2007

2007 was the year I finally found an artistic community to be a part of and it did wonders for me artistically. I became a part of a website called deviantart.com and it was the first online community I've ever seen.  It had a boat load of artists ranging from hobbyists to full blown seasoned veterans. I was able to see the art of comic artists I loved for so long as well as see artists I'd never heard of. They were all doing such amazing work and I needed to learn.  I needed to be a part of this scene and I grew so much because of the people I met and the amazing knowledge and art they imparted on me and anyone else willing to be a part of it all. I was fortunate enough to meet a few people in real life because of the site and had 2 artists I met on the site contribute to "A Reason to Smile!"

Getting my first Wacom was a great artistic freedom as well.  I was finally untethered from the mouse and I was able to pic various brushes and create more like i would with paint. With the time I had working at the Children's Aid Society, I finally found a rhythm and was creating as often as possible.  I was more entrenched in my sketchbook than ever before and every so often, I created a new piece completely in photoshop with no scan to work from. 

I began trying to do a bunch of different art to get my name out there and get noticed. I began taking part of contests and offering up artistic prizes for those who could help me get information I didn't have on my own. I drew various character drawings and even got to do some aerosol graffiti for Brooklyn College's Theatrical department. 

Life had finally put me in a place I felt comfortable in as an artist but I knew I had a long way to go and this was where I recognize the most change in my work. I was blessed with being paid to do some things and able to do others that helped me grow immensely. 

2006

I was working consistently at the Children's Aid Society at this point and I was busy trying to figure out where life was taking me.  I continued drawing as often as possible, but some goals had shifted a bit. I was spending a lot of time learning how to play the Vs. System card game that was similar to Yugi-Oh, but had Marvel and DC characters as their players. I studied the game a good deal and either won or placed highly in a few tournaments, and just had a great deal of fun with the game, so naturally I wanted to bring my artistic talents into this new passion.  I started drawing images I felt would work well in the card game I began to love so much.

I was also entering a stage where I was making t-shirts of my designs to market myself a bit more. The spider-man image at the top of this page was my very first shirt and, years later, I was able to show it to Spider-man legend, John Romita Sr.... He gave me the most immense compliment I have yet to receive in which he said if I were around when he was drawing Spider-man, he'd have hired me to do his backgrounds! The validation i felt after hearing that was extremely uplifting and pushed me to keep pushing towards my goal of making art my life. 

2005

2005 was a year in which I was still trying to transition from the education I received at Lynchburg College and S.C.A.D. and applying that to portraiture and illustration. I wanted to be a comic artist since I was a child, but I loved being able to capture a sense of life and realism in the faces of the people I drew. My only comfortable experience with color was with traditional media, so I  wasn't comfortable with using the computer and having Photoshop be a tool I could use properly (due to lack of knowledge and experience), so I tried coloring every chance I got.I wasn't comfortable inking at that point either so I generally tried to create very clean line art in order to have an easier time translating my work into color. I've always loved drawing superheroes so I wanted to try to bring them to life as much as I could.

I have always loved creating art with a pencil due to the control you have with it and the values that can be seen with it's use, so I gravitated towards it heavily. I could take it anywhere and felt as though I could do almost anything with it and it became my best friend on the road. The piece with the man sitting on the radio (hip hop legend Rakim) is a testament to my love of sketchbooks, pencils, and NYC, as that piece was drawn on the train on the way to my grandmother's house as I traveled from Manhattan to Queens. Many people and things I was involved with were my subjects, from my brother and my godkids, to celebrities I admired and respected, on to political statements and social commentary. I look forward to revisiting some of those subjects again in the future.

 

It's me! The Doctor!

I've loved watching the Dr. Who television show ever since I got a chance to see it on Netflicks and am have found the show to be quite endearing. They say your first doctor becomes your favorite and the 9th is definitely mine. I have absolutely loved the history and entertainment that can be seen in the show and expect it to continue to be a great show that is broadcasted for generations to come.

I have also always loved the Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo gaming system. I have only recently been able to afford getting a WiiU and haven't gotten to play a Mario game since the old Super Nintendo system. Yea, it's been a while.

The more I would watch the Doctor and the more I played Mario, then more I started seeing the connection between the two.  The episode where the Weeping Angels surrounded the Tardis and as it escaped, had them locked in seeing each other, I realized that the Angels and the Boo's were the same. From then on, I made it my business to find the other connections.  In my illustration above, the Goomba's are the Sontaran's, the Mushrooms are the Adipose, the Shy Guy is the Empty Child, the Bloopers are the Ood, the Koopa Troopers are Cybermen, and the Buzzy Beetle are the Daleks. I even made sure King Koopa made an appearance as the Satan Demon. I debated putting Mario in a roman costume since he is suppose to be Rory, but I wanted to keep something authentically Mario, as well as keeping Princess Toadstood's hair color blond, even though she's suppose to be Amy Pond...I did make a pipe the Tardis, and Luigi as the Matt Smith Doctor because of their physical similarities. Luigi doesn't get enough love so I was happy to give him the staring role in my illustration!

If you would like a copy of this illustration to hang on your wall or give to your friend, email me at:

thelearningcurv@gmail.com 

and well find a way to make that happen!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy the process that I've left below.