Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Leader of the Free World and/or Cuddly Companion...


As was once famously said of Don Knotts...I just felt like drawing Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt once survived an assassination attempt thanks to a speech in his pocket. Though bleeding, he delivered an hour long speech without medical attention. Drawing the blood-stained manuscript for the speech from his pocket, he said "It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." On the flip side, his well known account of piranha shredding a cow in minutes is largely believed to have been staged for the traveling president. Personally, I think Teddy would've nicked himself a number of times, jumped in the Amazon, and staged a razor-tooth fish-fry for later that night if he had had his way.

Monday, September 13, 2010

A Flower...


...sums it up, eh?

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Just Drive it Off the Lot...

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Like a City...with Buildings in it...


I don't do much in drawing architecture. For the most part, it could be called...well...laziness. A good part of it is just disinterest. I appreciate a good building. I like a nice skyline. I don't, however, like reproducing them. Yet, that was part of the point of why I started all this sketching was to work on the things I didn't like drawing or was weak at. So...Uh...Napoli....

Friday, September 03, 2010

Thursday, September 02, 2010

The Blind Brush-man...


I recently purchased my first proper Asian horsehair brushes to attempt to do some different work in ink. I haven't gotten much practice with them, but I'm determined to get that sharp-angled wrist action they do so well in cloth folds. This one...well...he's not there...

Monday, August 30, 2010

Announcement: Hive Gallery...Saturday, September 4th.



According to the above, yours truly is a featured artist at the September show at the Hive gallery. The card contains all the details one might need to attend such a gala event. I'll be standing around looking like someone who stands around at art shows with a sandwich in one hand and a Cuba Libre in the other (I'm not ruling out a Tequila Sunrise). If you can make it out, if patronizing the arts is your thing, if you're more than a meter in any dimension, then by all means come on out to the show!

Not a Burt Reynolds Movie...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Satyr-ical...


Satyr-nalia...I'm out of Satyr puns...wait...Satyr-n...Never Mind...

Monday, August 09, 2010

"Evenin' Ladies, My name is 'Dances with Girls'..."


A first run test for an illustration I was commissioned to do. The mighty bison.

Friday, August 06, 2010

RAT-A-TAT-TAT (Because I can't make plane noises on here...)


A little preparatory experiment for a potential job that might be coming up...no, I'm not joining an air show...

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

A Man About Town...


It's been darned chaotic here late. Now that's no excuse, as the internet doesn't sleep for anyone. If you're not serving your audience a fresh dose of new material every five seconds, you're old news. How else do you explain Twitter? Twitter has shown me just how many things people are doing that I didn't need to know, and don't care about. Anyhow, I add this little sketch to my own mountain of minutiae. I hope he's worth interrupting your post on the style of quilting on your latest toilet paper purchase.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

Monday, July 05, 2010

Ring Tailed...


When it comes to congenital defects, being born with a tail...as a human being...well, I'd want to be ring-tailed...

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Pez™ Dispenser of Doom...


I'm not sure where this drawing was going initially, but once someone made the comment about it "kinda looking like a Pez dispenser" was out on the table...that's exactly where it went.

Friday, June 25, 2010

A Bright Idea...


All in the flick of a wrist...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I dabble in Cartooning...




I've never been good at the type of abstraction needed for high end cartooning...at least I don't think I am. Nevertheless, it's never stopped me from playing...

Friday, June 18, 2010

Just a Peek...


A study I did for a painting that will be a part of the series I'll be showing in September. Corvus Corax.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

"A Simpler Time...."


Simply put, I enjoyed this photo I scanned of my great-uncle Earl, and so I sketched it. It can't get much more direct than that.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

80K is a Whole Lot of Demons...




Doing research into other things I came across the image and story of Zhong Kui, the Chinese ghost hunter. I had seen prints of the Japanese version of him before, but hadn't before seen him identified along with the tale of how he came to be. I believe I was looking at info on pomegranates, but even mentioning that is a potential digression. Anyhow, with my trusty brush pen I tried to approximate the unique marks that both flow and have sharp angles that Chinese artist employ in ink drawings. It didn't exactly come out...but I also realized, I wasn't working on a huge scroll of paper with a 2 foot long Sumi-style brush...that might have had something to do with it.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Ah...It's Been Too Long, My First Love...

Well, I've let this lie fallow long enough methinks. Don't for a moment think that I've not been drawing.

I've done plenty.

I even got paid to do it for half a week.

But I've neglected the scanner, and my duty to post. Alas.

That will all change soon enough. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on the paintings I'm trying to complete for my featured spot in a show in September. I've been thinking of putting a book together of my favorites of these...something I'll need to do quick as my desire to look at and/or show old work diminishes quickly. I need to get some ideas together for some shirts I'd like to design. And so, this, my first blog must cease to have life breathed into and continue to thrive.

Sort of like my long neglected deviantart page...I still don't know what to do with it.

And so, I shall return!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Time to Break out the Scanner...


This lonely little fella was the result of me sitting on the trunk of my car for a few moments while I was waiting for a friend to return from an audition. I think he sums up a whole lot of things quite well.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

"My Friends don't call me Tex..."


Every now and again, I tap into my inner Tex Avery. I've often admired cartoons and comic strips for the range of expression that can be rendered out of such simplified forms. It's deceiving. Everyone assumes that it's easy to pull off, but much like all comedy, it's the hardest to pull off. I don't think I succeeded.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Friday, May 07, 2010

One Handsome Devil...


