Artsy Fartsy

Thanks man. It's just a monotone "gold" board sprayed over with black ink. I only used an X-acto blade. Very time consuming.

Darn!  I should be having you do my album covers!

Thanks Alldat, I take that as a compliment. 
Back when I was in high school I originally wanted pursue a career in some form of the arts, but in 1988 the college told me that basic arts will be a "thing of the past by the time 2000 arrives" and that I'd need to study computer graphics if I wanted to make any real money in the future.

Long story short, I was too scared of computers back then and eventually fell into this career of medicine... though every once in a while I like to do pieces of art like the lion above... I find it tedious, time consuming, and not as fun as drawing silly cartoons and stuff.

This one was kind of a sketch idea for a fictitious album cover for a fictitious band. I wanted to finish it and detail it out with color and stuff... never got around to it.

That looks great!

Whoah that's mighty cool!  Your work has such a fluidity and motion to it; from personal experience, that's not easy to accomplish!  Very nice.

I've loved comic books my whole life and always wanted to be a comic cartoonist when I was a teen.
Here's a few of my random freehands from comic books I liked:

This was a study in value, dark vs light that I did in 10th grade (I'm pretty sure this is from a picture of DIO I tore out of a Hit Parader magazine in '84)

This was before Scott Ian shaved his head and grew his "beard"

I can't draw a believable stick man to save my life.  But, occasionally I can pick an ol' guitar or bass.  Here is the fan song that sabidoo & I did for the Tim Ridley Show that is featured on XM Radio.  I am playing all the guitars (including leads) and bass.  Also, I am doing all vocals.  All drums, sound effects, and chicken shakers were played by sabidoo:

More cowbell.  

Very cool!

Redeemed Fool wrote:

More cowbell.  

Actually, that's what I thought for the verses!  Maybe this song really DOES need more cowbell!

I can't write songs or music, can't make beautiful draws as Guilty/Forgiven and some others can.
What I can is making flower arrangments.
As you see God has given all of us gifts.
All gifts together make it colorful.

Here's something I did for my youth room at church.  We saw prints very similar to this at Lifeway--for $50 bucks a piece!  There were three of these that we wanted, but we were not going to blow $150 of our or the youth budget's money for them.  So, we bought cheap canvases, paint, and brushes.  This is the one I did:

You really have the gift to make paintings.
It looks nice this one.

Also, I am working on a painting of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek.  I have my planet and the blackness of space painted in.  I need to figure out how to add some detail to the planet like craters or mountains.  Cloud cover won't be difficult.  I also need to add stars in space, and I will add some pink and purple in one of the corners to look like the Mutara Nebula from Star Trek:  The Wrath Of Khan.  Come to think of it, I should of added the Reliant giving chase!  Oh, well.  That can be inspiration for something else in the future.  This painting, when done, will grace my studio.

Very nice!  I can't draw/paint to save my life so I have an admiration for those who can.

Oh, I can't draw worth a flip.  If it's on a canvas, it just becomes coloring with paint for me.

How did I get this started, then?  I found an image I liked online, saved it to my laptop, and used my projector at church to shine this on the canvas and trace it loosely.  Then, I just need to color it in with whatever shades I choose to make it my own.  Besides, I am not doing this to resell--it's for my own space.  I could have also chosen different pieces of several different works and truly came up with something original.

Either way, I still can't draw very well.

I took an intro to art class once.  When it came time to blend colors, mine all ended up in various shades of baby poop.

I need to learn how to mix colors, shading, and textures as well.  I would like to take a class.

I like how your Joshua 1:9 painting has your signature on it. The painting is well done, too.

Love your style man. One thing I've never had no matter what type the piece of art is, I've never had a style of my own. I always admire artists that have their own style. Very cool works indeed.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

Love your style man. One thing I've never had no matter what type the piece of art is, I've never had a style of my own. I always admire artists that have their own style. Very cool works indeed.

I have a style?  LOLSo far, my style and technique has pretty much been "open the paint and slap it on the canvas".  That's why I think I would like to take a few classes and learn all I can about this.  I think it would limit me to not learn more.

I say that because of my playing music.  I never had any lessons for bass or guitar.  I play what I have figured out on my own.  I feel limited sometimes because I did not learn certain techniques, tricks, licks, etc.  Heck, on bass, I don't even use my fingers to pluck the strings.  I learned how to play with a pick due to bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard using one in the 80s.  I figured that if they used one then I needed to look cool like them and use one.  I never really went back and learned to do it the right way with two or three fingers.  I probably should have taken classes.

Luckily for me with painting, there are lots of cool videos on YouTube describing certain techniques.  I am watching some of them to get some ideas.  Hopefully, you will see some difference on the Star Trek painting after I work on it some today.