First Chill,

Title is from Emily Dickinson’s poem “After great pain a formal feeling comes”;

After great pain a formal feeling comes–
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions–was it He that bore?
And yesterday–or centuries before?

The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.

This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow–
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.

This is the first drawing in a trilogy, and my first time dabbling in Conté sticks!

First Times.

I drew a little 4-page comic as a submission for a friend’s UK-based zine around the theme of “first times”. I started out wanting to add a bit of humor to it all but it turned all boring and serious and weird at the end, oops. Check it out!

JAVI

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent last week doing classical, hand drawn animations for a video company in Ghent around pre-written scripts dealing with equality in general. We finished the rough animation for one video each day, and these are the results I’d like to share with you. Just to show you what I’ve been up to.

Remember; there’s no audio and the pacing is still off, because the videos themselves are not finished yet. This is just my end of the work. Also, they were not meant to be 100% serious and patronizing, hence the bits of humour.

Also, the coloured bits here and there were not done by me but by my friend Annelies who hired me for the job.

Day 30: A Congrats Banner for Finishing The Challenge

Really? A congratulatory banner?

That’s going to be the last challenge? Drawing a banner? Wow.

Not only is this final challenge highly disappointing, I am also incredibly tired and my computer is being excessively slow and unresponsive as I try to upload this. So I really do feel like this image does my mood justice.

Other than that though, to be fair, this 30 Day Drawing Challenge was actually a lot of fun. I’m probably going to do a new one soon. Also, I’ve got all the hand drawn animation clips I made this week around “equality” so I might try and upload those too!

Day 29: A Place You Want To Go.

Tibet.

I’ve seen so many beautiful places during my travels. This one is probably the highest on my list to see now, and the most difficult one to make happen. One day though I’ll go across the Himalayas. I’m not giving up on this sight.

Day 28: Anything You’d Like.

I’ve been drawing so much related to “assignments” that, tonight, I really didn’t feel like drawing anything. So, seeing as how the challenge today is to draw anything you’d like, I turned off my brain as much as I could and just sort of drew whatever I liked while my pen touched the paper.

Kind of like my doodle only somehow entirely different. And unfinished, because I told myself I wanted to upload this before 11PM which is (as I’m typing this) in about 11 minutes from now.

Day 27: Someone You Love.

I was going to make a scan of a blank page and type “GET IT?!” in the description but I realized that wouldn’t be accurate. I love my friends and my family and animals and whatnot so I shouldn’t lie. However, there’s one person who did come to mind as a good subject for a drawing. I haven’t gotten around to drawing this person before, which is odd, because I’m a bit of a fan.

Lots of people over the years have started sending me links and photos of anything related to David Bowie. This was sort of a wake-up call for me because it made me realize that I had been getting a bit obsessed and people were starting to think “Lorenzo” when they saw Bowie. That’s never a good sign, but in the end I embraced it. What can I say, the guy’s a pretty big inspiration, made some great music, is very intelligent and creative, and despite being an addicted wreck during the ’70s managed to remain 100% classy and polite throughout his career, which is remarkable.

So here you go, my first drawing of David Bowie, as drawn from a photo of his performance on something called the 1980 Floor Show during the ’70s just before he explored soul music and changed his look entirely.

I drew him without eyes because I like to draw people without eyes. Also, I’m still exploring my new found fondness for pencil. Odd.

Day 26: Something You Don’t Like.

Out of fear, mostly.

Drew this one real quick as I was visiting a friend after work. Should’ve drawn the other six eyes but OH WELL. I’m doing an animation assignment this week with my drawings, it’s been a lot of fun so far but hard work too! I’ll post the results when I have them all collected after this week is over

Meanwhile I’m going to try hard to keep the 30 Day Drawing Assignment going, even though I have limited free time on my hands now.

Day 25: Scenery.

This one’s a bit rough and unfinished, as I was working on this one I was interrupted to go out for dinner someplace unexpectedly with my family (not that that’s a bad thing) and by the time I got back the sun had set over the scene I was drawing so… Anyway, I don’t mind the way it looks, unfinished as it is.

This is the view from my balcony in the suburbs of a small city in Belgium where I’m currently residing.

Day 24: A Couple.

My initial reaction to this assignment was “oh god why” but I soon found a pretty badass couple to draw. I decided on these two amazing characters: Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. I don’t think I have to explain why these two are fantastic.

Style-wise I obviously based this on two photos I found, not drawn from memory. Using pencil to accurately try and mimic the way someone looks on a photo is not something I do often. I’m not entirely convinced I drew them to look as recognizable as I had wanted them to, especially Mulder, but I’m still quite happy with the results. After all, as much as I strongly admire people who can draw to a photorealistic level, I’ve always really liked seeing little flaws, pencil strokes and unfinished areas, because I feel it gives you a closer connection to the person who drew it. So there you go!