I have been doing more sketches lately. The top one is of my friend, Krishna. The bottom one is Charizard for my friend Alisha. I always love going back to traditional medium. I find it challenging, and as a way to become more disciplined with other tools. Plus, I always love it when friends give me suggestions to sketch.
Circle Brewery mural
I’ve been a little busy lately with painting, hanging out with friends, applications and freelance work. Its been a very random month, but I’m starting to relax a little bit more. During the past three weeks, I’ve been working on a mural for Circle Brewery.
In the past, I’ve painted large murals at the graffiti park. The largest painting that I’ve worked on would have to be Anthony Bourdain at 12’ tall x 20’ wide. This mural is about double that size. This was my first commissioned painting and was quite an experience. During the first days, I was a little afraid to work on a 24’ tall ladder. By the time I was done, it became second nature and I felt comfortable putting in details in high places. It was really rewarding to see this painting evolve from day to day.
Stop by Circle Brewery and check it out!
The old mural, which occupied Circle Brewery since they moved into their space.
Circle Brewery staff, Joel laid out the initial sketch for the design. He wanted to tell the story about the brewing process and show the location.
I created a cleaned up version of the sketch and added some color. I wanted this mural to be clean, a bit cartoonish and a little technical looking.
Some shots of my progress
A sketch for my friend Michael grey
This past weekend was my friend Michael Grey's birthday. He's someone who's really contributed a lot to the art community in Austin with his Cherry Cola Dog events. In the past, he had an old hangar that was turned into an artist space. He used to throw parties with live painting and performance. I painted at a few of these events. It was something that was really exciting and took me out of my comfort zone. I met a lot of great, talented people at these events.
A little later on, he had Tuesday life drawing sessions at his space. Compared to other life drawing sessions, it was a lot more laid back. There was a great soundtrack, you can have a cold beer and be around great company. There were a lot of really talented artists who attended. It motivated me to push myself.
Michael sold the hangar and got a country property out in Smithville, which is 45 minutes outside of Austin. His space was great for campout parties at the end of the month. I volunteered to help out with a lot of these parties and continued to make more friends. The country setting was like a mini vacation away from the bustling routine of Austin.
Michael Grey made Austin a lot more fun and brought a great community together. For his 40th birthday, I sketched out a modified Cherry Cola Dog RV. It would be the ultimate vehicle for burning man events, which is something that he's really passionate about.
Continued progress on my Cartier watch design
There has been some free time with the job search. I've been utilizing that time to better my CAD skills. Some time ago, I sketched a Cartier watch for Sketchwars. I've been practicing Solidworks by modeling this design. I would say that its progressing pretty well. The watch face and movement should be an interesting challenge!
Rayguns!
After winning last weeks Sketchwars, I was allowed to choose the topic for this week. For this week, I wanted to re-live a fun project from Soulcake times with rayguns. It was a great excuse to be fun and loose. With rayguns, you can explore form, color and materials.
Lately, I haven't been hand sketching as much. I thought this project would be a good way to practice form exploration and to feel comfortable sketching with pen. It was a lot of fun to create nice pen drawings and to color with the computer. As a designer, I feel that I should still feel comfortable sketching with traditional media. I should be less afraid to be loose.