Ohhh my new scanner, I love you somuch.
Have you seen House of the Devil? Or listened to The Fixx's One Thing Leads to Another? You should! Go do that now, you saucy minx.
I've got a new scanner! Horray! My sleep sched is messed up! I am very tirrzzzZZzZzzzzzz
If you don't read my Twitter or Tumblr (shame on you! shaaaame), you may not know that I'm working diligently on a comic. It's a retooled idea that I'd pitched for Crown Royale comics. Yes, yes that does mean that it's gonna be Yaoi! Right now I'm on the final revisions of the written draft and am in the middle of the character design phase. I'm having a blast working on this reverse-gender fairytale, and am both giddy and nervous to get it down and release it to the wide, scary world. Like a mother pushing her baby bird out of the nest, and watching it plummet towards the cold, hard ground.
Uh.
Here's the first look at some of the character sketches. In this one, I was working on the facial features and some hairstyles for the Stepsister, who've I've called Jeanne. The hairstyle still needs to be decided, but I love her look.
More to come in the next few days!
ALL HAIL SCANNER GLORY zzzzzzzz
Today is the day that Edward Hopper died (May 15, 1967), one of my favorite fine artists. I won't pretend to be an art critic but what I will say is that I can stare and stare at his paintings, and rarely get tired of them. The loneliness of them arrest my attention, and the captivating compositions are a big influence on me. I often feel like his work says things I wish could my own work could say, so several of his paintings are quite close to my heart.
This comic features Yien Yip! She's a groovy gal.
Apologizes to any korean-speakers if, perchance, I have butchered the language.
When Passover comes around my Mother often asks me to help with the customary cleaning. In an effort to shirk her requests I usually point out her subconscious gender discrimination: she never asks my brothers to help with this, just me. Time and again my mother half-grins at this comment, looks thoughtful, then says she'll ask them to help too.
Does she? Do they? If they do, I'm never around to witness this mythical event.
Anyhoo, I am usually guilted into polishing the silverware.
Growing up in the Jewish community and as a regular synagogue-goer, I was often surrounded by judaic/biblical art. Polishing silverware is tedious, but it does give me satisfaction in removing the tarnish off the religious objects I grew up with.
In Judaism there is a mitzvah - commandment - called Hiddur Mitzvah. The idea is that the use of beautiful aesthetics in Jewish practice glorifies god. Here's a selection of Passover objects I found while scouring Google Image Search and EBay that make my art bug itch and my wallet whimper. Click the links for the wiki articles relating to those objects.
If you keep up a blog, how do you do it? I've been struggling to maintain this baby for awhile now. I've not given up on the old gal - HURR, DETERMINATION - but I am a bit frustrated at how slow I am. So how about it? What helps you to get blogging?
Also, I'm trying to update the look of this thing. I'm... seriously unhappy with how it looks right now, but it'll have to do for awhile. Please bear with me while I tweak with it, dipping big my toe into the scare CSS pool.
Also, did you know I have a Tumblr and Twitter? Well, you do now! Check em out, drop me a line!
I have not come to you entirely emtpy handed - Voila, some fun sketches: Two of my crushes, Ray Stevenson and Barberella!
Things I've been watching:
Elektra, the 1980 Opera from The Met:
I think the liberetto (lyrics) are fantastic - I'd love to make a comic based on the opera someday. I found myself wishing that I could have seen Birgit Nilsson in her prime, as this performance happened late into her career. Ce la vie. I will have to dig around for old recordings of this fab lady.
Also, been watching Dangerous Liasons from 1988:
Why the hell didn't anyone tell me that Glenn Close is fabulous? So far, I've been stuck on the part where John Malkovitch dumps Michelle Phiffer. Brutal.
I wasn't so happy with that last Illustration, so I put in a little more elbow grease and made the likeness a bit better. Am now much happier with the picture, and the splotch on his stupid face.
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| His douchey smile is what I'm proud of. |
Two more pieces that I had done for the Speakeasy show. Easily my favorites:
Just a reminder!
Tonight I'll be showing some new work at
SpeakEasy's 15th Annual Illustration Show!
Come check me out, have a drink, say hello, and take a look at a huge range of awesome art!
On Facebook:
Take a peek inside the collective imaginations of 40+ talented illustrators whose work features original styles, techniques and media. SpeakEasy has a reputation for showcasing the talent of Toronto's best illustrators. This colourful event is sure to be a myriad of fun in typical SpeakEasy Fashion.