The model for this image will never know that he was the model for this image...I so swear it.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

When It Rains...


So you may have noticed a lapse in posting...but that doesn't mean there was a lapse in drawing. Well, not so much drawing as a whole lot of painting...and there's a lot more painting to be done. Be patient with me...guilt and having to rush give me the wicked jeebies...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Final Remnant of Wonderland...


In the world of nonsense, the Rocking Horse Fly is second only to the Bread & Butterflies...

Thursday, April 01, 2010

In Memoriam...


This post is for the special birdy who flew free...

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

By Poseidon's Trident, we set up Hippocamp for the night...


Call it leftovers from my recent phase of preparation for the Wonderland themed art show I did a drawing from. I was drawing this rather poorly looking horse when it was suggested I make him a seal. I did that.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

This Moment in "Awww....."


sketch1141, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I meant to post my Alice image as the capper to that series, but discovered that I forgot to scan the damnèd thing. So as this little fella (which I did for another blog...admittedly) came at the end of the Alice series while I was still playing with watercolor and ink. After all, it is the year of the tiger...and come on...ain't he cute?

Thursday, March 04, 2010

"You'll Never Guess. I Couldn't."


sketch1140, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

The next Alice test got a little more elaborate. The trick was to lay down some watercolor and then ink over it without it bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig (since even the most diehard ink seems to run with enough water washed over the top of it). I was also trying several different watercolors I had and some gouache to see what combo worked best. Funny, looking at it now, it doesn't look like more than a few minutes rough drawing...Anyhow, the lion...from Through the Looking Glass...who figures into my final Alice drawing...

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

"You mean you can't take LESS..."


sketch1139, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

The next test for Alice...and yes, I returned to the March Hare. Those who find rabbits cute and cuddly, tend not to be familiar with their cousin the hare. I'm used to seeing the strangely googly-eyed beasts in south Texas, and have always found them interesting for some reason. The interesting question is whether the March Hare of Alice is meant to have a sexual connotation based on the expression his name is extracted from, or whether Carroll was using the words very literally. Either way, here was a quick portrait in watercolor and ink of the kooky beast.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Time to Run a Caucus Race...


sketch1138, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Wonderland week continues with my 2nd bit of play time with Alice characters, The Dodo. I later gave him a watercolor tinting and made him into a card for my mother's b-day.

Friday, February 26, 2010

The Hatta and the Haigha


sketch1137, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

This was the first 'Alice' sketch I did while explaining to a friend that i was to be part of a Wonderland themed show. I knew that the Mad Tea Paty was likely to be a popular theme that night, and so I think I was trying to get them out of my system. I love the characters like so many do, but I didn't want to retread the material for my piece...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Collaborative...


sketch1136, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

There's a reason I often carry about a sketch book: In the event that I happen to be with a very important and lovely B., we might have space to bring together our creative ideas. This was perhaps second only to our fantastic exquisite corpse from the same night. I'd present it to you, but I have no idea which member of our party that evening ended up with it...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Everyone's most beloved Uncle...


sketch1135, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

From perhaps the best b-day photo ever...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Sentimental Sea-Life...


sketch1134, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

It was requested that I draw something from Neptune's depths in the midst of emotion...and all I can say is...that's one sad squid...

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

"We Believe it to Be the Work of Thieves..."


sketch1133, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I continue to play with quills, and somehow I ended up drawing Peter Cook again. It's sort of appropriate, as Cook played the Hatter in a filmed version of Alice in Wonderland, and I'm preparing a piece for an Alice themed show. More on this as news occurs...

Friday, February 05, 2010

Solarizing...


sketch1132, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

it wasn't always just a quickie filter in your Photoshop menu. Anyhow, I felt like sketching Man Ray, and oddly enough, I did.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

The Look of Love...


sketch1131, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

"Who's got the look?
I don't know the answer to that question.
Where's the look?
If I knew I would tell you.
What's the look?
Look for your information.
Yes there's one thing, the one thing that still holds true!!!
What's that?
That's the look, that's the look
The look of love"

--Thanks ABC...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Mid-Week Pachyderm....


sketch1130, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

He's about to ask for someone to refill the coffee...

Monday, February 01, 2010

Came Up Through the Clearing...


sketch1129, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

A Thank You card of sorts for a very nice X-mas gift.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Wings of Doom...


sketch1128, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

The leathery flap of post-death...

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Welcome to 2010...


sketch1127, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

December 31, 2009 and the wee morning hours of January 1, 2010 were spent in a wild chase form floor to floor and room to room at the Standard in downtown LA. When the dust settled for a moment, I was paid $5 American for a quick portrait of a gent and his lass. They were very pleased. Moments later...the young lady pictured above...also requested one. No currency, mind you...but she wanted the picture. I knew she wouldn't like it...and she wouldn't sit still...kept shifting as though being photographed. This is how she came out. I'm fairly fond...and it's fairly accurate. The crowd that gathered quite liked it....

Friday, January 15, 2010

The New Year...Brought In...


sketch1126, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I drew this handsome fella on New Years' Eve...Some have asked if it's a self-portrait...the answer would be no....but thanks for playing.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Carry on Carrion...


sketch1125, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Forgive the horrible play on words...I just hope the vulture shows up on Blogger...