Still grooving on city scenes. What does one find plenty of in the city? Traffic:

And then there’s Jesse Ownes:

It’s that old gimmick of having a figure in motion frozen, while the background is a blur.

There is a possibility of inserting a smarmy joke promoting the anti-car angle, but I’ll just say that all modes of transport are wonderful if they can get you to where you’re going.

More grooving on Black and White city scenes. These pictures will somehow end up in the next installment of the charm/strange experience project. Yes, we’re working in a non linear fashion once again. These pictures fit the mood of the piece, but where and how do they fit in specifically? Well, it’s still being figured out, you see, there are many angles to approach this from…

It took me a long time to be able to be this free when drawing in black and white from photos. In the past I was a slave to drawing the shadows, to the point where that was all I drew! That’s fine, for portraits and simple, bold pictures, but for more complex scenes with lots of overlapping things, picking and choosing what’s black and white regardless of where the shadows are is important for maintaining clear communication. Its refreshing to be able to clearly see the same approach from a different angle.

That Picasso quote about trying to forget to draw like Raphael and get back to drawing like a kid rings true more and more everyday I’m alive. Good call, Pablo.

I’ve been grooving on some luscious black and white lately. The buildings/car/sharp edges were done in Illustrator, while the people/organic shapes were drawn in Photoshop. Both drawings are from photos.

The beauty of drawing in black and white: taking millions of colors and distilling them down to two. I’m always up for that challenge!

Just to reiterate, there’s nothing like the feel of a warm stack of mini comic pages fresh out of the printer. It’s like cookies straight out of the oven, but so delicious in a very different way.

This is made using the pen tool in Illustrator, “tracing” a photo, figuring out what will be black and what will be white. I could do this stuff all day…and I often do! I made a whole comic called Pursuit in this kind of style.

The charm/strange experience will be performing this Friday at Art From the Heart, a seemingly incredible art show in West Philly. I consider this a remarkable achievement, seeing as all parties involved in the project at one point this year thought of ending it altogether.

Good thing the title of the piece is Let Go of the Ego; it served as a reminder to us to not forget the bigger picture. We all get caught up in gimmicks from time to time, but we must remember to retain the scope of what we are dealing with. Bigger issues are at play here; we are parts of a greater whole. Let Go of the Ego’s very existence was threatened by purely ego reasons. The scope was maintained, however, and we continue on with the project. I can honestly say that this collaboration with Gina is one of the greatest things I’ve been involved with artistically. I have reached peaks of creativity I never thought possible. This is a project I believe in with all my heart, and I am simply ecstatic to be able to keep performing it. Hopefully those in attendance will feel the positive energy we’ve poured into this. I know I always enjoy the good vibes from the audience whenever we perform. We all make such a good team! I’m humbled to be a part of it.

Of course, the art still isn’t totally done yet, but I continue to forge ahead. We have talked of adding new levels to the experience; more instruments, different gimmicks. I’m having the time of my life with this, and I hope it can inspire others to follow the path with heart.

Art From the Heart – A Celebration of Creativity

When signing autographs for fans, Dalí would always keep their pens.

Some glorious black and white: