New painting by Kori Thompson

-Novak

Acrylic on 8" by 10" masonite

Pidj

New home for Ira & Drac

I'm gonna be posting all the new Ira & Drac comics at my old blog so that the other artist sharing the site don't have to deal with the offensive nature of the comic and be associate themselves with its vulgarity. If you are interested in the site and the comic there is now a link in the header bar specifically for the comic. Thanks again for reading!

Ira & Drac comic site

Arbitrary Sunday

This past Sunday I was hanging out with Angela and her family cause her younger sister, Crystal, came home from the army on leave. The house was packed with women, the exception being her grandpa and myself. I was super bored, as usual, since her grandparents watch spanish soap operas on the living room TV, where I play video games, when ever they come over. To pass the time by, I spent the afternoon making stickers out of small drawings I create on illustration board. Once Angela's 9 year old sister and her nieces figured out what I was doing they naturally wanted to make their own. While all this is happening I caught wind of a conversation Angela, her mom and grandma were having about buying bras at Nordstrom. Not sure what happened next but I hear the phrase yelled out,

"Grandma...I can see your nipple!"

I wasn't really sure what that sentence was pertaining to but I really do wish there were more males to hang out within her family. Sounds really gay out of context but in context I'm sure it makes much more sense.

Process Comic

Just a filler post to show those of you that are interested what my process is like when I make a comic

Rough

Perspective/Clean-up round 1

Clean-up round 2

Render/Lighting

Final

Bare

Last one....

Giraph

OWLy

Yell design

No Ideas

I think I'm getting too preachy on this thing. I know I've just started doing these things again but its really hard to think of stuff to draw comics about. My life is pretty uneventful for the most part. I just go to work and go home. Aside from the wedding Angela and I have been planning, not much really goes on. I really need to find a writer for another comic or something cause this is getting stale really quick. I'm sure for the most part, that these comics are painful to read. Thanks for coming back to read, by the way, if you don't feel an obligation to me in any way (friend, family, fiancee) to give me some readership. Wish I could say doing these is therapeutic in some way, since it's about my life, but for the most part, for me, its an exercise in self deprecation. Which in some way can be therapeutic, I guess, but I guess that wasn't the point of it. Maybe its just about being self indulgent...not sure. Who knows...Great now this feels like a really sappy facebook post and feel crappy for writing it. ughhhh.

ughhhhhhhhhhh

Simon gets a "D" on her test

I know I'm really aging my self by writing this but I'm not really sure if it's this current generation of kids or if I just really cared way more than some people about the way I performed in school. It seems to me that kids now-a-days just really don't care what their grades say about them or what the importance that lies in a good education. I can understand if your were still in high school and didn't really care much for that shitty dance PE elective or something but when you're going to a school that you want to go to and taking classes that you want to take that you would be just a little bummed out that you bombed on your first test. Well, I guess thats just my rant for today. I think I'm turning into a old curmudgeon.

Recent Sketches

Hey Everyone... So it's been forever since my last post. Here are some recent sketches I really like, that would possibly turn into some paintings... enjoy.

"Punk Girl"


"There's no fun in funeral"

Suit Shopping For the Groomsmen

So on Sunday I went shopping with Angela, her mom and her sisters to look for some suits for my groomsmen. It was sort of an odd experience since they made me try the suits on even though I wasn't gonna be the one wearing it. To try on the suits, I had to wear one of those fake dress shirts with no sleeves or backing and baggy dress pants which I'm no longer used to since I've been doing the whole skinny jeans thing for a while now. What also made the situation awkward was that I kept having to be remeasured. Probably because of my tiny man's frame that's more akin to a chubby 7th grader than that of a 28 year old man.

The tailor/salesman didn't really make a pass at me or anything like that (I just though it would make the comic a little funnier) but he was definitely a weird character. He was a little hyper and had overtly spikey hair and reminded me a little of a lanky sonic the hedgehog. I wonder if Angela's dress fitting was anything like this.

Introducing Kori Thompson

From Illuskrate 2

Kori is new to the Illuskrate blog and joined Bella, Mike and I at the last show. Please welcome this talented artist to the blog as he will be another contributor to Illuskrate. As another up and coming artist out of the Bay area I'm excited to see what he has in-store for the future of the blog and shows that all of us do together.

Running Comic

Misc. sketch

Bouncer

The night of the show I got a text message from Bella saying that the bouncer at the door was telling people that the show was canceled. I wasn't really sure how that was possible and chocked it up to a misunderstanding at the door. How could the bouncer have thought that the show was canceled when it was so obviously not? There were musicians coming in and out of the venue and he was there all week while we laboriously hung our pieces.

Later in the night I went outside to rest my ears from the loud music and yelling patrons to have a cigarette when three young ladies come to the entrance where they were met by the bouncer. They asked him if the art show was being held there or not and he promptly replied "the show is canceled". As I turned in disbelief of what was actually happening, anger and frustration from all the work putting the show together began to boil over.

I yelled, "are you fucking kidding me?!! Please don't tell people that! You know damn well there's a show tonight. you saw the bands coming in and you saw us hanging our pieces all week!"

To which he replied,

"doesn't mean if there are paintings on the wall, there's a show tonight."

{sarcasm} There's no arguing with that right?{sarcasm}

I ended up having to grab the flyer for the show to show him there was an actual show that night. I can't believe that this guy almost ruined a night that I worked to put together for months. Fortunately the show was a blast. Hopefully some people end up selling some stuff and some others start there careers as fine artists.

Hawk Jones "Pot Grass"

Illuskrate 2 Artshow (Slide Show)

Special thanks goes out to all those that helped put this show together. Also thanks to those that submitted their work and played the venue, including Bella who helped get all the artist together, Rene, who got all the bands, Bill, who let us use his massive tool collection, Case in Theroy, for renting the stage, Mike and the Usuals for bring the apparel, and Ben for allowing us to show at South 1st Billiards. I know I'm missing some photos in this slide show of some of the artists works but please send them to me so I can include them in the photos. The show went great with the only exception being the idiotic bouncer telling everyone that there was no show that night!

Falling (work in progress)