketch blog. . .but I can't help but type more words than you care to read. . .and put up less pictures than you expect to see. I've been reading this bargain B&N book "The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln" which contains various stories that bring to light our 16th President's humor, knack for story telling, kindness, good-hearted nature, and pure genious. Dear Mr. Lincoln is the one historical figure I deeply miss; though, how that is possible to miss someone you have never known, I do not know. There was obviously no chance for our time periods to have ever crossed. . .and yet I feel that if he was alive today, he would be able to help this world greatly once again. But this great man has done enough and endured more than any individual should have in a lifetime. So to wish the impossible (if the impossible were possible), would only be selfish. With him being on my mind quite often, I felt like sketching him. The sketch, I feel is nothing one can consider even remotely decent. His face is also squashed in from the side. But I sketched him and it helped ease the obsessive quality of my mind.

So enough blabbering from me. . .and forgive me, I will not allow future posts to be as wordy (this *may* be a lie): This, however, is my blog and I wish to share a quote or two from the book. Let's let the man do the speaking!

In a letter to Horace Greely (I believe a big newspaper man), Abraham Lincoln writes:
"I would save the Union, I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could, at the same time, destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object to this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it will help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views as fast as they shall appear to be true views."

I guess just one quote for now. . .I hope you enjoyed.

Sketching Adventures on the Subway

2006-08-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've never had two consecutive instances of "Hey you're an artist?" in the subway in one weekend ever. Usually people are quiet about it, but never fail to steal a glance or stare at what you may be currently scribbling.

1) The guy with the shiny gold tooth (this is probably what he *did not* look like as this is from memory):

I had my sketchbook on my lap as the car became suddenly too crowded to even attempt to draw. A young guy with a gold tooth standing in front of me noticed the sketchbook and asked if it was mine. "Are you an artist? Can I see your book?" I showed him but explained that I felt these weren't my best sketches. He went on to say, "Not your best? Are you kidding me? These are really good! You definitely got it. You just have to let go all fear and inhibition and do what's in your heart. That's when the real art happens. Anyone can draw people in the subway. But you shouldn't worry- you definitely have it- I can see it here." He went on to tell me that he was a painter and his brother was "Jesus Saves." He said if I hadn't seen it before, his brother's tag was all over the city. He then told me about his current painting which was of something of this sort: the Queen of Hearts breaking up with the King of Diamonds and passing her number to the Jack of Spades. . .or something like that. My stop came. . .I thanked him for the advice and then got off.

2) The next day, I was riding a fairly empty car and started to sketch. A Spanish speaking family (mother, father, and young daughter) were sitting next to me. The father had noticed me drawing- surely enough, I noticed him getting his wife's attention and pointing to me. He then tapped me on the shoulder, and not speaking any English, pointed to my pen and then to his daughter. I thought he was saying that his daughter liked to draw too. . .but evidently, this is not what he was intending on communicating. He then *grabbed* my book and pen out of my hand, pointed to me, then scribbled on the page, and then pointed at his daughter. He handed the book back and gestured to start. I only had a few stops and was worried I was going to miss my stop. So while keeping my eye on what was going, I tried to sketch his daughter (whose name is Betzy). . .I have never ever had that happen before. I didn't want to do a bad drawing of her, but I'm afraid that's exactly what I did ;p Anyway. . .interesting experiences on the NYC Subway.

Top Secret!

2006-08-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been pointed out by my fellow coworker that I am a complete failure when it comes to this art blog thing ;p To disprove my coworker and to satisfy the few requests for more postings. . .I will post the current project I am working on outside of work. But shhh- you must keep this secret! Don't tell my friend- as it is a present for her baby shower. Got that? Cool. . .thanks.

Basically, I wanted to avoid the typical store bought clothing items and desired to give something that would enrich the child's entire life. A library! Why not introduce her to the wonderful world of pictures and words from the very beginnning? Hopefully then she will too grow up to love the magical world of books and stories. This is going to be a personalized sign (the baby's name will be up on the top left hand corner) that can set ontop of a bookshelf. It will be painted in acrylic on a deep cradle board. I am going to buy some books too in the end. This will be somewhat of a 3-D piece as I intend on getting wood letters to affix to the front and the top corner alien will be cut out. Maybe I'll make matching bookends to go with it too. But for now, it's just this.

