Take Care.

Self.

Farmer Joel

Ballpoint pen and stuff.
-Lex

Andrew

(click to zoom)

What you've all been waiting for.

The folks over at Odeus skate (!!) asked me to design the cover for their newest skate film, Tilt. I pretty much had free reigns over the entire project, and I'm happy to say that after 20+ hours of work, I finally finished it.

{Hint: clickity to see the whole thing.}

Ballpoint pen {red and black}, acrylic, watercolor.

My lovely friends let me position them in awkward and potentially misinterpreted ways, which resulted in this. No, my friends are not slaves. No, this will not be considered as manual labor. {just don't ask to see the sweatshop in the back room.}

Because I am an ardist, and I have ultimate authority over every situation, I only allow males named Andrew to model for me. I am always in charge, and people always do what I tell them. Always. That's just how it is.

*ACTUAL SCENARIO*

Me:  "Hey...um....Andrew...? Will you...like...um...pretend to look like you just got..um... punched in the face...For me?"

Andrew #1: begrudgingly, "Yeah. I guess. Whatever. Are you paying me for this?"

Me: "Paying you....with... love?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me: "Hey...um....Andrew...? Can I.... take a picture of your... legs?"

Andrew {Not Beck}#2: "Wait....what?!"

{I PROMISE I DON'T HAVE ULTERIOR MOTIVES.}

The face is Andrew's.  The pants are other Andrew's {Not Beck's}. I'll be posting close-ups of the front soon. Because it's the kewl thing to do. And so you can witness the paisley-blood-y glory in full splendor.  The blood is not real.

The film premieres next Friday at the Inferno Cantina in SLC.

Did I mention that my IDOL MIKE MURDOCK {see sidebar} WILL BE THERE?!?! And did I also mention that it is presented by SLUG!? MY DREAMS?!?

Oh Yeah.

It's no big deal.

xo-Lex

Jamo

I did this piece especially for the Art at the Post 2 gallery I was in earlier this month. I started it on a Tuesday and finished it on a Thursday morning {IE: 1:30 in the morning.} which was really cutting it down to the wire for me because I am used to working at a leisurely pace. My poor family had to put up with me.

My cousin Jamo, who is in this killer Metal band called Reverence, agreed to model for me. He's pretty much a pro at the whole "angry-as-cuss-drummer-in-a-metal-band" look. What a champ. Due to my lack of photography skills, it looks not as good as it does in real life and bleh bleh bleh.

Also, I just found out that Weird Al is going to be at the state fair this year. Sweet gilligans.

-Lex

Strezzed

I draw myself a lot.

I need to work on stuff for my booth at Summerfest,

But seeing as I have no ambition,

and really like drawing cartoons of myself,

That hasn't quite happened yet.

Oh, Bother.

-Lex

Sacrament meeting doodle: faceless

Now I regret not starting this one in pencil, but I didn't have a pencil. So here ya go kids: Blood, sweat, and PEN! Also, don't look too closely at the hatching. It isn't my best.

Birthday post and public transportation post coming soon....

THAT'S RIGHT KIDS. I'M SIXTEEN.

-Lex

The Can Jam.

I was recently asked to do the promotional posters for an upcoming Utah Food Bank benefit concert. Are you ready for a post about my artiztick procezz? Here goes.... starting with the original pen sketch.
Levels adjustment and a bit of erasing.
Added some textures after coloring faceless man and his gee-tar {west side story reference... anyone? Bueller?}
Below is my favorite stage of the process... I loved the outcome of the completed digital painting.... I wish I could have kept it that way before adding the text!

And finally....Woo!! Weeks of hard work finally completed! It feels dang good too, kids. Come if you are in the area!!!

-Lex

Church Doodlin's: Messy bun gal.

Her shoulders are supposed to give her "attitude", and asymmetrical composition FOR THE WIN. I don't draw girls that aren't myself very often, and this one was inspired by a lovely gal in my ward who happens to be a model going to FIDM next year. {Soooo Jealous.... curse lack of scholarships and out-of-state tuition...dfsjkghajkhrejwh} I debated whether or not to give her glasses, but I think I like her how she is. Despite her crooked eyes which bug. But the hair is satisfactory!

er...now I'm just rambling. Sorry, guys and gals. Probably mostly gals.

-Lex

PS: I HAVE TO DRIVE TOMORROW WITH THE SCARY INSTRUCTOR-MAN. PRAY FOR ME.

Danger Button

Local band, Danger Button, recently asked me if I would design a logo/ t-shirts for them. Here's what I came up with, though I'm still working on a few others until they settle on one they like the best.

The logo pre-scanning and photoshop is below. Nothing but pen and pencil.
The logo post levels adjustment, lens flare, a few touch-ups on the tablet, and a bit of coloring.

Now here's the logo post levels, lens flare, coloring, and filter.

{To be completely honest, I really have no idea what I'm doing or how to properly use photoshop.}

{SOMEDAY I WILL BE PRO... JUST YOU WAIT.}

-Lex

My feelings towards Girls' Camp...

I hate Girls' Camp. My mother {as of yesterday morning} is forcing me to go this year. That means tomorrow. So, I had a little fun and drew on my camp list. Here's a close-up of the picture I drew of my attempted suicide.
Just look at that entry wound! Ka-chow! And now, the photo-shopped version.

I dig the lack of detail. You know what else I dig? My brain. Which, in this picture, is becoming decapitated.

