Blog Hiatus

I haven't made many sketches to put up so I'm going to take a break from updating this blog for a while. I'm not going to stop doing artwork, heavens no, but a blog is a bit unnecessary at the moment. Any updates I will post on my facebook page---please like it to follow me!

Here are my most recent pieces:

Facebook and Stereoscope

 I've made a Facebook page for my illustrations! Like it to follow all of my blog and twitter updates; I would really appreciate any support!

Six of my pieces will be showing at Newark's Index Art Center's reception room for the rest of May, including during their unique Stereoscope event that showcases great live music and artworks for one night. The next one is coming up this Saturday, May 11 at 6pm!

Prints Prints Prints

I can finally sell prints of my illustrations, woohoo. They'll be sold through Redbubble:

My new postcards arrived as well and I'll be sending them out soon!

New Bio Photo

Had a blast doing a photo shoot with Paul Bellardini last week with an installation taken from my "Birds of a Feather" illustration! I'm going to use it as my bio photo now.

Loch Madess

Let's Start a Band!

Feels so good to make art again.

What an Update!

So I've finally graduated college, woohoo! I spent my first two weeks afterwards in Los Angeles visiting family. Now I'm back in New Jersey planning to move to Brooklyn by the end of February. It's a strange feeling when you can sense the gravity of this transition, even while brushing my teeth or doing my laundry. I'm being swept up into a new life and all I can do to maintain the comfort of normalcy are little things like brush my teeth.
Art-wise, I've taken a bit of a hiatus because school was so overwhelming but I plan to make some complete pieces again soon, including a short comic that I started too long ago...
In the meantime, here are some recent drawings:

A Moment at the Museum

During my history internship last Spring at Lambert Castle, one of my duties was archiving. Some artifacts were really cool and old, like a collection of super-vintage spectacles or beautiful Victorian jewelry boxes, and others were just plain random:

"The First Four Years"

I recently attended the Society of Illustrator's talk focusing the first four years as an illustrator after graduating; which featured super-talented young panelists: Kali Ciesemier, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Daniel Fishel, John Malta, Victo Ngai, and Dadu Shin. I've been such a fan of them all, it was quite exciting to see them in person!
 It was an incredible talk where they each discussed their struggles during and after college, finding and having an art rep, maintaining a rhythm of work (Malta, for example, said he usually goes on antisocial binges when he focuses on work), and what their first real illustration job was like (oh, the stories). It was fascinating! Not to mention they all have a stupendous sense of humor (I'm guessing it comes with the job).

Ultimately, the most important lesson I came out from that wonderful discussion was that the key to being an illustrator is not so much founded on talent, but actually on persistence. It doesn't matter how well one can draw if they're cooped up in their room sulking (*ahem*). Self-promotion is a must to give life to a career.

Here's the panelist's zine featuring some of their latest work, with a cool cover by Fishel:

Scene from a dream

I had a dream in August of a man and woman having a meeting in the front lawn of an estate at twilight. After discussing the accounts of a shadowy figure witnessed around town, he leaves and the woman rides out to town and encounters the shadowy figure walking down into an entrance going underground. I mean, the plot wasn't as incredible as the visuals involved. I could see how delicately her hair was gathered at the nape of her neck underneath the felted hat. Everything was gleaming and twinkling quietly with fireflies. It was just very magical---I woke up so peacefully.