Drawing Lines in Children's Blood

General Assembly

2012-01-23T23:38:00.003-05:00

I'm finished working on the Post-Apocalyptic Commune series. At least for now. I could keep going with this project but I'm deciding to move on to diversify a bit. The last image depicts a commune meeting or "general assembly." Members sit around and talk it out, sort out problems, make suggestions, complain about stuff. The commune dogs also like to hang around during the meetings.

The Sublime (Gathering Water II)

2011-11-18T12:13:00.003-05:00

For the sixth commune image I was trying to vibe off Turner's idea of "the sublime."

Fishing

2011-10-28T15:42:00.003-04:00

The fifth image in the Post-Apocalyptic Commune Series:

Gathering Water II

2011-10-11T23:00:00.002-04:00

Commune Spiritual Guidance:

2011-10-10T22:11:00.002-04:00

"The meaning has been inside you the whole time."

Family Portrait.

2011-10-02T14:33:00.002-04:00

Hand Exercise.

2011-10-01T20:32:00.001-04:00

Post-Apocalyptic Commune Pt. 2

2011-09-19T19:39:00.003-04:00

The commune is a close community. Many activities normally done alone are often shared. Communal bathing is not uncommon:

Hunting deer is hard and difficult work. If a trip is successful, a member of the commune thanks the deer for its life:

Hunting (Color Study)

2011-08-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

Transferring Risk

2011-07-25T19:14:00.002-04:00

This is an in between projects project. Just exploring some new techniques and trying to improve my concepts.

Summertime.

2011-07-14T09:08:00.000-04:00

New York, so hot right now....

Works in Progress

2011-07-07T00:04:00.008-04:00

I've been working on a series of images about the lives of a group of young people from Brooklyn who escape to a secret, remote, rural location in the U.S. after the world falls into chaos after a huge catastrophic event (economic collapse, water shortage, etc etc). This group establishes a small farm with crops and a few animals. They hunt, raise chickens, bathe together, conduct meetings, breed dogs, and live off the land sustainably. It's not exactly a utopia, but it's a working, functioning community.

I want to grow as an image maker with this series and go places compositionally and stylistically I haven't gone before. I've been less interested in using the computer lately, so the only computer manipulation on these are color correction.

The first image depicts one of the commune members after her first chicken killing. Living in nature is a struggle and animal meat is rich in calories and proteins necessary for survival. However, the commune acknowledges that animals feel pain and that eating them is a luxury not a birthright. All commune members contribute equally and specialization is nonexistent. Each member can perform all chores and tasks associated with maintaining the commune. Each person is important and essential to the community.

The next image depicts the daily gathering of water from the well. The commune members have successfully trained their dogs to help with the work. They have even begun to breed dogs for specialized tasks, but not enough time has passed for the breeding to be a complete success.

Gathering Water

2011-07-04T14:51:00.001-04:00

Portland Mercury

2011-06-08T08:06:00.004-04:00

I did this piece a few weeks ago for Justin at the Portland Mercury. Pretty quick turnaround; got the assignment Friday night, due on Monday. Justin asked me to draw the Portland chief of police riding a slightly wild horse. No sketches, just straight to finish. I did sketches for myself but sadly since they never made it on the computer, they have been misplaced.

I decided to go with a beach background cause that's always the best setting for an epic horse ride. For being seemingly straight forward, the piece turned out pretty surreal in a Magritte juxtaposition kind of way.

Commune Girl

2011-05-10T09:10:00.002-04:00

Bike City!

2011-04-27T19:10:00.007-04:00

Jessica over at New York Press asked me to do the cover for their bike issue which came out today. Obviously I said yes. I ride my bike most places and this was perfect project to usher in the spring season with. The concept was a sort of bike utopia where the cars were relegated to a single side lane and bikes were given the lanes cars would normally occupy. Utopia indeed.

I sent 2 sketches. This first one is a wide shot of a variety of bikers. I was going for kind of a New Yorker cover vibe.

