Blog

Bull: In Technicolor

2012-02-12T04:48:19Z

One day exercise exploring subject matter for upcoming group show about Spain (although in Australia): original drawing 19" x 24", pencil, ink, acrylic, digital.

Girl 12, Progress Image

2012-02-08T05:13:41Z

The girl drawings are getting a little looser, necessitated by less and less time. Here's a progress shot, or potential version of Girl 12/100. I'm liking it simple, but could also see some really bright color in the trailing shapes. We'll see.

Joshua Davis x ZSO

2012-02-05T17:09:40Z

For more than a year Josh and I have been plotting a collaboration. The combination of Josh's code based generative art and my more analog, textural work was bound to turn out something interesting. We'd been playing with a sea theme, so many moons ago I drew up a bunch of sea life bits and pieces. Josh ended up gravitating to the coral and from those pieces worked his magic to create these sine wave oscillation compostions using his HYPE framework. I couldn't be more tickled to get to make something with Josh and I'm so psyched on the final product. He's probably got the best creative energy of anyone I've ever met.

Below is the final piece, and below that are some process images from Josh as well as the original coral assets by me. Medium: Pecil, digital, and Josh fairy dust.

I'd also gone through about 80 or so individual elements for this project. Below were some of the rejects for Josh and I's collaboration, but I made these tests with my very limited generative skills—which more or less just consists of rotating things at basic angles. Medium: pencil and digital.

Girl 11

2012-02-05T03:08:06Z

100 Girls and I'm only on #11...Been taking me forever to get to personal work but I finally finished this lady who's been lying around. I only did minor color tweaking and for some reason I keep making everything pink these days. Beats me.

Also got to hang out last week with the wonderful John Christenson who made a special trip in from Minneapolis to shoot my latest project... SCARVES! Below are some instgrams of us working...but really playing. It's nice when that happens huh.

ZSO Hawk in the Wild

2012-02-01T06:51:23Z

A mister Dan sent this image to me the other day. It's my hawk print in the wild! I was so touched and also loved the mood of the room I couldn't help but share (with Dan's permission of course). Thank you so much Dan! Dan shoots film and I really like his style.

CA 195 Tattoo Fun

2012-01-25T01:10:18Z

Computer Arts Issue 195 asked me to contribute an image of my favorite tattoo for an itty bitty mini feature—a who's who of designers with tattoos—a while back. I thought it was pretty funny and was delighted to participate. I don't have a favorite tattoo so I sent in one that I thought might seem more like a dude tattoo to confuse guessers... I'm number 2. They asked me to comment on the piece: "I'm not sentimental when it comes to tattoos. I usually don't know what I'm getting until I show up at Smith Street Tattoo in New York and my friend and tattooer Steve Boltz draws it on the spot. We've developed a huge amount of trust—I just influence bits and pieces as we go. The only logic behind this one is that Steve and I thought it was cool when he drew it up." In retrospect I think I sort of have the same attitude about most art in my life. Just make it and move on. There's something I really love about the incredibly quick turnaround of tattoo design.

Photo left by Christopher Ewers, Photo right by Steve Prue.

Miami Trip + Ford Work

2012-01-24T06:17:49Z

I had an opportunty to take a little weekend trip down to Miami—if Miami was a word, it would be "neon."

The palette is pastel, borrowed from the natural scenery, plants, water, and sunsets. It sneaks it's way into the signage and architecture. I couldn't get over how clean everything was compared to New York.

I felt semi-guilty as I went stand-up boating in the marina in Coconut Grove and went for a run in my sports bra. New York, on the other hand was getting snowed on. Instead I got to lounge on the terrace overlooking the boats and palm treee. Here breakfasts and coffee were enjoyed, drawings where doodled upon.

Below, a collection of various moments from the past month...

I also was allowed to release some drawings I did for the new Ford Focus electric car. I was asked to create a suite of very bright nature inspired assets that the agency could use for use in their various digital work. In the end I created a library for them of about 17 assets (paired down from nearly 80 various assets, washes and assorted doo-dads). Below is a shot of the drawing process and 2 of my favorites, flowers and butterfly. You can check out the rest in the Work section. Huge thank you to Ford, Team Detroit, and Ben.

And finally below I finished my jellyfish. He's been used before for stuff but I never considered him complete. Here he is—he'll be among some pieces added to the shop when it's revamped.

