This was really just too cool NOT to draw

Birds, birds, birds. That's what I've been working on this past week. So in all this bird drawing (a couple of them you can already view on my website), my wife and I were heading out somewhere and we passed a sign for an apartment complex that had a hummingbird as the logo. And an image, as some images do, sprang into my mind. One of those that's really too much fun to just let die as just a thought and nothing more. Thus...

Then I turned it into a t-shirt design

for a contest over on Sketchoholic.

Wish me luck!

Quick note on the Brackish design

I figured that I should go ahead give the background on the Brackish design because it's just a cool concept that Teddy Hart and I worked on together. The idea came from James 3:11 where James asks the question "How can both salt water and fresh water flow from the same spring?" The truth that each one of us does both righteous and evil things, and that we are always working at something - whether to build up and nurture or break down and destroy. But it's impossible for both to happen together.

Same thing goes for speech and what we say. We can't be speaking insults while encouraging that same person.

Thus comes the tshirt, with an image of destruction and an image of nurture. The crown on the destruction image speaks to the mindset we have when we insult others, put others down and put ourselves before others - we crown ourselves king, and assert our dominion over them. The nurture image carries the halo, symbolizing sainthood and with that, servanthood and all that is under that umbrella.

Destruction image

Nurture image

Brackish revision - WIP

Brackish revision - WIP
Originally uploaded by jpillustration

For a short project, I decided to rework the color on the Brackish t-shirt design. It's such a cool character, how could I not?? The other guy in the background is thus far left out, but I'll probably add him back in later, and I don't know if I'll recolor the other half of this shirt design (with the tentacle guy in the background. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can view both images on my flickr account here.). Makes me kind of want to though, then maybe offer them as a diptych print? Yes? No?

Got some other things I'm working on - going to be starting up an ETSY page to sell some prints and things, so that's coming down the pipe, and I may preview a couple of illustrations that are being done specifically for that, too.

For now, it's back to the drawing board..

The Oz Zoo

The Oz Zoo
Originally uploaded by jpillustration

This was a fun little side project illustration. It started out as a random sketch and morphed into something a little more complete. I've gotta say, if there were an Oz Zoo, I'd be tempted to hitch a ride on the closest tornado I could find.

But as far as I can remember, the zoo would consist of only flying monkeys and lions that would hide in their caves, so it would be sort of a short field trip.

Needy Birds

Needy Birds
Originally uploaded by jpillustration

Another t-shirt design that went through a few revisions to hit the right notes. I was reading a book by Watchman Nee, where he was noting the disciples' response to Jesus, when Jesus asked the disciples to take the five loaves and the two fish and feed the congregation of five-thousand strong. Referring to the bread and fish, Jesus was asked "But what are these among so many?"

Far too much, we choose to focus on the few paltry loaves we have in our possession and forget the reality that God is working and moving in ways that go far beyond a $2 loaf of bread you can buy at the store. Focusing on what little we have distracts us from what is available.

Again, this t-shirt is available now if you're local (Charlotte), and will be up at ignisis.storenvy.com soon!

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty
Originally uploaded by jpillustration

This was one of the first t-shirt designs that we finished up. It comes from the quote "Liberty is never free, and the only currency it accepts is blood." Originally, I believe that quote was stated with a sense of patriotism behind it. We took it in a slightly different direction, with the background being the blood that God used to pay the price for our liberty from death. An act of submission and surrender, with the grenade pins never pulled, and the rifle trigger left untouched, the Son left to die on the battlefield.

This t-shirt is available now if you're local (Charlotte area), and will soon be available at ignisis.storenvy.com!

Ermal

I've been working on a few projects lately that have been fairly different from eachother - the one below is something of a rework, but not entirely so because I didn't ever feel like it had originally been finished in the first place.

This guy's name is Ermal, a pack rat, who lives a fairly mundane life in New York working for the postal service. That's all I'll go into now. The story is a great deal more fleshed out, but as far as what avenue to take it, that is yet to be discovered.

On another note, I finally saw the completed t-shirts with my designs (and some others that were not designed by me). I like 'em. :) I'll have those images up on the blog next post.

Also, a new website is coming close to finished by my buddy Jay - looking forward to having something other than a wordpress theme to promote myself. It's simple, but hopefully you'll find it easy on the eyes and loads better than the site that's up now. There's newer works that weren't on the old site, as well as a section of sketches for your perusal!

Until next time...