The second sketch is a cropped version of the first, allowing the biker characters to really shine.

Jessica went with the second sketch and I got started. I tried to portray the plethora of bikers that occupy New York City. Here are some in progress shots of the drawing:

Here's the final illustration I sent over:

And the final printed version in all its glory:

Before the Match: Richie Tenenbaum

2011-04-17T13:16:00.003-04:00

As much of a cliche as it is to do Wes Anderson fan art, I couldn't resist. I decided to go a lesser traveled road; Richie's tennis prodigy past. I tried to depict him as a teenager at the peak of his career.

Commune Girl

2011-04-04T23:47:00.000-04:00

Don't forget the salad.

2011-03-19T12:10:00.001-04:00

A Man And His Dog

2011-03-12T10:03:00.007-05:00

I read Thomas Mann's Death in Venice for class back when I was in school. I don't remember if I liked it or not, I actually don't even remember what it was about. BUT, I still have the book of Mann's short stories so I decided to read and illustrate some of them. The title, A Man And His Dog caught my attention, so I decided to read it first. It turned out to be a really enjoyable read and Mann describes in depth the settings and the main character, Bashan, a short haired German pointer. This made researching the story much easier. He also does an incredible job of personifying Bashan. Just an all around good short story.

Here are a few sketches; figuring out composition. I like the drawing on the right as a finished drawing in itself.

Another composition study, getting closer to the final image.

And the finished illustration. I drew the image in layers like I would a silkscreen, except the layers were ink drawings and colored pencil. I always thought colored pencil illustrations were really tacky, but in my quest for colored, textured pencil, it works much better than trying to force graphite pencil into colorization using photoshop. The less I need to do on the computer the better.

A Farewell To Arms

2011-03-05T09:43:00.012-05:00

For the third installment of my Hemingway covers I read A Farewell To Arms. There was an adequate amount of imagery to pick from but choosing something I wanted to draw became the issue. Usually I hate it when book covers tell me what the characters in the story will look like. But I broke my own rule and decided to do a portrait of the narrator's love interest, a British nurse named Catherine Barkley. I didn't want to draw war imagery because it's been done really well in previous covers for the book and I just didn't feel like drawing war.

In my opinion, Catherine is a feminist's nightmare. She's subservient, says "Oh darling" a lot and is constantly reminding Henry (the narrator) of what a "good girl" she is. For the most part, I disagree with what Wikipedia's character summary has to say about her. Overall, the book is the corniest and most melodramatic I've read by Hemingway. This made it difficult for me to find a depiction that said "dramatic" without saying "cheesy."

Okay, sketches...some thumbnails:

My choices came down to a super close up of Catherine's face looking worried/stoic/brave and a medium shot of her looking slightly more emotional with soldiers and trees in a foggy background.

I wanted to do the close up but initially decided it was the weaker cover. I started the "distressed nurse" composition and about 75% of the way through scrapped it. Despite whatever charms it has, I wasn't enjoying the process and I was not proud of my results. Here is a screen capture:

So I started over and ended up with exactly what I wanted. My new cover in no way evokes "war" but I believe the overall feeling of the novel is illustrated. Simplicity won. An unintended bonus is that the cover kind of looks like a still from a black and white movie.

Here's some extraneous matter. I sketched out the words first, then traced them. The face drawing is done on regular old bristol paper.

And here are my tools for the portrait. A kneaded eraser, a mechanical pencil with B lead, a 9B pencil for super darks, and some smudgy guys for blending and smoothing.

Image Search: A Farewell To Arms

2011-02-27T17:27:00.008-05:00

For the most part, I'm digging the book covers, especially the one with the soldiers and the stretcher and the art deco camouflage one. Not into the movie posters. Also found some Hemingway memes.

