I can't remember exactly how I came upon an absolutely fantastic contemporary art book dedicated solely to the octopus (I think it was a google search of some sort, entailed by leagues of research to find out who the publisher is and from where I might purchase a copy, blah, blah, blah...). Once I discovered the publisher, I discovered its website. After I discovered its website, I discovered that the art featured within the pages of its books is really a showcase of artists whose works (paintings, drawings, sculptures, tattoos) make the final cut following an themed open submission. 

Earlier this year, I responded to an open call for skull & skeleton artwork, entitled "Excavate: Unearthing Artistic Skeletal Remains", by submitting three of my oil paintings. Today, I'm happy to announce that two of my three made it into the final publishing. My "Portrait No. 3" and "Outer Orbit" paintings will be featured alongside hundreds of other talented artists' works from around the world. I am extremely humbled and grateful to have my art chosen for it.

Out Of Step Books is the publisher and the folks there are now taking pre-orders for this book through their website. The books are expected to ship the second week of October. I have been in correspondence with Jinxi Caddel, one half of the owner/husband-wife/luchador tag-team duo, and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. They ensure quality, love and care with every single transaction. You shan't be disappointed.

You can order your copy by clicking here or on any of the links above: Out Of Step Books

I must once again apologize to the folks who have been anxiously awaiting tattoo designs, drawings and paintings from me. A pretty epic art show suddenly caught my attention and sounded too damn good to pass up. I have been putting in work on a skateboard deck over the last few weeks and today I finally finished the thing, right on time for the deadline.

Because of my late participation, this piece was challenging. For the first few weeks, I had no idea in which direction I was going to take it and I was seriously second-guessing the first few layers of paint, especially my sudden decision to jump mid-way from acrylics to oils. Luckily, oil paints play real well off of acrylics, (but not the other way around) so I just kept pushing it until the image slowly started to reveal itself. I'm really glad I kept going because it turned out better than I had hoped.

I've uploaded a sequence of photos, stages from start to finish, showing how the painting evolved. Haven't figured out a title, yet, but I've been bouncing between 'Iron Galaxy' (a nod to Cannibal Ox, a favorite hip hop duo of mine) or 'Galaxy Knuckles' (one of the many self-acclaimed aliases of the hilarious hip hop blogger, http://bigghostlimited.com/)

I've also uploaded the flyer for the show, which cusps the last day of May and the first of June. To date, there have been over 300 submissions from artists around the globe, so it's going to be pretty huge. In addition, one of my all time favorite LA graffiti artists, MEAR ONE, has not only submitted his own piece, but will be at the opening event painting live. This all happens at Refuge PDX.

If you need something to do on the last Saturday night of May, swing by and check it out!

Thanks to ArtDeckCo and Future Shock for the last-minute opportunity and for the board to paint on.

Thanks for reading!

2012 has been quite a rough year. Despite its many high notes (as grateful as I am for them), they have largely been overshadowed by the loss of two of my very good friends - Chad in June and Brad this December. The morning after I found out Brad had passed, I felt compelled to draw his portrait. I dedicate it to him and to those who knew him.

During the early impressionable years of high school, where kids just bumble about experimenting with and discovering talents, interests and peer groups, both Chad and Bradley came into my life and played integral roles in the development of my personality. Brad was an artist who loved music and skating - all common grounds that gave us a reason to hang out. Gradually, a crew accumulated and we all had many good times and got into a lot of good shit together.

Unfortunately, I hadn't seen Brad for about ten years since our crew grew apart and we went our separate ways...I ended up moving from Albuquerque to Portland.  I am truly heartbroken that he is no longer around. He was one of the individuals I just always assumed would be with us. I figured the least I could do to show my appreciation of his friendship was to honor his memory with a piece of art.

Thankfully, I was able to fly down home to Albuquerque and attend Brad's funeral ceremony in Rio Rancho. It was absolutely breathtaking to witness such a huge turnout of friends and family, all who showed to pay respects to this man. I started the drawing at home and carefully slipped it between the sheets of its parent tablet, ambling my way through three different airports to finally deliver it by hand to Brad's mother.

She was absolutely thrilled. I was absolutely humbled.

I thought it would be kind of nice to record the drawing process and create a time-lapsed video for Brad's friends and family to watch. Additionally, a few years ago, Bradley collaborated with Versatile Verse, an emcee from Albuquerque, for whom he sung the chorus on a song called "Every Morning." I couldn't think of a better song to score the video with. Check it all out below (preferably in HD).

Thanks for the good times, Brad. Merry Christmas.

This is, more or less, a short documentation of the developmental process for my skateboard deck piece "Panacea."  I made sure to take pictures as best I could along the way to show the progression of it to completion. I might start doing this for more of my pieces..maybe even some video. 

I really didn't know how to approach this project which, to be honest, was spurred solely by a call-to-artists post I found on craigslist for an all skateboard deck art show at a local coffee shop. I was juggling the potential mediums with which to start working and really had no idea what the hell I was going to do until I started doodling with my Prismacolor pencils.

Without any further delay, here is a glimpse from start to finish:

I obviously had to have a flat surface to work on, so I disassembled the hardware from the deck and started sanding off the graphics and grinding the nicks down with an orbital sander.  Meanwhile, the trucks, wheels, nuts, and bolts all aspired to a greater calling in life...

This is my usual method for referencing things like finger placement and muscle structure. There is no body that is better to study than your own..

This is how the preliminary sketch looked; I used a color that wasn't too bold for the outline and mapped out the overall composition. And, as in the photos above, I used my own wincing face for reference.

Adding brown tones for definition, shading and volume...

I started to add Rose to the cheeks and pads in the hands and fingers. I believe there are also touches of yellow, but it's hard to see in this picture.

Here is where I started working on the octopus and filling in the flesh, both blue and beige. The best thing about using Prismacolor pencils is the ability to blend the colors and push the pigments around when layered.

The development of the octopus' texture was achieved using small, painstakingly applied circles..

I wasn't sure how to treat the perimeter of the drawing, so I went ahead and started laying down some graffiti-style arrows and worked my way around, not too heavily, until I got to the top. To ensure that the weight of the border remained on the bottom, I merely shaded in some of the wood grain pattern above the shoulders that seemed to lift up toward the halo.

The tentacles hanging beneath the shoulders was an interesting way to close in the chest and give the figure a sort of rib cage.

The finished product!

"Panacea" 2012 Prismacolor on wood.