Acrylic sketchbook portrait

I've been having a ton of fun in my sketchbook recently, more than I have in a while. And just in time, Christmas fills my art book quota for the year, each year.

Sparrows on John Watkiss, Sergio Toppi, and Kent Williams...
Sterling Hundley's new monograph (beautifully put together book)...
Jeffrey Jones' Sketchbook...
Color and Light (finally)...
Art: A New History by Paul Johnson...
Winter World by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino...
and the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.

With all this to consider, back to drawing...

sketchbook explorations

I've been doing some thinking over the break; like, "Who am I in regards to my art?", and, "What do I have to contribute?" Constantly I am berated by thoughts of plagiarism and hero-worship.

Let's get one thing straight: I fucking love James Jean. It worries me; I admire his work so much so that when I look at a blank page in my sketchbook I see a piece by James, not by me. There are a few artists whose personal vision is so refined and pure that the work temporarily blinds me to all other options and outcomes. Andrew Hem puts me in a similar place- among others I won't bother to mention.

I've decided that although I would most definitely gain some sort of sick satisfaction from being able to imitate James (who wouldn't?), I know I have much more to gain from eventually refining my own work down to its own purity...That satisfaction, I'm sure, will be long overdue.

For now I am content to allow these people to inform my work but not dictate it; in the meantime, I must broaden my own influences.

I'll be posting some more sketchbook work up soon, once I get some good quality photos.

work from past semester

Figure drawing and a couple paintings. As I'm home now, I'm thinking of doing more stuff that leans on the domestic side; been looking at a lot of Vuillard and Lopez Garcia.

eyes

ooo

painting from b/w photos