Simulated Couple I

2011-02-21T20:37:00.002-05:00

For Whom The Bell Tolls

2011-02-13T17:17:00.008-05:00

For the second installment of my Hemingway covers I chose For Whom The Bell Tolls, which I finished reading a couple weeks ago. Finding a visual subject for this cover was a little more difficult than The Sun Also Rises. There were a couple different routes I could have taken, but the crisp, snowy mountain landscape was what really resonated while reading the book. This cover went through many phases. There were pine needles on the trees and grass on the ground but the composition felt overwhelming and cluttered. Self destruction ensued, and while frantically deleting layers I discovered the beautiful simplicity of the snowy ground. Something was still missing so I added some shadows and it all clicked.

Here is the cover. I'm not sure which I spent more time on, the drawing and coloring or obsessively "nudging" and resizing the type. After all the strife, I'm satisfied with the way it turned out.

These are a couple covers I found on the internet. I love the type. Wish book covers still looked like this....*sigh*

The Sun Also Rises

2011-02-06T23:49:00.014-05:00

Continuing with the Hemingway theme, I decided to make a mock cover for the novel, The Sun Also Rises. I chose to go the matador route. The story takes places during a running of the bulls festival in Spain and there's a lot of great descriptions of the subtly and beauty of the sport. Almost made me ignore the whole torturing and killing bulls part. I don't want to say much more, because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it.

I did some research before I started my cover to see what others had done with the material. I posted them below if anyone was curious.

This is a weird cover. The characters are definitely not how I pictured them while reading the story.

I dig this one. Nice type, and the matador is tastefully obscured. I'm a sucker for simplicity.

I thought this one was also well done. I could read this one on the subway and not feel embarrassed by how ugly my book cover looked.

Really not feeling the Greco-Roman thing.

This one is kinda terrible. The publisher probably used this cover for every book about a man who drinks and wants to get with some lady.

This is my cover. The color was definitely a challenge. I wanted to evoke the feeling of the warmth of a rising sun while avoiding making it seem desert-like or too hot. After copious amounts of trial and error, I came to this scheme. I have a copy of For Whom The Bell Tolls with Hemingway's famous signature pressed into the cover. Using that for inspiration I made my own, more legible version of it for my cover.

Here is a picture of some of my ink letters. Again, a lot of trial and error to get the perfect letter.

Hemingway and Key West

2011-02-02T20:12:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Key West. I'm a born Floridian, but it was my first time to the island chain. It's also home to a house Ernest Hemingway lived in. His home is beautiful, breezy, has a huge pool and is home to many, many six toed cats. In preparation for my visit, I read a couple Ernest Hemingway novels and now I'm addicted and I can't get enough of him. I figured he would make a good subject for a portrait. I also conducted much research to make sure I was correct in my assumption that he did not have his famous beard during his stay in Key West. Hopefully, I'm correct. I really want to draw his beard though, so maybe another time.

Anyway, here is the process. I decided to color my line work in this piece so I drew it in pieces to make it easier. I was also adding pencil textures and lines so I drew those separately as well. This first image is my main brush work colored in photoshop.

This image has the table outline, the table's wood grain and the drawing of the books. They are all on their own layer and were all drawn on separate sheets of tracing paper. I'm not a huge fan of selecting and deselecting line work in order to color it in photoshop, so I chose to do this stuff separately from meat of the drawing. I also later added pencil texture.

Here are the flats. I guess this is redundant if you've read my previous posts but the flats are always so weird looking. The ghost behind the lines.

Here is the finished piece. I added some wallpaper and light brushwork.

So there you go. I've also updated my website, so if you want to see my work in a different place online you can go there.

Somewhere

2011-01-22T18:34:00.004-05:00

Sofia Coppola has a new movie coming out. I was tearing my hair out on how to approach this portrait. Decided to go minimal and I'm glad I did. Her movies are generally on the quieter side so I think it's fitting.

I thought it would be artsy if I left my side brush marks. They're her genius thoughts floating around.

True Grit - Process

2011-01-21T13:49:00.004-05:00

Over the holidays I saw True Grit by the Coen Brothers. I've been into portraits lately so I thought I'd do some for this movie. I thought this would also be a nice opportunity to post more about my digital process.

