Eli (Portrait 1)

Eli

May 2014

Dancer #1 (Brittany DeGrofft)

I love drawing dancers. I think they're my most-commonly drawn subject. The combination of graceful lines and playful shadows culminates in a harmonious balance.

This was drawn from the picture found here of Brittany DeGrofft, an apprentice at the American Ballet Theatre.

February 2015

My Neighbor Baymax

Baymax from Big Hero 6 is quite possibly the friendliest, biggest, squeakiest best friend a kid could have. As a student in the STEM fields, this movie was exactly something I wish I had seen 7 years ago. It shows just how cool science and engineering is.

But since I am 20 years old instead, I spent a lot of it tearing up. I blame it on hormones and lack of sleep, haha.

I always find it strange that in university, the movies that are the most packed are the 'kid' ones like Frozen and Big Hero 6 (both fantastic films that I enjoyed...multiple times, ahem).

While walking out with my friends after this particular movie, my friends were talking about how touching the relationships between Hiro and Tadashi, and Hiro and Baymax were, and I couldn't help but think of this scene from Totoro. It's the perfect amount of love and serenity.

So this was born from that. Using multiple references, I first drew with pencil, then scanned and scaled it down to fit on post-card-sized watercolor paper where I went over it in pen (which was water-based, I soon found out--darn), before using watercolors.

January, 2015

Plan 1

I love to art. It is a well-known fact by my friends. Sure, I don't talk about it much and I've never taken an art class, but I send endless pictures and Snapchats of my latest creative upchuck. Well okay, that wasn't very sonorous. Sorry. But the point is, I draw and write and design to the point where I have piles of papers that lay around on my desk haphazardly until they get swept into what I have been attempting to call a portfolio, to never see the light of day again. Except in those precious 6 seconds in the Snapchat app on my friends' phones.

But that's about to change.

I had this idea last weekend that has taken ahold of my mind and refuses to depart. We had a streetfair near my university recently, and I spent an embarrassingly large amount of time perusing the many art stalls. I love supporting local artists. But what makes me even happier is just seeing all that art existing in the world. And I think that's the problem that I've had in the past with my art. I do it as stress relief, and then when I'm done, it sits between pieces of paper in a dark corner on the top shelf in my room. And I want to just get it out there. Let the world see it. Have my friends tangibly hold the actual thing and look at it in the sunlight or by the light of their desk lamp.

And that's when I realized that I want to send my art to them. I've been experimenting with printing my designs on cards, and with the success I've had (it's functional, though not perfect...yet), I want to send them my art with the hopes of making them think--if even for a split second--of the art in the world around them.

And let's be honest: we're all college students--we love getting mail.

So my latest plan is to send my friends monthly (or so) cards with little messages written in them. Not something that needs to be planned terribly--it isn't a deadline--but just a little something that says hey, I was thinking of you. I think you're awesome.

Spread a little cheer and a little art.