Update

2006-07-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. A little update: I am moved and now have a little office space seperate from my bedroom to work in. . .I am more settled in than not. . .and I am back from a visit back home. . .so that means I should be posting more here. . .I hope!

A few weekends ago, I took a trip to Montauk on what turned out to be a very rainy weekend. . .this is a quick little watercolor I did inbetween torrential downpours.

Enjoy.

"Where have I been?. . ."

2006-05-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

. . .you may ask. My apologies for failing to flood the net with drawings. Life is happening and a lot is going on. I am currently in the middle of trying to find an apartment and move by June 1st, so I doubt I will have anything till after I move. I've also been swamped by freelance, so please forgive me. I will come back soon.

Let there be nothing. . .

2006-03-16T15:11:00.000-08:00

. . .but inspiration!

The time has come. . .when I have nothing to post! (Well to be honest, I have old sketches on post-it notes I can scan in, but I want to offer something fresh) I promise you that it is not due to idle laziness. I've been working too much. But during the time it has taken me to save large photoshop files and take a quick "break," I have found some cool inspiration. So this is what I'm posting for this week:

Check out:

John Nevarez-hot stuff.

Stephanie Lo Stimolo- this is what I want to do!

The Consumption of Time. . .

2006-03-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Such a limited resource. . .although ultimately very unlimited as it always continues on and on.

I've been very busy and have been working nonstop for work and not for me. I just acquired another freelance project- a digital painting for a Spongebob game. So, yet another reason why I won't be able to do my own stuff :(

Shame on me- when I had time to be productive, I wasn't. . .but hey- we all need breaks right? Yeah, I needed a break and to take care of things.

I picked up the 2006 Writer's Market book so that I can try and get some writing published. There are so many things I want to do that I end up being scattered and not getting anything accomplished. . .so as long as I am working towards creative goals, then I am moving in the right direction.

So my one moment of sketching bliss was at lunch this week. Over the weekend I thought of an image with a three eyed frog. I don't know if this relates to my goal of trying to combine two very different interests in order to make my life more complete. On one hand, we have the art which seems all very self-serving to me. On the other hand, we have the desire to do something for the greater good- primarily something related to the environment and social change. So the only way I can see marrying the two is if I can do images that in someway move people or motivate people to change or think. . .so I thought about 3 eyed frogs. Why 3 eyed frogs? A la "The Triplets of Bellville"- Darwin, mutation, environmental contamination, etc.. . .and then my mind automatically went to the fastastical and in some way off topic, but also very on. A frog catching a little human "fly." Didn't get that far in my lunch sketch, but here it is. It definitely can be pushed. . .so I shall play with it more if I decide to settle on this.

Burned out on Adobe Illustrator and Freelance

2006-03-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, the Freelance God pointed his ever so massive and burdensome finger at me and said "She looks lacking in work-I can fix that. Make her work during the day and night. Give her freelance and make sure she says yes!"

And so I was given freelance work and I said yes. And each time I do that, I really wonder if it's worth the money. No, I don't think it is when my sanity is at stake. So this is the partial reason why I have no new drawings to post. But I am posting a sketch that is only 3 or 4 weeks stale and, to stoop even lower, my self-portrait I painted a 2 months ago just to practice painting. I know people have seen this one, but not *Everyone* has. . .so there ;p

I may have more to show regarding this sketch in the future. I'm thinking of doing some illustrations featuring this creature.

The Art of the Corpse Bride exhibit- NYC

2006-02-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Here are the pictures I promised from the art of Corpse Bride exhibit that was down in Tribeca. Enjoy! Art of Corpse Bride

If the drawings could talk

2006-02-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

At last- my second post! It looks like Thursdays will be my scan days because I don't have a scanner at home (well, my scanner is still in CA believe it or not) and this seems to be a convenient day to stay at work. Thank you everyone for checking this out and posting supportive comments. It means a lot to me :) Aye- such warm feelings during the bitterly cold winter. Okay- enough sappiness ;p

I saw an exhibit on the art of Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride in Tribeca on President's Day. There was some nice conceptual art plus actual maquets which were beautifully done. I'm sure some of you have the Art Of book, but I did take pictures and will post a link once I get them up on the internet for your viewing pleasure.