Here is the "line art" with some penciling for texture. I find that the more I do before it goes in the computer the less I have to do in photoshop. This also helps make it feel less computer-y. For this project I decided not to color the lines or penciling so I drew them on the same sheet of paper.

These are the flats done on their own layer. As you can see in the hand and pistol handle, sometimes it's hard to keep track of your layers. These were small errors so I felt they weren't necessary to go back and fix. Oops.

These are the flats with some brushwork. I tend to use my brushes like I would real paint but with more subtlety. I'm not into the whole "computer painting that tries to look like a real painting" thing, so I try not to go overboard with the painterliness. The purpose of my brushwork is to create depth and three-dimensionality. I do the brushwork on a separate layer so if I don't like it I can delete it without compromising the flats. Separate layers also helps when selecting sections of the flats is necessary. I'm always hesitant to post my brushwork because it looks so haphazard without the line work.

Here is the finished product. Everything together in unity.

What's the password?

2011-01-16T13:31:00.001-05:00

OOOORRGY.

Buffalo '66 (Colored)

2011-01-14T15:56:00.002-05:00

I was on a nice, long winter vacation. Went to my hometown, St. Petersburg, FL, then chillaxed in Miami, smoked cigars in Key West and trekked to North Carolina for some woodsy snow. Now I'm back in New York and ready for action.

Post-Christmas Drawing

2010-12-26T12:40:00.001-05:00

Buffalo '66

2010-12-20T21:40:00.003-05:00

"We're taking pictures like a couple like we like each other. We're...we're husband and wife and we span time together. We span time together as a couple cause we're a loving couple spanning time."

OH YEAH! POST #250, YEAH!

2010-12-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

I almost never post thumbnails or preliminary sketches of my work. Some of the reason for that can be seen below. A lot of my preliminary work is just that, preliminary and usually incomprehensible, not needing to be seen by anyone else but me. They look kinda funny though. Scribbles and crude shapes. Thought maybe I'd finally post some of them.

They were the coolest couple in school.

2010-12-11T14:07:00.004-05:00

They dressed up as the cover of "Goo" for Halloween.

Best Albums of the Year

2010-12-01T00:14:00.002-05:00

Some sketching of Beach House whilst pondering the best albums of 2010. Who's on your list?

Secret Lives of the Unemployed

2010-11-24T14:25:00.002-05:00

Hey dudes, I recently did some spots for Liz Bartucci over at her blog. She's writing a serialized story about an unemployed woman and the predicaments that ensue. Having been an unemployed artist many times, I can relate to her writing. It's great stuff so check it out. Here's a link to my spots and the story. Stay tuned cause I hear Wesley Allsbrook is illustrating a future story as well. Can't wait!

Boogie Nights

2010-11-17T19:51:00.003-05:00

From my sketchbook:

"You got the touch. You got the power."

Markers Pt. 2

2010-11-14T16:29:00.004-05:00

I'm still playing around with markers. I've been trying to incorporate them into more finished illustrations but it's tricky. They're really bright and aggressive and they don't mesh gracefully with other mediums. I'm having too much fun with them to give em up, but maybe they'll just have to stay in the sketchbook...

Cliff Lee and the Double Infinite Sadness

2010-11-08T19:58:00.003-05:00

The World Series ended a little over a week ago. The Giants won which means Texas Rangers pitcher, Cliff Lee, has lost 2 World Series in a row with 2 different teams. Now he will join Chase Utley in the Infinite Sadness. I almost feel bad for the guy.

My process.

2010-11-04T14:51:00.009-04:00

I'm generally not into doing process posts. This is mostly because my process isn't that much different than most illustrators who use the computer and taking screenshots and writing about them gets really tedious. This piece is a portrait of Alice Glass, singer in the goth/dancecore band, Crystal Castles. She has issues.

I don't have one way of working but this is my basic formula for ink and digital coloring:

The drawing; a combination of ink and pencil:

The flats by themselves with some brush work:

The flats plus some more brush work on its own layer:

Flats, plus brush work, plus texture, marker, etc, each on their own layer:

Boom, finished illustration:

Also, here is a book that helps me choose colors:

I'm Kurt and I approved this message.