Participating Artists:
Anne Smyth, Carolyn Endacott, Cassie Zhen, Daria I. Smirnova, Dave Murray, Ariel Amiri, Freyda Goodman, Gavin McCarthy, Gibson Quarter, Gillian Blekkenhorst, Three in a Box, Hyein Lee, James White, Jessica Fortner, Joeng-kwon Gye, Karen Hannah Brown, Kelly Kirkham, Ken Turner, Lamin Martin, Leo Lingas, Lida Lajevardi, Liu Liu, Lindsey Shields, Susan Adsett
Time & Space:
Thursday October 7th, 7pm-11pm
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Second Floor Lobby + Studio Rooms
Here's a look at one of the new pieces:
I'm going to take a stab at live blogging/tweeting this years 24 Hour Comic day. Hooray? Hooray! I'll start working on this scary project in about a half an hour, soooo... 7:00am EST.
Check back to this entry periodically for pictures, scans, and progress! I'll just be updating this entry, so click refresh every once and awhile to see how I'm going.
I'll also be on twitter, at http://twitter.com/karenhbrown . I'll be updating my thoughts and drooling ravings under the #24HCD hashtag. There are a number of 24 Hour Comic Day hashtags on twitter at the moment, not sure which one will be more popular... I chose this one 'cause it's the shortest.
Aaaaaaaaaaand..... GO!
Pre-Comic-Warmup
6:35am - I can't sleep anymore, so I'm up with a cup of coffee and a cheese sammich, checking my e-mail, reading news, etc. Gonna officially begin in about a half an hour when I wake up. Oomph, it's so dark outside.
6:50am - Thoughts on the news:
After his interesting comments yesterday, CNN gave Rick Sanchez the axe, eh? I wasn't exactly expecting that, but I can't say I'm crying about it. I wonder if I'll get my invitation to the Jewish Media Conspiracy Purim Gala next year... they always seem to pass me by. :(
It always surprises me how people forget that human breasts are biologically intended to feed live young.
Facebook takes down breast feeding pics.
Vogue MagazineMasquerade Ball: Ohmygosh, this is gorgeous. Now this is how you rock a party mask.
So I'm gonna be showing some new work at
SpeakEasy's 15th Annual Illustration Show!
Come check me out, have a drink, say hello, and take a look at a huge range of awesome art!
On Facebook:
Take a peek inside the collective imaginations of 40+ talented illustrators whose work features original styles, techniques and media. SpeakEasy has a reputation for showcasing the talent of Toronto's best illustrators. This colourful event is sure to be a myriad of fun in typical SpeakEasy Fashion.
Participating Artists:
Anne Smyth, Carolyn Endacott, Cassie Zhen, Daria I. Smirnova, Dave Murray, Ariel Amiri, Freyda Goodman, Gavin McCarthy, Gibson Quarter, Gillian Blekkenhorst, Three in a Box, Hyein Lee, James White, Jessica Fortner, Joeng-kwon Gye, Karen Hannah Brown, Kelly Kirkham, Ken Turner, Lamin Martin, Leo Lingas, Lida Lajevardi, Liu Liu, Lindsey Shields, Susan Adsett
Time & Space:
Thursday October 7th, 7pm-11pm
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Second Floor Lobby + Studio Rooms
Cover:
Pay What You Can ($4.00 Donation Suggested)
For more information contact:
David Brown
email: david@blttogo.com
Got some news coming up about my participation in a gallery at the gladstone, but for now, a sketch:
I've been falling off the wagon, in terms on updating the blog. Bear with me, I'm still trying to get into the habit of updating on a regular sched!
Here's a few doodles out of my sketchbook: I've been watching a lot of Dragon Ball, the original series. I love Tien so much - he's the triclops of my dreams. He acts like such a dickhead - he went to dickhead school and everything! - but he just can't help but be a good guy.
Oh, and also, I don't get enough protien in my diet, so every so often I grab fistfuls of meat and shove them into my gob. I ought to do a better job of balancing my nutrition.
Finally, I've burnt my drawing hand! I was draining some potatoes while my mom was buzzing in my ear, and, in my annoyance, got careless. Splash! Scalding water all over my right hand. I've slathered the thing with polysporin, and bandaged it up. It's not a bad burn or anything, but it stings and I imagine the skin is going to peel like a bastard. Lucky, it was mostly in the palm and lower finger area, leaving the tips of my fingers unscathed, free for drawins.
And drawins I be doing! I'm going to have my first gallery showing this October, along with a group of Illustrators, at the Gladstone Hotel. Keep an eye peeled here for more info and process work.
Rock on!