My friend Kisu who is smarter and funnier than I said this: "Nice art blog. Although, it would be more interesting if all the text were written from the point of view of the artwork. So then it would truly be your art's blog." And I am going to partially steal his idea and pretend that I am just as smart as him! ;p I shall ommit "all" and replace it with "some" so that it reads "some of the text." Give me a moment- I'll get to it.

Backstory: So I signed up for this Conceptual Art and Character Design class at NYU (Continuing Ed). It didn't turn out to be what I expected and was more geared to beginning students than anything. I was very disappointed because it sounded like it could be good and dropped it. For some reason, I'm under the impression that I missed out on something in school because I didn't take animation classes and think there's a class out there that will teach me something that perhaps I missed. But here are some sketches that were kind of for this class but most importantly for myself. More character driven:

This is for a character named Elan, Maker of Peanut Butter. There is a partially finished children's story to go with this that I wrote a bit ago. . .I just have to finish it! So, if art could talk, it would say: "Damn, you'd think she'd make me at least interesting looking. . .different you know? Instead I look like bloody Harry Potter! After a second pass- you think she'd improve?! Heck no! More Harry Potter! Just draw me a damn wand and I'll cast a spell that'll free me from Erin's pencil!"
Yeah. . .I'm sorry- I didn't mean to that. . .but you do kind of look like Harry Potter. I'll work on you some more, I promise.
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The old guy is derived from an idea about a farmer who is not really a farmer at all. Not really developed, so I am not going into it. I like the style- must have been a "good drawing day." The little girl- lunch time sketch at the front table where people were chit chatting about their children while glancing suspiciously over to me wondering whether I was drawing them or not. . .I wasn't! ;p And if art could talk: "What bliss- I came out on a good day. But where's the rest of me?! You gotta get beyond heads girl!" My response: Um yes, I do tend to do a lot of heads and upper bodies. . .gotta get comfortable with drawing the whole thing! Solution: Let's attend some life drawing sessions- I haven't been keeping that up and I know it would help.
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I wanted to see if I could draw anything beyond Dora and the Backyardagains. I really don't know the way I like to draw anymore and whether I want to go more cartoony or realistic. But I think something inbetween is nice. . .and my answer could be found in those I am inspired by. And the art says: "Awe, the cuteness! You know it's not in her blood. She likes to draw ugly and scary things. . .or well at least used to. So she gives me an ugly doll and sneaks it in that way."
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Some sketchbook pages. I'm almost done with my little sketchbook- yay! I can't wait to get a new one.
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I went to the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday to draw and see the Darwin exhibit. Rusty at animal drawing. . .even dead animals! I like the line quality of the Sambar though. Better than my previous attempt. When do parents become so stupid? How many times did an adult say, "What's this, a reindeer?" for the child to go "No, read the sign- it says it's a Sambar!" Very funny how many times you'll hear the same thing over and over as you sit there drawing. Two young kids (maybe ages 7 and 9) sat next to me as I was drawing with their own sketchbooks and their mom was handing them crayons of their request as they were drawing the animals. I was very impressed. I wish I had been encouraged to go sketching at museums when I was little. They seemed to be having fun and I tried to give them some encouragement.

And. . .now that this is the longest blog in history. . .I shall say good bye till next time. I probably won't be so wordy always.

*Erin

"When drawing was fun"

2006-02-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

At last! I've decided to jump onto the art blog bandwagon. I don't feel I have been drawing enough and thought this would be a good way to try and keep drawing. I can't promise the most brilliant chicken scratches (although, I bet they're better than any farm chicken can do!), but I'll try my best to keep this up. I can't help but think of the little engine who could. . ."I think I can, I think I can. . ."

"The little drawer who could. . ." Well, I'm not so little anymore. . .and I don't think I can. . .
I know I can (although sometimes, I don't think I can. . .but that's in moments of frustration and we all have those every once in a while).

The other night, I was thinking about how I used to draw as a kid. . .and remembered those wonderful days of bliss when drawing was fun; when one could sit down with a box of crayons or a pencil and draw, draw, draw without hearing commentary from classes, teachers, peers, art directors, and the most critical self playing in one's head. The world was a lot more innocent back then ;p

So I thought for my first post, I'd post some sketches about my memories of drawing:

Hope you enjoy!

*Erin