2010-11-03T08:57:00.004-04:00

Just to confuse everyone more about my "inconsistent" "style", I've created a linocut for my newest project.

It's that time of year again.

2010-10-19T16:16:00.004-04:00

CMJ TIME!!!! I did this poster for the Heliotropes OFFICIAL CMJ SHOWCASE.

I also cry when bands don't play my favorite songs.

BBMG Mural

2010-10-17T12:51:00.003-04:00

Last week I helped paint a huge ass mural at BBMG's new location in DUMBO. It wasn't my design but it was super fun and it looked super cool when it was done. I also got to draw out a giant David Burn flow chart on their chalk wall. I'm posting a few process shots from the BBMG flickr page. You can find the rest of em here. A big thanks to Molly for the project.

MARKERS!

2010-10-11T11:03:00.007-04:00

These days, I've been trying to use mediums I haven't used before. More recently, it's been those juicy Prismacolor® markers. They're fun. Here's some stuff from my explorations:

Shirtless guy with a beard:

Guy who kinda looks like that guy from The Pianist:

Guy standing in Pinktown:

I also started using my twitter account again. It's common knowledge that the number of followers is directly related to your legitimacy as a human being. So if you wanna stalk me/help me become a real boy, I'm @kurtmcrobert.

Been working on some long-term stuff...

2010-09-30T00:40:00.003-04:00

...seems like the phrase illustrators use as the excuse for not posting on their blogs in awhile. I've been working on some medium-term projects which I might reveal another day. Tonight, I needed a light, refreshing drawing sesh to bring me back down to earth. This is one page from that:

Does anyone hitchhike anymore?

2010-09-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

CATS.

2010-09-20T15:56:00.002-04:00

This is the second time I've used cats in a Strange Rivals poster. Something about "strange rivals" makes me think cats.

The Colonel and Mind-Blowing Color

2010-09-18T01:37:00.008-04:00

So there's these 2 competitions...The first one is for KFC. Here is the link. Basically, they want you to make a portrait of The Colonel. It's extremely vague and totally post-post-modern. But basically if they pick your sketch, they'll give you oil paint with the 11 chicken herbs and spices infused in it. This is to be used on the painting. Plus, it gets to hang next to the Norman Rockwell one, which adds an additional layer of hilarity.* I've chosen to compete with Rockwell's realism in an old school head to head face off. My sketch is below.

The second contest is sponsored by Pantone®. Here is that link. They want examples of "mind-blowing color" from "creative minds that push the boundaries of color in their work."

What is "mind-blowing color"? Color that blows my mind. Shoot, do I have any color that blows minds?

*Sponsor reserves the right not to use the painting or hang it in any KFC location for any reason

Waiting for the sun.

2010-09-13T01:05:00.003-04:00

Today was the perfect rainy day to sit inside, draw, and drink coffee.

Psych-Rock Smackdown.

2010-09-08T21:02:00.003-04:00

Did I successfully illustrate the bad acid trip with a cobra hair attack and "spidey senses" typeface?

I can't stop listening to

2010-08-31T23:21:00.003-04:00

P.S. I have a secret weapon for choosing CMYK colors now.

Copycats

2010-08-21T23:55:00.004-04:00

I've been looking at a lot of illustration lately. Too much illustration. It's all started to blur together. I've come across some shameful and blatant copycats of "buzz illustrators" like Tomer, James Jean, Sam Weber, Tamaki, Josh Cochran, you know the crew. I've also noticed that these copycats get hired.

I was wondering, am I a copycat? Is my work a second rate copy of some "famous illustrator?" Are we all just copying some other more talented person before us? Is there anything new to achieve in illustration? Will my bank account grow if I copy James Jean? Does anyone realize that Jim McMullan taught all those dudes how to draw? Who did Jim McMullan copy?

