Artist Statement- Second Draft

My primary goal in my work is to connect to people through stories. I use my characters and narratives to turn people inward towards their own lives; my drawings may remind them of something-- a person, a place, an event, or an experience or emotion. I generally work with materials that are clean, easy to read, and familiar, which evokes the entertainment-industry feel of a lot of my work. This in turn reflects shades of the geek-culture elements which inspired my very early practice. In many ways, my work still draws from the comics, cartoons and video games of my childhood and today. Most obviously, I gravitate toward a comic book aesthetic– specifically Japanese manga– and I am now concerned with applying elements of this aesthetic to a more versatile and wide-ranging body of work.

My recent “backwards fairy tales” are, in truth, various well-known stories (many made popular by the ubiquitous animated Disney films from the 1930's to the present) which I have retold simply by inverting them. Extracting all of the major plot elements, I reverse the order, and thus create an entirely new tale. The results are comic-like drawings which utilize immediately familiar visuals to draw the viewer in, and then subvert expectations as the viewer notices that the known story is somehow off. I play with the gray area between the comfortable and familiar, and the strange and unexpected.

Studio Update: Tale Fairies.

Continuing the backwards fairy tale project.  Loosened up this week and played around with a few different things like color and characters.  Rest of the week will be business as usual though, I think.

Made photocopies of this piece and did a few colorized renditions.  Decided to leave further coloring for later and focus more on the matters at hand.

Just messing around a bit.  Horray for subverting traditional gender roles.

If you read Rapunzel backwards, it's about a girl who uses her excessively long hair to escape her excessively clingy boyfriend.

These things are making me come off like some kind of man-hating femnazi.

Artist Statement - First Draft

My primary goal in my work is to connect to people through stories. I use my characters and narratives to turn people inward towards their own lives; my drawings may remind them of something-- a person, a place, an event, or an experience or emotion. In opening up and placing my honest thoughts and perceptions on paper, telling them through familiar people and situations, I invite the viewer to do the same.

I generally work with materials that are clean, easy to read, and familiar, such as graphite, ink and digital drawing. My use of ink and Photoshop in particular evokes the entertainment-industry feel of a lot of my work. This in turn reflects shades of the "geek-culture" elements which inspired my very early practice. In many ways, my work still draws from the comics, cartoons and video games of my childhood and today. Most obviously, I gravitate toward a comic book aesthetic (specifically Japanese manga), and I am now concerned with applying elements of this aesthetic to a more versatile and wide-ranging body of work.

To this end, I have recently embarked on a bit of an artistic narrative experiment. What I call my “backwards fairy tales” are, in truth, various well-known stories (many made popular by the ubiquitous animated Disney films ranging from the 1930's to today) which I have retold simply by inverting them. Extracting all of the major plot elements, I reverse the order, and thus create an entirely new tale. The results are comic-page-like drawings which make use of some immediately familiar visuals to draw the viewer in, and then subvert expectations as the viewer notices that the known story is somehow off. This is a trend I plan to pursue, playing in the gray area between the comfortable and familiar, and the strange and unexpected.

More Fairy Tales

If you watch Alice in Wonderland backwards, it's about a young girl who succumbs to substance abuse.

Have more in the studio, but didn't manage to get pics.  I'll have those up later in the week, I imagine.

Just for Fun

For the hell of it, I figured I'd post some recent character design sketches.  This is more or less the most straightforward look I can give into what interests me most.

 The process of drawing a new character is like getting to know a new acquaintance.  Drawing characters I've worked on for a while is like a silly drunken chat with your roommate at 3AM.

Backwards Fairy Tales

Lately I've been playing with the idea of telling well-known fairy tales with a slight twist.  Following the panels, it's relatively easy to pick up on what story each "comic" is supposed to tell, but I'm telling them backwards.  

These are Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Princess and the Frog, and Little Red Riding Hood, respectively.  Unfortunately these images might be a little dark and small, but they at least show the idea I'm working toward.
The nice thing about Fairy Tales is that there are tons of them-- and many versions of each, so I have plenty of material to work from.
 

Artist Statement - Draft Zero

My primary goal in my work is to connect to people through stories.  This sounds vague, I'm sure, but what I'm aiming at specifically is more a certain kind of feeling.  I want to use my characters and narratives to turn people inward towards their own lives; I want to remind them of something-- a person, a place, an event, or an experience or emotion.  In opening up and placing my honest thoughts and perceptions on paper, telling them through familiar people and situations, I hope to invite the viewer to do the same.

Primarily, I work with materials that are clean, easy to read, and familiar, such as graphite, ink and digital drawing.  My use of ink and photoshop in particular evokes the entertainment-industry feel of a lot of my work, which reflects shades of the "geek-culture" elements which inspired my very early practice (comics, cartoons, video games, etc.).  My work is accessible, and I refuse to put up pretenses or speak down to my audience.  While I allow for ambiguity and encourage room for interpretation, I place huge importance on the viewer's ability to take something away from my work, rather than only walking away confused.  A person should not need a fine arts education to appreciate my pieces.