2008

I've been itching to break out the ole paints since I can't even remember. In this day and age of digital doodads and unlimited undos ("Ctrl + Z you have saved me yet again..."), it's hard for me to commit to exposing how bad of an artist I am when faced with the nakedness of real media. I'm a perfectiocrastinator. What can I say.

But this Christmas, I decided that I wanted to give something special to the twin-lings of my friend Shanth. This guy has literally berated me to keep painting since we stepped out of college. So who better to be at the receiving end of my first bumbling attempts than his family (sorry, guys...).

I wasn't totally ready to let go of my digital crutches so I did a couple of quick sketches on my Cintiq. I didn't want to do anything too complicated on my first go so I busted these out pretty fast and simple.

His daughter loves Curious George.

His son loves Thomas the Tank Engine.

I have to say painting again was amazing. Nothing can compare to the feeling of applying pure pigment on paper with a brush. Sometimes I feel like digital painting is like drawing with ice skates on. There's a tactile disconnect and I always reach my end goal with a million steps of trial and error. Painting forces me to commit to my imperfect process and it kicks my butt when it comes to color theory (I always gravitate towards "mud" as one of my staple colors).

Gouache, 5" x 7"

I kind of botched the composition on the yellow hat. One of those happy mistakes I guess.

Gouache, 7" x 5"

All in all, I was pretty happy with how they turned out (I think I was just more excited by the fact that I actually finished two paintings). There's also this weird sense of satisfaction knowing that my friend's kids will have the only originals. Makes it more special I guess, in this day and age of mass reproduction.

Needless to say, I've caught the bug (darn you, Shanth!). I'm going to try and keep it up. Hopefully I'll be done with two more before next Christmas...

Happy Holidays!