response and respond.

i realize that they are a noun and verb of the same thing, but i couldn't really find a better way to differentiate between the two-part double-page spread sketchbook assignment i'm doing this semester. this time it's a response to the previous two-page spread based on a keyword (i.e., exaggerated, or oppositional), and another open-ended spread for someone else to respond to the following week. get it, get it?i forgot to scan last week, so i'll see if i can't get that book back later and scan them then.this week's response was an "oppositional" take on a farmhouse in a woodsy grove, so i decided on a tiny tree struggling to exist in a super-urban cityscape, that i decided to execute like wallpaper, you know, for fun. my 'respond' piece is a little girl afraid of the dark and psycho-killer-nightmare-monsters that dwell in the shadows. i'm gonna give these books the "hey i want to experiment with some mixed media" treatment, so i can play with new things and expand my repertoire without botching something i need to turn in. also, apologies abound for the minimal updates thus far. things are just getting underway-ish and ceramics is so not a scannable, web-friendly art (nor am i very good at it), so it's limiting how much i have to show for my efforts. also, because my illustrated book class is a long-term singular project, it has less 'in the meantime' sort of nice-to-look-at things. but i should have some character designs and turnarounds to show soon, so never fear.

"neo-crunches have a great respect for dolphins and think we should be more like them."

so it's been a little while, what with the whole 'no classes' thing, there hasn't been much in the way of updates. i did do all the work for my solo show coming up next month (more on that later) but i can't go and post it all over the web before it hangs in all its glory in the filling station, now can i? i gotta be at least a little sneaky.

so in the meantime, we have hipsters. specifically, "neo-crunch" hipsters as explained by robert lanham in the hipster handbook, which really is an actual book. Neo-crunches are essentially modern hippies who love recycling and marijuana, hate big corporations and showering, and wear tattered old clothing to hide the fact that they are financially secure, meaning basically, everyone that lives in boulder, co. the assignment was a full-page, half-page, and quarter-page, seen below in gouache and ink. it was pointed out to me that the middle lotus-pose zen-hipster looks like she really, really loves pot (and sort of loves wheatgrass juice), the baggie of granola kind of looks like pot, and the apple she's accessorizing with could easily be an apple bong. not so much the goal there, but it's still pretty accurate. the bottom neo-crunch is cutting holes in her jeans to discourage anyone from thinking she values worldy possessions, and the top hipster, my favorite, is since playing his banjo not for spare change, but to recycle your starbucks cups.