MMXII, The End or the Beginning

2012-01-03T03:13:12Z

If I were a believer in the Mayan long count calendar, I might be a little disheartened about this year. Supposedly we only have 354 more days left before we collide with an asteroid, black hole, or lovely miss Nibiru. However, I am not a believer in the Mayan long count calendar—I'm not really a believer in anything for that matter. Which is also not to say nothing will happen. That's the point. Anything could happen, any day, to any of us. But the fact is this (or maybe just my personal fact), I don't want to believe in the end of the world. I don't even want to believe in the end of my world. So if it starts to feel that way, perhaps even in just a slightly melodramatic sort of way at worst, it's time to create something to exert ownership or acceptance over the state of things, even if only symbolic and ultimately inconsequential. And so the sugar skull series came to be—started on Christmas day and drawn in between long bouts of doing being alone and reflecting as a sort of freestyle doodle. I've always loved day of the dead skulls (or calaveras) and their many many incarnations and adaptations, and I'd been wanting to make some for a while. So without spoiling this with too much more sentimentality, here they are.

NY Writes Itself Recap + Philly Trip

2011-12-19T21:18:30Z

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend the New York Writes Itself opening put on by Leo Burnett. I was invited to participate with friends from the KDU in the group letterpress show. The artwork brought to life quotes from New Yorkers from every corner of the city, and the range of styles and artists was incredibly exciting and eye-opening in terms of the letterpress process. Some participating KDU artists included Josh Vanover (I have to admit, I think Josh's was my favroite—so twisted!), PJ Richardson, Magomed Dovjenko, Daren Newman, among others. I also got to meet Peter Kruty an awesome Brooklyn based letterpress studio and expert craftsman. A big thanks to David Gensler and Jared Liner of the KDU for putting everything together. Pictures below are courtesy of JM. My piece was based on the quote "The first 100 years are the hardest." It was a clever, dark, and cynical quote that sort of spoke to me at the time of selection. (Read: "Every year in New York is the hardest because you aren't going to out-live the first 100 anyway. It's a hard goddamn city.")

* Above photo by New York Writes Itself—the scribes who contributed the quotes

* Above photo by New York Writes Itself—friend and I enjoying the KDU corner.

In other news, I got to skip town to Philly this weekend for the first time since I was a kid. It was my first weekend off in months and can't tell you how happy I was to play. It was an early Christmas present with my best friend, filled with food, exploring, and a healthy amount of lounging around doing quite a lot of nothing. My highlights including visiting the Mütter Museum and meeting Jonathan and Leigh Slingluff of Slingluff Gallery, and met miss Olivia, the gallery guard-cat. We stayed in the carriage house of the unbelievably beautiful Morris House which was built in 1787. It had the original plank floors and everything. Very beautiful.

I think the most interesting piece of Philadelphia trivia that I learned was that their fire hydrants are abnormally huge! While packing in the wee hours of the morning while still generally sleep deprived, I managed to forget my camera (and my toothbrush. and pajamas.)—this was particularly heartbreaking because Philly has some fucking incredible textures I would have loved to collect. There are stretches upon stretches of industrial warehouses with the most incredible colors and cracks.

And lastly miss Ashley Cressy, a design student included me in her final design project. She created a bound magazine with artists across many creative disciplines. I was so honored and impressed by her layout that I wanted to give her a little shoutout here. Thank you so much Ashley!

Fab.com Holiday Sale

2011-12-16T17:56:06Z

As the holidays and another new year approach, I just wanted to thank you all for your continued interest and support. It's been an amazing year, and I have so many people to thank.

Lately I've been unable to manage my online shop in addition to my current workload, so sadly I've temporarily taken my shop offline. It shall re-emerge in 2012, bigger and better. Instead for the time being (and the holidays) I will be offering some limited edition prints of the first 10 pieces of my ongoing 100 Girls series through 1.) Clic Gallery in New York and through a special 2.) Fab.com holiday sale taking place today 12/16 through Monday 12/19. Everything is still personally printed, signed, and embossed by me.

FAB.COM

To sign up for Fab.com please use this link to get special sale offers and to get the final announcements about my print sales: http://fab.com/4g0010

The sale is happening now right here: http://fab.com/sale/2288/

I will be offering 6 of the first 10 completed girls here. For the first time ever I will be offering prints both in the digital color and in the original pencil grayscale. Prints will be 17" x 22" with 2" margins for framing. Signed and embossed in a limited edition of 25. They are 30% off the prices set by the gallery, and only a limited number of the run will be available for these 3 days so don't miss out if you are interested. It is recommended you do not purchase your frame until receiving your print.

CLIC GALLERY

You can get the following 4 prints only through Clic Gallery in Soho, New York City. For contact details please visit their website: www.clicgallery.com