Have a good week, kids. And enjoy this song and music video. {PS: I LOVE VIMEO}

Sea Change "Little One" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

-Lex

NOTE: I DO NOT hate my leaders, especially the ever-wonderful Wendy and Karla, but I hate the idea of camp and camp itself.

Sacrament Meeting Doodle

Yikes! It seems I haven't posted in a bit. Well, maybe it's only been a few weeks....or A week...... but it feels like it has been a while. How are you? Like, honestly. How are my friends in this great and massive blogosphere doing? How are the kids? The cats? The...um... cameras? I've missed you. {You know who you are. Well, maybe you don't Super-milk chan, but now you do because I have expressed my missing you via bloggins. And I'm pretty sure the rest of you know that I miss you. Yup. I'm a creep.} ANYWAYS. Here's a guy I've been drawing in sacrament meeting in church for the past few weeks. I really like this style, and I think I might adopt it when {psh. let's be honest, here. IF} I do my graphic novel.

Also, I finished the first anthology of American Splendor on Saturday! I'm in love. With. Harvey. Pekar. And I've officially become a graphic novel-reading dweeb. {But not Anime or that manga shee-az. I haven't completely lost my senses....}

{photo courtesy of collider.com}

So far, in this anthology, Robert Crumb and Gerry Shamray have been my favorite illustrators. I love Crumb's general style and hatch, and I've been a fan of his for quite some time now. However, I also love Shamray's unique style of shading and using only shadow shapes and simple lines to create the bigger, more realistic picture. He lets your brain makes up most of the picture and fill in the spaces, which I find captivating and lovely. Crumb, on the other hand, lives up to his name, capturing the sleazy, gritty underground comic scene of that era. Both have a fascinating individiual style and a unique take on the events in Pekar's life.

Can't wait to finish the second Anthology!!!!

-Lex

13. I drew Adrien Brody's nose 23 times.

....And I enjoyed every minute of it.

....And I definitely did not draw this during sacrament meeting.

....Yesterday.

-Lex

11. Hope

Pen and Photo-shoppe.... and an emaciated man.

-Lex.

9. This is what I do instead of paying attention in math.

Notice Adrien Brody, my to-do list, and Beck with the lyrics of Ramshackle and Paper Tiger on his face. {It isn't my fault that he's the only person I know how to draw from memory!}

Also, A brief bulleted list of recent events...

• Mullet-growing continues. I need like a 3/4 of an inch in the back and then the magic will begin.
  
• I have been working very diligently for over a month on an acrylic painting of my friend Aimee.


• Oh, yeah, did I mention how it is in a gallery now? Yup, yup, yup.


• I finally saw the Illusionist. It was incredibly depressing, yet insanely beautiful at the same time. It is impossible for Sylvain to disappoint.
  
• Also, Happy Birthday to the greatest godparents in the world.

AREN'T THEY PRECIOUS?

-Lex

6. Church Doodlin's #1

Drawn during stake conference.

I should probably pay more attention to the speaker and less to the attractive bearded man sitting across the aisle. His wife kept glaring at me...

-Lex

5. The Cricks and the Polygamists.

My cousin Ethan. Drawn on Christmas in pen.

Also, I have thought long and hard and have decided that I am growing my hair out into a mullet. This is due to the fact that my boy cut has become rather shabby and the back grows a lot faster than the front, and because Amy Adams in Julie and Julia convinced me that wullets {women-mullets. Technical legitimacy at its finest!} were not the stuff of legends, unlike the Queen of England and Gublerland. {photo courtesy of last.fm}

I'm thinking of going for a Tegan Quinn sort of mullet, and then I'll put feathers in it or something. Or rats. Head-rats. Yeah. Rats that will live on my head.

I'm glad this is going to work out so well.

-Lex

{P.S: New Metronomy song and video? Hallelujah! }

3. Connor

Pen portrait. I think I'm in love with myself for creating it. {?}
-Lex
{PST! You can clickity to zoom}

Face down and the guarantees.

I made this yesterday. Starting off with a layer of watercolor, followed by pen, followed by pencil.

{Clockwise starting with: Beck, Urban outfitters model, character of my own creation loosely based off of the "Loser" music video, picture of Corn as a child in complimentary colors and wearing antlers, and creepy plaid man of my own creation.}

I was going for a sort of haunting effect with the dull, barely-there amounts of color in his face, and really let the shading stand out. Frankly, I enjoy it much more than the last Beck watercolor I did many moons ago.

And speaking of Beck..... My dearest cousin surprised me with a 5-panel Warhol-esque picture of Beck for Christmas! isn't she just a gem and creative genius?

Ah. My family is the coolest.

**DISCLAIMER: I really hope that these posts don't make me sound like I'm bragging or anything like that. I'm honestly not. Art is just what makes me happy and I believe it should be shared with others. I'M NOT A JERK, I promise!!!**

Too little, too late.

Guess what? I've started actually giving titles to my pieces. Aren't you just proud little webernet friends.

Communications through guilt, pen

the majority of this one was drawn without lifting up my hand during a long and boring car ride. The minority {the hatching on the hand}was created while my hand was lifted.

study on the female, pen

If any of you know my style of drawing, drawing chicks is not.my.forte. I hate drawing us. This was very fun though and got out a lot of pent up crap {I love having a creative outlet. If you don't have one, get one.}. FEMINISM RULEZ!

Optimism rocks.

-lexi