On the topic of copying, I had a big Picasso phase awhile ago and tried to make Picasso drawings as though he was a modern day illustrator. Some kind of hybrid mutation. Here are a few of the more successful ones. Enjoy!

Gratuitous Bob Dylan Portrait

2010-08-20T00:37:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I wonder...

WEBSITE UPDATE!!!

2010-08-17T21:27:00.002-04:00

Hey I updated my website and there's a bunch of stuff on it that I haven't posted on this blog so stop checking your email and look at my shiz. You won't regret it. Here's a sample of what's in store:

Mistaken for vision.

2010-08-04T23:33:00.001-04:00

Trying some new things. New to me. How is it working out?

Buzz Band Super Trivia!

2010-07-21T22:46:00.005-04:00

Can you guess all the buzz bands? Answers below!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

1. Neon Indian
2. Delorean
3. Vampire Weekend
4. Tame Impala
5. Best Coast
6. Crystal Castles
7. Tennis
8. Panda Bear
9. Beach House
10. Beach Fossils

Drawings of things.

2010-07-11T15:13:00.003-04:00

Summer is officially here.

2010-06-30T21:15:00.001-04:00

Doomed (Together)

2010-06-04T21:46:00.003-04:00

Remedy.

2010-06-01T18:48:00.003-04:00

Below is a poster I did for a show this weekend. Also, this weekend I'm showing 3 paintings from my Florida series with the Potion Collective. All are welcome and it's free and there's gonna be bands playing later. It's gonna be rad. Here's all the info:

Potion Collective Presents: "Remedy"

Live Music + Art + Food + Drinks
Free Admission

Bushwick Open Studios @ The Loom
1087 Flushing AVE (at Knickerbocker) Off of the Morgan Ave L stop

Saturday June 5th - 12pm to 2am
Sunday June 6th, 12pm to 5pm

Rock Show from 8pm - 2am Saturday night.
Featuring (not necessarily in this order):
Not Blood, Paint
Bartholomew
Tight White Jeans
U Say USA
The Collectors
Third Cortez
Cinema, Cinema

And so it begins...

2010-05-26T16:55:00.002-04:00

Fleet week, aka, copious amounts of men in white bell bottoms

Alchemy

2010-05-18T23:12:00.003-04:00

My submission to Potion Collective's next zine. The theme is alchemy. Get it?

Research.

2010-05-16T00:55:00.007-04:00

No Bad News

2010-05-12T23:30:00.005-04:00

I dunno if anyone's noticed but I draw and paint women all the time. So here's some dudes I drew. Also, I KNOW everyone forgot that I was painting a substantial series of paintings about Florida. I just want everyone to know that I'll be wrapping that up soon, hopefully by the end of June. I will reveal them once I have a proper place to show them. For now, all you get is a sloppy, wet, juicy, blurry tease.

The Stranger

2010-05-03T21:44:00.003-04:00

A fresh illustration for the The Stranger. The article was about a favorite Seattle indie bookstore moving to a new location next door to a gay sex club. I did it in gouache, no photoshop required. Welcome back painting, I've missed you. I've also updated my website and will be updating it again soon.

I'm fuckin' in, You're fuckin' out.

2010-04-22T16:51:00.004-04:00

In honor of the new baseball season and just having watched a concentrated dose of Eastbound and Down, I made this painting. I was looking through some of my old work recently and wondered why I didn't make gouache illustrations anymore. So I made one. I was going for the NASCAR t-shirt vibe.

Spring in Brooklyn

2010-04-13T14:57:00.002-04:00

New season, new promo. Holla atcha boi.

The morning commute...

2010-04-09T12:58:00.001-04:00

...has finally gotten to me.

Boxes

2010-04-07T23:33:00.003-04:00

Creatively speaking...I've been feeling like this lately:

The Strand

2010-03-29T02:18:00.004-04:00

This is my STRAND tote bag contest entry. I wasn't going to enter, but then I figured I have nothing to lose. I'm not sure how my design will be received after reading this in the rules:

"The Strand Book Store is a family-friendly store and website. We reserve the right to reject any design at our sole discretion, including but not limited to pornographic or violent images. Designs must represent the Strand Book Store."

See the other entries here. My personal favs are the Holden Caulfield bags, here and here.

The Rachel

2010-03-26T13:45:00.003-04:00

In honor of another movie in which Jennifer Aniston plays some dude's girlfriend, I have created a colored pencil, fan art rendering of the hairstyle that defined a decade.

I'm not done talking about style yet.

2010-03-23T19:05:00.003-04:00

Below is a new poster I did for Heliotropes. I departed from the usual ink and photoshop and used only colored pencil. The computer was used only to adjust the color slightly. So, is this still my style? I still can't pin down a definitive definition of style that I'm satisfied with. I think in illustration it's easy to fall into the trap of creating a style that is sustainable and repeatable, and does not necessarily bear creative, innovative fruit. This also seems to be closely related the issue of C.R.E.A.M. (cash rules everything around me).

The Armory Show: The Art of the Bad Art Joke

2010-03-06T19:30:00.006-05:00

I went on a personal scavenger hunt today:

Gary Indiana double score!

Original pranksta:

"You gotta keep doing it the same way even after it's boring."

2010-03-05T20:01:00.005-05:00

A somewhat related video to my last post about style:

"But I'm talking about the same kind of work, the same style so people can recognize it and don't get confused, you know?"

Sketchbook musings..

2010-02-28T13:05:00.008-05:00

I haven't posted any sketchbook stuff in awhile. Mostly because I use the sketchbook to explore the different ways I draw, not to boost my blog ego. That's what illustrations are for, right? But it's good to mix up the posts once in awhile.

I've become a recent follower of Kali Ciesemier's blog. She's an awesome illustrator, and her recent-ish post about style got me thinking about "style" in general. Here is a couple quick definitions I found of the word online:

a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode or form of construction or execution in any art or work

a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character

a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode of action or manner of acting

a way of painting, writing, composing, building, etc., characteristic of a particular period, place, person, or movement

After looking up the definitions, I can't deny that I have a style. I make a lot of ink drawings that are colored on the computer. Even working in many styles is a style, pluralistic style. Most illustrators are in denial if they say they don't have a style. I don't have a problem with the term "style" or having a style. I just hope my work isn't a hackish version of a preexisting style. Which, I dunno, maybe it is...

Year of the Tiger

2010-02-26T17:36:00.003-05:00

I may or may not be submitting to American Illustration this year.

Happy Chinese new year!

Early in the morning.

2010-02-03T17:23:00.003-05:00

I based this off one of their songs. They have a nice 90s, Kim Deal-ian sound.

Before The Splash; After David Hockney

2010-01-27T16:34:00.003-05:00

My first animated gif

2010-01-23T13:46:00.004-05:00

I've been a little obsessed about the song Zebra, by Beach House. So I made a gif a lá Muybridge. I've never made an animation before, so this one is over simplified to match my learning curve. I'm slowly understanding the nature of Flash.

(Click to view)

Time Out New York

2010-01-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

Recently, I did this piece for Time Out New York. It reminded me of something Tom Woodruff used to tell us in school. Basically, you become a temporary expert on the subject you're illustrating. I was mumbling cupcake flavors Rain Man style for days. Chicken and waffles....

BUILDINGS

2010-01-18T14:48:00.002-05:00

Love this band. Glad I could make something for em.

Kitties

2010-01-08T09:11:00.001-05:00

200th post

2009-12-18T16:13:00.004-05:00

I've been watching an unhealthy amount of Law and Order: SVU lately. I've also been trying to bump up the quality of my illustrations. So I combined my 2 interests to make a portrait of Novak. I'm still working on the other characters. I used Illustrator to make the paper cut-out book shapes for the background.

Here's a warm up drawing I did today as well:

His hair was made for drybrush.

Nap Train

2009-12-14T18:01:00.003-05:00

I've been trying mixed photoshop techniques for my illustrations lately. I'm trying to make them more sophisticated, thus more elegant, thus less like "illustrations."

Chase Utley

2009-12-14T12:36:00.002-05:00

This one is pretty old by now, but I'll remind everyone that despite their lavish soul patches, the Phillies did not win the World Series.

Come out and play

2009-11-14T10:39:00.002-05:00

I really dig these bands. It's nice when local music doesn't suck.

Drying rack

2009-11-06T22:34:00.002-05:00

I went to an Elizabeth Peyton lecture last night. A lot of people left during its course. I don't regret staying.

Weekly Dig

2009-10-18T13:25:00.002-04:00

No art to share for now but the Weekly Dig is using my crowd scene for this week's cover. So if you're in the Boston area, pick one up. I'm also going to be in a mobile group show in a giant truck in Bushwick in November. More details to come...

NEW SITE

2009-10-06T11:09:00.002-04:00

After many dreamweaver bugs and battles with spry accordions, my new site is up and running. There's some stuff I haven't shown on the blog so go go go check it out. www.kurtmcrobert.com

Fearless October

2009-09-27T13:07:00.002-04:00

I got the idea for this poster from the episode of It's Always Sunny where Dee wants to dig up her mother's grave and steal her jewelry. I think it fits well with the concert's close proximity to Halloween.

Return to figuration; continuity of art.

2009-09-15T12:52:00.002-04:00

See you there.

2009-09-13T15:33:00.002-04:00

I would like to take a moment to plug 3 things that are happening this week. The first, is a solo show for Steve Ellis on Thursday:

"Talking Trash"
Steve Ellis Solo Show
Sept 18 - Oct 9
Opening Thursday, Sept 17, 7 - 10pm
gallery nine5
24 Spring St (btwn Eliz and Mott)

Also, the same night is a talk by Dave Hickey at 7pm at the new SVA theater in Chelsea. I'm going to Hickey first then heading to Steve's show. Hickey keeps it real and I look forward to being enlightened by him.

Eric White is also having a show on Wednesday:

ERIC WHITE: LP
and
DANIEL DAVIDSON: DOUBLE STUFF
Wednesday, September 16th, 6 to 8 pm
Exhibition runs September 12 through October 10, 2009
SLOAN FINE ART
128 Rivington Street
(corner of Norfolk)
New York NY 10002

Hope to see everyone at all three of these, otherwise, you're not my friend anymore.

Emerge from the abyss.

2009-09-12T22:34:00.001-04:00

The Reader

2009-09-09T16:13:00.002-04:00

Reworked an old sketch to make a more finished piece. Nice when old ideas still get the juices flowing. New website to debut within in the next couple months so stay tuned...

Tristessa

2009-09-06T11:22:00.002-04:00

Intense Kerouac book. My version of the cover:

"We are nothing."
"You and Me."

Believe in nothing.

2009-09-06T08:47:00.000-04:00

Working for the Fearless is fun.

2009-09-04T16:45:00.001-04:00

Their name is so versatile.

Just to clarify the last post, I do not use a brush pen.

Fuck brush pens.

2009-09-03T14:38:00.004-04:00

Yeah, that's right.

notes from the Underground.

2009-08-21T15:20:00.001-04:00

What I learned at the Met.

2009-08-16T16:47:00.004-04:00

I went to the Met today to see the Bacon show again before it closes. After basking in his awesomeness for awhile, I ventured through the paintings of the late greats trying to figure out what they were doing. I've decided that Degas is the greatest figurative painter and draftsman in history. It was a hard decision to make. My close second was Ingres. I also considered Rembrandt, Velasquez, and Sargent and some other guys I can't remember, but Degas overall rips them to shreds. His textures are spot on, he lets paint be paint when it needs to be, and his compositions are way more interesting and challenging. After studying of all these guys, I came home and started working the painting below. It's been painted almost to completion twice now, but it ended up getting painted over cause it really was just not working. The Met has really helped me with some face painting issues I've been having. Sorry about the mysterious shadow but, like I said before, the Florida series is a secret until completion.